71st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

Last updated
71st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry
Flag of Pennsylvania.svg
Pennsylvania flag
ActiveAugust 1861 to July 2, 1864
Country United States
Allegiance Union
Branch Infantry
Engagements Siege of Yorktown
Battle of Seven Pines
Battle of Savage's Station
Battle of Ball's Bluff
Seven Days Battles
Battle of Glendale
Battle of Malvern Hill
Battle of Second Bull Run
Battle of Chantilly
Battle of Antietam
Battle of Fredericksburg
Battle of Gettysburg
Overland Campaign
Battle of Banks' Ford
Battle of the Wilderness
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
Battle of Cold Harbor
Regimental flag of the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry 71stPenn.jpg
Regimental flag of the 71st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

The 71st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (originally raised as the 1st California) was an infantry regiment of the Union Army that participated in the American Civil War.

Contents

History

The 71st Pennsylvania was organized in August 1861 by Oregon Senator Edward D. Baker, composed of 15 companies instead of the standard 10. Although raised from residents of Philadelphia, it was initially designated the 1st Regiment, California Volunteer Infantry in deference to Baker's wishes. After his death at the Battle of Ball's Bluff in October 1861, it was renamed the 71st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. It was grouped with the 69th, 72nd, and 106th Pennsylvania regiments to form the famous Philadelphia Brigade.

The 71st was assigned to the II Corps in time to participate in the 1862 Peninsula Campaign. During the Seven Days Battles, it made several charges, losing many officers and men. After reaching Harrison's Landing, companies L, M, N, P, and R were merged into the first ten companies. The regiment, along with rest of the Army of the Potomac, was transferred to northern Virginia. Here the 71st fought at the battles of Second Bull Run and Chantilly. It helped cover Pope's retreat. At the Battle of Antietam that September, the regiment lost one third of its strength. It again suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December.

At the Battle of Gettysburg the 71st helped defeat the attack by Brig. Gen. Ambrose Wright's brigade on July 2. That evening, it was briefly sent to Culp's Hill but was quickly ordered to retreat from the line by its Colonel, Richard P. Smith, who remarked that "he would not have his men murdered". [1] The next day, the 71st was positioned at the famous Angle on Cemetery Ridge. Eight companies of the regiment was placed along the advanced wall with the 69th Pennsylvania to its left, while the other two companies were 50 yards to its right-rear. Col. Smith put Lt. Col. Charles Kochersperger in charge of the companies squeezed into the line and, before he moved himself to the rear, ordered Kochersperger to withdraw the men if the enemy came too close. During Pickett's Charge, the enemy did indeed come "too close", and Kochersperger withdrew the 71st from the line after a few volleys. [2] Brig. Gen. Alexander S. Webb managed to rally the regiment near the 72nd and 106th Pennsylvania, but was unable to convince any of the three units to counterattack at first. Finally after several minutes, they helped to push the Confederates out of the Angle. The 71st lost 98 officers and men during the attack, including nine out of fifteen officers.

The 71st served through the Overland Campaign, losing heavily in both men and officers. At the Battle of the Wilderness, Lt. Col. Charles Kochersperger was wounded and five colorbearers were shot down, and at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Capt. Mitchell Smith was killed. The regiment's last battle as a unit was at Cold Harbor.

Afterwards, those entitled to discharge (a total of 53) were mustered out in Philadelphia on July 2, 1864. The remainder of the regiment was merged into the 69th Pennsylvania. Out of a total of 1,665 men who served in the regiment during the war, only 153 returned uninjured.

Casualties

Commanders

Major battles and campaigns

See also

Related Research Articles

The Irish Brigade was an infantry brigade, consisting predominantly of Irish Americans, who served in the Union Army in the American Civil War. The designation of the first regiment in the brigade, the 69th New York Infantry, or the "Fighting 69th," continued in later wars. The Irish Brigade was known in part for its famous war cry, the "Faugh a Ballaugh" which is an anglicization of the Irish phrase, fág an bealach, meaning "clear the way" and used in various Irish-majority military units founded due to the Irish diaspora. According to Fox's Regimental Losses, of all Union army brigades, only the 1st Vermont Brigade and Iron Brigade suffered more combat dead than the Irish Brigade during America's Civil War.

