I have no intention of writing a formal history. I have not the necessary data even if I had the inclination. I claim the privilege of wandering here and there over the broad field of my experience as a subaltern officer of the Old Eleventh, and noting such historical, statistical, and anecdotal items, as I may remember after all these years.

On the 14^th day of May, 1861, President Lincoln issued an executive order, directing an increase of the regimental organizations of the Regular Army. Nine infantry regiments, of three battalions of eight companies each, were of the increase authorized. In G. O. No. 33, A. G. O., series of 1861, can be found the names of the officers appointed to the new regiments, the greater number from civil life. The order directing the formation of the 11^th Infantry, designated Fort Independence, Boston Harbor, Mass., as regimental headquarters, where all appointees were directed to report, either in person or by letter, to the regimental commander. Fort Independence remained our headquarters during the War.

Edmund Schriver of New York, formerly an officer of the 3d Artillery, accepted the lieutenant-colonelcy of the regiment and had charge of its organization, the colonel,—Brig-Gen. E. D. Keyes, U. S. Volunteers, appointed to the regiment from major 1^st Artillery,—being on detached service with his Volunteer command. The other field officers were Major Frederick Steele, appointed from captain ad Infantry; Major Delancy Floyd-Jones, appointed from captain 4^th Infantry; and Major Jonathan W. Gordon, of Indiana, an appointment from civil life.

Colonel Schriver—among the first of the regiment to arrive in Boston— found Fort Independence occupied by a regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, the 13^th, I think. After a vexatious delay the 13^th got off for the front, when the officers of the Eleventh, who were quite as anxious as the colonel to get into quarters. were ordered to report for duty at ourofficial station. Colonel Schriver selected for his regimental staff fist Lieut. Guido N. Lieber to be adjutant, and 1^st Lieut. Robert Burnett Smith to be quarter-master. Colonel Lieber is well known to the Army as our present assistant judge advocate general. “Bob” Smith resigned in 1865. I think that several of the younger officers were reluctant to leave the attractions and delights of Boston for the not very cheerful prospect of what so isolated a locality as Fort Independence promised in exchange. Others were prepared for the most Spartan experiences. There was one condition common to all. I do not remember that, other than Colonel Schriver and Major Floyd-Jones, there was an officer in the command who knew anything of practical value of the service. Several had campaigned a little in the three months service. I do not remember that they claimed to be any more of the old soldier than the rest of us, their experiences, as I heard them related, having been quite as full of amusement as of instruction. The only enlisted man at the fort when we took station there, was Ordnance Sergeant Parr, a veteran of great dignity and most impressive manner. I think he doubted the wisdom of commissioning so many inexperienced young men in the Army. The sergeant had served in the Mexican War and Utah Expedition. I do not remember when he first entered the service. He had grown gray in it. His reminiscences were numerous and lengthy, and, though colored somewhat with imagination, were very interesting, and found willing and attentive listeners. His manner toward the younger officers was encouraging, approaching frequently to the paternal. I know very little of his subsequent career. I have the impression that he was appointed lieutenant-colonel or major of a Massachusetts cavalry regiment, but, annoyed and irritated by the absence of that formal way of doing things to which he had been for so many years accustomed, resigned his volunteer commission in disgust. Sergeant Parr represented a type of the old soldier, difficult if not impossible to find in these degenerate days.

Professional work began at once, Colonel Schriver’s first order directing recitations in tactics and the Army regulations. There was not an enlisted man present in the regiment at this time. The officers were drilled in the school of the squad with and without arms. Captain Chipman was our drill master. Major Floyd-Jones joined soon after we went down to the fort and partially relieved Colonel Schriver of what must often have been the irksome task of hearing our every week-day recitations. I remember that the War Department issued to each officer the Ordnance Manual, Wayne’s Sword Exercise, the Army Regulations, and Scott’s Tactics. Scott was soon changed for Hardie, the latter for U. S. Infantry Tactics, a change of title only, Hardie having gone over to the Confederacy. I want to remark in this place that we always found Colonel Schriver a patient, interested and considerate instructor. All who had the good fortune to commence their military service with the aid of his advice and direction, will remember the colonel with feelings of affectionate regard as a commanding officer who, to a perfect and entire familiarity with the duties and technicalities of his office and profession, added the graces and accomplishments of a courteous gentleman.

Sergeants Bentzoni, Hagan, Kennington and Fitzmorris were transferred from the Recruiting Depot at Governor’s Island, and appointed fist sergeants of companies as they were organized. They were commissioned in the regiment after a time, Captain Fitzmorris, killed at the battle of Gaines’ Mill, carrying the regimental color.

