author
R. C. (Richard C.) Rankin
1821–1899
Best known for a compact Civil War regimental history, this 19th-century writer drew on firsthand military experience to tell the story of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. His work remains a useful window into how Union veterans remembered their service soon after the war.
1 Audiobook
History of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
by R. C. (Richard C.) Rankin
About the author
R. C. Rankin, identified in library and ebook records as Richard C. Rankin, is known for History of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, published in 1881. The book is a regimental history of the Union cavalry unit and has been preserved by sources such as Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, and the Library of Congress.
Available records strongly suggest that he was the same Richard Calvin Rankin born in 1821 and died in 1899, a Civil War officer associated with Ripley, Ohio. In the text and related summaries, Rankin appears as Capt. R. C. Rankin, which fits the firsthand, veteran perspective of his writing.
His surviving reputation rests mainly on that single historical work: a brief but valuable account of recruitment, movement, and service in the western theater of the Civil War. Because reliable biographical material on him is limited online, many personal details remain unclear, but his book has kept his name in circulation for readers interested in Ohio soldiers and Civil War memory.