Posted on 06/11/2007 9:11:24 PM PDT by Neil E. Wright
I’ll post this thread to the MilHist list tomorrow (can’t find my ping list at this moment). You might get some useful answers from these good folks.
First thought when presented with military units and ‘H’ is Hussars.
1st Ohio Volunteer H...
Horse?
Goody, a research project!
It may make much more sense if it’s “OVM” — Ohio Volunteer Militia:
O.V.M.
Transcribed by Larry Stevens
Ohio Volunteer Militia Belt Plate
The Twenty-seventh Ohio, which must be remembered by everybody who read of the desperate defense of Battery Robinet, at Corinth, has in its ranks some chaps who love fun as well as a fight. When it came into the service, the old belts and plates which had been manufactured in peace times for the Ohio Volunteer Militia were not all disposed of, and the waists of the twenty-seventh were consequently all labelled, O.V.M. Though the U.S. had displaced most of these initials, a few of the old ones are still in use. On the 4th of October a corporal, wearing one of the old belts, was in command of a squad who were bringing in some rebel prisoners. After our men had passed the compliments of the day with their prisoners, and the canteens were duly emptied, one of the rebels inquires—
“Corporal, what the devil does O.V.M. stand for?”
“Oh, my plate you mean?” says the corporal; “that stands for Ohio Visiting Mississippi. We had a few made on purpose for this campaign.”
From: The Spirit Of Woodsfield, Ohio. June 3, 1863
Thanks to: Mike Willey. Zanesville, Ohio 1992
Web Publishing Copyright © 1996 Larry Stevens
Last updated May 26 1996
Here’s the URL:
http://www.ohiocivilwar.com/stori/ovm.html
Thats possible, but if you look at the hi-res pic, it looks more like an “H” to us. But this is an interesting point for discussion ... thanks for the reply
The handwriting isn’t terribly good. The more I look at it, the more it looks like an “M” — or maybe that’s just me.
Dynamite watch in any case!
(Source is Seneca County History at this URL:
http://www.heritagepursuit.com/Seneca/SenChapIX.htm)
Lead-in to the list of Seneca County soldiers says:
Where soldiers enlisted in cavalry or artillery commands or in regiments of other States, or in United States' commands, the full regimental title and number are given.
Bowen, H. C., Co. M 1st O. V. H. A., e. July 23, 1863; dis. at Columbus, Aug. 4, 1865.
OVHA would be Ohio Volunteer Horse Artillery.
As for the name: Jas Haynes or Haynas, if it is Jos., then that would abbreviate Joseph. If it is Jas., that would be James. Last name looks like Haynes.
I don’t know about the other writings.
doing a search on the net, we did find quite a number of “JAS” as a given first name for the period.
The third letter in his last name looks a whole lot like the V in OVH.
I wonder if he was an immigrant named Havnas? That name shows a half dozen or so Google hits...
Thomas Haynas, married in Texas in 1878?
Probably not...
hmmmm ... I googled the name HAVNES and came up with 78,000 hits ... that could be something ... thanks
I did a search for Haynes from Ohio. It has been my experience that Jas was short for James, and Jos is short for Joseph. Anyway this entry shows up:
79 - Haynes, James Union Artillery 1st Regiment, Ohio Heavy Artillery
The OVH probably stands for Ohio Volunteer Heavies
The Heavies as they were then called referred to the caliber of artillery they were qualified to fire. Thus they were trained on the heavy artillery. Generally the "Heavies" were assigned to fixed fortifications such as the forts that protected Washington, DC. Heavy artillery was not used in the field due to the weight of the piece and that's why "Field" artillery almost always refers to lighter pieces that could be drawn by a team of horses. Later in the WBTS (1864) the "heavies" were reassigned from the forts into field artillery units as it was thought they were no longer necessary in the fixed fortifications due the quality of same.
The link for the "Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System" of the National Park Service is:
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm
I keyed in "Haynes" for the last name, and "Ohio" for the state. Soldier & unit info. can be seen as well by clicking on the soldier's name or the regiment name.
By the way I wasn't able to get any search "hits" when using the names Havnas, Havnes, or Haynas for Ohio.
Hope this helps. Good luck on your research.
Possibly you could get a more definitely opinion from a calligraphist.....please keep us updated...
The 1st Ohio regiment contains only one James Haynes as having served in that Heavy Artillery regiment.
I was not able to find any other suspected name spellings, as stated previously in post# 14.
So IMHO this veteran is almost certainly the original owner of the watch.
Again, I hope this helps.
Pinging the Foxhole’s Civil War re-enactor for you Neil. Good luck.
Hey Lee, can you help with Neil’s question?
I agree with you jinxy. After looking at the information of the Ohio regiments I was wondering if an A was missing and there is a James Haynes:
James Haynes (First_Last)
Regiment Name 1 Ohio Heavy Art’y.
Side Union
Company M
Soldier’s Rank_In Pvt
Soldier’s Rank_Out Pvt
Alternate Name James/Haines
Notes
Film Number M552 roll 46
Can you decipher the Battery at all? Maybe indented on the glass? Here are the batteries for Ohio.
Ohio
Independent
Artillery
Batteries
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th
21st
22nd
23rd
24th
25th
26th
1st Ohio
Light Artillery
Battery A
Battery B
Battery C
Battery D
Battery E
Battery F
Battery G
Battery H
Battery I
Battery K
Battery L
Battery M
Ohio Heavy
Artillery
Regiments
1st
2nd
http://www.ohiocivilwar.com/artill.html
Apologies for my google highlighting on my search keys.
I’ll do some research but I tend to agree with ‘Rabble’.
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