By October six companies had been organized and assigned to the First Battalion. About the tenth of that month the battalion (with regimental headquarters, temporarily) was ordered to Perryville, Maryland, opposite Havre de Grace, where, joined by the 14^th Infantry from Fort Trumbull, Conn., we remained during the winter, guarding mules and wagons collected at Perryville to make up a wagon train for the Army of the Potomac. Picket guards at the ferry landings, and guards on the boats, added to the duties the men were called upon to perform. The battalion was encamped on the bank of the river near the ferry, and in tents until late in January, when it had a welcome change to rude but very comfortable temporary barracks. Colonel Shriver commanded the post, with Lieutenant Lieber as post adjutant. Captain, now Colonel, Sawtelle, of the Quartermaster’s Department, was depot quartermaster. Major Delancy Floyd-Jones commanded the battalion, with 1^st Lieut. Charles A. Hartwell as battalion adjutant. I wish I could remember the name of the post surgeon, a very attentive and competent physician. I passed many pleasant hours in his quarters. It is somewhat strange that while I remember so much of what occurred at Perryville, by no association of events or individuals can I recall the doctor’s name.

The company officers present in our first camp were Captains Russell, Chipman, Lowe, Ames, Lawrence and Elder; Lieuts. J. S. Fletcher, Bates, Pleasants, Head, Ingham, Higbee, Patterson, Gray, Evans and Brownell. Sergeants William Fletcher, of the 8^th Infantry, and Bentzoni and Huntington, of the 11^th, were appointed to and joined the regiment before the end of the yew. I think I have mentioned all who were for duty with the battalion at that time, and, with the exception of Elder and Bentzoni, they embarked with the battalion for the Peninsula.

In March, 1862, the 11^th Infantry and the 14^th were ordered to Washington, where they joined Sykes’ Division of Regulars. Colonel Schriver left the regiment at this time to join General McDowell as his chief of staff. The battalion marched with the division in the reconnaissance to Manassas, returned with it to Alexandria, and went into camp near the Theological Seminary. It embarked for the Peninsula, sharing the transport with the 4^th Infantry, and, in the operations before Yorktown, its camp was in the division camp called Winfield Scott, near General McClellan’s headquarters.

I intend to refer as little as possible to the division and brigade to which my regiment was attached during the War, and will therefore, before proceeding farther, give them as briefly as possible for the whole period.

Sykes’ division was an independent command reporting direct to General McClellan’s headquarters, until the organization of the 5^th Corps, when it joined that corps as its Second Division.

In the Peninsular campaign the division was made up of two Regular and one volunteer brigades. The 3d, 4^th, 12^th and 14^th regiments of infantry were in the First Brigade; the 2d, 6^th, 7^th, 10^th, 11^th and 17^th regiments of infantry in the Second; the 1^st Connecticut Heavy Artillery, the 5^th and 10^th New York Volunteers in the Third Brigade. A company of the 1^st Infantry served with Sykes’ Division in the Peninsula campaign. I have forgotten to which regiment it was attached. Lieut.-Col. R. C. Buchanan, 4^th Infantry, commanded the First, Lieut.-Col. William Chapman, the Second, and Col. G. K. Warren, 5^th New York Volunteers, the Third Brigade. This division formation—referring to regiments—(the company of the 1^st Infantry was detached from the division, I think, at Harrison’s Landing) continued until the fall of 1862, when the 1^st Connecticut Artillery and both New York Volunteers were detached from, and the 140^th and the 146^th New York Volunteers attached to the Third Brigade.

The 5^th New York, a two years’ regiment, was mustered out in May, 1863, by expiration of term of service. It was reorganized by Col. Cleveland Winslow, a very gallant officer, and returned to the field and to the Third Brigade, where it maintained the high reputation its first organization had made, as one of the most distinguished volunteer regiments in the Army of the Potomac. In the reorganization of the Army of the Potomac, preparatory to the campaign of 1864, the three brigades of Sykes’ old division were consolidated into one, anti assigned to the First—Griffin’s—Division of the 5^th Corps. The service of the Regular infantry as a separate command in the Army of the Potomac came to an end with this consolidation. The assignment to Griffin’s Division continued until after the battle of the Wilderness, when the brigade was returned to the Second Division as its Second Brigade, and General Ayres to his former Second Division command.

Gen. George Sykes (major 14^th Infantry) organized the division at Washington, D. C., in March, 1862, and continued to command it until, at Frederick, Maryland, in June, 1863, he succeeded General Meade in command of the 5^th Corps. Gen. R. B. Ayres (captain 5^th Artillery) who came to the First Brigade just before the battle of Chancellorsville, succeeded General Sykes in command of the division and, excepting the short time his division served as a brigade in Griffin’s division, continued to command it to the end of the War. This recital, though somewhat lengthy and a departure from the line of my narrative, will, I hope, be interesting. It may serve a useful purpose.

