The 38th New York Infantry Regiment was a two-year

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

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

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 38th New York Infantry was organized at New York city by , Colonel

J. H. Hobart Ward John Henry Hobart Ward (June 17, 1823 – July 24, 1903) was an American soldier who fought in the Mexican–American War and in the American Civil War. Ward joined the army in 1842 and fought in multiple battles in the Mexican–American war, ...

who was appointed by the State of New York May 25, 1861. It mustered in the United States service at East New York for two years, June 3 and 8 (Company I), 1861. The 18th Militia furnished men for one company. In September, 1861, ninety-seven men of the 4th Me. Volunteers were assigned to the regiment. December 21, 1862, the regiment was consolidated into six companies, A, B, C, D, E and F, and the same day the 55th New York Infantry Regiment, consolidated into four companies, joined by transfer, forming new Companies G, H, I and K of the regiment. June 3, 1863, the three years' men of the regiment, all in the four companies G, H, I and K, were transferred to the 40th New York Infantry Regiment, and became Companies A, E and H of the latter. The original companies were recruited principally: * A, B, C, D and F — New York city * E — Westchester county * G — Westchester and Dutchess counties * H — Geneva and in the county of Ontario * I — Horseheads * K — Elizabethtown The regiment left the State June 19, 1861 and returned to New York city to muster out on June 22, 1863.

Affiliations, battle honors, detailed service, and casualties

Organizational affiliation

Attached to: * Col. Willcox's Brigade, Brig.Gen. Heintzelman's Division, Brig.Gen. McDowell's

Army of Northeast Virginia The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confedera ...

, to August, 1861. * Col.

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

's Brigade, Division of the Potomac, to October, 1861. * Brig.Gen. Sedgwick's Brigade, Brig.Gen. Heintzelman's Division,

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confedera ...

(AoP), to March, 1862. * 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division,

III Corps 3rd Corps, Third Corps, III Corps, or 3rd Army Corps may refer to: France * 3rd Army Corps (France) * III Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * III Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of th ...

, AoP, to July, 1862. * 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, III Corps, to June, 1863.

List of battles

The official list of battles in which the regiment bore a part: *

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas

Siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...

Battle of Williamsburg The Battle of Williamsburg, also known as the Battle of Fort Magruder, took place on May 5, 1862, in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the first pitc ...

Battle of Fair Oaks The Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Fair Oaks Station, took place on May 31 and June 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, nearby Sandston, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was th ...

Seven Days Battles The Seven Days Battles were a series of seven battles over seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, command ...

Battle of Savage's Station The Battle of Savage's Station took place on June 29, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, as the fourth of the Seven Days Battles ( Peninsula Campaign) of the American Civil War. The main body of the Union Army of the Potomac began a general withdr ...

Battle of Glendale The Battle of Glendale, also known as the Battle of Frayser's Farm, Frazier's Farm, Nelson's Farm, Charles City Crossroads, New Market Road, or Riddell's Shop, took place on June 30, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, on the sixth day of the Se ...

Battle of Malvern Hill The Battle of Malvern Hill, also known as the Battle of Poindexter's Farm, was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. Mc ...

Battle of South Mountain The Battle of South Mountain—known in several early Southern accounts as the Battle of Boonsboro Gap—was fought on September 14, 1862, as part of the Maryland campaign of the American Civil War. Three pitched battles were fought for posses ...

Second Battle of Bull Run The Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, in Prince William County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of the Northern Virginia Campaign waged by Confederate ...

Battle of Chantilly The Battle of Chantilly (or Ox Hill, the Confederate name) took place on September 1, 1862, in Fairfax County, Virginia, as the concluding battle of the Northern Virginia Campaign of the American Civil War. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's corps ...

Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnsi ...

Battle of Chancellorsville The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because h ...

Detailed service

1861

* Left New York for Washington, D.C., September 20, 1861. * Duty in the Defences of Washington, DC till July 16. * Advance on Manassas, Va., July 16- 21. * First Battle of Bull Run, Va., July 21. * Duty in the Defences of Washington, D. C, till March, 1862.

