Special Order Number 882 of October 1861 authorized Col.Charles R. Woods to organize a regiment of infantry at Camp Sherman, near Newark, Ohio. Recruitment had begun for a Licking County regiment as early as September 1861. Enrollment was for three years' duty. Since the majority of the troops were from Licking County, the regiment had the field nickname of "The Licking Volunteers." The regiment held 962 officers and men when it was mustered in on February 9, 1862.
Company I was originally Company B of the 61st Ohio Infantry. They were transferred to the 76th OVI on February 3, 1862.:
Captain Edward Biggs
1st Lieutenant James M. Blackburn
2nd Lieutenant John H. Hardgrove
Company K:
Captain James M. Jay
1st Lieutenant David R. Kelley
2nd Lieutenant Mark Sperry
Service
During the service time of the 76th OVI, from February 1862 to July 1865, the unit saw action in an estimated 44 battles across eleven Confederate States. Notable events were as follows:
1862
February 9: Mustered in and left Camp Sherman to join the campaign up the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers
November 27: Battle of Ringgold Gap {the colors of the 76th OVI were captured by the 1st Arkansas CSA; the colors were returned to the 76th OVI Veterans by the 1st Arkansas September 20. 1916 [2]
^Ohio Roster Commission, Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War on the Rebellion, 1861–1865, vol. 6 (70th—86th Regiments—Infantry), part 1 (Akron, Ohio: The Werner Ptg. and Mfg. Co., 1888), p. 257.
Sources
Dyer, Frederick Henry, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 volumes. New York: T. Yoseloff, 1908.
Miller, Charles Dana (2004). The struggle for the life of the republic : a Civil War narrative by Brevet Major Charles Dana Miller, 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN0-873-38785-6. OCLC53477492.
