19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment

Service

The 19th Massachusetts was organized at Camp Schouler in Lynnfield, Massachusetts and mustered in for a three-year enlistment on August 28, 1861, under the command of Colonel Edward Winslow Hinks.

The regiment was attached to Lander's Brigade, Division of the Potomac, to October 1861. Lander's Brigade, Stone's (Sedgwick's) Division, Army of the Potomac, to March 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, II Corps, Army of the Potomac, to March 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, II Corps, to June 1865.

The 19th Massachusetts mustered out of service on June 30, 1865, and was discharged July 22, 1865.

Detailed service

Left Massachusetts for Washington, D.C., August 30. Camp at Meridian Hill until September 12, 1861. Moved to Poolesville, Md., September 12–15. Guard duty on the Upper Potomac until December. Operations on the Potomac October 21–24. Action at Ball's Bluff October 21. Moved to Muddy Run December 4, and duty there until March 12, 1862. Moved to Harpers Ferry, then to Charlestown and Berryville March 12–15. Ordered to Washington, D.C., March 24, and to the Peninsula March 27. Siege of Yorktown April 5-May 4. West Point May 7–8. Battle of Fair Oaks, Seven Pines, May 31-June 1. Seven days before Richmond June 25-July 1. Oak Grove, near Fair Oaks, June 25. Peach Orchard and Savage Station June 29. White Oak Swamp and Glendale June 30. Malvern Hill July 1. Harrison's Landing July 8. At Harrison's Landing until August 15. Movement to Alexandria August 15–28, thence to Fairfax Court House August 28–31. Cover Pope's retreat from Bull Run August 31-September 1. Maryland Campaign September–October. Battle of South Mountain September 14 (reserve). Battle of Antietam September 16–17. Moved to Harpers Ferry September 22, and duty there until October 30. Advance up Loudon Valley and movement to Falmouth, Va., October 30-November 17. Battle of Fredericksburg December 11–15. (Forlorn Hope to cross Rappahannock at Fredericksburg December 11.) Duty at Falmouth, Va., until April 1863. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Maryes' Heights. Fredericksburg, May 3. Salem Heights May 3–4. Gettysburg Campaign June 11-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg July 2–4, Advance from the Rappahannock to the Rapidan September 13–17. Bristoe Campaign October 9–22. Bristoe Station October 14. Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7–8. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. Robertson's Tavern, or Locust Grove, November 27. At Stevensburg until May 1864. Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6–7. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May–June. Battles of the Wilderness May 5–7. Laurel Hill May 8. Spotsylvania May 8–12. Po River May 10. Spotsylvania Court House May 12–21. Assault on the Salient 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 16–18. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865. Jerusalem Plank Road June 22–23, 1864. Demonstration north of the James July 27–29. Deep Bottom July 27–28. Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14–18. Ream's Station August 25. Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run, October 27–28. Dabney's Mills, Hatcher's Run, February 5–7, 1865. Watkin's House March 25. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Crow's House March 31. Fall of Petersburg April 2. Sailor's Creek April 6. High Bridge and Farmville April 7. Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. At Burkesville until May 2. March to Washington May 2–13. Grand Review of the Armies May 23. Duty at Washington until June 30.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 294 men during service; 14 officers and 147 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 133 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

Notable members
  • Major General Adolphus Greely - Medal of Honor recipient in recognition of his long and distinguished career; the second person to be awarded the Medal of Honor for "lifetime achievement"
  • Major Edward Rice - Medal of Honor recipient for action at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 3
  • 2nd Lieutenant John G. B. Adams, Company I - Medal of Honor recipient for action at the Battle of Fredericksburg
  • Color Sergeant Benjamin Franklin Falls, Company A - Medal of Honor recipient for action at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 3; killed in action at the Battle of Spotsylvania
  • Sergeant Benjamin H. Jellison, Company C - Medal of Honor recipient for action at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 3
  • Corporal Joseph H. De Castro, Company I - Medal of Honor recipient for action at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 3; the first Hispanic-American to be awarded the United States' highest military decoration for valor in combat
  • Private John H. Robinson, Company I - Medal of Honor recipient for action at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 3

See also

References
  • Adams, John G. B. Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment (Boston, MA: Wright & Potter Print. Co.), 1899.
  • Brigadier-General Edmund Rice, U.S.A.B.S., M.A., N.U. '60: A Brief Record of His Military Career and Tribute to His Memory (Norwich, VT: Norwich University), 1907.
  • Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.
  • Dyer, J. Franklin. The Journal of a Civil War Surgeon (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press), 2003. ISBN 0-8032-6637-5
  • Hodgkins, Joseph Edward. The Civil War Diary of Lieut. J. E. Hodgkins: 19th Massachusetts Volunteers from August 11, 1862 to June 3, 1865 (Camden, ME: Picton Press), 1994. ISBN 0-8972-5177-6
  • Root, Edwin R. "Isn't this glorious!": The 15th, 19th, and 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiments at Gettysburg's Copse of Trees (Bethlehem, PA: Moon Trail Books), 2006. ISBN 0-9773-1400-6
  • Waitt, Ernest Linden. History of the Nineteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1865 (Salem, MA: Salem Press), 1906. [reprinted in 1988, ISBN 0-9355-2318-9]
  • Weston, Henry Grant. Random Shots (Boston, MA: s.n.), 1913.
  • Weymouth, Albert Blodgett. A Memorial Sketch of Lieut. Edgar M. Newcomb, of the Nineteenth Mass. Vols. (Malden, MA: A. G. Brown, Printer), 1883.
  • This article contains text from a text now in the public domain: Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Co.
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