Pennsylvania 62nd Infantry Regiment

Regimental History: Campaigns in Northern Virginia and Maryland

Monument at Gettysburg
dedicated to the
Pennsylvania 62d Infantry Regiment
on September 11, 1889

photo from Pennsylvania at Gettysburg, 1893

'Among the many valiant organizations that participated in this battle, none can show a prouder record than the Sixty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers.' -- Captain W. J. Patterson

Campaign In Northern Virginia

Organization

The 62d Pennsylvania's place in the organization of Army of the Potomac during the operations in Northern Virginia, 16 August to 2 September 1862:

Regimental History

Transport from the Peninsula to Frederickburg, 18 to 20 August, 1862.
The Fifth Corps left the Peninsula beginning August 14th. The 62d Pennsylvania embarked on August 18th and arrived at Newport News the same day. The regiment then moved up Aquia (or Acquia) Creek by transport to a railhead. From there the soldiers proceeded on cars to Falmouth and thence marched to Eliots Ford on the Rappahannock.
Picket Duty at Eliot's Ford, near Fredericksburg, Virginia, 20 to 23 August 1862
The 62d was separated from its division for picket duty guarding Eliot's Ford on the Rapphannock near Fredericksburg.
March to Warrenton, 23 to 27 August 1862 When word arrived that a Confederate force was threatening the capitol, the Fifth Corps was ordered north to join forces the newly formed Army of Virginia under the command of General Pope. Morell's division arrived late in the day, the last of the Fifth Corps to arrive.
BATTLE Second Battle at Bull Run, also known as Second Manassas, 26 to 30 August 1862
THE GIST:With Union forces contained and not likely to threaten Richmond, Lee ordered Jackson to attack the still forming Army of Virginia under the command of Gen. John Pope, who had just arrived from the western theater. Then, hoping to take further advantage of a divided Union army, when much of the Army of the Potomac began to withdraw from the peninsula, Lee ordered the remainder of the Army of Northern Virginia to join forces with Jackson to march on Washington. Opposing troops clashed or threatened each other several times at Cedar Mountain and on the Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers, before they gathered near Manassass Junction. Although there had been some fighting around Bull Run as early as the 26th, the battle is usually listed as beginning on the afternoon of 28 August when Jackson's troops attacked a Union column near Warrenton. On the 29th, Pope, thinking Jackson was isolated, attacked his line hard, but failed to breach it. Longstreet, it has been argued, could have taken advantage of the situation and moved in to destroy the Union force, before all of the reinforcements could arrive, but he held his position. On the 30th it appeared Pope, still unaware of the Confederate strength or position, and perhaps even thinking they were in retreat, ordered further attack on Jackson's line. The Fifth Corps led the attack but was repulsed. With the Union army in disarray, Longstreet finally made his move, and quite defeated the Union army. Heroic defences in the afternoon and evening prevented a total Confederate victory, and under the cover of darkness, the Northerners were able to withdraw across Bull Run to take up defensive positions closer to Washington.
DETAILS ABOUT THE 62D: Quite controversially, for most of the battle, the Second Brigade of the First Division of the Fifth Corps was present but not actively engaged. The 62d, however, saw more action in the Second Battle at Bull Run than any other regiment in the Second Brigade. On the 29th of August, the Fifth Corps began a pre-daylight march along the turnpike from Warrenton through Gainesville toward Centreville, halting after crossing the railroad at Manassas. Orders were then to counter-march back toward Gainseville. Four companies of the 62d, G, K, B, and M, were assigned the role of front skirmishers. After moving out about three miles the enemy was discovered, and the entire command formed a line of battle> Feeling for the enemy, they met with a force of Stuart's cavalry that was unmounted. The enemy charged but were well met and fell back. As the line started to move again, there was an exchange of battery fire, and the Fifth Corps halted to establish a defensive position. The Fifth Corps remained in that defensive position for the rest of the day. Porter was ordered to advance his corps so as to attack Jackson's army on its flank. Unfortunately, Longstreet's army was now in front of the Fifth Corps, not Jackson's, it was both clear to Porter that the situation had changed and the order impossible to follow as written. Since Porter's decision was not to advance against a much stronger force from a weak position, the 62d saw no further action that day.

On 30 August, the Second Brigade, including the 62d, was separated from the rest of the division during a march that began in the pre-dawn. When the rest of the First Division was diverted into an advance well to the west, the Second Brigade continued to marched to Centreville, far behind the field of battle. There was, of course, controversy regarding the action, orders, and decisions made. Apparently the brigade marched following an out-of-date written order, but there was a charge that it had deliberately been ordered away from action. It was further charged that when it was clear (or should have been clear) that the rest of the First Division was not present and the battle raging elsewhere, no effort was made to move. The effect for the 62d was that it saw no action that day either.

