34th Ohio Infantry

The 34th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment  (or 34th OVI) was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It primarily served in the Eastern Theater in what is now West Virginia and in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley region. They are well known for wearing early in the war an americanized zouave uniform which consisted of: A dark blue jacket with red trimming, a pair of sky blue baggy trousers with two stripes of red tape going down vertically, a pair of tan gaiters, and a red ottoman styled fez with a blue tassel. They are known as Piatt's Zouaves

Organization and service
The 34th Ohio was raised at Camp Lucas near Toledo on September 1, 1861. Most of the recruits came from the western part of the state. After training and drilling, the new regiment moved to Camp Dennison on September 1, and then entrained for the front lines, arriving on September 20 at Camp Enyart on the Kanawha River in western Virginia. It initially served in the forces under George B. McClellan, and then under a variety of generals for the next two years while engaging in several raids and operations in the region.

When the regiment's term of enlistment expired late in 1863, the men voted to re-enlist on December 23. They were part of Crook's Expedition against the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad in early May and fought in the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain on May 9 and later in the Battle of Cove Mountain and in other smaller engagements in the region. The 34th OVI was re-mustered as a veteran regiment on January 19, 1864, and participated in many of the battles of the Valley Campaigns of 1864, including the Battle of Opequon near Winchester, Virginia.

The 34th Ohio suffered 10 Officers and 120 enlisted men killed in battle or died from wounds, and 130 enlisted men dead from disease for a total of 260 fatalities. The much depleted regiment was amalgamated with the 36th Ohio Infantry on February 22, 1865.