“Are you alright Mr. President?”

“I’ll be fine, Mr. President.”

A few days ago, I sat down to begin reading Bruce Catton’s famous trilogy on the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War. (I have been meaning to read this epic series for years and finally sat down to begin to accomplish this task.)

In the first volume of the series, Mr. Lincoln’s Army, Catton shares the story two members of the 23rd Ohio at the onset of the Battle of South Mountain just before the Battle of Antietam.

Here are Catton’s words:

“Then the 23rd Ohio came up to help, and the two regiments went storming up the hill, firing as they went. The lieutenant colonel of the 23rd, a promising chap named Rutherford B. Hayes, was shot down, wounded: William McKinley, sergeant in the same regiment, was unhurt.”

How amazing is that? One regiment, two future Presidents of the United States.

Rutherford B. Hayes was elected President in 1876. He served as the nation’s 19th President from 1877 to 1881.

William McKinley was elected President in 1896. He served as the nation’s 25th President from 1897 to 1901.

***

UPDATE from my son Alex:

Every US President who fought in the civil war was born in Ohio.

• Grover Cleveland was the only president between Lincoln and McKinley not to serve at all (he paid someone to take his place)
  
• Neither Andrew Johnson nor Chester A. Arthur fought in any battles
  • Johnson was the Military Governor of Tennessee
  • Arthur was the Quartermaster General of the New York militia
    
• The other five (Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, McKinley) were all born in Ohio.