AFTERMATH: As a result of their decisions which led to the inaction of the whole Fifth Corps one day and specifically the Second Brigade the next, Major-General Fitz John Porter, commander of the Fifth Corps, was court-martialed, and Brigadier-General Charles Griffin, commander of the Second Brigade, was temporarily removed from command. Neither action occurred immediately, however. The Fifth Corps Commander General Fitz John Porter went to trial only after Antietam, and was found guilty and dismissed from the army in January 1863. Some charged that the court martial was political, since Porter was a Democrat and loyal to ousted fellow Democrat General McClellan. Earlier Lincoln had critized McClellan for seeking the advice of only Porter among his corps commanders. Only many years after the end of the war, in 1879, was Porter's appeal to a board of officers to reopen the case successful. It ruled in Porter's favor, but it then took until 1886 before the United States Congress restored Porter's rank. General Charles Griffin was temporarily removed from command of the brigade, but he was never court martialed, was later returned to his command, and was even later promoted to Division Commander.

Encampment in Centreville, and march to Minor's Hill, 31 August to 4 September
Following the battle, the Fifth Corps retired back to Centreville before it was ordered to March back to a defensive position around Washington, D. C. On 4 September it arrived at Minor’s Hill, and it encamped on its old ground of Camp Bettie Black. Since the previous winter much had changed. Colonel Black was dead, and the number of soldiers the regiment could muster was miniscule compared to its full ranks when it arrived in Washington almost exactly a year before.

Campaign in Maryland

Organization

The 62d Pennsylvania's place in the organization of Army of the Potomac at the time of the Battle at Antietam, 17 September 1862:

Regimental History

Defense of Washington, 4 to 12 September 1862
Perhaps in reaction to the actions during the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Fifth Corps was detached from the rest of the Army of the Potomac (the Army of Virginia being very short lived). The corps did ungo some reorganization with several regiments being added to reinforce several brigades, but for the most part the corps was simply being kept far from the action.
March to Sharpsburg, 12 to 16 September.
With reports that the Confederate army was moving into Maryland to threaten both Pennsylvania and Washington, D. C., the Fifth Corps was ordered to rejoin the bulk of the army. Most days the marches were more than 20 miles. On 14 September it passed through Frederick, Maryland. The march then took the regiment over both the Catoctin range and the South Mountains, passing through Turner's Gap on the 15th, where in the vista before them it saw the rest of the Army of the Potomac stretched out below them.
BATTLE Battle at Antietam, also known as Sharpsburg, 17 September 1862
Porter's Corps was posted in reserve in the center of the line. One report indicates that the Second Brigade of the First Division of the Fifth Corps was assigned to support a twenty piece battery. McClellan was criticized for not deploying the Fifth Corps, but at this point in time he was not repromanded, and when Lincoln came to review troops later in October, it was the Fifth Corps that was selected for the honor. The report in Thomas Livermore's Numbers and Losses in the Civil War is that "Morell's Division, although present, was not engaged, and had no influence on the result." The 62d had no report of casualties.
BATTLE Engagement at Shepherdstown Ford, 19 September 1862.
The 62d saw more action in the maneuvers following Antietam than it did during the battle. The 62d was part of a reconnoissance mission to find out where the enemy was and what strength was still left in him. It crossed the Antietam at Blackford's Ford. Companies L and M were deployed as skirmishers. The regiment saw no evidence of the Confederate army, beyond a few stragglers it captured, but at Shepherdstown Ford, the Corn Regiment (118th) from the 3rd Brigade, was fired upon from the bluff above and suffered severe casualties. Union batteries returned fire, and the Confederate were forced to flee.
Encampment in Antietam, 20 September to 30 October.
The highlight of the encampment occured on October 1st, when the regiment had an opportunity to see Abraham Lincoln, when the President reviewed the 5th Corps. Some companies of the 62d were involved in the reconnaissance to Smithfield, 16-17 October 1862, but it mattered to very little. I have seen no report of casualties.

Casualties

Bull Run
Unofficial: 2 Enlisted wounded
 
Antietam
None reported or unavailable.

Back to the Pennsylvania 62d Infantry Regiment Page?

This page authored and maintained by John R. Henderson (jhenderson@ithaca.edu), Lodi, NY.
Last modified: Sunday, 13 January 2002
John R. Henderson's grandfather, John G. Henderson, had an uncle, John Henderson, a resident of Elders Ridge in Indiana County, who was a soldier in Company D.
URL: http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/pa62d/bull.html