The Regiment's Companies
The 26th Ohio Infantry was one of the first in Ohio to be organized for three-year's service. It was also one of the first to be comprised of companies from volunteers across the state. In the prior regiments accepted into service, they were generally either comprised of local organized militias and/or came from the same county, or at least the same congressional district. The companies that were to become the 26th Ohio came from across the state: from the southwestern corner to the northeastern corner. from the Ohio River to Lake Erie region, from the hills of Appalachian eastern Ohio to the flat farm lands in the north central part of the state.
During the Civil War, volunteer infantry regiments were generally comprised of a staff of commissioned officers, and ten companies comprised of approximately 100 enlisted men each under the leadership of a captain elected by the soldiers in the company. Each company was assigned a letter in alphabetical order, from A-K, with the letter J being skipped over to avoid confusion with the letter I when written. That was the case with the 26th Ohio Infantry as well.
The company pages that follow are a brief introduction about the ten companies. For the detailed account of how each company was recruited, organized, mustered in, and trained at Camp Chase, read Chapter I of The 26th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry: the Groundhog Regiment, Third Edition.
Company A: The Butler Pioneers
Company E: The Mt Gilead Guards
Company K: The Cowling Videttes
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