The monument to the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Antietam is on Branch Avenue. (Branch Avenue North tour map) It was dedicated in 1903.
The 23rd Ohio was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes until he was wounded at the Battle of South Mountain on September 14. The regiment would then be commanded at Antietam by Major James M.S. Comly, a newspaper editor from Columbus. Lieutenant Colonel Hayes would recover to be promoted to brigadier general and eventually be elected President of the United States.
Another future President, William McKinley, served in the regiment at Antietam as commissary sergeant. He was noted for serving hot coffee and warm food at Antietam to every man of the regiment while under fire. President McKinley is honored by a monument near Burnside’s Bridge.
Text from the front of the monument:
OHIO
23d Infantry
Commanded by Major James M. Comly
Hugh Ewing’s (1st) Brigade
Kanawha Division
Ninth Army Corps
Army of the Potomac
Text from the rear of the monument:
This regiment with its brigade crossed
the Ford of Antietam Creek in the
afternoon of Sept. 17, 1862, and held this
position until the close of the battle.
Its loss was 8 men killed, 1 officer and
58 men wounded,
2 men missing, total 69.
Two of its members afterwards became
President of the United States:
Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley.
Location of the monument
The monument to the 23rd Ohio at Antietam is on Branch Avenue (39°27’01.3″N 77°44’25.1″W).
See more on the history of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War