Army of the Ohio

Formation: November 9, 1861 in Cincinnati, Ohio

Dissolution: October 24, 1862

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

Information: Named after the Ohio River. Originally composed of troops in the state of Kentucky at the time when Don Carlos Buell took command of the Department of the Ohio. Buell formally gave the army its name on December 2, 1861. The army fought its first significant battle at Mill Springs in Pulaski County, Kentucky, on January 19, 1862. Buell commanded both the Department and the Army of the Ohio until March 11, 1862, at which time the Department of the Ohio was dissolved. The Army of the Ohio remained in the field, fighting at the battle of Shiloh in Hardin County, Tennessee, on April 6 and 7, 1862. Buell and the army pursued Confederate forces into Kentucky in the summer of 1862, resulting in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, on October 8, 1862. Buell was releived of command following Perryville, and the Army of the Ohio was consolidated with William S. Rosecrans's newly reconstituted Department of the Cumberland on October 24, 1862.

Citation: Frank J. Welcher, The Union Army 1861-1865: Organization and Operations, Vol. II: The Western Theater (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993), 192-206.