AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

In the following pages no attempt at literary gush is made, the design being simply to preserve from oblivion the record of the valiant deeds of this, the bravest of the brave regiments from the Buckeye State, that in the dim, distant future, when each comrade shall have answered to his last earthly roll-call and gone to the " grand review" with the many whose bones now repose in that far away country of the orange and the magnolia, those left behind may not forget the sacrifices made, and the untold dangers endured for that flag, the beautiful, starry emblem of a now united people, whose supremacy preserved for them the blessings of this great country, the best beneath the ethereal vault of heaven.

The data from which the journal portion of the volume is composed was obtained from members of the regiment, who certify to its correctness. Colonel Jonas

Schoonover furnished, from Atlanta to Washington.

The reader will mark the entire absence of personal laudation so common in works of this class, and the crowding of a few favored ones to the front to the exclusion of the hundreds of equally brave and meritorious men in perhaps lowly positions. That the fortunes of

war brought many forward with flattering prominence is most true, and that thousands who wore the simple blouse of blue and carried the musket were possessed of merit as great is also true. To have been a member of the Twenty-ninth Regiment Ohio Veteran Volunteers is glory enough for a lifetime. If you did your duty, it is well; if you failed, printers' ink will not make a hero of you. Then let each be content with the happy assurance that he did what he could for the flag.

The writer would acknowledge in an especial manner his obligations to L. D. Drum, adjutant-general of the United States army, for the very complete casualty list at the close of the volume; also, to Samuel B. Smith, adjutant-general of Ohio, Hon. E. B. Taylor, Colonel Edward Hayes, Jonas Schoonover, Captain R. H. Baldwin, George W. Holloway; the members of the very efficient revisory committee, Captains D. W. Thomas, T. W. Nash, Lieutenant T. E. Hoyt, Sergeant E. F. Mason, and C. H. Coon; the Ashtabula Sentinel, Jefferson Gazette, and the Akron Daily News, for numerous courtesies extended to him, during the preparation of this work; and to each comrade and friend who has aided him in his labors, to name all of whom would require many pages. He has conscientiously endeavored to make the volume free from errors. If he has succeeded it will be the first of its kind. However, such as it is, it is presented to the regiment and its friends with the belief that it contains much of value.

JEFFERSON, OHIO, February 1, 1883.

INTRODUCTION.

The author of this volume has honored me with an invitation to write an "Introduction." A book without a preface would be an anomaly: in other words, out of harmony with established usage; not strictly important, but answering much the same purpose as the "whereas" preceding the resolutions of the convention.

I have not been permitted to read the author's manuscript, yet I do not hesitate to assure the reader that as he peruses the pages of the book he will find much to entertain and profit. To the veteran who enlisted and fought in the historic "Twenty-ninth Ohio Veteran volunteer infantry" it will be read with especial interest. The eye will moisten, and the heart swell with mingled emotions as he is reminded again of the varying scenes of the camp, the march, and the battle. Others, too young to remember anything of the war, but who have heard the stories of the conflict from their fathers, will read this historic sketch of the old regiment with the greatest avidity.

We well remember the author as "Hamp," the drummer boy of Company B, his boyish look, with his neatlyfitting suit of blue, and the tenor drum suspended from his neck, while with nimble fingers he plied the ebony sticks in beating the tattoo, reveille, or the "long roll."

He has done a real and invaluable service to his comrades in gathering up and condensing in neat and durable

form so many interesting facts relating to the work of a noble regiment. So much, at least, is saved from oblivion.

In writing the history of any war only a mere outline can be thought of. Anything like a full and detailed account of what happened is out of the question. Neither time nor space would permit.

The multiplied thousands who carried their muskets and knapsacks on foot all over "Dixie," and who really did the hard work of the conflict, must be massed in history even as in war they were massed against the foe. Their individual deeds of daring and suffering were not a whit behind those of the great Wellingtons, Washingtons, and Grants. The latter were in positions to glide easily into history, and have their heroic deeds emblazoned and read in the books of every nation. The former may have loved their country as well and fought as bravely for her honor, and yet die in obscurity, "to fortune and to fame unknown."

Dr. SeCheverell has doubtless done his best under the circumstances to do justice to the name of every member of the old Twenty-ninth. It was known as the Giddings' regiment, in honor of the Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, for twenty consecutive years a member oi the lower house of Congress.

Perhaps no man during his time did more than Mr. Giddings to create public opinion in favor of the freedom of the slave. The regiment was raised almost entirely within the bounds of his old district, and it was fitting that it should bear his name. But I remember that when recruiting it a frequent objection to enlistment was that should any member of the regiment be so unfortunate as to be taken prisoner by the "Rebs," he would be forthwith shot, hung, or burnt at the stake, particu

larly on Giddings' account, and that the name would be so odious in the South, and would so advertise the regiment that every member would be especially hunted down and exterminated.

I think "Hamp" has failed utterly to ascertain that any prisoner from the Twenty-ninth was thus punished, although many of the boys were often in rebel hands.

I have ever considered myself fortunate and honored in having been associated with such a regiment.

I was duly appointed and commissioned as the first chaplain, holding the position one year, resigning at the expiration of that time, and receiving an honorable discharge from the service.

Of the officers of the regiment much might be said. Nobody who ever knew Colonel Buckley will ever forget him. A brave man, a great admirer of order and discipline, faultlessly neat and tidy, a confirmed dyspeptic; yet the most ticklish and fun provoking humor often cropped out in his conversation and intercourse with men. One morning, away down between Bull Run and Fredericksburg, when the tired and jaded men were in line for the day's march, the Colonel was in his saddle with his toes daintily touching the stirrups, his pale, clean shaven face shaded by the visor of his blue cap, from beneath which his practiced eye swept the whole regiment at a glance, while his well-polished sword, firmly gripped, stood perpendicular, resting against the shoulder; with a stentorian voice he published the following order: "Men of the Twenty-ninth, let there be no straggling on the march to-day. But if any of you do straggle take Twenty-ninth off from your caps and put on One Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania."

The joke on the One Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania was fully appreciated and immensely enjoyed (a