Third Ohio Cavalry

On August 6, 1861, the Governor of the State of Ohio commissioned Lewis Zahm, of Norwalk, to raise a regiment of volunteers for a cavalry unit for service to the United States during the Civil War. Men were recruited from northwestern Ohio, and they were trained at Camp Worcester just south of Monroeville, Ohio. The first chapter of The History of the Third Ohio Cavalry, by Thomas Crofts, describes conditions at Camp Worcester. (A reprinted edition of this book, with many photographs, is available at the Sandusky Library.) Food was not ideal, and in the first few weeks, men had to bring blankets from home, and sleep upon piles of straw. In the evenings, the men sang songs, and ran races.

Clark Center, who later was a Sandusky councilman, enlisted as a Second Lieutenant in Company I, of the Third Ohio Cavalry and was later promoted to First Lieutenant. Colonel Darius E. Livermore was a former Sandusky resident who served as a Lieutenant Colonel in Company S of the Third Cavalry. (Col. Livermore’s daughter Jessie May was the designer and creator of the lovely stained glass in the doors and windows of the Adams Street entrance of the Sandusky Library.)

Edwin Niver lost his life in the Andersonville Prison on June 19, 1864. His sister’s book about Edwin’s experiences in the war, Reminiscences of the Civil War and Andersonville Prison, is located in the Archives Research Center of the Sandusky Library. Emogene Niver Marshall was devoted to aiding Veterans throughout her life.

Private Leonard Winkler served in the same unit as Edwin Niver, Co. I of the Third Ohio Cavalry.

He carried a photo album of soldiers’ photographs with him, and at the Battle of Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, on July 2, 1864, a shot hit the album, which broke the album and caused the bullet to glance off and injure Leonard’s right arm.

Here are images of some of the tintypes from Private Winkler’s photograph album:

Private Winkler’s photograph album can be seen at the Follett House Museum. While we do not know if the album contained the actual photographs of the soldiers at the scene of the battle, the Archives Research Center was given a set of twenty-four tintypes of soldiers from Co. I of the Third Ohio Cavalry, which were owned by Leonard Winkler. These photographs have been reproduced in the 1997 reprint of The History of the Third Ohio Cavalry, and are also available online.

Leonard Winkler died in May of 1893, and was buried at Oakland Cemetery. Judge Elijah M. Colver, who also served in the Third Cavalry, gave the eulogy for Leonard Winkler. Services were conducted by the McMeens Post of the G.A.R. Mr. Winkler’s obituary in the Sandusky Register, May 29, 1893, stated that funeral services for Leonard Winkler were “attended by a large concourse of friends, many of whom were comrades of the departed during the rebellion…The floral tributes were many and beautiful.”