The 131st OVI was mustered into the service at Camp Chase in Columbus on May 14, 1864, as an Ohio National Guard unit. It was a part of the Hundred Days Regiments commissioned by Ohio Governor John Brough as rear guard troops in an effort to free up veteran regiments for front-line combat duty in an all-out effort to seize Richmond, Virginia, and hasten the end of the war. Its commander was Col. John G. Lowe.
On May 15, the new regiment traveled by train to Baltimore, Maryland, where it was assigned to the Second Separate Brigade of the VIII Corps. The 131st never saw any combat. Instead, it primarily served on garrison duty at Fort McHenry, then at Fort Marshall and Federal Hill. Detachments served at Washington, D.C., Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, Fortress Monroe, and City Point, Virginia. On August 19 the regiment was ordered to return to Ohio because the soldiers were nearing the end of their short term of enlistment. The 865 remaining men mustered out at Camp Chase on August 25, 1864. The 131st Regiment lost two enlisted men by disease during its service, though others would succumb to complications of malaria in the years following.
Dyer, Frederick Henry, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 volumes. New York: T. Yoseloff, 1908.
Reid, Whitelaw, Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Soldiers. Volume 2. Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach, & Baldwin, 1868. ISBN9781154801965
Further reading
Ohio Roster Commission. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War on the Rebellion, 1861–1865, compiles under the direction of the Roster commission. 12 vol. Akron: Werner Co., 1886–95.
