Infantry is the branch of an army that engages in military combat on foot, distinguished from cavalry, artillery, and tank forces. Also known as foot soldiers, infantry traditionally relies on moving by foot between combats as well, but may also use mounts, military vehicles, or other transport. Infantry make up a large portion of all armed forces in most nations, and typically bear the largest brunt in warfare, as measured by casualties, deprivation, or physical and psychological stress.
A regiment is a military unit. Their role and size varies markedly, depending on the country and the arm of service.
During the American Civil War, the Union Army referred to the United States Army, the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. Also known as the Federal Army, it proved essential to the preservation of the United States of America as a working, viable republic.
Louisville is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 29th most-populous city in the United States. It is one of two cities in Kentucky designated as first-class, the other being Lexington, the state's second-largest city. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, located in the state's north and on the border with Indiana.
In the United States Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force, colonel is the most senior field grade military officer rank, immediately above the rank of lieutenant colonel and immediately below the rank of brigadier general. It is equivalent to the naval rank of captain in the other uniformed services. The pay grade for colonel is O-6.
Recruits to the 5th Kentucky Infantry were promised a pay of $11–$21 a month, in addition to clothes and lodging. After a year's enlistment, they were promised 160 acres (0.65km2) of land. Although a recruitment station was placed at the corner of 8th and Main in Louisville, the actual training took place across the Ohio River at Camp Joe Holt, in present-day Clarksville, Indiana.[1]
The Ohio River is a 981-mile (1,579 km) long river in the midwestern United States that flows southwesterly from western Pennsylvania south of Lake Erie to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois. It is the second largest river by discharge volume in the United States and the largest tributary by volume of the north-south flowing Mississippi River that divides the eastern from western United States. The river flows through or along the border of six states, and its drainage basin includes parts of 15 states. Through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. It is the source of drinking water for three million people.
Camp Joe Holt was a Union base during the American Civil War in Jeffersonville, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky, on land that is now part of Clarksville, Indiana, near the Big Eddy. It was a major staging area for troops in the Western Theatre of the War, in preparation for invading the Confederate States of America. Its establishment was the first major step performed by Kentucky Unionists to keep Kentucky from seceding to the Confederacy.
Clarksville is a town in Clark County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River and is a part of the Louisville Metropolitan area. The population was 21,724 at the 2010 census. The town was founded in 1783 by early resident George Rogers Clark at the only seasonal rapids on the entire Ohio River, it is the oldest American town in the former Northwest Territory. The town is home to the Colgate clock, one of the largest clocks in the world and the Falls of the Ohio State Park, home to the world's largest exposed Devonian period fossil bed.
On July 1, 1861, 334 recruits were shipped to Camp Joe Holt as the first company. On September 17, 1861, the regiment left Camp Joe Holt, to stop Confederate forces from approaching Louisville.
The Confederate States Army (C.S.A.) was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting against the United States forces. On February 28, 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the newly chosen Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. Davis was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, and colonel of a volunteer regiment during the Mexican–American War. He had also been a United States Senator from Mississippi and U.S. Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. On March 1, 1861, on behalf of the Confederate government, Davis assumed control of the military situation at Charleston, South Carolina, where South Carolina state militia besieged Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, held by a small U.S. Army garrison. By March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress expanded the provisional forces and established a more permanent Confederate States Army.
The regiment was attached to Rousseau's 1st Brigade, McCook's Command, at Nolin to November 1861. 4th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, to December 1861. 4th Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of the Ohio, to September 1862. 4th Brigade, 2nd Division, I Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Right Wing, XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January 1863. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, XX Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October 1863. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, IV Corps, to July 1864. Unattached, 4th Division, XX Corps, to September 1864.
The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863.
I Corps was the designation of three different corps-sized units in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Separate formation called the I Corps served in the Army of the Ohio/Army of the Cumberland under Alexander M. McCook from September 29, 1862 to November 5, 1862, in the Army of the Mississippi under George W. Morgan from January 4, 1863 to January 12, 1863, and in the Army of the Potomac and Army of Virginia. The first two were units of very limited life; the third was one of the most distinguished and veteran corps in the entire Union Army, commanded by very distinguished officers. The term "First Corps" is also used to describe the First Veteran Corps from 1864 to 1866.
XIV Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was one of the earliest corps formations in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
The 5th Kentucky Infantry mustered out of service on July 25, 1865.
