| John H. Mills | 156th Ohio Voluntary Infantry |
| by Heather Leslie |
John Mills, an Ohio native, was born on February 16th, 1836 to William and Nancy Mills.[1] He graduated from the Academy at Otterbein College in 1861, receiving the equivalent to a high school diploma.[2] He enlisted in the Ohio National Guard on May 2nd, 1864 at the age of 28, serving as a private in the 156th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company B.[3] Men serving in the National Guard were called “Hundred Days” men because they were to serve for 100 days.[4] The 156th OVI was mustered together on May 15th, 1864 at Camp Dennison, and Company B, along with many other companies, served guard and patrol duty in Cincinnati and then moved to Cumberland, Maryland where the whole regiment came back together on July 28th. The 156th OVI was involved in a minor battle by Folck’s Mills, where one person was killed in another Union regiment. The 156th OVI was mustered out on September 1st, 1864. By the end of his service time, 23 people had died in John Mills’ regiment from disease.[5]
Not much is known about John Mills. He was a white male who lived in Muskingum County. He was a farmer who never married. He died in New Concord in Muskingum County on December 19th, 1919 at age 83 and is buried there at Pleasant Hill Cemetery. John Mills’ cause of death was written illegibly on his death certificate, but his fatal illness only lasted three days. His funeral was on December 21st, 1919.[6]
John Mills was one of over 34,000 Ohioans to answer Governor John Brough’s call for Ohio National Guard recruits. Earlier in 1864, Brough had gathered together with the governors of Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa and proposed the idea of massive recruitment of the “Hundred Day” men to Lincoln so more army veterans could join Grant on his trek toward the Confederate capitol of Richmond while the guardsmen protect the Union home front. Lincoln accepted this proposal resulting in the “Hundred Day” men playing a significant role in the Civil War.[7]
[1] Ohio Department of Health Death Certificates (Ohio Department of Health) Certificate Number 70061-72964. File Number 71169. Roll 292. Year 1919. Archives Library. Ohio Historical Society. Columbus, OH.
[2] Otterbein College Bulletin Centennial Alumni Register (Westerville, OH: Otterbein College), 61. Otterbein College Archives. Courtright Memorial Library. Westerville, OH.
[3] Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1866, vol. IX, 233. Westerville Public Library. Westerville, OH.
[4] Jim Leeke, ed. A Hundred Days to Richmond: Ohio’s “Hundred Days” Men in the Civil War (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999), xi.
[5] The Civil War, CD-ROM (Fogware Publishing, 2000). Courtright Memorial Library. Otterbein College. Westerville, OH.
[6] Ohio Department of Health Death Certificates (Ohio Department of Health) Certificate Number 70061-72964. File Number 71169. Roll 292. Year 1919. Archives Library. Ohio Historical Society. Columbus, OH.
[7] Richard H. Abbott, Ohio’s Civil War Governors (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1962), 41.