119th New York Infantry Regiment

119th New York Infantry Regiment
119th New York Infantry monument at Gettysburg Battlefield
Active	June 26, 1862 – June 7, 1865[1]
Country	United States
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Infantry
Engagements	American Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville Battle of Gettysburg Battle of Wauhatchie Battle of Missionary Ridge Atlanta Campaign Battle of Resaca Battle of Dallas Battle of New Hope Church Battle of Allatoona Battle of Pine Hill Battle of Marietta Battle of Kolb's Farm Battle of Kennesaw Mountain Battle of Peachtree Creek Siege of Atlanta Sherman's March to the Sea Carolinas Campaign Battle of Bentonville
Commanders
Colonel	Elias Peissner[2]
Colonel	John Thomas Lockman[2]
Lieutenant Colonel	Edward F. Lloyd[2]
Insignia
2nd Division, XI Corps
2nd Division, XX Corps

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]

• Defenses of Washington, D.C., to November 1862
• 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, XI Corps, Army of the Potomac, to October 1863
• 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, XX Corps Army of the Cumberland, to June 1865.^[1]

List of battles

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

• Battle of Chancellorsville
• Battle of Gettysburg
• Battle of Wauhatchie
• Battle of Missionary Ridge
• Atlanta Campaign
• Battle of Resaca
• Battle of Dallas
• Battle of New Hope Church
• Battle of Allatoona
• Battle of Pine Hill
• Battle of Marietta
• Battle of Kolb's Farm
• Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
• Battle of Peachtree Creek
• Siege of Atlanta
• Sherman's March to the Sea
• Carolinas Campaign
• Battle of Bentonville

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]

• "Mud March", January 20–24.
• At Stafford Court House until April 27.
  • Chancellorsville Campaign, April 27 – May 6.
  • Battle of Chancellorsville May 1–5.
• Gettysburg Campaign, June 11 – July 24.
  • Battle of Gettysburg, July 1–3.
  • Pursuit of Lee to Manassas Gap, Virginia, July 5–24.
• Guard duty on Orange & Alexandria Railroad until September.
• Movement to Bridgeport, Alabama, September 24 – October 3.
• Duty there and in Lookout Valley until November 22.
• Reopening Tennessee River, October 26–29.
• Battle of Wauhatchie, Tennessee, October 28–29.
• Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign, November 23–27.
  • Orchard Knob, November 23.
  • Battle of Lookout Mountain November 24
  • Tunnel Hill November 24–25.
  • Missionary Ridge, November 25.
• March to relief of Knoxville, November 28 – December 17.
• Duty in Alabama until April 1864.

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

• List of New York Civil War regiments
• New York in the Civil War

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

1. Dyer (1908), p. 1451.
2. Dyer (1908), p. 1451; Federal Publishing Company (1908), p. 135.
3. Phisterer (1912), p. 3407.
4. Dyer (1908), p. 1451; Phisterer (1912), p. 3397.
5. NYSMM, (2019).
6. Dodge (2003), p. 96.
7. Gabel (1997), p. 5-7.
8. Phisterer (1912), p. 3397.
9. Dyer (1908), p. 1452.
10. Civil War in the East, 119th New York Volunteer.

References

• Dodge, Theodore Ayrault (2003). Sears, Stephen W. (ed.). On Campaign with the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Journal of Theodore Ayrault Dodge (PDF) (Paperback ed.). New York, NY: Cooper Square Press. pp. 1–374. ISBN 978-0-8154-1266-3. OCLC 54535507. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
• Dyer, Frederick Henry (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (PDF). Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co. pp. 30, 43, 196, 320, 329, 456, 458, 1451. ASIN B01BUFJ76Q. Retrieved August 8, 2015. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Federal Publishing Company (1908). Military Affairs and Regimental Histories of New York, Maryland, West Virginia, And Ohio (PDF). The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States, 1861–65 – Records of the Regiments in the Union army – Cyclopedia of battles – Memoirs of Commanders and Soldiers. Vol. I. Madison, WI: Federal Publishing Company. pp. 135–136. OCLC 1086145633. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Gabel, Christopher R. (1997). Railroad Generalship: Foundations of Civil War Strategy (PDF). Combat Studies Institute. Fort Leavenworth, KS: United States Army Command and General Staff College. p. 32. OCLC 831940850. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
• Phisterer, Frederick (1912). Seventieth Regiment of Infantry - One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Regiment of Infantry (PDF). New York in the War of Rebellion, 1861-1865. Vol. 4 (3rd ed.). Albany, NY: J. B. Lyon Company, State Printers. pp. 3410–3423. LCCN 14013311. OCLC 1359922. Retrieved 2023-04-06. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• "119th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment". The Civil War in the East. 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-03-04. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
• "119th Infantry Regiment: New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center". New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs. 2019. Retrieved 2020-04-08.

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

• 119th New York Infantry monument at Gettysburg Battlefield