The 23rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment 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 ...

that served 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 23rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry was organized at

New Albany, Indiana New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The population was 37,841 as of the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It is bounded by I-265 t ...

, on July 29, 1861. *

Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh (also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield i ...

* Battle of Port Gibson *

Battle of Raymond The Battle of Raymond was fought on May 12, 1863, near Raymond, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. Initial Union (American Civil War), Union attempts to capture the strategically important Mississippi River cit ...

Battle of Champion Hill The Battle of Champion Hill of May 16, 1863, was the pivotal battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Union Army commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee pursued the retreating Confe ...

* Siege of Vicksburg *

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain was fought on June 27, 1864, during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the most significant frontal assault launched by Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman against the Confederate Army of Tennes ...

* Siege of Atlanta * Battle of Jonesboro * Sherman's March to the Sea * Battle of Bentonville *The regiment mustered out of service on July 23, 1865.

Total strength and casualties

The regiment suffered 4 officers and 68 enlisted men killed in action or died of wounds and 2 officers and 143 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 217 fatalities.

Commanders

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

William L. Sanderson

Notable Members

Second 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 ...

Henry C. Foster, Company B, nicknamed "Coonskin" by comrades in the XVII Corps. Foster is best known for constructing a crude marksman's tower out of salvaged railroad ties upon the Union siege works during the Siege of Vicksburg, opposite the 3rd Louisiana Redan. Wearing his signature coonskin cap, Foster was acclaimed by his Union comrades as being the best shot in the Army of the Tennessee and consequently, Foster was permitted by Union commanders to sharpshoot on his own accord during the duration of the siege. * Lucy Higgs Nichols, affectionately nicknamed "Aunt Lucy" by the men of the 23rd, was an

escaped slave In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th century to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called freed ...

who, along with her daughter Mona, informally joined the regiment at Bolivar, Tennessee, in June 1862. Nichols was soon working in the unit as a forager, seamstress, washerwoman, cook, and nurse. She and her daughter quickly became a part of the unit, as the men and Nichols shared a familial devotion to one another. This bond is best exemplified by the actions of the regiment in the days following Mona's death during the siege of Vicksburg, when the regiment conducted a funeral, complete with arranged flowers, in the midst of the ongoing siege. Aunt Lucy would remain alongside the rest of the 23rd for the remainder of the war and was even present for the

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 the ...

in 1865. She returned with the unit to

after the war, was the first and only African-American woman to be awarded an honorary membership in a unit's

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...

post, and was invited to and attended every reunion of the XVII Corps. She gained and fame and recognition later in life in 1898, when with the help of her comrades in the 23rd, Lucy was awarded a veteran pension.

Notes

References