Heroes of the Western Theater: Thirty-third Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry
By Lois J. Lambert
(December 2008 Civil War News)

Illustrated, maps, notes, annotated roster, bibliography, 559 pp., 2008. Little Miami Publishing Company, P.O. Box 588, Milford, OH 45150-0588, $45 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Robert L. Durham
Robert L. Durham is a computer specialist. A longtime Civil War buff, he is also interested in Old West history and has written articles and book reviews for Alamo Journal, True West, Journal of the Alamo Battlefield Association, and Alamo de Parras web site at www.flash.net/~alamo3

Review:
The 33rd Ohio Infantry Regiment was one of the earlier Union regiments organized. It was mainly recruited in the summer of 1861 from the counties of south-central Ohio. In October 1861 the regiment departed for the war, being sent to Kentucky.

Before the war ended, they would serve in the battles of Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Resaca and Bentonville, as well as in many skirmishes. Lois Lambert provides an excellent account of all their battles and campaigns, with a few digressive chapters.

Eight of the 22 members of Andrews’ Raiders, the men who captured a locomotive in Georgia, running it north in the “Great Locomotive Chase,” were volunteers from the 33rd. One of Lambert’s chapters traces the circumstances of this raid, especially following the eight infantrymen of the 33rd Ohio.

Another tells some of the stories of 33rd Ohio prisoners of war, the majority of them captured at the battle of Chickamauga.

Lambert also follows the career of Joshua W. Sill, the 33rd’s original commander, from his birth, through his tenure at West Point where one of his best friends was Philip H. Sheridan, and his early military career at Ft. Vancouver, Washington Territory and other posts.

She follows Sill’s Civil War career, even after he left the 33rd to go on to brigade and division command. He was killed at Stones River while in command of a brigade in Sheridan’s Corps.

This is a well-written volume and well worth purchasing, although the cost is a little steep. The author’s writing style is interesting, using sidebars and tables to add much supplemental information. The annotated roster will be especially valuable for any searching for genealogical source material.

I’m proud to have Heroes on my bookshelf. Anyone interested in the Western Theater of the Civil War should considering adding it to theirs.