72nd Indiana Infantry Regiment

The 72nd Indiana Infantry Regiment, also known as 72nd Indiana Mounted Infantry Regiment, was an infantry and mounted infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment served as mounted infantry from March 17, 1863, to November 1, 1864, notably as part of the Lightning Brigade during the Tullahoma and Chickamauga Campaigns.

72nd Indiana Infantry Regiment
72nd Indiana Mounted Infantry Regiment
ActiveAugust 16, 1862 – June 26, 1865
CountryUnited States
AllegianceUnion
BranchInfantry
Mounted Infantry
EngagementsTullahoma Campaign
Battle of Chickamauga
Atlanta Campaign
Battle of Resaca
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain

Initial infantry service

The 72nd Indiana Infantry was organized at Lafayette, Indiana, and mustered in for a three-year enlistment at Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 16, 1862, under the command of Colonel Abram O. Miller.

Conversion to mounted infantry

In December 1862, the regiment received a new brigade commander, Colonel John T. Wilder. After frustrating chases on foot after mounted rebel cavalry raiders, the brigade was converted to mounted infantry. At the same time, Wilder proposed to the regiments in the brigade the private purchase of repeating rifles. The 72nd voted to go ahead with the conversion to mounted infantry and the purchase of the rifles. Along with the other regiments in the brigade, the 72nd chose Spencer repeating rifles, invented by Christopher Spencer, as their weapon.[1]

As part of the "Wilder Lightning Brigade", the 72nd was among the first units fighting in the Civil War to receive the Spencer repeating rifle.

After intense training and development of new tactics, the "Lightning Brigade" was ready for service. The mounted infantry proof of concept for the Army of the Cumberland occurred in their first mounted infantry action at the Battle of Hoover's Gap.[2][3] Despite torrential rains, the 72nd and its brigade gained the gap so quickly that they surprised and scattered surprised the Confederate 1st (3rd) Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, under Colonel J. Russell Butler at breakfast in front of the entrance of the gap.[4] The 72nd drove the enemy before it along the seven mile length of the gap until they were halted by four brigades of infantry and four batteries of guns at the southeastern exit. The massive superiority of firepower the 17th and its brethren had with the Spencers allowed them to entrench and hold the southern entrance against numerous assaults by numerically superior rebel infantry and artillery through the rainy day until the sodden remainder of the XIV Corps slogged to join them at their position.

With the Lightning Brigade, the 72nd found itself detached from the XIV Corps to serve as a mobile reserve for all three of the Corps within the Cumberland. After playing a key role in the feint that forced Bragg from Chattanooga, the regiment raided, skirmished, and scouted through the summer into the Chickamauga Campaign. The brigade distinguished itself with its performance at Chickamauga. During the battle, it maintained integrity and discipline exacting high casualties on its attackers. After the battle, it retreated with the army to Chattanooga where it was besieged.

The performance of the brigade had demonstrated the value of mounted infantry, and Wilder and the regiments were commended. During the reorganization after Grant took command in the city, the brigade was broken up and the regiments were transferred to the Cavalry Corps. The 72nd and the 123rd Illinois were assigned to 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Division of the Cavalry Corps.

Dismounting

In positions at Terrapin Creek in Cherokee County, northern Alabama, the 72nd was dismounted on 1 November. They became a regular infantry regiment armed with Spencers. For the remainder of the war, they operated in the regular infantry role.

Service history

Its assignments were as follows:

  • 40th Brigade, 12th Division, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862.
  • 2nd Brigade, 5th Division, Center, XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January 1863.
  • 2nd Brigade, 5th Division, XIV Corps, to June 1863.
  • 1st Brigade, 4th Division, XIV Corps, to October 1863.*
  • Wilder's Mounted Infantry Brigade, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to December 1863.
  • 3rd Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division, Army of the Cumberland, to January 1864.
  • 3rd Brigade, Grierson's Cavalry Division, XVI Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to March 1864.
  • 3rd Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division, Army of the Cumberland, to October 1864.
  • 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Wilson's Cavalry Corps, Military Division Mississippi, to June 1865.

The 72nd Indiana Infantry mustered out of service at Nashville, on June 26, 1865.

The 72nd served at the following locations:[5]

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 160 men during service; 2 officers and 26 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 130 enlisted men died of disease.[6]

Commanders
  • Colonel Abram O. Miller
  • Major Henry M. Cart – commanded at the battle of Stones River

Notable members

Notes
  1. "Spencer carbine". www.civilwar.si.edu.
  2. Sunderland (1969), p. 74; Frisby (2000), p. 450; Harbison (2002), p. 93; Gaston (2018), p. 1.
  3. Stuntz, Margaret L. (July 1997) “Lightning Strike at the Gap.” America’s Civil War, p. 56.
  4. NPS Hoover's Gap.
  5. Dyer (1908), p. 1145-1146; McGee (1882), p. 5; Adj. Gen Indiana.Report, Vol. 6, p. 163.
  6. Dyer (1908), p. 1146.
  7. Adj. Gen Indiana.Report, Vol. 6, p. 169.

Bibliography

See also
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