Otterbein Civil War Soldiers Biography

    General Morris Schaff was a soldier in the Civil War.  However, he did not fight on the battlefield like most other soldiers from Ohio.  He was one of the many men that worked behind the scenes helping the war to be carried out effectively.  The way in which he did this was by being an officer in the United States Army Ordnance Corp.  However, Schaff had to accomplish something before he was able to put on his navy blue Union Army uniform.
    Before a man was able to become an officer in the Ordnance Corp, he had to attend West Point Military Academy.  Schaff did just that.  He left his hometown of Kirkersville, Oh, where he lived with his mother, Charolette, and his father, John, as a farmer, in May of 1858.  His class was officially enrolled on June 22, 1858.  After a four-year enrollment, Schaff graduated West Point in June of 1862.  He was immediately commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of the Ordnance Corp under Captain T.G. Baylor.  He was sent to Fort Monroe Arsenal, which was the base of supplies for the Army of the Potomac.
    Schaff was not to stay at Fort Monroe for long.  On April 16, 1863, he received notice from Baylor that he was to report to General Hooker because he was assigned to duty with the Army of the Potomac.  He was only 22 years old when he joined one of the most influential armies to fight in the war.  Because of his association with the Army of the Potomac, he was also associated with the Battles of Gettysburg and Spotsylvania.  At Gettysburg, his duty was to collect the weapons that remained on the field after the battle had ceased.  Schaff’s other job with the Army of the Potomac was to be in charge of maintaining Ordnance depots, which stored and tested weapons for the war.
    Schaff worked with many of the men famous for their work during the Civil War.  Some of these men are Custer, Hooker, Meade, Grant, and Burnside.  Although Schaff is not a name that many people would associate with the war, but his experiences during it affected his life.  They affected it so much so that he wrote several books about them.  He is the proud author of The Battle of the Wilderness, The Sunset of the Confederacy, and a book on the life of Jefferson Davis.  He also authored two other books that did not pertain to the Civil War itself, but are still nonetheless as important to him as the others.  These books are Etna and Kirkersville and The Spirit of Old West Point.  
    General Morris Schaff may not have become famous from his work done during the Civil War, but he was still a key figure in it.  His obituary ran in “The Granville Times” on October 24, 1929.  It stated that he died in Southboro, Massachusetts.  Schaff was just one of many men who were proud Ohioans who became proud soldiers during the American Civil War.

Bibliography 

“A Brief History of the Academy.”  http://www.usma.edu/bicentennial/history/ (accessed March 1, 2003).

Bruce, Robert V.  Lincoln and the Tools of War.  Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1956.

“The Civil War CD-Rom: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.” Guild Press of Indiana Inc., 2000. V.1.60.

Dutton, Major C.E. “The Ordnance Department.”  http:www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/R&H/R&H-OD.htm (accessed March 1, 2003).

Echoes of Glory: Arms and Equipment of The Union. Alexandria: The Time Inc. Book Company, 1991.

“Evolution of the Ordnance Department.” http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/RevWar/risch/chpt-11.htm (accessed March 1, 2003).

Hernandez, Sgt. Patrick. “1st New Mexico Volunteer Infantry: 'Kit Carson’s Own': Ordnance Department.”    http://www.1stnmvi.com/ordnance_department.htm (accessed March 1, 2003)

“Licking County Ohio, deaths, book 2, 1882-1901 S-Z.”  http://www.kinfinder.com/deaths/LickCoDeathsBK2SZ.htm (accessed March 1, 2003).

Schaff, Morris.  The Battle of the Wilderness. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1912.

 ---.  The Spirit of Old West Point-1858-1862. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1907.

“West Point Bicentennial: The Early Years: 1776-1817.”  http://www.usma.edu/bicentennial/history/1776.asp (accessed March 1, 2003).

Gen. Morris Schaff