New York Infantry, United States Civil War, 49th Regiment

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: New York, United States
Surname/tag: US_CIVIL_WAR

See Category:49th Regiment, New York Infantry, United States Civil War for people associated with this unit

49th NY Regiment lost during service 15 Officers and 126 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 5 Officers and 174 Enlisted men by disease. Total 320. ^[1]

Fox's History Organized at Buffalo, September 18, 1861. The regiment arrived in Washington, September 21, 1861, and was assigned soon after to Davidson's Brigade, W. F. Smith's Division. In March, 1862, this division was placed in Keyes's (Fourth) Corps and accompanied it to the Peninsula; but on May 18, 1862, the division was detached and used in forming the Sixth Corps, in which command (Third Brigade, Second Division) the regiment served until the end of the war. Although the regiment participated in all the battles of the Army of the Potomac in 1862 and 1863, its losses were comparatively small until 1864, when it encountered some hard fighting and severe losses. The Forty-ninth started on Grant's Virginia campaign, May 4, 1864, with 384 men, losing at the Wilderness, 29 killed, 54 wounded, and 6 missing, and at Spotsylvania, 24 killed, 89 wounded, and 18 missing. Among the killed in these battles were ten officers. At Spotsylvania the regiment behaved with especial gallantry, its percentage of loss in that battle being a remarkable one. Its term of service expired September 17, 1864, while fighting in the Shenandoah Valley, and the remnant of the regiment went home. The reenlisted men and recruits with unexpired terms were left in the field and formed into a battalion of four companies which served through the war. At Cedar Creek this battalion sustained a loss of 8 killed and 30 wounded. The Forty-ninth suffered a severe and unusual loss in the number of its field officers killed in action. Colonel Bidwell, who had been brevetted General, was killed at Cedar Creek; Major Ellis was mortally wounded at Spotsylvania (shot with a ramrod); Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson was killed at Fort Stevens, while in command; and Colonel Holt fell in the final and victorious assault at the fall of Petersburg. ^[2]

Further Reading

• "History of the Forty-ninth New York Volunteers" compiled by Frederick David Bidwell, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t8sb4nx3h&view=1up&seq=9 also at https://archive.org/details/fortyninthny00bidwrich/page/n301/mode/1up

• William DeLancey Boughton diary entries detail his experiences of battles at Williamsburg (1862), Antietam (1862), Cold Harbor, (1864), and Petersburg (1864),as well as comments and observations relative to camp life, drill, picket duty, and troop morale. http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/mssc/allcwrec.htm#24

Organization:

49th Regiment organized at Buffalo, N. Y., and mustered in September 18, 1861.

20 Sept 1861- left NY State for Washington, D. C.

Sept 1861 thru Mar 1862 - attached to Stevens' 3rd Brigade, W. F. Smith's Division, Army of the Potomac

March 1862 to May 1862 - 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 4th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac

May 1862 to June 1865 - 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 6th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, and Army of the Shenandoah

Detailed Service: Camp near Lewinsville, Defences of Washington, D. C., till March, 1862. Action at Dranesville, Va., December 20, 1861. Advance on Manassas, Va., March 10-15, 1862. Ordered to the Peninsula, Va., March 22. Action at Lee's Mills April 5. Siege of Yorktown April 5-May 4. Lee's Mills April 16. Battle of Williamsburg May 5. Mechanicsville May 23-24. Seven days before Richmond June 25-July 1. Garnett's Farm June 27. Garnett's and Golding's Farms June 28. Savage Station June 29. White Oak Swamp June 30. Malvern Hill July 1. At Harrison's Landing till August 16. Movement to Fortress Monroe, thence to Centreville August 16-27. In works at Centreville August 28-31, and cover Pope's retreat to Fairfax Court House September 1. Maryland Campaign September 6-22. Battles of Crampton's Pass, South Mountain September 14. Antietam September 16-17. Duty in Maryland till October 29. Movement to Falmouth, Va., October 29-November 19. Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 12-15. "Mud March" January 20-24, 1863. At Fadmouth till April 27. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Operations about Franklin's Crossing April 29-May 2. Battle of Maryes Heights, Fredericksburg, May 3. Salem Heights May 3-4. Banks' Ford May 4. Deep Run Ravine June 5-13. Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 2-4. Pursuit of Lee July 5-24. Fairfield, Pa., July 7. Duty on line of the Rappahannock 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. Duty near Brandy Station till May, 1864. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May 3-June 15. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Spottsylvania May 8-12; Spottsylvania Court House May 12-21. Assault on the Salient or "Bloody Angle" May 12. North Anna River May 23-26. On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Before Petersburg June 17-18. Siege of Petersburg June 17-July 9. Jerusalem Plank Road June 22-23. Moved to Washington, D. C., July 9-11. Repulse of Early's attack on Fort Stevens and the Northern Defences of Washington July 11-12. Pursuit of Early July 14-22. Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign August 7-November 28. Near Charlestown August 21-22. Gilbert's Ford, Opequan Creek, September 13. Battle of Winchester September 19. Fisher's Hill September 22. Battle of Cedar Creek October 19. Duty in the Shenandoah Valley till December. Moved to Washington, thence to Petersburg December 13-16. Siege of Petersburg December 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865. Fort Fisher, Petersburg, March 25, 1865. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Assault on and fall of Petersburg April 2. Pursuit of Lee April 3-9. Sailor's Creek April 6. Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. March to Danville, Va., April 23-27. Duty there till May 18. Moved to Richmond, thence to Washington May 18-June 2. Corps Review June 8. (Old members mustered out September 17, 1864.) Mustered out June 27, 1865.

Sources

1. ↑ [https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UNY0049RI National Park Service Soldiers and Sailors Databas
2. ↑ "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" publ 1889 by William F. Fox, Lt. Col. U. S. V. p 197, also p 12, 21, 31, 224, 478, 480 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t41r6n91f&view=1up&seq=209&size=125