Ongs in the American Civil War

4th West Virginia Monument at Vicksburg, citing officers killed in battle, including Lt. Finley D. Ong

Off and on over the years I have taken notes about family members who served in the Civil War (1861-1865).  Growing up I was very aware of my branch of the family keeping alive the memory of Finley Ong, one of my great-great-grandfather's older brothers, who served in the 126th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and died of his wounds in a Confederate field hospital during the Battle of the Wilderness in Virgina (May 1864).  The 1906 "Ong Family of America" book also mentions several members who served, including the three cousins and their uncle (the officer mentioned on the monument above) who made the supreme sacrifice. 

Thanks to the age of the internet we can more easily find many military records, and I include here a list of all those I can see who served with the last name Ong, noting their unit, and I have also tried to group them by family linkages.  Note there are a few I have not put in their proper place but will seek to do so.  (All help welcome!)

The main take-away from all this is that the Ong family certainly made a substantial contribution to the Union cause, especially for a family which was historically Quaker (and therefore doctrinally pacifist).  The list below includes over 35 young men from 10 states, all descended from a single set great (or great-great) grandparents (Jeremiah & Christiana Ong) who lived on the Pennsylvania frontier only a century earlier.  But like many families who settled in part in the border states (in our case, Virginia/West Virginia), we had divided loyalties and were represented on both sides of the conflict.

I have left in brackets information about wartime service mentioned in the 1906 book which I cannot yet confirm from another source.


UNITED STATES ("UNION") ARMY

Grandsons of Jacob Ong (1760-1849)

1^st Lt. Finley Davis Ong, Co. F, 4th West Virginia. Vol. Infantry mortally wounded Vicksburg 22 May 1863 (son of Jacob Ong)

Theodore W. Ong, Corporal, Co I, 37th Indiana Infantry died 1864 of complications from wound in 1863) (brother to Finley D.)

Jacob Ong, Battery G, 1^st Illinois Light Artillery (brother to Finley D. & Theodore)

Jacob B. Ong, M.D., Co K, 69^th Ohio Vol Inf; Surgeon 14th (TN) then 18th (MO) Reg US Colored Infantry (son of Isaac Ong)

Abraham C. Ong, Co H, 157^th Ohio Vol. Infantry (Son of John McGrew Ong)

[John Lewis Ong, (OFH “Captain of a company of government scouts”) (brother to Abraham)]

[(OFH: Capt?)  Isaac A. Ong (Union Reg.  Lived in TN) (brother to Abraham & John Lewis)]

Great-Grandsons of Jacob Ong

Finley M. Ong, Co. K, 8^th Iowa Volunteer Infantry (son of Jacob Finley Ong, grandson of Finley Ong)

John Irvine Ong, Corporal, Co. L, 6^th U.S. Cavalry (brother to Finley M.). Enlisted 20 Mar 1861. Discharged due to disability 20 Nov 1862.

Finley Ong, Co. H, 126^th Ohio Vol. Infantry, mortally wounded Battle of the Wilderness 6 May 1864 (son of Moses Harlan Ong, grandson of Finley Ong)

Lindley H. Ong, 40^th Ohio Vol. Infantry died of illness in service 8 Jul 1862 (son of Lewis H. Ong, grandson of Finley Ong)

Finley J. Ong, Corporal Co F 4^th West Virginia Infantry died 1863 (son of Nathan Ong, grandson of Jacob Ong)

William C. Ong, Co F., 4^th West Virginia Infantry (brother of Finley J.)

Albert J. Ong, Co U, 5^th Ohio Cavalry (son of Dr Jacob B. Ong (above), grandson of Isaac Ong) (permanently wounded?)

Oliver M. Ong, Co H, 157^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (son of James Alfred Ong, grandson of Isaac Ong)

Plummer Young (son of Eliza Ong Young, grandson of Isaac Ong)

2^nd Lt. Oliver C. Ong 2nd West Virginia Cavalry (son of Reason Ong, grandson of Nathan M. Ong)

Nathan King Ong, Co K, 9^th Ohio Cavalry (brother to Oliver C.)

Grandsons of Jesse Ong (1762-1857): 

John D. Ong, 1^st Indiana Heavy Artillery (b 1838. son of James Ong b 1809)

Great-grandsons of Jesse Ong:

First Lt. David McK. Ong (1829-1872), Co G, 2nd Kentucky Infantry& 2^nd Missouri Cavalry (son of Jesse Ong (1804-1874))

William J. Ong (1835-1904), Co B, 14th Illinois Cavalry (brother of David McK. Ong)

Grandsons of Jeremiah Ong (1766(79?)-1850):

Wilson Ong, 44^th Illinois Vol Infantry (son of John Ong)

Nathan Ong, 44^th Illinois Vol Infantry (brother to Wilson)

Benjamin Ong, 4^th New Jersey Infantry (son of Isaac Ong)

Ira Connell Ong, 129^th, Illinois Vol Infantry (son of William G. Ong)

Benjamin W. Ong, Co H, 104^th Illinois Infantry (brother to Ira C.)

Jesse R. Ong, Co H, 104^th Illinois Infantry (brother to Ira C. and Benjamin W.)

Roger John Ong, Co B, 77^th Illinois Infantry (brother to Ira C, Benjamin W and Jesse R.)

John Ong, Co E 155^th Pennsylvania Infantry (son of Zadoc Alexander Ong)

William Ong, Co C 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry (brother to John)

William W. Ong, Co G, 139th Illinois Infantry (son of Thomas O. Ong)

Great-grandsons of Jeremiah Ong

Joseph Eli Ong, 44^th Illinois Vol Infantry (son of Wilson Ong)

Identity/descendancy unclear

William Ong, Co G, 12^th Penn. Infantry (from website)

Ernest M. Ong, 13^th West Virginia Infantry

Jacob Ong, 81^st Pennsylvania Infantry

Jesse Ong, 52^nd Indiana Infantry

John Ong, 2^nd Colorado Cavalry

CONFEDERATE ARMY

John Gardiner Ong, Co H, Crescent Regiment, Louisiana (Great-grandson of Jesse Ong)

Isaac Ong Co E 8^th Virginia Cavalry (Sgt., died May 1861) (descendacy unclear)

John W. Ong, 8th Virginia Cavalry (son of Isaac)