THE 23rd OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY

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Rutherford B. Hayes

William McKinley
Did you know that two future presidents served in the same military unit together for the entire Civil War? The unit was the 23rd Ohio Volunteer infantry and the presidents were Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley. Both served with distinction. Hayes was 21 years older than McKinley. He was born in 1822 and McKinley was born in 1843. Mckinley was only 18 when he enlisted as a private but by the end of the war, due to bravery and ingenuity, he had achieved the rank of Brevet Major. Hayes would eventually assume command of the regiment and finish the war as a Major General. The only major battle that the unit fought in was Antietam but they spent most of the war fighting against guerilla's and Confederate forces in the rugged mountainous terrain of West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. Hayes would serve one term as president from 1877 to to 1881 and Mckinley served from 1897 to 1901 when he was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz early in his second term. His Vice President Theodore Roosevelt would become president as the result of his death.

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