At 2.15 P.M., on the 13th of December, 1862, the regiment left its bivouac near Falmouth and formed under cover of the Phillips house and close to the pontoon bridge. It crossed the river shortly after and went into position on the left of the road on the south side of the village.

"At 5 P. M., the battalion was ordered to move to the crest of the hill, 100 yards in advance of its former position, to protect the withdrawal of a battery. During this forward movement the battery was withdrawn and the battalion halted in rear of a ditch, the banks of which afforded good cover."

At 10 P. M., they advanced to within about 80 yards of the stone wall occupied by the enemy.
"On the morning of the 14th the enemy opened a murderous fire, driving in our pickets. The battalion was ordered to lie down behind a slight elevation of ground (about one foot), giving some protection, where it was obliged to remain until dark, under a terrific fire, the plane of which passed not more than a foot over the ground on which they lay."

"To move even was sure to draw the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters, who were posted in the adjacent houses and in tree tops, and whose fire we were unable to return. Thus the troops remained twelve long hours unable to eat, drink or attend to the calls of nature, for so relentless was the enemy that not even a wounded man or our stretcher-carriers were exempted from their fire."

"Never did discipline shine more resplendently, never was the reputation of a regiment more nobly, more incontrovertably confirmed than that of the Second: never could a battalion more signally gain the title of brave and excellent soldiers than on that ever-to-be-remembered Sabbath of December 14, 1862."

The regiment remained in Fredericksburg until the morning of the 16th, when it returned to its old camp near Potomac Creek. Sixteen men were wounded in this battle and three missing.
The regiment spent the winter of 1862-63 in its camp at Falmouth, and no movement of consequence was made until late in April when the Chancellorsville campaign commenced. The following are extracts from an account written by Patrick Breen, who was a corporal in the color guard of the regiment during this battle, and afterwards 1st sergeant of C Company and Ordnance sergeant, U. S. A. He is now retired and living at Vincennes, Ind.

On May 1st, advancing in open country in line of battle, Captain Salem S. Marsh commanding, the regiment halted on the right of the Sixth Infantry in the centre of a field. It was on the right of the entire 5th Corps. Not more than five minutes had elapsed after halting in line before a volley of musketry was poured into our ranks by the unseen enemy, who had been hidden from view by the heavy timber not more than 200 yards in our front. After the first fire was delivered by the enemy we commenced to peg away at the rebels in the timber. In a few minutes the regiment, with the brigade, fell back about 25 yards and opened again on the enemy. The fire of the regiment had a telling effect on the rebels as they could be seen limping off the field every minute. The regiment remained in its new position but a short time when it was discovered that the rebels were moving around our flank. Captain Marsh, ever on the alert, was quick to discover the intentions of the enemy and immediately thwarted the move by changing front to the half-right, at the same time maintaining his position in line with the brigade. Shortly after this a rebel bullet struck him in the forehead, killing him instantly. The command now devolved on Captain S. A. McKee. During the short time that Captain Marsh was in command of the regiment, he endeared himself to the very hearts of his men by his bearing as a soldier and an officer, and his gentlemanly manner at all times, no matter what the occasion.

After we attained the timber to the right of the turnpike and were supported by Hancock's Division, the rebels gradually advanced, very cautiously, and we did not open fire on them until within short range, and then with such effect that they very soon retired from the contest, leaving their dead and badly wounded in our hands. Thus ended the day for the Second Infantry at the battle of Chancellorsville. We laid all the next day behind improvised breast works, rudely thrown up with whatever implements were at hand at the time; even the bayonet was brought into use in this entrenching business. The regiment remained in the entrenchments until the evening of the 3d, and the retreat of the army having commenced that evening in a drenching rain, the morning of the 4th found the 2d Division, 5th Corps, the last troops crossing the river, covering the retreat of the Army of the Potomac, and the 2d Infantry was with it.

Company H from Fort Larned, Kansas, joined the regiment at Benson's Mills, Va., June 13, 1863.
The regiment left Frederick June 29, and made long, rapid and fatiguing marches to the field of Gettysburg, where it arrived about 8 A. M. July 2, and went into position on the right of the 5th Corps. Twenty men of the regiment were thrown forward as skirmishers into a body of woods, beyond which and to the right could be seen the enemy's pickets. After a skirmish of nearly two hours, during which there was considerable firing and some casualties, the line was marched by a flank movement to the left and rear about two miles, where it rested until about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, at which time it moved in the direction of the heavy cannonading on the extreme left of the Union line of battle. As it advanced the rapidity of the firing increased and staff officers rode up rapidly to hurry the command to the front, which was done at a double-time.

