53rd O.V.I. Regiment. The 53rd Ohio Volunteer Regiment was mustered into service at Camp Diamond, north of Jackson, during the first year of the
Civil War. Men recruited from the counties of Athens, Gallia,
Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Washington,
Hamilton, and Preble began arriving in camp for training in
September 1861. On February 16, 1862, the army ordered the
regiment to Paducah, Kentucky and there assigned it to General
William Tecumseh Sherman's command. From April 1862 to February
1865, the 53rd fought in 69 engagements, including the Battle
of Shiloh (the unit's first) and the Atlanta Campaign. After hostilities
ended, the 53rd marched in the Grand Review in Washington D.C
on May 24, 1865 and was mustered out of service in Little Rock,
Arkansas on August 11. The unit suffered 80 battlefield casualties;
196 men died of disease or accidents.
Camp Diamond. The old Diamond iron furnace was located about one mile north of
Jackson and became the site of Camp Diamond, where the 53rd
Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment trained for service. One brick
building, formerly the furnace's store and warehouse, became the
unit's headquarters and the quartermaster's storage facility. Smaller
buildings became companies' headquarters. Each of ten companies
designated A-K, has a hundred
or more men and 53rd's strength totaled
1,100 soldiers. At Camp Diamond, the unit's officers, some Methodist
ministers, prohibited drinking and card-playing, and prayer meetings
or religious services were held nightly. After the 53rd's departure
in February 1862, the camp was not used again as a training facility.
In 1885 and 1887, however, the unit's surviving members used the
old camp grounds for regimental reunions.
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