CIVIL WAR MOLLUS MEDAL 34TH OVI PIATT'S ZOUAVES

CIVIL WAR MOLLUS MEDAL 34TH OVI PIATT'S ZOUAVES
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, rare numbered MOLLUS medal 9026 identified to Surgeon John H. Ayres of the 34th OVI, no residence listed. Enlisted on 1/16/1862 as an Assistant Surgeon, he was commissioned into Field & Staff OH 34th Infantry and discharged on 2/24/1865. The 34th Ohio Infantry Regiment was raised at Camp Lucas near Cincinnati on September 1, 1861. Most of the recruits came from the western part of the state. After training and drilling, the new regiment moved to Camp Dennison on September 1 and then entrained for the front lines, arriving on September 20 at Camp Enyart on the Kanawha River in western Virginia. It initially served in the forces under George B. McClellan, and then under a variety of generals for the next two years while engaging in several raids and operations in the region. On September 25, 1861, the 34th Ohio won a victory at the Battle of Kanawha Gap near present-day Chapmanville, West Virginia. When the regiment's term of enlistment expired late in 1863, the men voted to re-enlist on December 23. They were part of Crook's Expedition against the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad in early May and fought in the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain on May 9 and later in the Battle of Cove Mountain and in other smaller engagements in the region. The regiment was re-mustered as a veteran regiment on January 19, 1864, and participated in many of the battles of the Valley Campaigns of 1864, including the Battle of Opequon near Winchester, Virginia. The 34th Ohio suffered 10 Officers and 120 enlisted men killed in battle or died from wounds, and 130 enlisted men died from disease for a total of 260 fatalities. The much-depleted regiment was amalgamated with the 36th Ohio Infantry on February 22, 1865.