Beatty, John

Soldier:  John W. Beatty

Regiment:  3rd. OVI                   

Company:  I

Age:  32                       

Date Entering Service:  June 15, 1861

Period of Service:  3 years

Remarks (When discharged, re-enlisted, wounded, captured, died of disease or killed):

Civil War Union Brigadier General, US Congressman, Author. A native of Erie County, Ohio, he was born near Sandusky. After an ordinary school education, he and his brother entered the banking profession and through time became the proprietors of their own banking house, The Beatty Brothers Bank, in Cardington, Ohio. When Civil War became a reality in 1861, he answered President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to serve three months. In early April, 1861, he enlisted as a Private into the 3rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a regiment that was organizing at Camp Jackson, near Columbus, Ohio. Soon thereafter, he acknowledged rapid promotions of Captain followed by the elevation to Lieutenant Colonel on April 27, 1861. After a re-organization of the 3rd Ohio in June, 1861, during which he re-enlisted for three years, he and his command joined the efforts of General George McClellan during that officer’s July 6 to 17, 1861 Western Virginia campaign. His promotion to Colonel is dated February 12, 1862 and to Brigadier General, US Volunteers November 29, 1862 respectively. He actively participated in the engagement of the Confederates at Perryville, Kentucky, Chickamauga, Georgia, Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee. Showing valor and meritorious actions during the 1862 Tennessee battle of Murfreesboro while as Brigade commander, he had two horses shot beneath him. He resigned on January 28, 1864 and returned to his banking profession. His fellow Ohioans elected him in 1867 as a Republican to represent Ohio's 8th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, served his constituents in Washington D.C until 1873. He recollected his war experiences and observations in several books including the 1879 “The Citizen Soldier; Memoirs of a Volunteer” and the 1890 “A Regiment in Search of a Battle”. In 1914 he met death in Columbus Ohio after succumbing to the effects of heart disease.

Battles in which he fought:

See above

Other interesting information discovered:

General John Beatty died at Columbus, Ohio and is buried in Sandusky, Ohio

Date of Death:  December 21, 1914                 Place of burial:  Oakland Cemetery, Sandusky, Ohio

Adopted By:  In memory of the late Don Bowers, and Judy Bowers                                                          

Researcher:  Patrick Drouhard