Detailed service
Moved to Muldraugh's Hill, Ky., September 17, 1861, and duty there until October 14. Duty at Bacon Creek and Green River until February 1862. Marched to Nashville, Tenn., February 17-March 3; then marched to Savannah, Tenn., March 16-April 6. Battle of Shiloh, April 6–7. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., April 29-May 30. Bridge Creek May 27. Duty at Corinth until June 10. Buell's Campaign in northern Alabama and middle Tennessee June to August. Marched to Louisville, Ky., in pursuit of Bragg August 21-September 26. Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1–15. Dog Walk, Ky., October 8–9. Marched to Nashville, Tenn., October 16-November 7, and duty there until December 26. Kimbrough's Mills December 6. Advance on Murfreesboro, Tenn., December 26–30. Nolensville December 26–27. Battle of Stones River December 30–31, 1862 and January 1–3, 1863. At Murfreesboro until June. Tullahoma Campaign June 22-July 7. Liberty Gap June 22–27. Occupation of middle Tennessee until August 16. Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga Campaign August 16-September 22. Battle of Chickamauga, September 19–20. Siege of Chattanooga September 24-November 23. Reopening Tennessee River October 26–29. Brown's Ferry October 27. Battles of Chattanooga November 23–25. Orchard Knob November 23–24. Missionary Ridge November 25. Pursuit to Graysville November 26–27. Marched to relief of Knoxville November 28-December 8. Campaign in eastern Tennessee December 1863 to April 1864. Atlanta Campaign May 1 to July 25. Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge and Dalton May 5–13. Battle of Resaca May 14–15. Adairsville May 17. Near Kingston May 18–19. Near Cassville May 19. Advance on Dallas May 22–25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church, and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Pickett's Mills May 27. Operations about Marietta and against Kennesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11–14. Lost Mountain June 15–17. Assault on Kennesaw June 27. Ruff's Station, Smyrna Camp Ground, July 4. Pace's Ferry July 5. Chattahoochie River July 6–17. Peachtree Creek July 19–20. Siege of Atlanta July 22–25. Ordered to Nashville, Tenn., July 25; then to Louisville, Ky. Veterans moved to Nashville July 25 and duty there until January 1865. Battle of Nashville, Tenn., December 15–16. Pursuit of Hood December 17–28. Moved to Louisville, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and Hilton Head, S.C., and rejoined Sherman at Raleigh, N.C., April 1865. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. Marched to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 19. Grand Review of the Armies May 24. Moved to Louisville, Ky., June.
The Grand Review of the Armies was a military procession and celebration in the national capital city of Washington, D.C., on May 23 and May 24, 1865, following the close of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Elements of the Union Army in the United States Army paraded through the streets of the capital to receive accolades from the crowds and reviewing politicians, officials, and prominent citizens, including U.S. President Andrew Johnson, one month after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Casualties
The regiment lost a total of 302 men during service; 8 officers and 149 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 143 enlisted men died of disease.
Commanders
Colonel Lovell Harrison Rousseau
Col Harvey M. Buckley, resigned 26 January 1863
Colonel William W. Berry
Legacy
The Louisville Legion nickname was derived from an earlier Kentucky militia unit that was first constituted on January 21, 1839, in Louisville, and was mustered into federal service for the Mexican–American War, from May 17, 1846, as the 1st Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment. It saw action in the Battle of Monterey. On May 17, 1847, in New Orleans, it was mustered out.[2]
Of the regiment's service during the Civil War, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman wrote, "No single body of men can claim more honor for the grand result than the officers and men of the Louisville Legion of 1861."[3]
Ten years after the Civil War the Louisville Legion would again organize as the Kentucky State Guard's 1st Regiment of Infantry. In this incarnation it would take part in the French Eversole Feud and the Rowan County War. In the Spanish–American War it would be the first unit from Kentucky to reach Puerto Rico. Afterwards it would maintain the peace around Frankfort, Kentucky, after the assassination of Governor William Goebel, and then patrol the Mexican border.[3]
The 138th Field Artillery and 149th Armor Brigade of the Kentucky National Guard are directly descended from the Louisville Legion.[2]
Footnotes
↑ Sarles, Jane. Journeys Through Clarksville's Past (2006), pp. 76–7.
The 51st Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 15th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 6th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 27th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 9th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 13th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 11th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 26th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 24th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 10th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 17th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 18th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 28th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 79th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 3rd Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 13th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 58th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 15th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 39th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In April 1863 the unit was given horses and changed to mounted infantry.
References
Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.
Attribution
This article contains text from a text now in the public domain: Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Co.
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