Upon the evacuation of Yorktown, the regiment marched via Williamsburg, Cumberland, the White House, and Tunstall’s Station, to near the Chickahominy, and went into camp on the Mechanicsville road near Gaines’ Mill, Camp Lovell it was called. It took part in the movement to Hanover Court House, and did its share of picket and fatigue duty on the Chickahominy. The only thing that disturbed the even tenor of our camp life after the Hanover Court House affair, was Stuart’s raid. We were hurried out of camp about sundown, marched off rapidly for a few miles, and then marched back. I do not know if we were expected to catch Stuart’s raiders, and can explain the movement only as Artemus Ward did a similarly futile effort. It may have been “Strategy, my boy.”

At the battle of Gaines’ Mill the battalion was posted to support Martin’s Mass. Battery. Lieutenant Hartwell, battalion adjutant, was severely wounded in this action. At the battle of Malvern Hill, the 11^th Infantry and 5^th N. Y. Vols. were detached under Col. G. K. Warren, and posted in the bottom land on the extreme left of our army. The regiment followed the army to Harrison’s Landing and remained in camp there until about August 14^th, when it marched with the division via Charles City Court House and Williamsburg to Newport News, en route to join Pope’s army north of the Rappahannock. It landed from transport at Acquia Creek, remained for a few days at Fredericksburg, and appeared in due time upon the battle-field of the Second Bull Run, where it was engaged. The regiment was present at the battle of Antietam, crossed the river in the reconnaissance to Sharpsburg, and was engaged on the skirmish line. It accompanied the division back to the Rappahannock, and went into camp near Falmouth, Va. It crossed the river and was engaged at the battle of Fredericksburg. Captain Lawrence was severely wounded in this action. It shared the fatigues and discomforts of the “Mud March,” and wintered in the division camp near Potomac Creek. At the battle of Chancellorsville (May 1^st) the regiment was again on the skirmish line, at first supporting the lath Infantry, and then deployed on its right in the advance of Sykes’ Division in the direction of Fredericksburg. The skirmish line went forward for a mile or more without encountering very much opposition, or observing any indication that it would encounter any, when, for some reason thought to be good, I suppose, by whoever ordered it, the skirmish line was withdrawn, and the division returned to the camp it left in the morning.

On the evening of the disaster to a portion of the Eleventh Corps, the regiment, about sunset, was ordered out upon the road leading to the river, to aid in restoring order, and to assist in stopping the stream of stragglers making for the bridge. I shall not attempt a description of how a large body of men appeared when under the influence of the unaccountable demoralization. The scene was one of confusion and excitement truly thrilling, and though order was soon restored, suggested the thought of what a chaotic condition of things would have been likely to follow, had the panic extended beyond the limits to which it was fortunately confined.

In the battle of the next morning the regiment was in line to the right of the troops engaged. It formed part of the rear-guard when the army crossed to the north bank of the river and, waiting to see the ponton bridge taken up, then returned to its winter camp near Falmouth. The regiment accompanied the division to Gettysburg. The division, early in the afternoon of July fist, went into camp near York, Pa., to prepare muster and pay rolls. About sunset it was hurriedly put en route for Gettysburg, had a very exhausting night march and, passing in the early morning to the rear of the battle-field of the day before, halted on the pike in rear of the Round Top for test and breakfast. Later in the day the division was put in position covering the Round Top, the Regular brigades posted out well to the front. The enemy soon appeared in great force, threatening the destruction of the Regular infantry by an enfilade. The gallantry of Col. Hannibal Day, 6^th Infantry, commanding the 1^st,—and Col. Sidney Burbank, 2d Infantry, commanding the 2d Brigade,—their coolness and skill in withdrawing their commands from the terrible fire to which they were exposed without support, made the veteran officers named conspicuous figures on that part of the field. The following extracts, which I cannot resist quoting, from Colonel Fox’s “ Regimental Losses in the Civil War,” will be interesting as showing what the Regular infantry did and suffered in this great battle:

“At Gettysburg the two Regular brigades, under Colonels Day and Burbank, again displayed that marked efficiency which, at Gaines’ Mill and on other fields, had made them famous, their thinned ranks being again depleted under the terrible fire which they encountered.”

And again:

“At Gettysburg the two Regular brigades included ten regiments, but they contained only fifty-seven small companies. Out of 1985 present, they lost 829 in killed, wounded and missing, and in Burbank’s Brigade, out of 80 officers present, 40 were killed or wounded.”

The loss of the 11^th Infantry in officers was the largest it,—or any other Regular regiment, so far as I can learn,—suffered in any one battle of the War. Captain Barri and Lieutenants Kenaston, Elder, Rochford and Barber were killed; and Captain Goodhue and Lieutenant Harbach wounded. The regiment marched with the division back to the Rappahannock.

In the fall of 1863 the Regular infantry, with other commands from the Army of the Potomac, were sent to New York City to preserve order during the next draft. The 11^th Infantry encamped on the East River, across the street and to the north of Jones’ Wood garden. When the purpose for which the troops were sent to New York had been accomplished, they were ordered back to the front.

