From Three Months To Three Years

The 5^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry originally a three month regiment, was on duty June 20^th 1861 at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, Ohio.

The 5^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was organized April 20^th 1861, for three months service at Camp Harrison.  They were mustered into service May 8^th 1861 and moved to Camp Dennison where the men were on duty until June 20^th 1861.  When their three months were up, most of the men reenlisted and the regiment was reorganized for three years under the command of Colonel Samuel H Dunning.

The men of the 5^th were sent in 1862 to the Shenandoah Valley, where they received heavy casualties at the First Battle of Winchester in March.  Following that the Battle of Port Republic on June 9^th 1862 saw the 5^th faced with 244 casualties.  At the Battle of Antietam on September 17^th 1862 they took part in the fighting in the Cornfield, and pushed the Confederates they faced south of the Dunker Church, before running out of ammunition and having to fall back.  The next year the 5^th had replaced its lost men and was in action at the Battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.  Later that year the 5^th was transferred to the western theater and became a part of the XX Corps, serving under General Joseph Hooker, where they would fight at the Battle of Lookout Mountain.  In 1864 - 1865 the 5^th was with Union General William T Sherman and took part in the March to the Sea and the Carolina Campaign.

Serving throughout the Civil War the men of the 5^th Ohio fought in 28 battles.  They mustered out of service July 26^th 1865.  There were 146 men killed or mortally wounded, and another 57 who died from disease while serving.

If you would like to read more about the FIFTH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY  is a good web site.

Waving The American Flag

Union Sergeant John Kiggins of the 149^th New York was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on November 24^th 1863 at the Battle of Lookout Mountain.

John Kiggins was born February 2^nd 1837 in DeRuyter, Madison, New York.

Kiggins enlisted September 2^nd 1862, and became a Sergeant on November 1^st 1863.  On November 24^th 1863 the 149^th New York moved on Lookout Mountain from the Tennessee side of the mountain.  The plan was to overwhelm the Confederates on the Lookout Mountain by sheer force of numbers.  As the fight got rolling, a heavy fog layed over the lower mountain.  The men of the 149^th found themselves stuck in between the Confederate line in their front and friendly fire coming from their rear.   Kiggins a Sergeant in Company D of the 149^th could see the men were in a predicament, and he grabbed a large American flag, stood up on a stump and began waving it over his head.  This movement stop the fire on the 149^th coming from their rear, but made Kiggins a great target for Confederates in his front.  Kiggins found nine bullet holes in his uniform, the top of his head was grazed by a bullet and one shot went through his thigh.  In the end the Union won the Battle the next day.

Kiggins would be wounded again May 25^th 1864 in the shoulder at the Battle of New Hope Church.  He didn’t return to his unit until April 23^rd 1865 at Raleigh, North Carolina.

Kiggins returned after the war to Syracuse, New York where he worked for the Whitman and Barnes Company a tool making company as a night watchman.  He was awarded the Medal of Honor on January 12^th 1892.  The citation for the award reads, “Waved the colors to save the lives of the men who were being fired upon by their own batteries, and thereby drew upon himself a concentrated fire from the enemy.”  Kiggins died in Syracuse, New York September 29^th 1914.  He is buried in the Bath National Cemetery in Bath, Steuben, New York.