At the start of the Civil War, the Western Reserve College administration was uncertain what role the institution would play. College leaders added Professor Charles A. Young, an army officer, to the faculty to provide military training to volunteers from the campus population.
His student trainees composed Company B in the 85th regiment of Ohio. The company contained nearly a quarter of the undergraduate population and set off to war in 1862, primarily acting as guards for Confederate prisoners in Columbus, Ohio.
