The 75th New York Infantry Regiment ("2nd Auburn 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 ...

and

mounted infantry Mounted infantry were infantry who rode horses instead of marching. The original dragoons were essentially mounted infantry. According to the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "Mounted rifles are half cavalry, mounted infantry merely specially m ...

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 75th New York Infantry was organized at

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

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 * '' ...

and nine companies mustered in for three years service on November 26, 1861 under the command of

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 ...

John A. Dodge. Company K joined the regiment June 24, 1862. The regiment was attached to District of Santa Rosa Island,

Department of Florida Department of Florida, was the military administrative department established by the Union Army. The Department of Florida was established on April 13, 1861 to defend and administer the few remaining Federal installations remaining in Florida. Fo ...

, to February 1862. District of Santa Rosa Island,

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 cons ...

, to March 1862. Western District of Florida, Department of the South, to August 1862. Pensacola, Florida, Division of West Florida, Department of the Gulf, to September 1862. Weitzel's Reserve Brigade, Department of the Gulf, to January 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XIX Corps, Department of the Gulf, to July 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, XIX Corps, to October 1863. Unassigned, Cavalry Division, Department of the Gulf, to December 1863. 1st Brigade, Cavalry Division, Department of the Gulf, to June 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, XIX Corps, to July 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, XIX Corps, Army of the Shenandoah, Middle Military Division, to January 1865. 1st Brigade, Grover's Division, District of Savannah, Georgia, Department of the South, to March 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division,

X Corps 10th Corps, Tenth Corps, or X Corps may refer to: France * 10th Army Corps (France) * X Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars Germany * X Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army * X ...

, to May 1865. District of Savannah, Georgia, Department of the South, to August 1865. The 75th New York Infantry mustered out of service on August 23, 1865.

Detailed service

Left New York for Florida December 6, 1861, arriving at Santa Rosa Island, Florida on December 15. Duty there and at Fort Pickens, Fla., until May 1862. Bombardment of Forts McRae and Barrancas, Pensacola Harbor, Fla., January 1, 1862. Occupation of

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

, May 10, and duty there until August. Fair Oaks, Fla., May 28. Moved to New Orleans, La., August, arriving there August 9. Duty at Carrollton until October. Operations in District of LaFourche October 24-November 6. Occupation of Donaldsonville October 25. Action at Georgia Landing, near Labadieville, and at Thibodeauxville October 28. Duty in the District of LaFourche until February 1863. Expedition to Bayou Teche January 12–15. Bayou Teche January 13. Aboard the steamer ''Cotton'' January 14. Operations against Port Hudson March 7–27. Duty at Brashear City until April. Operations in western Louisiana April 9-May 14. Expedition from Brashear City to Opelousas April 11–20. Fort Bisland April 12–13. Jeanerette, Irish Bend, April 14. Bayou Vermillion April 17. Opelousas April 20. Expedition to Alexandria and Simsport May 5–18. Boyce's Bridge, Cotile Bayou, May 14 (detachment). Siege of Port Hudson May 25-July 9. Assaults on Port Hudson May 27 and June 14. Surrender of Port Hudson July 9. Donaldsonville, Bayou LaFourche, July 12–13. At Baton Rouge August 1-September 3. Sabine Pass Expedition September 4–11. Sabine Pass September 8. Moved from Algiers to Brashear City September 17. Regiment changed to mounted infantry October. Western Louisiana Campaign October 3-November 30. Vermillion Bayou October 9–10. Near New Iberia November 19. Camp Pratt November 20. Camp Lewis December 3. Regiment veteranized January 1, 1864. Veterans on furlough January to April, then at Washington, D.C., XXII Corps, as infantry, April 2 to May 20; then moved to Department of the Gulf and rejoined the regiment June 28. Non-veterans attached to 14th New York Cavalry until June 28, 1864, participating in the Red River Campaign March 10-May 22. Advance from Franklin to Alexandria March 14–26. Bayou Rapides March 20. Henderson's Hill March 21. Monett's Ferry and Cloutiersville March 29–30. Natchitoches March 31. Crump's Hill April 2. Wilson's Farm April 7. Bayou de Paul, Carroll's Mill, April 8. Pleasant Hill April 9. Natchitoches April 20. About Cloutiersville April 21–22. Monett's Ferry, Cane River Crossing, April 23. Above Alexandria April 28. Hudnot's Plantation May 1. Alexandria May 4–8. Retreat to Morganza May 13–20. Choctaw Bayou May 13–14. Avoyelle's Prairie May 15. Mansura May 16. Yellow Bayou May 17–18. Sailed for Fort Monroe, Va., July 13. Before Richmond July 21–30. Deep Bottom July 27–29. Moved to Washington, D.C., July 31. Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign August 7-November 28. Halltown August 23–24. Berryville September 3–4. Battle of Winchester September 19. Fisher's Hill September 22. Battle of Cedar Creek October 19. Duty in the Shenandoah Valley until January 1865. Ordered to Savannah, Ga., January 11, 1865, and provost duty there until August. "It may well be imagined that the privilege of passing the lines and traveling all over the country, enjoyed by the 75th, was calculated to arouse more or less envy. Such was the case, and many soldiers of other organizations pass them selves off as 75ers, and under this pretense got beyond the pickets, committing shameful thefts and outrages in the surrounding country. Thus in time complaints of ill-treatment reached headquarters, and the regiment, undeservedly, received a reprimand... On these occasions, as when capturing horses and saddles, the soldiers pitied those whom they were robbing, satisfying their consciences with the thought that those who had brought on this distressing war were the ones who were to blame for its fruits." -James Jabez HallHall, Henry and Hall, James Jabez. Cayuga in the Field: A Record of the 19th N.Y. Volunteers, All the Batteries of the 3d New York Artillery, and 75th New York Volunteers (Auburn, NY: Truair, Smith & Co., Printers), 1873. pages 151-155.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 198 men during service; 4 officers and 91 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 103 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

* Colonel John A. Dodge * Colonel Robert B. Merritt * Colonel Robert P. York *

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Benjamin F. Thurber - commanded at the Battle of Cedar Creek

Sources

* Babcock, Willoughby. ''Selections from the Letters and Diaries of Brevet-Brigadier General Willoughby Babcock of the Seventy-Fifth New York Volunteers: A Study of Camp Life in the Union Armies During the Civil War'' (Albany, NY: University of the State of New York), 1922. * Dyer, Frederick H. ''A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion'' (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908. * Hall, Henry & James Hall. ''Cayuga in the Field: A Record of the 19th N.Y. Volunteers, All the Batteries of the 3d New York Artillery, and 75th New York Volunteers'' (Auburn, NY: Truair, Smith & Co., Printers), 1873. * Raus, Edmund J. ''Where Duty Called Them: The Story of the Samuel Babcock Family of Homer, New York, in the Civil War'' (Daleville, VA: Schroeder Publications), 2001. ;Attribution *

References