The 12th Connecticut 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 mar ...

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 conscript ...

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 of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

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 ...

Service

The 12th Connecticut Infantry Regiment was organized at

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, beginning November 19, 1861, and mustered in for a three-year enlistment on December 3, 1861. The regiment was attached to 1st Brigade,

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 October 1862. Weitzel's Reserve Brigade, Department of the Gulf, to January 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XIX Corps, Department of the Gulf, to August 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, XIX Corps, to February 1864. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XIX Corps, Department of the Gulf, to July 1864, and Army of the Shenandoah, Middle Military Division, to April 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Provisional Division, Army of the Shenandoah, April 1865. 2nd 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. District of Savannah, Department of the South, to August 1865. The 12th Connecticut Infantry mustered out of service August 12, 1865.

Detailed service

The regiment left Connecticut for

Ship Island, Mississippi Ship Island is a barrier island off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, one of the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands. Hurricane Camille split the island into two separate islands (West Ship Island and East Ship Island) in 1969. In early 2019, ...

on February 24, 1862. They arrived there March 9. They filled duty assignments at Ship Island, Mississippi, until April 15, 1862. Operations against Fort St. Phillip and Jackson, Mississippi River, April 15–28. Occupation of New Orleans, Louisiana, May 1, the first regiment to land. Duty at

Camp Parapet Camp Parapet was a Civil War fortification at Shrewsbury, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, a bit more than a mile upriver from the current city limits of New Orleans. History The fortification consisted of a Confederate defensive line about a mile ...

and Carrollton until October. Expedition to

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from wes ...

, Pass Manchac, and up Tchefuncta and Pearl rivers July 25-August 2. Skirmishes at Madisonville and near Covington July 27. Operations in District of La Fourche October 24-November 6. Occupation of Donaldsonville October 25. Action at Georgia Landing, near Labadieville, October 27. Duty in District of La Fourche until February 1863. Expedition to Bayou Teche January 13–15. Action with steamer ''Cotton'' January 14. Moved to

Brashear City, Louisiana Morgan City is a small city in St. Mary and lower St. Martin parishes in the U.S. State of Louisiana. The population was 12,404 at the 2010 census. Known for being “right in the middle of everywhere”, Morgan City is located 68 miles (109&nb ...

February and duty there until March. Operations against Port Hudson March 7–27. Pattersonville March 28 (detachment). Operations in western Louisiana April 9-May 14. Bayou Teche Campaign April 11–20. Port Bisland, near Centreville, April 12–13. Irish Bend April 14. Opelousas April 20. Expedition to Alexandria and Simsport May 5–18. Near Cheyneyville May 18. Movement to Bayou Sara, then to Port Hudson May 22–25. Siege of Port Hudson May 25-July 9. Assaults on Port Hudson May 27 and June 14. Surrender of Port Hudson July 9. Operations in western Louisiana July to September 1863.

2nd Battle of Sabine Pass The Second Battle of Sabine Pass (September 8, 1863) was a failed Union Army attempt to invade the Confederate state of Texas during the American Civil War. The Union Navy supported the effort and lost three gunboats during the battle, two capt ...

September 4–11. Teche Campaign October 3-November 30. Duty at New Iberia until January 1864. Moved to New Orleans and on veteran furlough until May. Duty at Carrollton until July. Moved to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, then to Washington, D.C., July 5–13. Snicker's Gap expedition July 14–23.

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, August to December. Battle of Opequan, Winchester, September 19. Fisher's Hill September 22.

Battle of Cedar Creek The Battle of Cedar Creek, or Battle of Belle Grove, was fought on October 19, 1864, during the American Civil War. The fighting took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Northern Virginia, near Cedar Creek, Middletown, and the Valley Pike. D ...

October 19. Duty at Winchester, Newtown, and Summit Point until April 1865. Moved to Washington, D.C., April 21, 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, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

, June 1–5 and duty there until August.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 273 men during service; 6 officers and 65 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 8 officers and 196 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

* Lieutenant Colonel Frank Henry Peck – commanded at the battles of Port Hudson and Opequan; he was wounded in action at Port Hudson and mortally wounded in action at Opequan * Lieutenant Colonel George N. Lewis – commanded at the Battle of Cedar Creek

Notable Members

In late-September 1862 while stationed at Camp Parapet, a lieutenant in the 12th Connecticut, George H. Hanks, was detailed as aide-de-camp for Brigadier General Thomas W. Sherman for the superintendence of the many contraband arriving at the camp. He organized six colonies of freedmen at Camp Parapet each led by a non-commissioned officer and directed black labor in the repair and fortification of the camp and surroundings. Hanks was transferred out of the regiment January 1, 1863 and made a member of the Army officer corps. He expanded the scheme, which became the Bureau of Negro Labor, and the bureau was one of the organizations which would eventually become the Freedmen's Bureau. Hanks's assistant superintendent was another member of the regiment, Philip Bacon.Philip Bacon Papers, 1862-1867, James S. Schoff Civil War Collection, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, access information ere http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clementsmss/umich-wcl-M-4717bac?view=text/ref>

References

* De Forest, John William. ''A Volunteer's Adventures: A Union Captain's Record of the Civil War'' (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), 1946. eprinted in 1970*Dyer, Frederick H. ''A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion'' (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908. ;Attribution *{{CWR

External links

12th Connecticut Infantry monument at Winchester National Cemetery
Military units and formations established in 1861 Military units and formations disestablished in 1865 Units and formations of the Union Army from Connecticut Military in Connecticut