Newsletter of the 41^st Ohio Volunteer Infantry

December, 2000 Issue

Our Chief Executive Officer, Joe McMahan, is the primary contributor for this month's newsletter. Contributions for the monthly newsletter are welcome from any member, and simply need to be submitted to your humble editor prior to the tenth of each month. Your editor reserves the right to tinker a bit with your piece to fit it into the newsletter, but I promise not to do anything major without your permission.

As a reminder, our current winter drill schedule is as follows:

January begins our drilling season. Drill is scheduled for Sunday 01/21/2000 at 2pm, with a brief business meeting following. Because of some unexpected time restrictions with the Oakes road facility we only have use of the gym for 2pm through 4pm (not 5pm like in previous years). Therefore please time your arrival to be there no later than 1:45pm and be 'geared up' by 2pm so we can maximize our drill time. Several of our members will be taking advantage of the winter schedule to better learn their new NCO and Officer duties (Joe Guy 1^st Lt, Dan McClory 1^st Sgt and Joe McMahan 1^st Cpl). Those of you wise enough to remain in the ranks, please help them as best you can, and tolerate them otherwise.

A short business meeting will take place after the drill. Topics to be covered include:

• The formal vote for the administrative officer positions (President and Secretary-Treasurer)
• Vote of confidence for all military officers
• Dues (it's a new year, after all - see below for more on this)
• Alternative drill sites to the Oakes Road facility for the 2001-2002 winter season
• Regimental flag progress update
• Efforts/volunteers for the February recruiting meeting
• Any other topics that develop

• General review of the highlights (Mumford, Hale Farm and Mespo) and lowlights (Beaver Falls) of this past year.
• How we can improve communication about events.
• Safety and in particular a new brand of musket caps that seem to be causing injuries. We decided to make sure not to use this brand of caps. For more detail please talk with me or with one of the other unit officers.
• In Trudy's absence, Mike gave a brief treasurer's report.
• A reminder: dues for 2001 are due with the new year. $10 for a single membership and $15 for a family membership.
• Ron presented a brief recap about the regimental flag.
• Member(s) nominated for President: Joe McMahan (even though we left the floor open for quite a while). Write-in candidates are more than welcome.
• Member(s) nominated for Secretary/Treasurer: Trudy Nelson.
• reminders because of the time commitments for Mike Nelson (school) and Joe Guy (chorus), they will not be quite as active as they have in the past. All members need to step up and help with some of the 'behind the scene' things that Mike and Joe have handled in the past.
• Alan Bisenkamp volunteered to take over the primary recruiting duties for the unit. He wants to be known as the recruiting private not officer. As always it is the duty of every member to try to recruit new members whenever possible. Please assist Alan in anyway that you can.
• Dan McClory volunteered to take over publishing the newsletter. Please help Dan by submitting anything that might be of interest to the 41^st (event reviews, short articles, etc).
• A proposal that members 'pre-pay' event fees.
• What kind of activities would interest the civilians in the 41^st.
• Other things that I probably should mention but have slipped my mind and since I'm late in getting this to Dan don't have time to remember.
• Thanks to Rachel, Dan, Mary Lou, and Ron for providing refreshments and drink

Even though we have had our ups and downs this past re-enactment season I hope that everyone had fun and learned a thing or two, I know that I did. Here's to an even better season in 2001.

Huzzah, break ranks, march.

Have a safe and joyous Holiday Season!

In December of 1862, the 41^st OVI, along with the rest of the Army of the Cumberland, were in the area of Nashville, Tennessee, searching for the Confederate Army of Tennessee. On Christmas day the regiment was ordered to pack 3 days rations in their haversacks, and the next day they were on the march toward Murfreesboro. They had been marching off and on since September 6, often without baggage or tents, for a distance of over 600 miles, regularly engaging in skirmishes with the Confederate rear guard. Here in Tennessee, during the last few days of December, the pursuit and skirmishing would finally climax in a full-scale battle near Stone's River. The battle that occurred during the frigid days of December 31 through January 2 could best be described as a draw, though the Confederate army eventually chose to leave the field. For the 41^st Ohio, 14 of their pards would lie dead on the field, and would not take up the march again.