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Colonel Elias Peissner
119th New York Infantry monument at Gettysburg Battlefield

The 119th New York Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Service

Colonel Elias Peissner[3][i] received authority, June 26, 1862, to recruit 119th New York Infantry was organized at New York City,[4] New York beginning June 26, 1862 and mustered in for three years service on September 4, 1862 under the command of Elias Peissner. The companies were recruited principally:[5]

  • A — Halleck Guard
  • B, C, D — Sigel Life Guard, Siegel Sharpshooters
  • E, F, G, I and K — New York City
  • H — Hempstead

The regiment was considered one of the German, or "Dutch," regiments in the XI Corps. The historian, Theodore Ayrault Dodge, joined it as regimental adjutant in November 1862, and wrote: "There are Germans who don't understand English, Frenchmen ditto, Swedes and Spaniards who don't understand anything, and Italians who are worse than all the rest together."[6][ii]

The 119th was part of Hooker's command (XI and XII Corps) that transferred from the Army of the Potomac westward to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland around Chattanooga, Tennessee.[7][iii] They then became the part of the Army of the Tennessee and remained with it until the end of the war.

The 119th New York Infantry mustered out of service June 8, 1865 near Bladensburg, Maryland.[8] Recruits and veterans were transferred to the 102nd New York Volunteer Infantry.

Affiliations, battle honors, detailed service, and casualties

Organizational affiliation

The regiment was attached to the following brigades:[1]

List of battles

The official list of battles in which the regiment bore a part:[9]

Detailed service

1862[1]

  • Left New York for Washington, D.C., September 6, 1862.
  • Duty in the defenses of Washington, D.C., until November 1862.
  • Movement to Gainesville, Virginia, November 1–9, then to Centreville November 18, and to Falmouth December 9–16.
  • At Stafford Court House until January 20, 1863.

1863[1]

1864[1]

  • Atlanta Campaign, May 1 – September 8.
  • Operations against Rocky Faced Ridge, May 8–11.
  • Mill Creek or Dug Gap, May 8.
  • Battle of Resaca, May 14–15.
  • Near Cassville, May 19.
  • New Hope Church, May 25.
  • Battles about Dallas, New Hope Church, and Allatoona Hills, May 26 – June 5.
  • Operations about Marietta and against Kennesaw Mountain, June 10 – July 2.
  • Pine Hill, June 11–14.
  • Lost Mountain, June 15–17.
  • Gilgal or Golgotha Church, June 15.
  • Muddy Creek, June 17.
  • Noyes Creek, June 19.
  • Kolk's Farm, June 22.
  • Assault on Kennesaw, June 27.
  • Ruff's Station, Smyrna Camp Ground, July 4.
  • Chattahoochie River, July 5–17.
  • Peachtree Creek, July 19–20.
  • Siege of Atlanta, July 22–August 25.
  • Operations at Chattahoochie River Bridge, August 26 – September 2.
  • Occupation of Atlanta, September 2 to November 15.
  • Expedition from Atlanta to Tuckum's Cross Roads, October 26–29.
  • Near Atlanta, November 9.
  • March to the sea, November 15 – December 10.
  • Between Eden and Pooler's Stations, December 9.
  • Siege of Savannah, December 10–21.

1865[1]

  • Carolinas Campaign, January to April 1865.
  • Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, March 19–21.
  • Occupation of Goldsboro, March 24.
  • Advance on Raleigh, April 9–13.
  • Smithfield, North Carolina, April 11.
  • Occupation of Raleigh, April 14.
  • Bennett's House, April 26.
  • Surrender of Johnston and his army.
  • March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Virginia, April 30 – May 19.
  • Grand Review of the Armies, May 24.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 166 men during service; six officers and 66 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, two officers and 92 enlisted men died of disease.[10][4]

Commanders

  • Colonel Elias Peissner – killed in action at the Battle of Chancellorsville
  • Colonel John Thomas Lockman
  • Lieutenant Colonel Edward F. Lloyd – commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg after Col. Lockman was wounded in action on July 1

See also


Footnotes

  1. ^ Peissner was a 35-year-old German immigrant, who was appointed Colonel, June 26, 1862. He commanded the regiment until he was killed in action, May 2, 1863, at Chancellorsville.
  2. ^ Many native-born Americans in the U.S. Army initially harbored some disdain for immigrants, but Dodge was sent to the regiment because he had studied in Berlin before the war and was fluent in German.
  3. ^ The efficiency of the United States' railroads over the Confederacy's effectively canceled the normal advantage of interior lines of communications that the Rebels possessed. While traveling 400 miles further with slightly more than twice the number, the troops had taken the same time as Longstreet's troops who had arrived two weeks earlier still lacking arms and supplies.

Citations

References

Further reading

  • Ceremonies and Addresses at the Dedication of a Monument by the 119th Regiment, N.Y. State Vols. at Gettysburg, July 3, 1888. (Boston: Wright & Potter), 1889.
  • Kotzbauer, Robert W. Elias, Ersatz Prinz, Union Patriot: A True Story (Wagontown, PA: R. W. Kotzbauer), 2004. [Biography of Col. Elias Peissner.]

External links