We spent the better part of a month at Camp Taylor near Cleveland learning to be soldiers. Finally, on the 22 May 1861, we left Camp Taylor and marched to the Cleveland Railroad Depot. We were cheered the entire way by large crowds of citizens. We boarded a train to and traveled to Columbus, Ohio where we received arms, uniforms, and other equipment. That same day, we got on a second train, heading east, and soon arrived in Zanesville, Ohio on May 23 at about 4:00 AM. Read More
My father, John George Block, was one of about 12,500 Swiss emigrants who arrived in the United States between 1820 and 1850–he landed in the U.S. in 1834 at the age of 33. He was lured by a faraway land and had grown tired of oppressive village traditions. My father was a wagon maker by trade and ran his business in Defiance, Ohio, having arrived there in 1841. Read More