32nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment

Last updated
32nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
Sallyport.jpg
Fort Warren in Boston harbor where the original companies of the 32nd Massachusetts, known as the "Fort Warren Battalion," first served.
ActiveJune 1862 July 11, 1865
CountryFlag of the United States (1861-1863).svg  United States of America
Allegiance Union
Branch Union Army
Type Infantry
Size2,418
Part ofIn 1863: 2nd Brigade (Sweitzer's), 1st Division (Barnes's), V Corps, Army of the Potomac
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Col. George L. Prescott
Col. Joseph Cushing Edmands
Lt. Col. Luther Stephenson
Lt. Col. James A. Cunningham
Insignia
V Corps (1st Division) badge Vcorpsbadge.svg

The 32nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. The nucleus of the regiment was a battalion of six companies raised in September 1861 to garrison Fort Warren, the largest fortification in Boston harbor. The battalion was originally known as the 1st Battalion Massachusetts Infantry or the Fort Warren Battalion.

Contents

The unit was transferred to the battle front following Abraham Lincoln's urgent call for troops in response to the Confederate advance on Washington during Jackson's Valley Campaign in May 1862. The Fort Warren Battalion arrived in Northern Virginia in June 1862 and, though it did not yet have a complete regimental roster of 10 companies, it then became known as the 32nd Regiment Massachusetts Infantry. In July 1862, the 32nd was assigned to the Army of the Potomac and was shipped to Fortress Monroe to join its new command at the close of the unsuccessful Peninsular Campaign. During the summer of 1862, four more companies were added to the unit and by September 3, 1862, the 32nd had a full regimental roster. [1]

The regiment took part in 30 battles overall including the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Gettysburg, and numerous engagements during the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg. In the Overland Campaign, during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, the unit was heavily engaged and suffered 54 percent casualtiesits worst casualties of the war. [2]

The composition of the 32nd Massachusetts was unusual in that it was continually replenished, during the latter months of the war, by men from disbanded regiments who had reenlisted for a second term of service. In all, remnants of seven different regiments were consolidated with the 32nd including the 9th, 12th, 13th, 18th, 22nd, and 39th Massachusetts Infantries. [3] After the Confederate surrender, the 32nd Massachusetts participated in the Grand Review of the Armies in Washington, D.C., then returned to Boston and was disbanded on July 11, 1865. [4]

See also

Notes

  1. Bowen, 481.
  2. Bowen, 489.
  3. Bowen, 491 493.
  4. Bowen, 495.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">28th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 28th Massachusetts Infantry regiment was the second primarily Irish American volunteer infantry regiment recruited in Massachusetts for service in the American Civil War. The regiment's motto was Faugh a Ballagh

<span class="mw-page-title-main">22nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment</span> American Civil War regiment of the Union Army

The 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. The 22nd Massachusetts was organized by Senator Henry Wilson and was therefore known as "Henry Wilson's Regiment." It was formed in Boston, Massachusetts, and established on September 28, 1861, for a term of three years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment</span> Military unit

The 9th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment, U.S. Volunteers was a regiment in the American Civil War. It was one of the nine Heavy Artillery regiments to suffer over 200 killed. It is also mentioned as one of Fox's 300 Fighting Regiments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John M. Deane</span> United States Army Medal of Honor recipient (1840–1914)

John Milton Deane was an American Civil War Medal of Honor recipient and a major in the United States Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Francis Bartlett</span> Union Army general

William Francis Bartlett was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and, later, an executive in the iron industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 9th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a military unit from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, part of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. It is also known as "The Fighting Ninth". It existed from 1861 to 1864 and participated in several key battles during the war. The unit is an Irish heritage unit, with many volunteers having been born in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">32nd Indiana Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit

32nd Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry was a Union Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. It was also known as Indiana's "1st German" regiment because its members were mainly of German descent. Organized at Indianapolis, the regiment's first recruits mustered into service on August 24, 1861. From 1861 to 1865, the 32nd Indiana was attached to the first Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Cumberland, where it served in the Western Theater.

