Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Civil War Oddities #51


Organization of the Forty-second Ohio Regiment was completed in August 1861 with the selection of its lieutenant colonel. Leading Ohio troops in numerous engagements, he won such rapid promotion that he became a major general on September 19, 1863.
Three months later, citizens of the Buckeye State elected the two-year veteran to Congress. He left Federal forces on December 5 to take the seat he had won without waging a campaign. Eighteen years later, James A. Garfield was inaugurated as out twentieth president.