| John Nelson Fouts | 133rd Ohio Voluntary Infantry |
| by Greg White |
John Nelson Fouts was born to a farming family in Darke County Ohio in 1846. John was the only son of his parents Frederick and Catherine. John had three older sisters and one younger sister. Growing up, all of the Fouts children served as farmhands on the family farm. Being the only son, he was relied upon at an early age to help his father with the farm work.
John joined C Company of the 133rd regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. John was mustered out to join the other regiments called in for the final 100 days. The 133rd was organized at Camp Chase Ohio on May 6, 1864. This regiment spent roughly a month drilling and training for battle before moving to Bermuda Hundred. This regiment was under the command of Colonel Gustavus L. Innis.
The 133rd regiment was responsible for the destruction of railroad lines throughout Richmond and Petersburg. The troops helped reinforce an armory while they used cannons to hold off the rebel troops for several hours. The troops had to hold off rebel troops as well as bend and burn miles of railroad. They were also responsible for repairing telegraph lines at Fort Powhatan. This regiment repaired telegraph lines and also built a rather large signal tower.
These soldiers only served for a one hundred days term and didn’t face any real battlefield action, but this regiment still lost one enlisted soldier and one officer. Twenty-nine other members of the regiment died due to disease. This regiment faced extreme amounts of sickness during their term of service. It was noted from “Dyer’s Compendium,” that at one point the regiment had 300 men on the sick list.
John attended the Otterbein Academy in 1865. John was married to Elizabeth Purdy on March 22, 1866 in Highland Ohio. In Highland, John and Elizabeth lived as a farming family with no children. John died at a rather young age. In 1873, John had just turned twenty when he deceased.