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We Were the Ninth

A History of the Ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry April 17, 1861 to June 7, 1864

Constantin Grebner Frederic Trautmann

9781612779522
480 pages
The Kent State University Press
Overview

We Were The Ninth is a translation, carefully edited and thoroughly annotated, of an important Civil War regiment. The Ninth Ohio—composed of Ohio Germans mostly from Cincinnati—saw action at Rich Mountain and Carnifex Ferry in West Virginia, Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, Hoover’s Gap, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Chickamauga.

The Ninth began the War amid misgivings (Would a German-speaking regiment in the Union Army cause chaos?) and ended its active service among the honored units. It continued as an active German-speaking veterans’ organization. Constantin Grebner published this significant history, in German, in 1897 and noted that it “is intended as neither a history of the war nor a definitive account of battles. Rather, it is restricted to a straight­forward, veracious report of what happened to The Ninth, and to recounting as accurately as possible The Ninth’s experiences as a wartime regiment.” Frederic Trautmann’s English translation is faithful to Grebner’s original text, preserving its integrity while maintaining its energy, precision, and grace.

Author Bio
Frederic Trautmann is professor emeritus of rhetoric and communication at Temple University. He has written more than fifty articles, reviews, and short translations for professional and historical journals and is the author, editor, or translator of numerous books.