The Kelton House Museum will present Fresh Fish to the Front: 95^th OVI and the Rebel March on Cincinnati; Central Ohio Boys Answer the Call.

In the early summer of 1862, to meet impending danger threatening the overthrow of the Republic, President Lincoln called for 300,000 volunteers. The 95th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was organized in July 1862 for three years’ service in answer to this call. The young men of the 95^th Ohio enlisted from mid-July through mid-August, mustered in on August 18^th and 19^th, were sent to the front on August 21^st. They were engaged in a fierce battle against a greatly superior force on August 30. Without drill or training, the 95^th Ohio saw combat eleven days after donning their blue uniforms.

This is their story: the formation of this regiment and its transformation from ‘fresh fish”—in the slang of the day—to wary, battle-hardened soldiers during one tortuous 11-hour battle. For the men who survived that drought-parched, bloody August day, the lessons came hard.  But harder still were the realities of their comrades.  Killed outright or dying shortly afterward of their wounds, forty-five men had no chance to learn from this collision with disaster. This is their story, told in their own words along with contemporary newspaper accounts in Reader’s Theatre format with period images via PowerPoint.

On display you will find artifacts from the 95^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry from the collection of Dennis & Teresa Keesee.

Location: The Kelton House, 586 East Town Street, Columbus, OH 43215

Sponsor: The Kelton House Museum & Gardens, Junior League of Columbus

Details: Please call for reservations.  Parking is available in the Museum lot on Franklin Avenue. Admission is $5/person

Contact: 614.464.2022

See www.keltonhouse.com for upcoming Civil War Sesquicentennial events.