Why should the 166th Ohio regiment be considered famous?

[STS Lincolnite]

(07-15-2025 05:45 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  I have been truly surprised by the number of attempted guesses thus far - a grand total of zero.

President Lincoln made a speech to these soldiers as they departed service to their country as a regiment of soldiers. As far as I know, this is the only detailed documented speech by President Lincoln of this nature. And, this is despite the fact that he began his speech that day to the soldiers with these words: "I almost always feel inclined, when I say anything to soldiers, to impress upon them, in a few brief remarks, the importance of success in this contest."

As some members of the Lincoln Discussion Symposium may remember, the speech was made the day before President Lincoln asked the members of his cabinet to sign the "Blind Memorandum" on August 23, 1864. It must certainly have been a low point in his own morale. But it was an important speech about the importance of democracy.

It should be noted that Lincoln did make at least two other speeches of the same tenor around the same time in August of 1864. He spoke to the 164th Ohio on August 18 and the 148th Ohio on August 31. Both are in the collected works and all of the speeches are similar to each other.

As you say, these speeches were during the same month that Lincoln wrote the “blind memorandum.” His speeches were, I’m sure, at least partially intended as an encouragement to soldiers returning home to advocate for a vote for the Lincoln administration (for themselves and their families and communities) in the 1864 election cycle.