Scammon, Eliakim P. [Collection of Eliakim P. Scammon, 23rd regiment, Ohio, infantry] [decimalized]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02414 Author/Creator: Scammon, Eliakim P. Place Written: [various places] Type: Header Record Date: 1862-1866 Pagination: 440 items Order a Copy
Documents pertaining to the Civil War in West Virginia consisting of letters, telegrams, documents, drafts, notes, etc. Scammon saw duty in West Virginia (and briefly captured Feb. 1864-Aug. 1864) and, after the war, was assigned duty in South Carolina and Florida on the Military Examining Board (deciding which officers remained in the army). The collection includes: three ALSs of future President Rutherford B. Hayes, and correspondence with him, Gettysburg-related material (Scammon was ordered to attack Lee's retreating forces), correspondence to and from Scammon, telegrams while in service (mostly in hand of telegrapher), and finally letters addressed to him as President of the Military Examining Board in Florida and South Carolina (1865) requesting to remain in service and providing brief biographies with records of service.
Eliakim Scammon (1816-1894), an original officer in the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, fought in the Seminole Wars, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. Born in Maine, he entered West Point at the age of 16 and graduated ninth in the class of 1837, alongside more celebrated classmates Braxton Bragg, Joseph Hooker, and John Sedgwick. Scammon, an engineer, was asked to serve on Winfield Scott's staff during his 1847 campaign in Mexico. He was dismissed from service in 1856, and moved to Ohio to teach mathematics, first at Mount Saint Mary's, then at the Polytechnic College of the Catholic Institute. In 1861, Ohio governor William Dennison appointed him colonel of the 23rd Ohio Regiment, where he commanded two future presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley. He served under McClellan and Rosecrans in the successful western Virginia campaign. Scammon's regiment was then assigned to the IX Corps of the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Ambrose Burnside, in 1862. After Antietam, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and given command of the District of Kanawha in October 1862. (In that position, Scammon frequently crossed horns with his subordinate, future president Rutherford B. Hayes.) In February 3, 1864, Scammon was captured by Confederate guerrillas while aboard a steamboat. Towards the end of the war he was exchanged, and briefly commanded the District of Florida. He later resumed teaching mathematics at Seton Hall University.
Hayes served in the Civil War in the 23rd Ohio Infantry Regiment as Lt. Colonel, Colonel, and rose to the rank of brevet major general. Between 1867 and 1876 he served three terms as Governor of Ohio, and was elected President in 1876. Scammon was commissioned colonel of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry in June 1861. He was promoted to brigadier general October 15, 1862 and commanded the District of Kanawha until February 3, 1864 when he was captured and held as a prisoner of war until August 3, 1864. In the last months of the war, he commanded the District of Florida.
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