A great deal of marching and counter-marching is all that I remember as occurring to the time of the assault and capture by the 6^th Corps of the rebel redoubts covering the railroad bridge crossing the Rappahannock. On that occasion the 11^th Infantry was on the skirmish line to the left of the attack. The regiment took part in the movement to Mine Run, returned to the vicinity of Bealton Station, and went into what we thought would be our winter quarters. Remaining in that locality for a short time, it moved to near Nokesville. We had completed the hutting of the command when, about Christmas, the regiment was ordered to Alexandria, Va., for duty as train guards to Brandy Station. The end of the year left the regiment in camp near the cemetery at Alexandria, performing the duty last mentioned.

About May 1^st, 1864, the regiment moved to Brandy Station, where the division, cantoned along the railroad during the winter, was assembling to tame part in the campaign of 1864. The division crossed the Rapidan at Ely’s Ford and bivouacked on the night of May 4^th well out on the Orange Court House road. In the engagement of the next day the regiment was on the skirmish line. Lieutenants Pleasants and Staples were killed in this action. The regiment was again under fire May 8^th and 12^th. Lieutenant Pratt was killed in the action of May 8^th. The regiment crossed the North Anna River near Jericho Ford, and was engaged on that day, June 2d, at Bethesda Church. Under cover of a heavy growth of timber the enemy succeeded in turning the right of the 5^th Corps, capturing Lieutenants Hunington and Nealy, and a number of the enlisted men of Company F, 1^st Battalion, our right-flank company. The enemy came upon us from our right and rear. I did not stop to inquire what the rebels thought about it, but we were very much surprised indeed.

The regiment, still tramping with the division, crossed the Chickahominy at Long Bridge, moved after some delay to the James River, and crossed at Wilcox’s Landing, was retained on the south bank, and made the most exhausting night march it ever experienced. It arrived in front of the works covering Petersburg on the morning of June 17^th, and was in support of the disastrous assault of the 9^th Corps. On the 18^th the division moved to the left, to near the Weldon Railroad cut, and took part in an effective and bloody attack upon the rebel defenses on that front. The 11^th Infantry suffered severely from the fire of a battery located in a redoubt fronting the line of the advance. Lieut.-Col. E. S. Otis, 140^th New York Volunteers, commanded our brigade in this action. After remaining for several weeks in the trenches the regiment moved to the more comfortable locality of a camp to the rear in the timber, where a man could hold up his head without the certainty of a sharp-shooter making a target of it. I can imagine no more utterly wearing, forlorn, and dispiriting situation than that of hiding, day after day, behind a breast-high parapet, waiting for your turn to come to be knocked on the head. Looking across to the rebel works they appeared deserted, until some movement or demonstration in our line called them to arms, when their parapet would glisten with bayonets, suggestive of the quills upon the fretful porcupine. The regiment was engaged at the battle of the Weldon R. R. and the battle of the Chapel House. Lieut.-Col. Otis, our brigade commander, was very severely wounded in the last-named action. The regiment took part in the movement to Hatcher’s Run, returned to a camp near the Yellow Tavern, and on the fist day of November, 1864, the Regular infantry serving with the Army of the Potomac, were ordered out of the field. The casualties incident to field service, with the difficulty experienced in obtaining recruits for the Regular Army,—state and county bounties attracting recruits to the volunteer service,—had reduced the several regiments to an aggregate enlisted of little more than the maximum allowed a company,—several of the older regiments fell below it.

This separation was final. I do not think that I exaggerate when I remark that, in its service with the Army of the Potomac, the Regular infantry bore its part honorably and well; that the high standard for efficiency expected of it was always maintained when put to the crucial test of battle. Too few in numbers to claim recognition as a great element of strength to that army the record it made from Yorktown to the Chapel House is an assurance of what a notable influence it would have exercised, had its enlisted strength been sufficient to permit its organization as an army corps. The regiment went from the field to Hunt Barracks, in rear of Fort Hamilton, N. Y. Harbor, remained there until November lath, when, with the 8^th Infantry, it embarked for Baltimore, Old. Remained at Baltimore until December 5^th, when it was sent to Annapolis, Md., for duty at Camp Parole. Remained at Camp Parole until January 26, 1865, when it embarked for City Point, Va. Arriving at City Point, it went into camp near General Grant’s headquarters, where it remained until March 8^th, when it moved to Park Station, and from that time to the end did duty as part of the provost guard at headquarters Army of the Potomac.

After the surrender, the 11^th Infantry with other Regular troops, was sent to Richmond, Va., where it arrived May 3d. It did provost duty in Richmond until the civil government of the city was organized, and at Libby Prison until its use was discontinued.

During the summer and fall of 1865 the twenty-four companies of the regiment were organized.

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