The 165th New York Infantry Regiment (aka, "2nd Battalion Duryée's Zouaves" and "Smith's Zouaves") was an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Service

The 165th New York Infantry was organized at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

beginning August 1862 and mustered in for three-years service from August through December 1862 under the command of

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Abel Smith Jr.. Ten companies were eventually recruited for the regiment, but the last four companies recruited were consolidated with the first six companies.''Album of the Second Battalion Duryee Zouaves, One Hundred and Sixty-fifth Regt. New York Volunteer Infantry''
New York: s.n., 1906. The 165th New York Infantry was regarded as a sister regiment to the

5th New York Volunteer Infantry The 5th New York Infantry Regiment, also known as Duryée's Zouaves, was a volunteer infantry regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War, led by Colonel Abram Duryée. Modeled, like other Union and Confederate infantry regiments, ...

. The regiment wore the same uniform as the 5th New York Infantry with the exception of the tassel of the fez, which was dark blue instead of yellow-gold. Photographic evidence suggests that later in the war the 165th New York Infantry was given replacement sashes that were a solid red color without the light blue trim. The regiment was attached to Independent Command,

Department of the Gulf The Department of the Gulf was a command of the United States Army in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and of the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. History United States Army (Civil War) Creation The department was co ...

, to January 1863. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, XIX Corps, Department of the Gulf, to July 1863. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, XIX Corps, to February 1864. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, XIX Corps, Department of the Gulf, to July 1864, and Army of the Shenandoah, Middle Military Division, to February 1865. 3rd Brigade, 1st Provisional Division, Army of the Shenandoah, to April 1865. 3rd Brigade, Dwight's Division,

Department of Washington Department of Washington, was a department of the Union Army constituted on April 9, 1861. It consisted of the District of Columbia to its original boundaries, and the State of Maryland as far as Bladensburg. It was merged into the Military D ...

, to June 1865. Dwight's Division,

Department of the South The Department of the South was a military department of the United States Army that existed in several iterations in the 19th century during and after the American Civil War. 1862–65 After the first 11 months of the American Civil War, startin ...

, to September 1865. The 165th New York Infantry mustered out of service September 1, 1865.

Detailed service

Left New York for New Orleans, La., December 2, 1862. Expedition from New Orleans, La., to Ponchatoula March 21–30, 1863. Action at North Pass March 23. Capture of Ponchatoula March 24. Berwick Bay March 26. Expedition to Amite River May 7–19. Moved to Baton Rouge May 20–24. Siege of Port Hudson May 24-July 9. Assaults on Port Hudson May 27 and June 14. Surrender of Port Hudson July 9. Moved to Baton Rouge July 22 and duty there until September. Sabine Pass Expedition September 4–11. Sabine Pass September 8. Moved from Algiers to Brashear City, then to Berwick. Western Louisiana Campaign October 3-November 30. Bayou Vermillion October 9–10. Carrion Crow Bayou October 11. Bayou Vermillion November 11. At New Iberia until January 7, 1864. Moved to Franklin January 7, and duty there until March. Red River Campaign March 10-May 22. Advance from Franklin to Alexandria March 14–26. Battle of Sabine Cross Roads April 8. Pleasant Hill April 9. Monett's Ferry, Cane River Crossing, April 23. At Alexandria April 26-May 13. Construction of dam at Alexandria April 30-May 10. Retreat to Morganza May 13–20. Mansura May 16. Duty at Morganza until July. Movement to New Orleans, then to Fort Monroe, Va., and Washington, D.C., July. Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign August 7-November 28. Detached with the brigade as supply train guard for the army August 14 to October 27. Duty near Middletown and Newtown until December 1864, and at Stevenson's Depot and Winchester until April 1865. Moved to Washington, D.C., and duty there until June.

Grand Review of the Armies The Grand Review of the Armies was a military procession and celebration in the national capital city of Washington, D.C., on May 23–24, 1865, following the Union victory in the American Civil War (1861–1865). Elements of the Union Army in th ...

May 23–24. Moved to Savannah, Ga., June 30-July 7. Duty Savannah, Ga., and at Charleston, S.C., until September.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 124 men during service; 2 officers and 41 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 79 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

* Lieutenant Colonel Abel Smith Jr. - mortally wounded in action May 27, 1863 during the Siege of Port Hudson * Lieutenant Colonel Gouverneur Carr * Lieutenant Colonel William R. French

Notable members

* First Sergeant John Fleming, Company A - Queens County District Attorney and New York judge *

2nd Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

Abraham G. Mills Abraham Gilbert Mills (March 12, 1844 – August 26, 1929) was the fourth president of the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (1883–1884), and is best known for heading the "Mills Commission" which controversially credited Civil Wa ...

, Company E - fourth president of the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (1883-1884), and is best known for heading the "Mills Commission" which controversially credited

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Abner Doubleday Abner Doubleday (June 26, 1819 – January 26, 1893) was a career United States Army officer and Union major general in the American Civil War. He fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the war, and had a pi ...

with the invention of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

Reunion of Civil War veterans of 165th New York Infantry Regiment

References

{{CWR

External links

National flag of the 165th New York Volunteer Infantry
Military units and formations established in 1862 Military units and formations disestablished in 1865 Infantry 165