The 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, also known as the "Harvard Regiment", was a regiment of infantry in 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 ...
. The regiment was so nicknamed because the officers of the 20th were young
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
graduates. In addition, some, but not all, of the private soldiers had attended Harvard. The 20th was organized at Camp Meigs in
Readville
Readville is part of the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston. Readville's ZIP Code is 02136. It was called Dedham Low Plains from 1655 until it was renamed after James Read, the owner of the Dedham Manufacturing Company along Mother Brook, in 184 ...
, August 29 to September 4, 1861. After training they left
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
for
Washington, D. C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, September 4. They would fight until the war's conclusion being mustered out on July 16 and discharged July 28, 1865. 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.
Brigade, divisional and corps attachments
Attached to Lander's Brigade, Division of the Potomac, to October, 1861. Lander's Brigade, Stone's (Sedgwick's) Division,
Army of the Potomac
The Army of the Potomac was the primary field army of the Union army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the Battle of ...
, to March, 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, to July, 1865.
Battles
With the exception of
First Bull Run
The First Battle of Bull Run, called the Battle of First Manassas . by
Ball's Bluff on October 21, 1861. Other battles included the Seven Days,
Antietam
The Battle of Antietam ( ), also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, took place during the American Civil War on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virgin ...
Wilderness
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...
,
Spotsylvania Court House
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes more simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania (or the 19th-century spelling Spottsylvania), was the second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's 18 ...
, the
Siege of Petersburg
The Richmond–Petersburg campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War. Although it is more popularly known as the siege of Petersburg, it was not a c ...
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."The Harvard Regiment" Retrieved on 2008-02-15
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Cou ...
Edward Needles Hallowell
Edward "Ned" Needles Hallowell (November 3, 1836 – July 26, 1871) was an officer in the Union Army in the duration of the American Civil War, commanding the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry following the death of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw ...
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William Raymond Lee
William Raymond Lee (August 15, 1807 – December 26, 1891) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts. His father was also named William Raymond Lee and his mother was Hannah Lee (née Trac ...
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Francis Winthrop Palfrey
Francis Winthrop Palfrey (1831–1889) was an American history, historian and Civil War officer.
Early life
Palfrey was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 11, 1831, the son of John Gorham Palfrey, John G. Palfrey (1796-1881) and Mary Ann (ne ...
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Paul Joseph Revere
Paul Joseph Revere (Sept 10, 1832 – July 4, 1863) was a Brevet (military), Brevet Brigadier General in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Early life
He was born in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. He was the grandson and namesake of ...
List of Massachusetts Civil War units
Units raised in Massachusetts during the American Civil War consisted of 62 regiments of infantry, six regiments of cavalry, 16 batteries of light artillery, four regiments of heavy artillery, two companies of sharpshooters, a handful of unat ...
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Massachusetts in the Civil War
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts played a significant role in national events prior to and during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Massachusetts Republicans dominated the early antislavery movement during the 1830s, motivating activists ac ...