The Seneachie Letters: A Virginia Yankee with the 32nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Even to his comrades in the 32nd Ohio, William Mosby McLain was a man with an air of mystery. Born in Washington, D.C. to parents active in the anti-slavery movement, McLain was living in Richmond, Virginia when the Civil broke out in April 1861. Determined to do his part in the war, he returned to his father’s native home in Ohio and enlisted in Co. B, 32nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry in August 1861. We know some of what McLain experienced during the Civil War because of the numerous beautifully written letters he sent to the editor of the Urbana Citizen & Gazette. Written under the pen name “Seneachie,” McLain’s missives told the story of the ill-starred 32nd Ohio, writing poignantly of the many defeats the regiment suffered while in Virginia. Captured at Harper's Ferry in 1862, the regiment was paroled and transferred to the western theater. Greeted as the Harper's Ferry cowards, the regiment proved its mettle at Champion's Hill when it captured a battery.