When: June 14th
Where: La Navona, 154 North Hamilton Road. Gahanna Ohio 43230
Time: 7pm
Speaker: Keith Krinn
Topic: 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Keith’s presentation on June 14th is entitled “Mein Talbuch of the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry” OR “War’s Late Casualty” and will be about the history of this storied regiment, much of which base on a forgotten diary of a member of the regiment. During Keith’s research of the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, he discovered there was a diary published in 1896 in Cincinnati by the widow of Johann Stuber entitled Mein Tagebuch über die Erlebnisse im Revolutions-kriege von 1861 bis 1865, translated from German, My Diary of the Experiences in the War of the Rebellion from 1861 to 1865. The book had only been printed in German and the only copy Keith could find was housed in the library of Case-Western Reserve. Keith obtained a micro-card copy and paid to have it translated into English – before the computer age in 1982. As it turned out, Johann Stuber and John Krinn, although serving in different companies of the regiment, were both promoted to 2nd lieutenant on the same day! Keith’s presentation of the exploits of the 58th Ohio will largely be based on the diary and will bring forward items of interest that other than in the Stuber diary have never been told.
The 58th Ohio Infantry was organized at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio and mustered in for three years’ service on January 28, 1862 under the command of Colonel Valentine Bausenwein. The regiment was attached to 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, Army of the Tennessee, to July 1862 and upon leaving Camp Chase in late January traveled to Cincinnati, embarked on steamers and saw immediate action in the battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. In early February of 1862. In fact, according to the Stuber diary, it was Colonel Bausenwein who actually hauled down the Confederate flag and raised the national ensign over Fort Donelson after its fall. The regiment was then assigned to Helena, Arkansas, District of Eastern Arkansas, to November 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, District of Eastern Arkansas, Department of the Tennessee, to December 1862. 1st Brigade, 11th Division, Right Wing, XIII Corps, Department of the Tennessee, to December 1862. The 58th Ohio was in Thayer’s Brigade, Lew Wallace’s Division during the Battle of Shiloh and on the second day of the battle saw heavy action upon arrival on the field. One of its members, David Orbansky received the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry at Shiloh.
The regiment was then assigned to the 1st Brigade, 4th Division, Sherman’s Yazoo Expedition, to January 1863 and took part in the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou and lost heavily. In fact, John Krinn, my great-great uncle was shot cleanly through the knee and fortunately survived without an amputation. The regiment was reassigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XV Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to February 1863. Detached duty on ironclads for Mississippi River Squadron to September 1863. The diary went into great detail about the ironclad service and due to the close heavy shelling, many had damaged hearing for the rest of their lives. After the fall of Vicksburg, the regiment was assigned to the 1st Brigade 1st Division, XVII Corps, to September 1864 and post and defenses of Vicksburg, Mississippi, to September 1865 where they served in the capacity of provost marshal for the city. In one final cruel act, a detachment of the 58th Ohio was assigned guard duty on the upriver Mississippi voyage of the Sultana.
Keith L. Krinn has 42 years of environmental health experience and is currently the Administrator of the Environmental Health Division of Columbus Public Health. Under Keith’s leadership, Columbus Public Health has received numerous national b
est practice awards. Previously Mr. Krinn was Chief of Environmental Health Field Activities with the Oakland County Health Division in Southfield, Michigan. In addition to the Ohio RS, he holds equivalent credentials for Michigan, Nevada, and NEHA.
Keith has a Baccalaureate degree in environmental health from Indiana State University and a Master of Arts degree in environmental health administration from Central Michigan University. He was appointed by Michigan Governor John M. Engler to the Michigan Board of Sanitarians and served as Vice-Chair from 1994-96. He was appointed by Ohio Governor John R. Kasich to the Ohio Board of Sanitarian Registration in 2015 for a three-year term. Mr. Krinn was awarded Diplomate Certification in the American Academy of Sanitarians in 1997. He also holds a Commission as an officer of the Food and Drug Administration. Mr. Krinn served as President of the National Environmental Health Association in 2010-11, and served for five years on the NEHA Board of Directors.
Keith’s interest in the American Civil War goes back as well as he can recollect, to around age nine at the beginning of the Civil War Centennial in 1961. Keith learned from his father his great grandfather, Daniel Krinn, was a veteran of the 151st Ohio Volunteer Infantry and today owns Daniel’s 1863 Springfield musket and bayonet. Keith read everything he could get his hands on about the Civil War and eventually as he became involved in genealogy, learned Daniel had two brothers, George the younger one, and John, the older sibling who were both members of the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and their company was raised in Hocking County as the family lived on a farm outside of Logan. As Keith began serious genealogical research about his family – centered on the Civil War aspect – he eventually traced his family back to the year 1530 in Denkendorf, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany and learned his great-great grandfather, Gottleib Krinn, emigrated from there and settled in Hocking County in 1833. During Keith’s research in the early 1980’s, Keith became aware the 58th Ohio was originally slated to become Ohio’s Fourth German Regiment, but since it could only raise six full companies of German-speaking troops and had to be completed with four companies of English-speaking soldiers, it lost that designation and was mustered into service at Camp Chase as the 58th O.V.I. on January 28, 1862 under the command of Colonel Valentine Bausenwein and served for the duration of the war, being mustered out on September 16, 1865.
While living in Michigan Keith was a member of the Michigan Regimental Roundtable in Farmington Hills and was a founding member and first Camp Commander of the Israel P. Richardson Camp #2, Department of Michigan, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. After relocating to Ohio in 2003 he joined the Central Ohio Civil War Roundtable and joined the Governor William Dennison Camp #1, Department of Ohio, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and served as Camp Commander in 2005. Not only was Keith able to submit documentation of his ancestry to a Civil War veteran on his father’s side as required for SUVCW membership, but he was also able to provide documentation from his ancestor on his mother’s side, his great-great grandfather, William Alexander Moore, a teamster with the 73rd Illinois.
Keith presently resides in Genoa Township, just north of Westerville, with his wife Peggy and they have two grown daughters.
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of 19th Century History for more than fifty years. He holds advanced degrees in American History and Government, and in Criminal Justice and Law from Webster University in St Louis.
than three dozen articles that have appeared in various national magazines. He is also deeply involved in battlefield preservation work and often assists the Civil War Trust with its efforts, and is also a member of the Governor of Ohio’s Advisory Commission on the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. He is a native of southeastern Pennsylvania, and was educated at Dickinson College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is an attorney in private practice. He and his wife Susan and their three golden retrievers reside in Columbus, Ohio.