Opdycke’s Tigers in the Civil War

Organized in the fall of 1862, the 125th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was commanded by the aggressive and ambitious Colonel Emerson Opdycke, a citizen-soldier with no military experience who rose to brevet major general.
Part of the Army of the Cumberland, the 125th first saw combat at Chickamauga. Charging into Dyer’s cornfield to blunt a rebel breakthrough, the Buckeyes pressed forward and, despite heavy casualties, drove the enemy back, buying time for the fractured Union army to rally. Impressed by the heroic charge of an untested regiment, Union General Thomas Wood labeled them “Opdycke’s Tigers.”
After losing a third of their men at Chickamauga, the 125th fought engagements across Tennessee and Georgia during 1864, and took part in the decisive battles at Franklin and Nashville.
Drawing on both primary sources and recent scholarship, this is the first full-length history of the regiment in more than 120 years.

Thomas Crowl is a retired veterinarian, nonfiction author and historian. He lives in Georgetown, Kentucky.

Thomas Crowl
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 306
Bibliographic Info: 37 photos, 8 maps, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2019
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7592-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3645-0
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
Introduction 5
1. Volunteers Wanted 9
2. Central Tennessee 19
3. The Road to the River of Death 30
4. Chickamauga, Saturday, September 19 41
5. Chickamauga, Sunday Morning, September 20 48
6. Chickamauga, Sunday Afternoon, September 20 59
7. Bottled Up in Chattanooga 70
8. Missionary Ridge 80
9. Knoxville and East Tennessee 97
10. Rocky Face Ridge 113
11. Resaca 125
12. New Hope Church 133
13. The Battles for Kennesaw Mountain 143
14. Peach Tree Creek 166
15. The Fall of Atlanta 180
16. From Atlanta to Pulaski 197
17. Columbia and Spring Hill 206
18. Franklin 212
19. Nashville 232
20. From Huntsville to Columbus 248
Roster 259
Chapter Notes 274
Bibliography 289
Index 293

• “An inherently fascinating, meticulously researched and impressively detailed account…extraordinary and unreservedly recommended”—Midwest Book Review