20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment

The 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, also known as the "Harvard Regiment", was a regiment of infantry in the American Civil War. The regiment was so nicknamed because the officers of the 20th were young Harvard graduates.[1] In addition, some, but not all, of the private soldiers had attended Harvard. The 20th was organized at Camp Meigs in Readville, August 29 to September 4, 1861. After training they left Massachusetts for Washington, D. C., September 4. They would fight until the war's conclusion being mustered out on July 16 and discharged July 28, 1865.[2] Interestingly, Fogel et al's Union Army Data urban sample suggests perhaps as many as two-thirds of the regiment's enlisted were immigrants with Irish immigrants making up half of the regiment's total.[3]

20th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
ActiveAugust 29, 1861 – July 28, 1865
Country United States of America
AllegianceUnion
BranchUnited States Army
TypeInfantry
Size1,978
Part ofIn 1863: 3rd Brigade (Hall's), 2nd Division (Gibbon's), II Corps, Army of the Potomac
Nickname(s)"The Harvard Regiment"
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Col. Paul J. Revere
Col. William R. Lee
Lt. Henry L. Abbott
Insignia
II Corps (2nd Division) badge
Massachusetts U.S. Volunteer Infantry Regiments 1861-1865
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19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment 21st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
20 Mass. Infantry - Revere, Feirson, Bryant, Lee, Palfrey, Folsom, Hayward, ca. 1859–1870
Monument to the 20th Massachusetts Infantry on the Gettysburg battlefield; Roxbury Conglomerate.

Brigade, divisional and corps attachments

Attached to Lander's Brigade, Division of the Potomac, to October, 1861.[4] Lander's Brigade, Stone's (Sedgwick's) Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1864.[5] 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, to July, 1865.[2]

Battles

With the exception of First Bull Run, the 20th participated in all of the major battles and many of the smaller battles fought by the Army of the Potomac. Their baptism of fire occurred at Ball's Bluff on October 21, 1861.[6] Other battles included the Seven Days, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign.[2]

Casualties

The 20th regiment lost 17 officers and 243 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and one officer and 148 enlisted men from disease. The total casualties were 409. The regiment ranks first among Massachusetts regiments and fifth among Union regiments in total casualties.[7]

Notable members

See also

References

Citations

  1. Dyer (1908), p. 1254-1255; Miller (2005), p. 16-19.
  2. NPS 20th Massachusetts.
  3. NBER Union Army Data-Urban.
  4. Higginson (1896), p. 269.
  5. Catton (1985), p. 115; Miller (2005), p. 187-194.
  6. Bowen (1889), p. 312-313.
  7. "The Harvard Regiment". Retrieved on 2008-02-15
  8. Johnson (1906), Vol. I, Abbe–Browne, p. 21.
  9. Johnson (1906), Vol. I, Abbe–Browne, p. 225-226.

Bibliography

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