Medina County OhArchives Military Records.....Blair, Lewis H. 
Civilwar 166th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
David Holcomb david@holcombs.net October 18, 2006, 5:29 pm

Lewis H. Blair
Lewis H. Blair, according to the "History of Medina County and Ohio" published in
1881, lost his life while in Washington, D.C.,  where he was serving out his term
of
enlistment as a member of Co. C, 79th Ohio National Guard.  It should be noted that
his cousin, Loren H. Phinney served in the same Company.  Loren  would give his son
the middle name Lewis.
The following is a more accurate account.
On July 20, 1863, Loring volunteered and joined the Seventy-ninth Battalion, C
Company of the Ohio National Guard. He volunteered to serve five years.  This
Company was made up of eighty-five volunteers from Lafayette Township and
surrounding areas.  It included two of Loring's cousins, Hamilton M. Blair and
Lewis
H. Blair.  This was a State Militia for the protection of Ohio.  On August 15,
1863,
the unit elected Oscar P. Phillips as its Captain.  Not much is known of the
groups'
work until May of 1864, when the 79th Battalion was mustered into U.S. Service as
part of the 166th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  The following is taken
from "A History of The State of Ohio," Vol. IV. (The Civil War Era) page 428.

 "Believing that the war could be ended by the close of the summer of 1864, if
enough men could be put into the field, it was proposed at a meeting of
northwestern
state governors at Washington that each state supply a quota of men for one hundred
days, to be used chiefly for garrison or guard duty, thus releasing regulars for
field service. The governors agreed, the President accepted the plan and the call
went forth. Brough (then governor of Ohio), through his efficient Adjutant-General,
Benjamin R. Cowen, summoned the newly organized National Guard for this work. The
driving energy of the governor put 35,982 men into federal service within sixteen
days. No other state was so prompt. Only one company refused to serve, and it was
dishonorably dismissed from the National Guard.  The hundred days' men performed a
useful service, mostly behind the lines, but their contribution did not enable the
government to bring the war to an end by autumn, as Brough had hoped. However, he
had done his part."

The 166th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry was organized at Camp Cleveland, Ohio,
May 13 and 15, 1864, to serve one hundred days.  It was composed of the Fifty-ninth
Battalion, Ohio National Guard, from Holmes County; Sixty-third Regiment, Ohio
National Guard, from Huron County; Seventy-ninth Battalion, Ohio National Guard,
from Medina County; and one company of the Fifty-second Battalion, Ohio National
Guard, from Wayne County.  Twenty-seven out of eighty-five members of Company C,
Seventy-ninth Battalion, Ohio National Guard went into Company D, 166th Regiment
Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  Fifty-eight members did not sign up for the "Hundred
Days."  Loring and his cousin, Hamilton Blair, did not sign up, however, his cousin
Lewis Blair (Hamilton's half brother) did.  On June 2, 1864, Lewis became the first
member of the 166th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry to die.  In all, forty members
would die in the war.  Out of the twenty-seven members that enlisted for the
"Hundred Days," from Lafayette, three would die while serving: Lewis, Jacob A.
Miller, and Levi Miller. 


Additional Comments:
Lewis' grave is in Shaw Cemetery, Lafayette, Ohio. Rest in Peace, cousin Lewis.
A photo of the headstone can be seen at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/medina/photos/tombstones/shaw/blair448nph.jpg

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/medina/military/civilwar/other/blair24nmt.txt

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