The 9th Ohio Infantry was an infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

 that was a part of the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. The members of the regiment were primarily of German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 descent and the unit was the first almost all-German unit

German-Americans in the Civil War

German-Americans in the American Civil War were the largest ethnic contingent to fight for the Union. More than 200,000 native Germans served in the Union Army, with New York and Ohio each providing ten divisions dominated by German-born men....

 to enter the Union Army.

Organization

Between 1836 to 1860, four German militia units were formed in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

. The units (the beginning of the 9th Ohio Volunteer Infantry-OVI) was organized from hundreds of men who had volunteered for duty in response to a call to arms by President Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

 and subsequently by Ohio Governor William Dennison

William Dennison (Ohio governor)

William Dennison, Jr. was a Whig and Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the 24th Governor of Ohio and as U.S...

. Nearly 1,500 men, mostly of German descent, volunteered for this unit in the first three days. Col.

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Robert L. McCook, a local lawyer, trained and drilled the new soldiers at Camp Harrison

Camp Harrison

Camp Harrison was one of several Union Army training posts in Hamilton County, Ohio, established during the American Civil War.In early 1861, Governor William Dennison ordered the creation of a new military camp six miles north of Cincinnati, Ohio, on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad,...

 and Camp Dennison

Camp Dennison

Camp Dennison was a military recruiting, training, and medical post for the United States Army during the American Civil War. It was located near Cincinnati, Ohio, not far from the Ohio River. The camp was named for Cincinnati native William Dennison, Ohio's governor at the start of the war.With...

, both near Cincinnati.

The initial field officers on April 23, 1861 were:

• Colonel
  Colonel
  Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
  
   Robert L. McCook
• Lieutenant Colonel
  Lieutenant colonel
  Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
  
   Karl Sonderson
• Major
  Major (United States)
  In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...
  
   Frank Mattice
• Regt. Doctor Karl Krause
• Asst. Doctor Rudolph Wirth
• Adjutant August Willich
  August Willich
  August Willich , born Johann August Ernst von Willich, was a military officer in the Prussian Army and a leading early proponent of Communism in Germany. In 1847 he discarded his title of nobility...
  
  

Gustav Bergmann, a Cincinnati public school teacher, was the first person to join the unit. The city gave $250,000.00 for the organization of this unit.

The regiment lost six officers

Officer (armed forces)

An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...

 and 85 enlisted

Enlisted rank

An enlisted rank is, in most Militaries, any rank below a commissioned officer or warrant officer. The term can also be inclusive of non-commissioned officers...

men killed and mortally wounded during its three-year term of service. It also lost two officers and 60 enlisted men to disease, for a total of 153.