As soon as the brigade reached the vicinity of Round Top, it formed line to the right, with the 2d Infantry on the right of the line, and advanced at a double-quick down a steep hill and across a marsh fifty yards wide and ankle deep with mire. During this movement the regiment suffered from a severe fire of sharpshooters from the right, left, and front. The marsh being passed, the Second moved rapidly forward and drove a body of the enemy's sharpshooters from a rocky and exposed elevation, pursuing them into the woods beyond. Here it halted and took shelter behind a low stone wall and remained inactive while column after column of Union infantry moved across and perpendicular to its front. After these troops had passed, the regiment was ordered forward beyond the wall with instructions to wheel to the left in a rye field. The wheel was about half completed when the enemy was observed to be moving rapidly to outflank the right, so the Second halted and opened a rapid and continuous fire, which was sharply returned.

Major A. T. Lee, 2d Infantry, commanding the regiment, was wounded at this time, but gallantly retained command until the loss of blood compelled him to retire just at the close of the battle, Captain McKee succeeding him. The enemy continued to grow stronger on the right flank and the regiment was ordered to retire. The word was scarcely given when three lines of the enemy, elevated one above another on a slope to the right, poured in a most destructive fire, almost decimating the regiment and cutting off the color staff, causing the colors to fall into the hands of the color bearer. Under a most withering fire from the sharpshooters on the left and a column of the enemy's infantry on the right and rear, overwhelmed with a perfect storm of shot and shell, the regiment fell back slowly, recrossed the stone wall, the rocky elevation and the marsh in as good order as the formation of the ground would admit, and returned to its original position on the crest of the hill.

On June 30 the returns show 13 officers and 224 men present for duty. The regiment was only engaged from about 5.30 P. M. until about dark, and in this short time lost Lieutenant Goodrich and seven men killed, and Major Lee and Lieutenants McLoughlin, Burke and Lacey, with 53 men, wounded. On the third and last day of Gettysburg the regiment was in reserve, and although held in readiness was not engaged again during the battle.
The regiment left the battle-field July 5, and having taken part in a reconnoissance near Manassas July 23, reached Warrenton on the 29th, having marched 320 miles since the 1st of June.

In August and September the regiment went to New York for the draft riots, and after the return to Virginia in September took part in the Mine Run campaign, but without coming into contact with the enemy.
The end of the year 1863 found the regiment encamped at Catlett's Station, Va. The only event worthy of note which occurred during the next three months was the death of Captain McKee of the regiment, who was killed by guerrillas while riding from one camp to another.

In the reorganization incident to the coming of General Grant in the spring of 1864, the Second was placed in the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 5th Corps. It set, out from Rappahannock Station for the Wilderness campaign at sunrise on May 1st, and encamped that night at Brandy Station. Crossing the Rapidan at Germannia Ford at noon on the following day, the regiment found itself on the road leading to Mine Run and was ordered forward to attack, driving the enemy some distance back on the pike. It was severely engaged all the afternoon and returned that night to its original position. Early on the morning of the next day it was placed on picket and remained on that duty until two o'clock on the morning of the 8th, when it rejoined the rest of the brigade at Laurel Hill and was engaged there all day.

From this time until the end or the month it was one continuous round of marching, fighting, picket duty, and entrenchment building. On the 1st of May there were 10 officers and 181 men present for duty, and during this campaign the loss out of this small number was five officers wounded and 45 men killed, wounded and missing.
June 1, 1864, the day before the battle of Cold Harbor, the Second Infantry practically ended its career in the Civil War. The commissioned and enlisted strength had reached such a low figure--less than 100 men--that in accordance with the request of the regimental commander the remaining enlisted men were transferred to C Company, and that company was given a full complement of officers, non-commissioned officers and men. After the battle of Cold Harbor,--where this company lost 8 men killed and wounded, and two officers and 19 men captured,--it went on duty as provost guard of the 2d Division, 5th Corps.

Regimental headquarters were established at Newport Barracks, Ky., late in June, and immediate steps were taken to recruit the regiment. In December, 1864, its total enlisted strength was 405. At this time Headquarters and Companies A, B, , E, G, I and K, were at Newport Barracks Ky.; C at Elmira, N. Y.; F at Sandusky, Ohio; and H at Trenton, N. J.

In the fall of 1865 the entire regiment (except H Company, at Jeffersonville, Ind.) was concentrated at Crittenden Barracks. In spite of the extraordinary efforts to bring the regiment up to a proper numerical strength it still lacked 314 men in January, 1866, but in July several detachments came out from Fort Columbus, so that at the end of the month only 13 men were required.

The regiment remained in Kentucky, with the exception that a few companies were temporarily stationed in West Virginia, until April, 1869, when it moved south to Georgia.

In accordance with the Act of Congress approved March 3, 1869, the consolidation of the Second Infantry with the Sixteenth took place at Atlanta, Ga., in April and May of that year. By this consolidation Colonel Burbank was succeeded by Colonel S. W. Crawford. Two days after the consolidation the regiment left Atlanta and took station as follows: Headquarters and Companies B, D and I at Huntsville, Ala.; A, F and K at Mobile, Ala.; C, and E at Montgomery, Ala.; and G and H at Atlanta.

Roster of Enlisted Men Who Served with the 2nd Regiment of Infantry, United States.

(note: this is a long file of some 3000 names, and may take up to 90 seconds to load).