The 123rd Ohio and a family tree

          Reuben Berlien enlisted in the Union army August 11, 1862 and became a member of the 123^rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment’s F Company. Born in Pennsylvania, Berlien was 30 when he enlisted.

          A private, Berlien was captured by Confederates during action around Winchester, Virginia on June 15, 1863. He was paroled slightly more than a month later and he rejoined his company October 31, 1863.

          The fight at Winchester was the first action the regiment took part in, but the 123rd was busy for the remainder of the Civil War. According to documents displayed on www.Civilwarindex.com, the 123^rd was involved in 11 more actions, including another fight at Winchester.

          Most interestingly, the 123^rd, with Berlien, was involved in the Appomattox campaign in Virginia and was with the Army of the Potomac when RE Lee surrendered to US Grant on April 9, 1863. Berlien was mustered out of the Army June 12 of the same year.

          Done with his service, Berlien went home to Ohio and here comes the important part of the story. He got married and, in 1880, he and his wife Mary produced a daughter. Reuben died at age 56 and Mary died 37 years later but the family tree had grown a new branch. A few generations later, Mrs. Leeway came into the world.

          That’s four generations that are descended from a veteran who survived 11 Civil War battles and a month as a prisoner of war in a Confederate prison. It would be very difficult to count the number of honest, intelligent and productive people who could not have been born had Reuben Berlien somehow not survived his service as a Civil War soldier.

          The number of military casualties from the Civil War is generally agreed to be in the range of 600,000 or so. Civilian casualties have to be added to that number but, lacking a reliable estimate, we’ll assign that figure to the unknown because the point is that while hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, millions served both the Union and Confederate causes and most of those survivors contributed to their family tree.

          That means that many, many millions of us are descended from Civil War veterans. The Civil War is the story of how we came to be. What could possibly be more important than that?

          Thanks for reading.