A STATE OF OHIO CIVIL WAR VETERAN MEDAL AWARDED TO SERGEANT, 80TH OHIO INFANTRY REGIMENT, WHO SERVED BETWEEN DECEMBER 1861 AND AUGUST 1865, DURING WHICH PERIOD THE REGIMENT SAW CONSIDERABLE SERVICE IN THE WESTERN THEATRE

STATE OF OHIO VETERAN CIVIL WAR MEDAL, BRONZE ‘WY. S. WELLING, CO. F 80TH. REGT. INFT.’

Wesley S. Welling enlisted in Company F, 80th Ohio Volunteers, as a private soldier, aged 18 on 7 December 1861, for 3 years. He was promoted Corporal in the same company and later Sergeant to rank from 20 December 1864. He re-enlisted as a veteran volunteer and was mustered out with the company at Little Rock, Ark., on 13 August 1865.

The 80th Regiment was organised at Canal Dover, Ohio, between October 1861 and January 1862, and left the state on 10 February 1862 for active duty. During the course of the ensuing three years it served in Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Principle events in the career of the 80th included the Siege of Corinth, the Battles of Corinth and Iuka, the Vicksburg Campaign (including the Battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion’s Hill and the Siege of Vicksburg), Missionary Ridge, Sherman’s March to the Sea, the Siege of Savannah, and the Carolinas Campaign, including the Battle of Bentonville and the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston’s army. It then took part in the Grand Review of the western armies in Washington on 25 May 1865, before moving to Little Rock, Ark., where it was mustered out in August.

The state of Ohio authorized Tiffany & Company of New York to provide 20,000 medals to recognize those soldiers from Ohio who re-enlisted from the state under War Department General Orders, No. 191, which called for "Veteran Volunteers." These were soldiers who completed their tour of duty and then signed up for further duty as a Veteran Volunteer. The medals were distributed in the summer of 1866 and were officially engraved with the name and unit. The medals were very much based on the British Crimea War medal Today, the conditions of the medals vary greatly but are more often than not found as discs only due to the very poor suspension design.

Condition NEF, with full suspension which is pretty hard to find. Sold with copy research. A good Ohio veterans medal to an NCO.