16th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, United States Civil War

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: US_Civil_War Michigan

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16th Regiment, Michigan Infantry--“Stockton's Independent regiment,”

Overview:
* Organized at Plymouth and Detroit, Mich., July to September, 1861.
* Left State for Washington, D. C., September 16, 1861.
* Attached to Butterfield's Brigade, Fitz John Porter's Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862.
* 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 3rd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to May, 1862.
* 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 5th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to July, 1865.

Service:
* Camp at Hall's Hill, Defences of Washington, D. C., till March, 1862.
* Advance on Manassas, Va., March 10.
* Moved to the Virginia Peninsula March 22-24.
* Reconnoissance to Big Bethel March 30.
* Warwick Road April 5.
* Siege of Yorktown April 5-May 4.
* Reconnoissance up the Pamunkey May 10.
* Battle of Hanover Court House May 27.
* Operations about Hanover Court House May 27-29.
* Seven days before Richmond June 25-July 1.
* Battles of Mechanicsville June 26; Gaines' Mill June 27; Savage Station June 29; Turkey Bridge or Malvern Cliff June 30; Malvern Hill July 1.
* Duty at Harrison's Landing till August 16.
* Movement to Fortress Monroe, thence to Centreville August 16-28.
* Battle of Bull Run August 30.
* Maryland Campaign September 6-22.
* Battle of Antietam September 16-17.
* Shepherdstown Ford September 19.
* At Sharpsburg till October.
* Movement to Falmouth, Va., October 29-November 17.
* Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 12-15.
* Expedition from Potomac Creek to Richards and Ellis Fords, Rappahannock River, December 29-30.
* "Mud March" January 20-24, 1863.
* At Falmouth till April 27.
* Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6.
* Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5.
* Aldie June 17.
* Middleburg and Upperville June 21.
* Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 1-3.
* Pursuit of Lee to Manassas Gap, Va., July 5-24.
* Duty at Warrenton, Beverly Ford and Culpeper till October.
* Bristoe Campaign October 9-22.
* Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8.
* Rappahannock Station November 7.
* Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2.
* Veterans absent on furlough January 2 to February 17, 1864.
* At Bealeton Station till May.
* Campaign from the Rapidan to the James River May 4-June 15.
* Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Laurel Hill May 8; Spottsylvania May 8-12; Spottsylvania Court House May 12-21.
* Assault on the Salient May 12.
* North Anna May 23-26.
* Jericho Mills May 23.
* On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28.
* Totopotomoy May 28-31.
* Cold Harbor June 1-12. Bethesda Church June 1-3.
* Before Petersburg June 16-18.
* Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865.
* Six Mile House, Weldon Railroad, August 18-21, 1864.
* Poplar Springs Church, Peeble's Farm, September 29-October 2.
* Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run, October 27-28.
* Warren's Raid on Weldon Railroad December 7-12.
* Dabney's Mills, Hatcher's Run, February 5-7, 1865.
* Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9.
* Junction of Quaker and Boydton Roads and Lewis Farm near Gravelly Run March 29.
* White Oak Road March 30-31.
* Five Forks April 1.
* Fall of Petersburg April 2.
* Pursuit of Lee April 3-9.
* Appomattox Court House April 9.
* Surrender of Lee and his army.
* March to Washington, D. C., May 3-12.
* Grand Review May 23.
* Moved to Louisville, Ky., June 16-22, thence to Jeffersonville, Ind.
* Mustered out July 8, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 12 Officers and 235 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 143 Enlisted men by disease. Total 390. ^[1]

Predecessor units:

• Brady's Independent Company Sharpshooters
• Dygert's Independent Company Sharpshooters
• Jardine's Independent Company Sharpshooters

Fox's History

Organized originally as “Stockton's Independent regiment,” under authority from the Secretary of War, but it was soon included in the State service. It left the State on September 16, 1861, with ten companies,--761 officers and men; two companies of sharpshooters joined it later, making twelve companies, one joining in 1862, the other in 1864.

The regiment went into winter quarters at Hall's Hill, Va., and in March, 1862, moved to the Peninsula. It was assigned to the Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Corps, in which it remained throughout the war; at that time the brigade was commanded by General Butterfield, and the division by General Morell.

The regiment suffered a severe loss at Gaines's Mill, its casualties amounting to 47 killed, 114 wounded, and 53 missing; many of the latter were killed or wounded.

Under command of Captain Elliott it was hotly engaged at Manassas, where it lost 16 killed, 64 wounded, and 16 missing, out of 290 engaged. Colonel Welch was in command at Gettysburg, where it took part in the historic contest of Vincent's Brigade for the possession of Little Round Top, losing in that battle 23 killed, 34 wounded, and 3 missing. Major Robert T. Elliott was killed at the Totopotomoy, and Colonel Welch in the assault at Peebles's Farm. Welch was killed on the parapet of a redoubt, which he was the first to scale.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ National Park Service Soldiers and Sailors Database
2. ↑ Taken from; William F. Fox, Lt. Col. U. S. V., Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865: A Treatise on the extent and nature of the mortuary losses in the Union regiments, with full and exhaustive statistics compiled from the official records on file in the state military bureaus and at Washington 1888

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