The Colonels of Spring Grove - Frederick John Mayer

Frederick John Mayer may have the least notable Civil War career of any colonel buried in Spring Grove.  He served as colonel of the 6th Ohio Volunteer Militia* from September 14th until October 2nd, 1862, during the threat to Cincinnati due to the Confederate invasion of Kentucky that summer, and having taken over that position from Colonel Theodore Haffner, who had served in the 9th Ohio (three months).  Mayer, born in Stuttgart on February 10th, 1822, had a more impressive civilian career, serving as Hamilton County commissioner, 1862-64, then as postmaster of Cincinnati, 1864-66, and as Hamilton County treasurer, 1871-72.  He was also a saddler, most likely prior to the war.

Mayer died on June 22nd, 1882.  One can find his grave location in Section 22, Lot 42, but his exact location is unmarked.  Another potential project for the local Sons of Union Veterans camp.

*From Ohio Civil War Central - On September 2, 1862, Major General Lew Wallace, the commanding officer of United States soldiers in Cincinnati, issued an order, requiring each city councilman to organize the adult males in his respective city ward into one hundred-man militia companies. The city eventually provided Wallace with three regiments or thirty companies of men, with the first one being the 6th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Militia, plus a company of cavalry and an artillery battery.

On September 10, 1862, the 6th crossed the Ohio River and took up a position near Fort Mitchell in Kentucky. Smith's Confederates withdrew on September 12, prompting officials to order the 6th to return to Cincinnati on September 13. The organization spent the next few weeks performing garrison and provost-guard duty in the city, before being discharged from service on October 4, 1862.

On July 5, 1866, the United States Congress authorized payment for the members of the 6th Regiment equal to one-month's pay during the Civil War. To legally process the payments, the federal government had to muster the 6th Regiment into the regular service. Officials mustered the regiment into and out of service on November 8, 1866, with the official in-date being September 2, 1862 and the out-date being October 3, 1862.