The 61st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment raised for one year's service in the Union Army during the American Civil War from 1864 to 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">21st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment</span> American Civil War Union Army regiment

The 21st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was organized in Worcester, Massachusetts and mustered into service on August 23, 1861.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James A. Cunningham</span>

James Adams Cunningham was a volunteer officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 2nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Major George H. Gordon, a West Point graduate and veteran of the Mexican–American War, organized the unit's recruitment and formation. The 2nd Massachusetts was trained at Camp Andrew in West Roxbury, Massachusetts on the site of the former Transcendentalist utopian community, Brook Farm. Roughly half the regiment was mustered in on May 18, 1861 and the remainder on May 25, 1861 for a term of three years. The regiment saw extensive combat as part of the Army of the Potomac particularly during the Battle of Antietam and the Battle of Gettysburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 7th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. It was formed on June 15, 1861, in Taunton. Its original commander was Colonel Darius N. Couch who would eventually be promoted to command the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac and, after that, the Department of the Susquehanna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">29th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 29th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army of the United States during the American Civil War. The regiment was organized in December 1861 when three new companies were attached to a battalion of seven Massachusetts companies that had been in active service since May 1861. These seven companies had been recruited to fill out the 3rd Massachusetts and 4th Massachusetts regiments and had signed on for three years of service. When the 3rd and 4th Massachusetts were mustered out in July 1861, the seven companies that had signed on for three years were grouped together to form a battalion known as the Massachusetts Battalion. Finally, in December 1861, three more companies were added to their roster to form a full regiment and the unit was designated the 29th Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Edwards</span> American major general in the Union Army

Oliver Edwards was a machine company executive, an inventor, and a volunteer officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 1st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. It was the first regiment to leave Massachusetts for a three-year term in response to President Abraham Lincoln's May 3, 1861, call for three-year regiments. It was also the first three-year regiment from any state to reach Washington, D.C., for federal service. The core of the regiment was five companies from the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, a peace-time unit which was formed in 1858, replacing an earlier, disbanded unit of the same designation. Five companies of new recruits were added to the regiment and the unit was mustered in by companies beginning May 23, 1861, at Camp Cameron in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">12th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit


The 12th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. It was formed on June 14, 1861, in Boston, Massachusetts. Its original commander was Colonel Fletcher Webster, son of the famed U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, Daniel Webster. The unit was known as the Webster Regiment after its first colonel.

The 3rd Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was organized by consolidating the 41st Massachusetts Mounted Infantry and the 2nd Battalion Massachusetts Cavalry on June 17, 1863. The regiment served with the XIX Corps, Army of the Gulf during the Red River Campaign in 1864. Its heaviest combat during this campaign took place during the Battle of Sabine Crossroads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5th Massachusetts Militia Regiment</span> Military unit

The 5th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia was a peacetime infantry regiment that was activated for federal service in the Union army for three separate tours during the American Civil War. In the years immediately preceding the war and during its first term of service, the regiment consisted primarily of companies from Essex County as well as Boston and Charlestown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">6th Massachusetts Militia Regiment</span> Peacetime infantry regiment

The 6th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia was a peacetime infantry regiment that was activated for federal service in the Union army for three separate terms during the American Civil War (1861-1865). The regiment gained notoriety as the first unit in the Union Army to suffer fatal casualties in action during the Civil War in the Baltimore Riot and the first militia unit to arrive in Washington D.C., in response to President Abraham Lincoln's initial call for 75,000 troops. Private Luther C. Ladd of the 6th Massachusetts is often referred to as the first Union soldier killed in action during the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">57th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 57th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of infantry that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was one of the four "Veteran Regiments" raised in Massachusetts during the winter of 1863–64. Recruits of these regiments were required to have served at least nine months in a prior unit. Colonel William F. Bartlett, at age 24 already a veteran of three regiments, organized the recruiting and formation of the 57th Massachusetts and served as its first commanding officer.

References