Samuel Wolff
Col. Wolff was born in Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pa., June 1st., 1839, and came with his parents to Richland Co. in 1854, where he worked with his father on the farm, two and one-half miles north of Mansfield, until the year 1859, when he came to Mansfield and commenced the trade of carpentering in the shop of his brother, where he served an apprenticeship of two years. At the breaking out of the war in 1861, he enlisted in the first company organized In the evening of the noted 17th. day of April; his name appears among the first in Co. I, 1st. O.V.I., three months service, under Capt. Wm. McLaughlin; with this company he served his full term of enlistment, and with it was in the two engagements of Vienna and the first battle of Bull Run. July 21, 1861, his term of service having expired, he returned to Mansfield and again commenced work at his trade, at which he continued until the 21st. day of September, 1861, when he enlisted in an “independent rifle company” then being organized in the western part of the state; this company was rapidly being recruited when John Sherman returned with an order from Washington to organize the 64th. and 65th. Regiments; by the common consent of the independent company, they entered the 64th. Regiment of Co. A, this being the first company in Camp Buckingham; while here, Mr. Wolff was made Second Lieutenant; the 64th. and 65th. Regiments, known while in Camp Buckingham as the “Sherman Brigade” were after their departure from Mansfield, always known as the “Harker Brigade”, and it was first assigned to the 3rd. Division, 21st. Army Corps, and took part in the battle of Shiloh; after thi battle, Lieut. Wolff was promoted to the first lieutenancy of the same company; soon after, he was engaged in the Buell raid and the battle of Stone River, Dec. 29, 1862 to Jan. 3, 1863. It was in this long engagement that Lieut. Wolff was slightly wounded by a fragment of shell, but not disabled; he was promoted to Captain of Co. H, and as such, was in the battle of Chickamanga, Sept. 19 and 20, 1863; at the battle of Missionary Ridge, Ga., Nov. 25, 1863, Capt. Wolff received a gun shot wound through the right arm, which compelled him to relinquish his command for about two months; afterward, with his company and regiment, he was engaged in numerous battles until the close of the war, among them the battle of Rocky Face Ridge, May 9, 1864; Resaca, May 14 and 15, 1864; New Hope Church, May 27, 1864; Kenesaw Mountain, June 27, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, July 20, 1864; Atlanta, July 22, 1864; Jonesboro, Sept. 1, 1864; Lovejoy Station, Sept 3, 1864; Spring Hill, Tenn., Nov. 29, 1864; in which engagement Capt. Wolff was slightly wounded by a gunshot through both legs; at the battle of Franklin, Nov. 30, 1864; during a charge of the enemy, Capt. Wolff became engaged in a hand-to-hand combat between the lines with Col. John B. Austin, of a Mississippi regiment; the Union forces falling back for a time, charged upon the enemy, who had captured the works, driving them out, when Wolff, coming up with Col. Austin, demanded his sword; but this he at first refused, and bravely defended himself, but was soon compelled to surrender and reluctantly delivered his sword to Wolff, who now has it in his possession; in the night of the 20th. of June, 1864, Capt. Wolff received a wound on the head from a falling limb while in charge of a company of choppers, the effects of which he will doubtless carry to his grave, being now a constant sufferer and threatened with the loss of sight in February, 1865, Capt. Wolff was prompted to Major of the regiment, and soon after, was made Lieutenant Colonel, and was at the discharge of the regiment, Jan. 3, 1866, at Columbus, holding the commission of Colonel, acknowledged as a brave and good soldier, with an army record of which any man might well be proud; it is sad to think that, after doing this service for his country, he should be a constant sufferer in his after life. Col. Wolff was married in March, 1864, to Miss M.J. Browneller, who died in the year 1865. In 1868, he was again married to Miss Susan Urvan, who died in Mansfield, in 1870.
From The Ohio Liberal, August 15, 1883