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

The 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment was a Union infantry regiment active during the American Civil War. The 1st Minnesota participated in the battles of First Bull Run, Antietam and the Battle of Gettysburg. The regiment's most famous action occurred on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg when Major General Winfield Scott Hancock ordered the 1st Minnesota to charge into a brigade of 1200 Confederate soldiers. This action blunted the Confederate attack and helped preserve the Union's precarious position on Cemetery Ridge.

The 8th Ohio Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It served in the Eastern Theater in a number of campaigns and battles, but perhaps is most noted for its actions in helping repulse Pickett's Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Philadelphia Brigade was a Union Army brigade that served in the American Civil War. It was raised primarily in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with the exception of the 106th regiment which contained men from Lycoming and Bradford counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">69th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment</span> Union Army volunteer infantry regiment

The 69th Pennsylvania Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War.

The 106th Pennsylvania was a volunteer infantry regiment which served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was part of the famous Philadelphia Brigade, which helped defend against Pickett's Charge in the Battle of Gettysburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Kelly (Civil War)</span> Union Army officer in the American Civil War

Patrick Kelly was an Irish-American Union Army officer during the American Civil War. He led the famed Irish Brigade at the Battle of Gettysburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">72nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment</span> Union Army volunteer infantry regiment

The 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry was a volunteer infantry regiment which served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was part of the famous Philadelphia Brigade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment</span> Union Army infantry regiment

The 4th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment, also known as the 33rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment, was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was a part of the famed Pennsylvania Reserves in the Army of the Potomac for much of the early part of the war and served in the Eastern Theater in several important battles, including Antietam and Fredericksburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">118th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment</span> Union Army volunteer infantry regiment

The 118th Pennsylvania Regiment was a volunteer infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. They participated in several major conflicts during the war including the Battle of Gettysburg, Siege of Petersburg, and escorted the truce flag of Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Five Forks. The regiment was led by Colonel Charles Prevost until he was seriously injured at the Battle of Shepherdstown in which Lieutenant-Colonel James Gwyn assumed command until the end of the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2nd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment</span> Union Army infantry regiment

The 2nd Wisconsin Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent most of the war as a member of the famous Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac. It suffered the largest number of casualties as a percentage of its total enlistment of any Union Army unit in the war.

The 1st Delaware Infantry Regiment, later known as the 1st Delaware Veteran Infantry Regiment was a United States volunteer infantry regiment raised for Union Army service in the American Civil War. Part of the II Corps it served in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Excelsior Brigade</span> Military unit

The Excelsior Brigade was a military unit in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Mainly composed of infantry regiments raised in the state of New York primarily by former U.S. Representative Daniel Sickles, the brigade served in several of the Army of the Potomac's most important battles in the Eastern Theater, including Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.

Henry J. Stainrook, occasionally spelled Steinrock, led a regiment of the Army of Virginia and the Army of the Potomac in the American Civil War. He briefly led a brigade at the Battle of Antietam. Stainrook was killed in the Battle of Chancellorsville.

The Thirteenth Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment, also known as the 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, the 1st Pennsylvania Rifles, Kane's Rifles, or simply the "Bucktails," was a volunteer infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was a part of the famed Pennsylvania Reserve division in the Army of the Potomac for much of the early and middle parts of the war, and served in the Eastern Theater in a number of important battles, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg.

<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">91st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment</span> Union Army infantry regiment

The 91st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was a Union infantry regiment which fought in multiple key engagements of the American Civil War, including the Battle of Fredericksburg, Battle of Chancellorsville and Battle of Gettysburg. It was established through the combined efforts of Edgar M. Gregory, who had received approval from the U.S. War Department to begin recruiting soldiers for an entirely new regiment during the fall of 1861, and Edward E. Wallace, who had initiated his own recruitment efforts that October. Their recruits were volunteers, the majority of whom initially enlisted for three-year terms of service from their hometown of Philadelphia; they were divided into 10 lettered companies upon muster in during early December 1861: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and K.

DeWitt Clinton Baxter (1829–1881) was an American artist and engraver. He also served as colonel and brevet brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

The 2nd Delaware Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

References

Notes

  1. Sears (2003), p.330
  2. Sears (2003), pp.444-445

Bibliography