1862

* Advance on Manassas, Va., March 10–15, 1862. * Ordered to the Peninsula March 17. * Peninsula Campaign April to August. * Siege of Yorktown April 5-May 4. * Battle of Williamsburg May 5. * Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks May 31-June 1. * Seven days before Richmond June 25-.Iuly 1. * Battles of Oak Grove near Seven Pines June 25. * White Oak Swamp and Glendale June 30. * Malvern Hill July 1. * At Harrison's Landing till August 16. * Movement to Fortress Monroe, thence to Centreville August 16-26. * Pope's Campaign in Northern Virginia August 27-September 2. * Battles of Groveton August 29; * Second Battle of Bull Run August 30; * Chantilly September 1. * Duty in the Defences of Washington, D. C, till October. * Movement to Falmouth, Va., October and November. * Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 12-15 * Duty at Falmouth, Va., until April 1863.

1863

* "Mud March" January 20–24, 1863. * At Falmouth till April. * Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. * Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5. * Three years men transferred to 40th Regiment New York Infantry June 3 * Mustered out June 22, 1863, expiration of term.

Casualties

Regiment lost during service 3 Officers and 72 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 3 Officers and 39 Enlisted men by disease. Total 117. The regiment's bloodiest battles were First Bull Run, Williamsburg, Seven Days, and Fredericksburg.

Armament

Soldiers in the 49th were initially armed with Model 1841 Mississippi rifles. These rifles had been manufactured by the Harper's Ferry Arsenal and by contract in 1844 in Windsor, Vermont by the Robbins and Lawrence Armory (R&L) which had also made the 1855 modifications of increasing the bore to .58 and fitting them with a sword bayonet. On July 7, 1861, companies A through F exchanged these rifles for rifle-muskets at the Washington DC arsenal. By the end of the first full year of hard campaigning, the regiment reported the following survey result to U.S. War Department: * A — 41 Springfield Rifled Muskets, model 1855,

1861 Statistically, this year is considered the end of the whale oil industry and (in replacement) the beginning of the petroleum oil industry. Events January–March * January 1 ** Benito Juárez captures Mexico City. ** The first steam-p ...

National Armory (NA) and contract (.58 Cal.) * B — 35 Austrian Rifled Muskets, leaf and block sights, Quadrangular bayonet (.577 Cal) * C — 7 Springfield Rifled Muskets, model 1855, 1861, NA and contract, (.58 Cal.); 36 Austrian Rifled Muskets, leaf and block sights, quadrangular bayonet (.54 and.55 Cal) * D — 44 Austrian Rifled Muskets, leaf and block sights, quadrangular bayonet (.54 and.55 Cal) * E — 36 Austrian Rifled Muskets, leaf and block sights, quadrangular bayonet (.577 Cal) * F — 1 Springfield Rifled Muskets, model 1855, 1861, N.A. and contract. Calibre .58; 29 Austrian Rifled Muskets, leaf and block sights, quadrangular bayonet (.577 Cal) * G — unknown, proably still Harper's Ferry" rifles, model 1841, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet * H — unknown, proably still Harper's Ferry" rifles, model 1841, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet * I — unknown, proably still Harper's Ferry" rifles, model 1841, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet * K — unknown, proably still Harper's Ferry" rifles, model 1841, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet

Rifle-muskets

File:Springfield Model 1842 Percussion Musket transparent.png, Model 1842 smoothbore musket File:NMAH-ET2012-13734-000001.jpg, M1841 Mississippi rifle File:Lorenz_Smithsonian.jpg, Lorenz Rifle Model 1854

Uniform

The men of the regiment were initially issued the standard blue sack coats, sky blue infantry trousers, and the sky blue infantry winter overcoat.

Commanders

* Col.

- June 8, 1861 to October 10, 1862 * Col.

James Clark Strong James Clark Strong (May 26, 1826–1915) was a breveted American Civil War general and prominent New York attorney in the post-war period. An advocate for Native Americans, he litigated '' That Portion of the Cayuga Indians Residing in Canad ...

- October 10, 1862 to December 23, 1862 * Col. Philipe Régis de Trobriand - December 23, 1862 to June 22, 1863

Footnotes

Citations

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend

External links

New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center

New York State Adjutant General Reports Database 1846-2021
Military units and formations established in 1861 Military units and formations disestablished in 1863 Units and formations of the Union Army from New York (state)