The following is the history of the 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The unit served its term of service within the continental U.S.
The History:
The 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry was organized on April 26, 1898, rendezvousing at Cincinnati. Proceeding to Camp Bushnell at Columbus, Ohio, two days later, most of the regiment's companies were mustered into service between May 6, and May 14. Some companies, however, would not receive their full complement until June 30, 1898. On initial muster-in, the unit consisted of 43 officers and 896 men.
In early May, orders were received for the bulk of the unit to proceed to Camp Thomas on the old Civil War battlefield at Chickamauga, Georgia. During this time, apparently recruiting continued at home, presumably for the expansion of the unit through the addition of new companies. On May 30, the First Ohio received orders to report to at Tampa, Florida. It was to join Maj. Gen. William Shafter's Fifth Army Corps and take part in the invasion of Cuba. The unit arrived at Port Tampa on June 3. In the confusion and amid the influx of additional troops, the unit was among many that was left behind and did not take part in the invasion. Though the invasion forces left Florida in mid-June, the 1st Ohio would remain at Port Tampa until July 28. During this time, Company M arrived from Ohio and joined the regiment.
For the next month, the Ohio troops lingered at Fernandina. However, on August 28, the unit reported to Camp Cuba Libre, and joined Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's Seventh Army Corps at Jacksonville. Here it was designated part of the Third Brigade, First Division, of the Seventh Army Corps. The 1st Ohio's commanding officer, Col. C. B. Hunt was placed in charge of the brigade. The First Ohio Volunteer Infantry remained at Jacksonville until September 13, when the unit was order home to Cicinnati and given a thirty day furlough.
The unit did not see service outside of the U.S., and was mustered out
at Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 25, 1898 (the war would not officially
end until December 10, 1898 with the Treaty of Paris, however the
fighting had ended by armistice on August 13 1898). At muster-out, the
unit consisted of 50 officers and 1,257 enlisted men. During its term of
service, it lost eight men to disease, two men died as a result of
accidents and one man deserted.
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Clerk of Joint Committee on Printing, The Abridgement of Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899) Vol. 3, 219, 493
Hull, William (info. on Alfred Hull and the photo of Alfred Hull)
Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers in the War with Spain 1898-1899 (1916). (Data contributed by William Hull)
Sauers, Richard A., Pennsylvania in the Spanish-American War. (Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee, 1998) 53.