Soldier: Robert W. Long
Regiment: 65th. OVI
Company: D
Age: 21
Date Entering Service: Oct. 14, 1861, Mt. Gilead, Ohio
Period of Service: 3 years
Remarks (When discharged, re-enlisted, wounded, captured, died of disease or killed): Appointed Corporal Nov. 26, 1861; sergeant March 1, 1863. Wounded by a shell on calf of right leg at the battle of Stone River. Captured at the battle of Chickamauga, Ga. on September 20, 1863. Imprisoned at various prisons around Richmond, Va., Danville, Va. and Andersonville Georgia from about April 1864 to March 17, 1865. He survived the explosion of the steamboat Sultana on April 27, 1865 on the Mississippi River. One of 500 out of 2,200 passengers that survived.
Battles in which he fought:
Shiloh, Tennessee April 6,7, 1862
Perryville, Kentucky October 8, 1862
Siege of Corinth, Miss. April 30-June 2, 1863
Stone River, Tenn. Dec. 31, 1862 – January 2, 1863
Chickamauga, Ga. Sept. 19,20, 1863
Other interesting information discovered: Other than a stint working at the Northern Ohio Lunatic Asylum in Newburgh Heights near Cleveland in 1860, Long spent his entire life in the Cardington area. He was one of three brothers that served in the war. A younger brother, John of the same regiment and company, died of wounds at Stone River. Another younger brother Daniel, was wounded at the battle of Perryville, KY. Three other Morrow County soldiers that were captured with Long, died in confederate prisons. Long was just one of 15 “mess mates” at Andersonville that survived nearly 9 months of imprisonment. His story of survival is remarkable. After his return home he married and raised a large family, with many of his descendants residing in Cardington as of this writing. He died at Cardington in 1918.
Date of Death: Feb 21, 1918
Place of burial: Glendale Cemetery, Cardington, OH
Adopted By: Guy Flora, Rebecca Long Leakey and Robert Whitney, all descendants
Researcher: Patrick Drouhard
