The Squirrel Hunters 1862

Side A: The American Civil War was in its second year, and Confederate forces were advancing in the east and in the west. Confederates led by General Edward Kirby Smith had defeated a Union Force at Richmond, Kentucky on August 30, 1862. Word was received that they were advancing on Cincinnati. Ohio Governor David Tod issued a proclamation to all Ohioans: “Our Southern border is threatened with invasion. I therefore recommend that all the loyal men of your Counties at once form themselves into military companies. Gather up all the arms in the county and furnish yourselves with ammunition for the same. The service will be but for a few days. The soil of Ohio must not be invaded by the enemies of our glorious government.” (continued on other side) Side B: (continued from other side) Over 15,000-armed men went to defend Cincinnati from the advancing Confederates. They came dressed in all types of clothing and armed with an assortment of weapons usually used to hunt squirrels. A Confederate scout reported that, “They call them Squirrel Hunters; farm boys that never had to shoot at the same squirrel twice.” For two weeks, the Squirrel Hunters manned hastily prepared but substantial earthworks across from Cincinnati in Northern Kentucky for an attack that never came. Brown County provided over 1,300 Squirrel Hunters for the defense of southern Ohio, more than any other Ohio county. In 1908, the Ohio Legislature voted each volunteer to be paid $13, a usual month’s pay for a Union soldier. Just as the Lexington Minutemen responded to the call to defend their homes in 1776, the Squirrel Hunters will long be remembered as answering the call to defend their homes in 1862.