Oberlin Civil War Soldiers Database

About this Project
In James H. Fairchild's 1883 book "Oberlin: The Colony and the College" he estimated that 850 graduates or undergraduates of Oberlin College fought in the Civil War. AmeriCorps Member Richard Donegan spent over a year researching and compiling a list of resident and student veterans because no such list existed, save for the names of war dead on the Soldiers Monument now in Wright Park.

Donegan was with the Heritage Center as part of the Ohio History Service Corps program to place AmeriCorps members at locations throughout Ohio to assist with local history projects and events that commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

If using or citing this database, please credit: "Oberlin Civil War Soldiers Database compiled by Richard Donegan for the Oberlin Heritage Center, 2013."

Who is included in the database?
The spreadsheet includes soldiers who could be proved (through enrollment records, militia records, census records) to have been Oberlin or Russia Township citizens at the outbreak of the war, and Oberlin College, Theology and Preparatory Department students (through the same records above as well as college and alumni records) of the same. Students who graduated in 1860 and were found to be living somewhere besides Oberlin were not included.

While the list is extensive and believed to be near complete, it is impossible to guarantee that every individual has been documented. Accuracy is also largely dependent on the accuracy of the original documents consulted.

It is our hope that this database will help family and researchers learn more about individual soldier lives and overall patterns of community participation in the Civil War. If you have suggestions, corrections, or information you want to add to the database, please contact us at [email protected].

Fields of information included in the database

• Names of individuals
• Rank
• Unit
• Company
• Occupation at the time of enlistment
• Age at entering service
• Date of entering service
• Period of service
• Remarks about service
• Oberlin Affiliation
• Residence at time of enlistment
• Place of birth
• Date of birth
• If deceased during or as a result of war, does the name appear on the Oberlin Soldiers Monument?
• Participant in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue (1858)
• Citations
• Additional notes