The 12th Connecticut Infantry Regiment was an

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

that served in the Union Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Service

The 12th Connecticut Infantry Regiment was organized at

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, beginning November 19, 1861, and mustered in for a three-year enlistment on December 3, 1861. The regiment was attached to 1st Brigade,

Department of the Gulf The Department of the Gulf was a command of the United States Army in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, Civil War. History United States Army (Civil War) Creation The ...

, to October 1862. Weitzel's Reserve Brigade, Department of the Gulf, to January 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XIX Corps, Department of the Gulf, to August 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, XIX Corps, to February 1864. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XIX Corps, Department of the Gulf, to July 1864, and Army of the Shenandoah, Middle Military Division, to April 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Provisional Division, Army of the Shenandoah, April 1865. 2nd Brigade, Dwight's Division,

Department of Washington Department of Washington, was a department of the Union Army constituted on April 9, 1861. It consisted of the District of Columbia to its original boundaries, and the State of Maryland as far as Bladensburg. It was merged into the Military ...

, to June 1865. District of Savannah, Department of the South, to August 1865. The 12th Connecticut Infantry mustered out of service August 12, 1865.

Detailed service

The regiment left Connecticut for

Ship Island, Mississippi Ship Island is a barrier island off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, one of the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands. Hurricane Camille split the island into two separate islands (West Ship Island and East Ship Island) in 1969. In early 2019, ...

on February 24, 1862. They arrived there March 9. They filled duty assignments at Ship Island, Mississippi, until April 15, 1862. Operations against Fort St. Phillip and Jackson, Mississippi River, April 15–28. Occupation of New Orleans, Louisiana, May 1, the first regiment to land. Duty at

Camp Parapet Camp Parapet was a Civil War fortification at Shrewsbury, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, a bit more than a mile upriver from the current city limits of New Orleans. History The fortification consisted of a Confederate defensive line about a mile ...

and Carrollton until October. Expedition to

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ; ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from w ...

, Pass Manchac, and up Tchefuncta and Pearl rivers July 25-August 2. Skirmishes at Madisonville and near Covington July 27. Operations in District of La Fourche October 24-November 6. Occupation of Donaldsonville October 25. Action at Georgia Landing, near Labadieville, October 27. Duty in District of La Fourche until February 1863. Expedition to Bayou Teche January 13–15. Action with steamer ''Cotton'' January 14. Moved to

Brashear City, Louisiana Morgan City is a small city in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, United States, located in the Acadiana region. The population was 11,472 at the 2020 census. Known for being "right in the middle of everywhere", Morgan City is located southeast of ...

February and duty there until March. Operations against Port Hudson March 7–27. Pattersonville March 28 (detachment). Operations in western Louisiana April 9-May 14. Bayou Teche Campaign April 11–20. Port Bisland, near Centreville, April 12–13. Irish Bend April 14. Opelousas April 20. Expedition to Alexandria and Simsport May 5–18. Near Cheyneyville May 18. Movement to Bayou Sara, then to Port Hudson May 22–25. Siege of Port Hudson May 25-July 9. Assaults on Port Hudson May 27 and June 14. Surrender of Port Hudson July 9. Operations in western Louisiana July to September 1863. 2nd Battle of Sabine Pass September 4–11. Teche Campaign October 3-November 30. Duty at New Iberia until January 1864. Moved to New Orleans and on veteran furlough until May. Duty at Carrollton until July. Moved to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, then to Washington, D.C., July 5–13. Snicker's Gap expedition July 14–23.

Philip Sheridan Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with General-i ...

's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, August to December.

Battle of Opequon The Third Battle of Winchester, also known as the Battle of Opequon or Battle of Opequon Creek, was an American Civil War battle fought near Winchester, Virginia, on September 19, 1864. Union Army Major General Philip Sheridan defeated Confede ...

, Winchester, September 19. Fisher's Hill September 22.

Battle of Cedar Creek The Battle of Cedar Creek, or Battle of Belle Grove, was fought on October 19, 1864, during the American Civil War. The fighting took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Northern Virginia, near Cedar Creek, Middletown, and the Valley Pike. D ...

October 19. Duty at Winchester, Newtown, and Summit Point until April 1865. Moved to Washington, D.C., April 21, and duty there until June.

Grand Review of the Armies The Grand Review of the Armies was a military procession and celebration in the national capital city of Washington, D.C., on May 23–24, 1865, following the Union victory in the American Civil War (1861–1865). Elements of the Union Army in th ...

May 23–24. Moved to

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

, June 1–5 and duty there until August.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 273 men during service; 6 officers and 65 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 8 officers and 196 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

* Lieutenant Colonel Frank Henry Peck – commanded at the battles of Port Hudson and Opequon; he was wounded in action at Port Hudson and mortally wounded in action at Opequon * Lieutenant Colonel George N. Lewis – commanded at the Battle of Cedar Creek

Notable Members

In late-September 1862 while stationed at Camp Parapet, a lieutenant in the 12th Connecticut,

George H. Hanks George H. Hanks ( – October 23, 1871) was an abolitionist and civil rights activist and colonel in the US Civil War. Biography Hanks was married before the war, and was a resident of Hartford, Connecticut.Return Home Of George H. Hanks. ''Hart ...

, was detailed as aide-de-camp for Brigadier General Thomas W. Sherman for the superintendence of the many

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") is any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It comprises goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the leg ...

arriving at the camp. He organized six colonies of freedmen at Camp Parapet each led by a non-commissioned officer and directed black labor in the repair and fortification of the camp and surroundings. Hanks was transferred out of the regiment January 1, 1863 and made a member of the Army officer corps. He expanded the scheme, which became the Bureau of Negro Labor, and the bureau was one of the organizations which would eventually become the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the ...

. Hanks's assistant superintendent was another member of the regiment, Philip Bacon.Philip Bacon Papers, 1862-1867, James S. Schoff Civil War Collection, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, access information ere http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clementsmss/umich-wcl-M-4717bac?view=text/ref>

References

* De Forest, John William. ''A Volunteer's Adventures: A Union Captain's Record of the Civil War'' (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press), 1946. eprinted in 1970*Dyer, Frederick H. ''A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion'' (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908. ;Attribution *{{CWR

External links

12th Connecticut Infantry monument at Winchester National Cemetery
Military units and formations established in 1861 Military units and formations disestablished in 1865 Units and formations of the Union army from Connecticut Military in Connecticut