19th Indiana Infantry Regiment

The 19th Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was one of the original regiments in the Army of the Potomac's Iron Brigade.

19th Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry
Flag of the United States, 1863-1865
ActiveJuly 29, 1861, to October 18, 1864
CountryUnited States
AllegianceUnion
BranchInfantry
Engagements

Service

The 19th Indiana was raised at Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 29, 1861. It saw severe fighting in the 1862 Northern Virginia Campaign. In their first battle at Gainesville, the 19th supported the left flank of the embattled 2nd Wisconsin, fighting Confederates near the buildings of John Brawner's Farm.[1] They also fought in the main part of the Second Battle of Bull Run, where they, along with the rest of the Iron Brigade, were part of the rear guard covering the retreat of Union Army General John Pope.[2] During the subsequent Maryland Campaign, the 19th attacked Turner's Gap in the Battle of South Mountain, and then suffered considerable casualties battling Hood's Texas Brigade in the D.R. Miller cornfield at Antietam.

During the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, the 19th pushed a part of James J. Archer's Confederate brigade off McPherson's Ridge, and then stubbornly defended the heights later in the day before withdrawing to Seminary Ridge. When the I Corps retreated to Cemetery Hill, the Iron Brigade and the 19th Indiana were sent over to nearby Culp's Hill, where they entrenched. They saw comparatively little action the rest of the battle. The regiment later served that year in the Bristoe and Mine Run Campaigns and in 1864 during the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg.

The regiment was amalgamated with the 20th Indiana Infantry on October 18, 1864.

Casualties

The 19th Indiana suffered 5 Officers and 194 enlisted men killed in battle or died from wounds, 1 officer and 116 enlisted men dead from disease for a total of 316 fatalities.

Commanders

In fiction

Lucas McCain of The Rifleman served as a lieutenant in the 19th Indiana during the war. This background was dealt with during an episode where McCain takes in a wounded southern veteran.

Deputy U.S. Marshals Eli Flynn and William Henry Washington from According to Hoyle by Abigail Roux[3] both served in the 19th Indiana during the war, and then later served in the Indian Wars, before becoming Marshals together. Washington, at least, still carries his army-issued Colt .44 from when he served with the Iron Brigade.

See also

Notes
  1. Gaff, p.156
  2. Gaff, p.166
  3. "According to Hoyle | Riptide Publishing". riptidepublishing.com. Retrieved 2017-12-06.

References
  • Gaff, Alan D., "On Many a Bloody Field: Four Years In The Iron Brigade", Indiana University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-253-33063-7.
  • The Civil War Archive
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