I live in northeast Ohio up along the southern shore of Lake Erie far removed you would think, from the conflict of civil war. But in the 1860's, Ohio was a free state, having been designated that by the legislation known as the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the Ohio constitution of 1803. Located across the Ohio River form the slave states of Kentucky and Virginia, Ohio drew runaway slaves seeking their escape to freedom. Northern Ohio had been settled largely by New Englanders of Puritan roots who were not unprejudiced but strong followers of the freedoms set down by the Declaration of Independence. Many secretly and many overtly helped the cause of runaway slaves hiding them, feeding them and even at times sending them across the lake to escape to Canada.
So it was natural that when President Lincoln's call for volunteers to protect the capital city went out, Ohioans responded. Edwin Cowles called out " men of Ohio, the flag of our country has been torn down from it's standard and left to trail in the dust beneath the banner of a rebellious host...Ohio must be in the vanguard of the battle ." Military training camps were set up to house and train the troops. They arrived from Painesville, Mansfield, Ashtabula and Sandusky. 230 regiments and more than 300,000 troops served the Union from the state of Ohio
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