Elias B. Wallick

Elias enlists at Strasburg, Ohio, joining men from Tuscarawas County who become Company E of the 126th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

The 126th Infantry is organized at Camp Steubenville, Ohio, and mustered into Federal service.

The regiment moves to Parkersburg, WV, then on to Cumberland, MD.

Elias and his comrades perform guard duty on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Martinsburg, VA. Typhoid fever and smallpox wreak havoc in the ranks over the winter, killing on average six men out of every company.

Elias and the 126th pursue General Lee to Manassas Gap and see action at Wapping Heights. Elias is hospitalized with chronic rheumatism; he returns to duty July 15th.

Elias and his regiment patrol New York City streets after martial law is declared as a result of the summer draft riots.

The regiment sees action in the Bristoe Campaign and at Brandy Station on Nov 8th, advancing to the line of the Rappahannock River.

The regiment is in winter quarters in preparation for General Grant's spring offensive.

Battle of the Wilderness. The 126th is engaged on the extreme right flank of the Union line. On the second day, May 6, they are forced to retreat when Confederate General John B. Gordon initiates a fierce counterattack. The regiment sustains many casualties — of about 400 men on the field, 230 are killed or wounded. The following is an account written by Francis Cordrey of Company E (Elias' company) and what he saw at "The Battle of the Wilderness":

The sun had veiled his face beneath the horizon as if refusing to longer witness the bloody scene. Darkness had gathered around us and the Rebels in our midst. Flames issued from guns like many flashes of lightning and the roar of musketry was like that of thunder. Shrieks and groans of the wounded and dying at our feet told that the destruction of the line was appalling. Blue and gray lay side by side and their blood flowed into the same pool while blue and gray stood over them with ball and bayonet, adding more crimson to the pool and often mistaking friend for foe in the dark. Our regiment, consisting of about four hundred men on the field that day, lost 230 killed and wounded.

Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse and the Assault at "The Bloody Angle." The 126th Ohio is sent to the front line within 100 yards of the enemy breastworks. With no protection save a few pine trees, the men lie down, load lying, then rise to their knees to fire. Each man exhausts fifty rounds and then takes cartridges from the boxes of slain comrades. The regiment holds its position for nearly two hours before falling back.

North Anna River — the regiment sees little action.

The Assaults at Cold Harbor. The 126th Ohio makes two assaults over three days. In the final assault on June 3rd, General Grant orders a frontal attack on entrenched Confederate positions, resulting in 7,000 Union casualties in less than an hour. Grant later wrote: "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made."

Attack on Petersburg. The Union Army begins its nine-month siege. Elias is at the extreme northern flank of the Union trenches at the beginning of the siege.

Battle of Monocacy Junction. Elias is detached from Petersburg and quickly moved to Maryland to help thwart Confederate General Jubal Early's planned attack on Washington D.C. The opposing Union commander is General Lew Wallace, future author of Ben Hur. The regiment is in the center of the Union lines near Thomas House and counters two fierce Confederate attacks before retreating. Although a tactical defeat, it is a strategic victory — the battle delays the Confederates long enough for Federal reinforcements to reach Washington.

The 126th is attached to General Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

Battle of Opequon Creek (Third Winchester). Elias is mortally wounded. The battle is the largest and most desperately contested engagement of the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley, resulting in more than 9,000 casualties.

Excerpt from the National Parks Service Study Team of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign:
Overview of the BattleOpequon Creek, or Third Winchester, is the largest and most desperately contested battle of the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley, resulting in more than 9,000 casualties. The battle is the turning point of the war in the Valley, marking the rise of Sheridan and the decline of Confederate power. The Confederate Army of Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early suffers about a 23 percent casualty rate. Casualties for the larger Union army under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan exceeded 5,000, nearly 20 percent.

Mistakes are made at the Battle of OpequonAt 1 a.m. on September 19, the morning call rang throughout the Army of the Shenandoah. By 4:30 a.m., the Union army encountered its first major hurdle of the day. After crossing Opequon Creek, the Berryville Road passes through the two-mile narrow Berryville Canyon. General Horatio Wright's Sixth Corps [Elias's Corps] encounters heavy resistance when it finally exits the canyon. Additionally, Wright has ordered the slow-moving wagon trains and ambulances to accompany the soldiers into the canyon. Soon, the narrow canyon becomes clogged with men pushing forward, wagon trains laden with supplies, and the wounded filtering back to makeshift hospitals. General William Emory, leading the Nineteenth Corp, incensed by Wright's incompetence, ignores Wright's orders and directs his men to circumvent the wagons. Soldiers of the Nineteenth Corps climb along the sides of the hills and trample over the wounded, seriously affecting their morale before even seeing the enemy and delaying their arrival on the field. Confederate General Early later wrote about the battle, "When I look back to the battle, I can but attribute my escape from utter annihilation to the incompetence of my opponent." General Sheridan's attempt to squeeze 20,000 troops through the narrow canyon is a tactical blunder that eliminates any possibility of destroying General Early's troops in detail.

As Elias and the 126th emerge from Berryville Canyon they form a line of battle and become painfully aware of the daunting task before them. The regiment must charge across open ground, then march uphill into the face of Confederate guns that are placed on the crest of the ridge. The casualty rate is very high and this may be when Elias is mortally wounded.

Elias B. Wallick dies of his wounds. He is 26 years old. He is buried at Winchester National Cemetery, Winchester, Virginia — Section 12, Site 327.