Over the weekend my travels took me to Ohio. Here I found a few cemeteries and many stories. One of those stories is of Private Hiram Fellows, of the 8th Ohio Infantry.
He was born in Ohio around 1842 to Henry and Susan Fellows. Before the war Hiram worked on his family farm with his brother and two sisters[1]. After the attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the uprising. Hundreds of men from northeastern Ohio were fast to respond, volunteering for three months of military service.
The 8th Ohio Infantry Regiment was organized in Cleveland between April 18 and May 4, 1861[2]. In June, the regiment was transported via train to Camp Dennison adjacent to Cincinnati for training and garrison duty. It mustered out June 22, having not left The Buckeye State. Many of the three-months men reenlisted for three years on June 22–24.[3]Hiram was one of these men.
He would be mustered into “K” Co. 8th Ohio Infantry as a Private on June 5th, 1861[4]. Private Fellows and the 8th Ohio would see action at, Worthington, W. Va., Hanging Rock, Romney, The Expedition to Blue’s Gap, The Evacuation of Romney, Bloomery Gap, The Battle of Kernstown, and Winchester[5], where Private Fellows was wounded[6]. Private Fellows would die of his wounds at a hospital in Winchester Virginia on April 1st, 1862[7].
. Winchester United States Virginia, 1862. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004661872/.
Private Hiram Fellow’s body would be returned to Ohio. He would be interred at Chatham Township Cemetery, and his mother would receive a small “widows’ pension”[8]. Let us never forget the sacrifice of Private Hiram Fellows upon the alter of freedom.
[1] “1860 United States Federal Census for Hiram Fellows,” Ancestry®, accessed October 12, 2021, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7667/images/4282831_00174?pId=42319987.
[2] “Battle Unit Details,” National Parks Service, accessed November 16, 2023, https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UOH0008RI01.
[3] Ibid
[4] “Hiram Fellows ,” American Civil War Research and Genealogy Database, accessed October 12, 2021, http://www.civilwardata.com/HDSLogin/HDSLogin.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2Factive%2Fhdsquery.dll%3FSoldierHistory%3FU%262221821&SoldierHistory%3FU&222182
[5] “Battle Unit Details,” National Parks Service (U.S. Department of the Interior), accessed October 12, 2021, https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UOH0008RI01.
[6] “Hiram Fellows ,” American Civil War Research and Genealogy Database, accessed October 12, 2021, http://www.civilwardata.com/HDSLogin/HDSLogin.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2Factive%2Fhdsquery.dll%3FSoldierHistory%3FU%262221821&SoldierHistory%3FU&222182
[7] “U.S., Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, 1861-1865 ,” Ancestry®, accessed October 12, 2021, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2123/images/32729_1220705228_0256-00164?pId=461572.
[8] “U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 for Hiram Fellows,” Ancestry®, accessed October 12, 2021, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/4654/images/32959_032814-03863?pId=806230.
The Military History Traveler 