The 153rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment was one of the 96 100-day regiments called up in the spring of 1864 to support the Union’s final push to achieve victory over the Confederate armies and bring an end to the War for Southern Independence, or as it is commonly known today, the Civil War. This brief summary of the 153rd Ohio draws upon many sources that provide both specific information on the regiment and more general background on the larger military and geographic context in which they served. I am deeply indebted to the dozens of researchers and authors who provided the critical information on which this regimental history is based. In order to maintain a concise format, I have omitted bibliographic footnotes but provide an extensive bibliography listing the primary sources consulted and used. David G. Davis, Arlington, Virginia; February 2004.
By the spring of 1864, the Confederacy’s future looked increasingly bleak, and Union military and political leaders geared up for a final decisive drive deep into the southern nation. Governor John Brough of Ohio, with the support of the governors of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin, proposed to President Lincoln that existing state militia units be called into Federal service for 100 days and be equipped and paid by the national government. Lincoln accepted the plan, and on April 25 Ohio called up 36,000 troops in 43 regiments, leading the other states who together with Ohio provided about 80,000 men in 100-day units. The primary mission of these new regiments was to free up front-line troops by taking on critical rear echelon functions such as guarding railroads, bridges, forts, and prisoners of war.
The 153rd Ohio evolved from the 35th and 41st Ohio National Guard Battalions. The 35th was organized in Clark County in October 1863 in response to Confederate General Morgan’s raid into Indiana and Ohio. Upon the call-up of the Guard units, the 35th under the command of Colonel Israel Stough was ordered to Camp Denison near Cincinnati where it was consolidated, in part, with the 41st to become the 153rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment with Colonel Stough in command. The new regiment, numbering 909 men, was mustered into Federal service on May 9 and spent the next several days preparing for deployment. Although details are lacking, the troops were likely issued standard US Army uniforms of dark blue blouse, light blue trousers, and billed caps, known as kepis. It appears that many of these regiments were issued British-made Enfield rifles in .577 caliber. Besides Colonel Stough, the other regimental officers were Lieutenant Colonel Marcellus Leeds, Major Zedikiah South, and Reverend Lucien Clark, Chaplain.
Like most of the other 100-day regiments, the 153rd headed east on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to reinforce Federal units guarding the railroad and Union garrisons along the Potomac River in eastern West Virginia and western Maryland, an extensive territory that included a portion of the lower Shenandoah Valley. Union forces in that region were assigned to the Department of West Virginia (commanded by Major General Franz Sigel, followed by Major General David Hunter) until early August when several Federal military departments were combined into a new Army of the Shenandoah under Major General Philip Sheridan. Railroad guard units were assigned to a Reserve Division, commanded during most of the 153rd ‘s period of service by Sigel. The Division was subdivided into two geographic "commands", functionally equivalent to brigades. The 153rd was assigned to the Command of Brigadier General Benjamin F. Kelley, an officer with long service in operations in West Virginia and in guarding the railroad. His command included 3 other 100-day Ohio regiments and a number of other Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, and West Virginia regiments or smaller units.1 Kelley was responsible for guarding the railroad from Sleepy Creek, Maryland, to the Ohio River–a region that included a full transect across the Allegheny Mountains and a portion of the lower Shenandoah Valley. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, one of the nation’s oldest, was a vital link between the US capital and other Mid-Atlantic cities and the Ohio Valley and "west" more broadly, and as such was a hotly contested piece of linear real estate throughout the war.