Ohio

The state of Ohio borders for several hundred miles the Ohio River, an important communications and transportation link for fighting in the western states of the Confederacy.   Having a large population, third only to New York and Pennsylvania, it also contributed many Union regiments within easy reach of the western Confederate states.

April - May, 1861.   Columbus:   Governor William Dennison, a staunch Republican and admirer of Pres. Lincoln, furnishes 13 regiments in reponse to the president's first call for 75,000 troops from the states.   He orders 5 more regiments and stations them strategically in Ohio camps opposite the West Virginia cities of Wheeling, Parkersburg, and Point Pleasant at the mouth of the Great Kanawha River where they can be called into action promptly. ^{Johnson 196}

May 3, 1861.  

Washington:   The President establishes the Department of the Ohio with its Arrmy of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. George Brinton McClellan.   McClellan is ordered by Gen. Winfield Scott to drive down the Mississippi to its mouth and establish a cordon of posts along the way.   McClellan thereupon establishes his headquarters at Cincinnati, OH. ^{Long 69}   From there, he soon will send generals to western Virginia to guard the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O), protect loyal Unionists and win several battles that will make him a hero and bring him to Washington with a promotion to bigger military tasks.