History
The 126th Pennsylvania was recruited in Juniata, Fulton, and Franklin counties during the summer of 1862. Its term of enlistment was nine months. Many of the men and officers had served in the 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry, a regiment whose term had expired. James G. Elder became the colonel of the 126th, D. Watson Rowe lieutenant colonel, and James C. Austin major. The regiment was mustered into service at Camp Curtin between August 6 and 10, after which it was ordered to Northern Virginia. It was there assigned to the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, V Corps in the Army of the Potomac.
Juniata County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. At the 2010 census, the population was 24,636. Its county seat is Mifflintown. The county was created on March 2, 1831, from part of Mifflin County and named for the Juniata River.
Fulton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 14,845, making it the fourth-least populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is McConnellsburg. The county was created on April 19, 1850, from part of Bedford County and named for inventor Robert Fulton.
Franklin County is a county located in South Central Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 149,618. Its county seat is Chambersburg.
The division arrived too late to participate in the Battle of Antietam. While encamped near the battlefield in the weeks afterward, the 126th received its regimental flags and was reviewed by President Abraham Lincoln. The regiment's first battle came three months later at Fredericksburg, where it lost 27 killed, 50 wounded, and 3 missing. Following the battle, the 126th served as part of the rearguard while the rest of the Army retreated across the river.
A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. Infantry divisions during the World Wars ranged between 8,000 and 30,000 in nominal strength.
The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War, fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek. Part of the Maryland Campaign, it was the first field army–level engagement in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. It was the bloodiest day in United States history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing.
Abraham Lincoln was an American statesman and lawyer who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War, its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. He preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the U.S. economy.
At the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, the division remained on the Union left flank near the Rappahannock River. The next day, the regiment was moved to the right flank, where it came under attack. After two hours of fighting and subsequently running out of ammunition, the 126th was forced to retreat to the protection of artillery. Its losses were 9 killed, 49 wounded, and 11 captured. Rowe was among those wounded.
The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. It was fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Two related battles were fought nearby on May 3 in the vicinity of Fredericksburg. The campaign pitted Union Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac against an army less than half its size, General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately 195 miles (314 km) in length. It traverses the entire northern part of the state, from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west where it rises, across the Piedmont to the Fall Line, and onward through the coastal plain to flow into the Chesapeake Bay, south of the Potomac River.
Shortly afterwards, the regiment was ordered back to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where it was mustered out on May 20, 1863.
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 49,229, it is the 15th largest city in the Commonwealth. It lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, 107 miles (172 km) west of Philadelphia. Harrisburg is the anchor of the Susquehanna Valley metropolitan area, which had a 2018 estimated population of 574,659, making it the fourth most populous in Pennsylvania and 96th most populous in the United States.
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