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Active | August 16, 1862 – June 26, 1865 |
Country | United States |
Allegiance | Union |
Branch |
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Equipment | Spencer repeating rifle |
Engagements | |
Insignia | |
1st Division, XIV Corps | |
4th Division, XIV Corps |
Indiana U.S. Volunteer Infantry Regiments 1861–1865 | ||||
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The 72nd Indiana Infantry Regiment, also known as 72nd Indiana Mounted Infantry Regiment, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment served as mounted infantry from March 17, 1863, to November 1, 1864, notably as part of the Lightning Brigade (also sometimes, "The Hatchet Brigade"). [note 1] during the Tullahoma and Chickamauga Campaigns.
The 72nd Indiana Infantry was organized at Lafayette, Indiana, and mustered in for a three-year enlistment at Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 16, 1862, under the command of Colonel Abram O. Miller.
In December 1862, the regiment received a new brigade commander, Colonel John T. Wilder. After frustrating chases on foot after mounted rebel cavalry raiders, the brigade was converted to mounted infantry. At the same time, Wilder proposed to the regiments in the brigade the private purchase of repeating rifles. The 72nd voted to go ahead with the conversion to mounted infantry and the purchase of the rifles. Along with the other regiments in the brigade, the 72nd chose Spencer repeating rifles, invented by Christopher Spencer, as their weapon. [1]
After intense training and development of new tactics, the "Lightning Brigade" was ready for service. The mounted infantry proof of concept for the Army of the Cumberland occurred in their first mounted infantry action at the Battle of Hoover's Gap. [2] [3] Despite torrential rains, the 72nd and its brigade gained the gap so quickly that they surprised and scattered surprised the Confederate 1st (3rd) Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, under Colonel J. Russell Butler at breakfast in front of the entrance of the gap. [4] The 72nd drove the enemy before it along the seven mile length of the gap until they were halted by four brigades of infantry and four batteries of guns at the southeastern exit. The massive superiority of firepower the 17th and its brethren had with the Spencers allowed them to entrench and hold the southern entrance against numerous assaults by numerically superior rebel infantry and artillery through the rainy day until the sodden remainder of the XIV Corps slogged to join them at their position.
With the Lightning Brigade, the 72nd found itself detached from the XIV Corps to serve as a mobile reserve for all three of the Corps within the Cumberland. After playing a key role in the feint that forced Bragg from Chattanooga, the regiment raided, skirmished, and scouted through the summer into the Chickamauga Campaign. The brigade distinguished itself with its performance at Chickamauga. During the battle, it maintained integrity and discipline exacting high casualties on its attackers. After the battle, it retreated with the army to Chattanooga where it was besieged.
The performance of the brigade had demonstrated the value of mounted infantry, and Wilder and the regiments were commended. During the reorganization after Grant took command in the city, the brigade was broken up and the regiments were transferred to the Cavalry Corps. The 72nd and the 123rd Illinois were assigned to 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Division of the Cavalry Corps.
In positions at Terrapin Creek in Cherokee County, northern Alabama, the 72nd was dismounted on 1 November. They became a regular infantry regiment armed with Spencers. For the remainder of the war, they operated in the regular infantry role.
Its assignments were as follows:
The 72nd Indiana Infantry mustered out of service at Nashville, on June 26, 1865.
The 72nd served at the following locations: [5]
The regiment lost a total of 160 men during service; 2 officers and 26 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 130 enlisted men died of disease. [6]
The Tullahoma campaign was a military operation conducted from June 24 to July 3, 1863, by the Union Army of the Cumberland under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, and is regarded as one of the most brilliant maneuvers of the American Civil War. Its effect was to drive the Confederates out of Middle Tennessee and to threaten the strategic city of Chattanooga.
The 4th Kentucky Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
John Thomas Wilder was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, noted principally for capturing the critical mountain pass of Hoover's Gap during the Tullahoma Campaign in Central Tennessee in June 1863. Wilder had personally ensured that his "Lightning Brigade" of mounted infantry was equipped with the new Spencer repeating rifle. However, Wilder initially had to appeal to his men to pay for these weapons themselves before the government agreed to carry the cost. The victory at Hoover's Gap was attributed largely to Wilder's persistence in procuring the new rifles, which disoriented the enemy.
The 17th Indiana Infantry Regiment, also known as 17th Indiana Mounted Infantry Regiment, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army from 1863 to 1865 during the American Civil War. It served in West Virginia before being transferred to the Western Theater. In that theater, it was known for its membership in the "Lightning Brigade."
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The 92nd Regiment Illinois Infantry, also known as 92nd Illinois Mounted Infantry Regiment, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 21st Ohio Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Mostly an all-volunteer unit, with the exception of a few draftees, the 21st Ohio served for both ninety-day and three-year enlistments and fought exclusively in the Western Theater. It saw action in some of the war's bloodiest battles including Stones River, Chickamauga, the Atlanta Campaign, and Sherman's March to the Sea.
The 123rd Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In 1863 and 1864 it was temporarily known as the 123rd Illinois Volunteer Mounted Infantry Regiment, as part of Wilder's Lightning Brigade.
The 18th Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery, also known as Lilly's Hoosier Battery and Lilly's Battery, was a civil war regiment formed in Indiana during the American Civil War. The regiment was formed at the end of 1860 by 22-year-old Eli Lilly, an Indianapolis pharmacist. He had recruitment posters placed around the city and recruited primarily among his friends and classmates. The unit were first issued 6 "Rodman Guns" and was manned by 156 men. The Battery members stated preference to 3" Ordnance Rifles over the 10 pound Parrott Rifle due to its tendency to bursting. The unit mustered in Indianapolis where it was drilled during 1861, excelling at their skill with firing accuracy. Lilly was elected captain of the unit in August 1862 when the unit was deployed to join the Lightning Brigade commanded by Col. John T. Wilder.
The 10th Kentucky Infantry Regiment was a three-year volunteer infantry regiment that served in the U.S., or 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 65th Ohio Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 74th Indiana Infantry Regiment, officially known as the 74th Regiment, Indiana Volunteer 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. The regiment fought at Shiloh, Corinth, and Stones River. In April 1863 the unit acquired horses and Spencer rifles and became mounted infantry, serving in the Tullahoma campaign and at Chickamauga. On October 15, 1863, the unit was renamed the 8th Indiana Cavalry Regiment.
The 124th Ohio Infantry Regiment, sometimes 124th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 83rd Indiana Infantry Regiment, sometimes called 83rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 68th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The Horn Brigade, also known as the Dutch Brigade, or the “Iron Brigade of the Army of the Cumberland,” was an infantry brigade in the Union Army of the Cumberland during the American Civil War. The brigade fought in the battles of Shiloh, Stones River, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville.
The Lightning Brigade, also known as Wilder's Brigade or the Hatchet Brigade was a mounted infantry brigade from the American Civil War in the Union Army of the Cumberland from March 8, 1863, through November 1863. A novel unit for the U.S. Army, its regiments were nominally the 1st Brigade of Maj. Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds' 4th Division of Thomas' XIV Corps. Operationally, they were detached from the division and served as a mobile mounted infantry to support any of the army's corps. Colonel John T. Wilder was its commander. As initially organized, the brigade had the following regiments:
Henry Benedict Mattingly was a Union Army soldier in the American Civil War and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the September 1, 1864, Battle of Jonesborough, Georgia.