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11th New York Infantry Regiment

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11th Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry
11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Camp Lincoln on the heights opposite the Washington Navy Yard[1]
ActiveMay 7,1861 – June 2,1862
CountryUnited States of America
AllegianceUnion
BranchUnited States Army
TypeInfantry
RoleInfantry
Size1,200
Part ofWillcox's Brigade,
Heintzelman's Division,
McDowell's Army of Northeast Virginia
Nickname(s)Ellsworth Zouaves or First Fire Zouaves
EngagementsFirst Battle of Bull Run
Peninsula Campaign
Commanders
First CommanderCol. Elmer E. Ellsworth
Second Commander (Acting)Lt. Col. Noah L. Farnham
Third and Final CommanderCol. Charles M. Loeser
Insignia
Colors of the 11th New YorkFile:11thInfReg.jpg

The 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that fought with the Union Army in the early years of the American Civil War. The regiment was organized in New York City in May 1861 by Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, a personal friend of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.[2] Drawn from the ranks of the city's many volunteer fire companies, the unit was known alternately as the Ellsworth Zouaves, First Fire Zouaves, First Regiment New York Zouaves, and U.S. National Guards.[2]

The unit was among the first to occupy the territory of a Confederate state, when it captured Alexandria, Virginia on May 24, 1861, less than 24 hours after the Commonwealth seceded from the Union. The regiment suffered extensive casualties while serving as the rear guard for the retreating Union army during the First Battle of Bull Run. After several failed attempts to reorganize, the regiment was mustered out of service on June 2, 1862.

Organization and muster

Like most of the volunteer regiments organized at the start of the Civil War, the 11th New York Infantry was established in response to a call from President Lincoln for 74,000 90-day enlistments to defend and support the Union against the Confederacy.[3] On the same day in which Lincoln issued the call for troops, he wrote Ellsworth, a friend and supporter of Lincoln who helped to organize his campaign for the presidency in 1860, asking for his support in this endeavor.[4][3] The 11th New York Infantry was organized as a 90-day regiment, but to the soldier who enlisted, it was not without stipulation. Most 90-day regiments organized were to complete 90 days of Federal service and two years of service to the state. This was not always communicated to the men who enlisted. The 11th New York was one such regiment.[5]

Ellsworth came by his military knowledge from his short time spent as a cadet at the United States Military Academy and later as Colonel of Chicago's National Guard Cadets. Ellsworth introduced this drill team to the flashy Zouave uniforms and drill that emulated French colonial troops in Algeria and turned the group, renamed the U.S. Zouave Cadets, into a national champion drill team. A national tour in 1860 brought Ellsworth to the attention of Abraham Lincoln, for whom the unit performed hundreds of military drill movements with their muskets and bayonets.[6]

When a civil war seemed unavoidable, Ellsworth proceeded to New York City to recruit his own regiment from the city's volunteer fire companies, stating: "I want the New York Firemen, for there are no more effective men in the country, and none with whom I can do so much. They are sleeping on a volcano at Washington and I want men who can go into a fight now".[7] Two days after his arrival, Ellsworth awarded officer commissions to several foremen of the volunteer fire companies and began recruiting in earnest.

Within four days, 2,300 men had answered Ellsworth's call. A selection of only the most desirable men cut that number to 1,100, which was considered a regiment's full strength.[8] When the state could not afford to supply the new troops, fundraisers were successful in contributing $60,000 to the regiment, enough to provide uniforms, Sharps rifles, and provisions.[9]

Early news reports covered the regiment's formation, with one reporting:

More work has been done in six days than seemed possible. The men have been mustered into service; the officers elected; the uniforms made, and on Sunday afternoon eleven hundred as efficient and hardy soldiers as ever handled a gun, will start for the scene of rebellion. Col. Ellsworth arrived in this city on Thursday of last week. On Friday he called together a number of the principal men of the department. On Saturday he selected his officers. On Sunday he mustered one thousand men. On Monday he drilled them.[10]

Before the regiment departed from New York City on April 29, 1861, its members were reviewed by General John Adams Dix, Ambassador Cassius Marcellus Clay of Kentucky, as well as other notable members of the city and fire department.[11] Soon after, they marched through the streets escorted by 5,000 firemen, and receiving regimental colors from the fire department and the wife of John Jacob Astor II along the way.[12] At the close of the parade, the regiment boarded the steamer Baltic, bound for Annapolis, Maryland, there boarding a train to Washington, D.C.[10]

Early action

Template:11thInfantryRegiment The regiment arrived in Washington, D.C., on the evening of May 2.[13] There, they completed additional training and performed picket duty throughout the District. While quartered on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, the enlisted men took it upon themselves to setting up a mock session, passing a law first abolishing the House of Representatives, and then the Union and reconstituting both in a manner of their liking.[14] The more embarrassing and lawbreaking actions by the regiment including the burning of fences resulted a letter of reprimand from Brigadier General Joseph K. Mansfield along with six enlisted men being removed and sent back to New York.[15][16] On May 7, the 11th New York was officially sworn into Federal service by Brigadier General Irvin McDowell on the East Front of the unfinished Capitol in the presence of Lincoln, his son Tad and personal secretary John Hay.[17]

Two days after being sworn in to Federal service, the regiment had an opportunity to apply their experience as firefighters when asked to help extinguish a blaze at the Willard Hotel.[18] Upon receiving word from General Mansfield, commander of the Department of Washington, Ellsworth dispatched ten men from each company to attend to the fire. Soon however, the entire regiment responded to the blaze. With Ellsworth having more men on the scene than the Washington Fire Department, he claimed the fire chief's trumpet and assumed command of the incident.[19] When the fire was extinguished, Henry Willard, owner of the hotel, invited the regiment to breakfast and money was collected providing them with $500.[20]

After nine days quartered at the Capitol, the men of the 11th New York were moved to the heights near the Insane Asylum to Camp Lincoln. This move would allow for easy transport across the Potomac and into Virginia when the time came.[21] While just five miles (8 km) from the Capitol, the standard of living the men were used to in the Capitol had changed dramatically, as their usual foodstuffs were replaced with beef steak, dry bread, and coffee. Ellsworth wrote to his wife that they had not had butter in a week.[22]

When the Commonwealth of Virginia ceded from the Union on May 23, the regiment was ordered to assist in the occupation of Arlington Heights and Alexandria, Virginia, directly across the Potomac River from Washington.[7] On May 24, the regiment boarded a steamer and transported across the Potomac, landing at the Alexandria wharves under the guard of the gunboat Pawnee.[23] The 11th New York was one of eight to enter Virginia, and Ellsworth's men met no resistance as they moved through the streets.[24]

After landing, members of Company E were sent to take the railroad station, while Ellsworth, Major Charles Loeser, Lieutenant H. J. Winser and several men from Company A set out to secure the telegraph office.[25] On the way there, Ellsworth spotted a Confederate flag atop the Marshall House inn. It was the same flag Ellsworth had seen for weeks from the White House during his visits with Lincoln.[26] Ellsworth's group entered the inn and quickly cut down the flag, but they encountered the proprietor, James Jackson, as they descended the stairs. Jackson killed Ellsworth with a shotgun blast to the chest, and Cpl. Francis Brownell responded in kind by fatally shooting the innkeeper.[27]

After the death of Ellsworth, Noah L. Farnham, the regiment's lieutenant colonel was the obvious choice to take command. He was reluctant, however, labeling it an "unwelcome responsibility". Regardless, he was a popular choice, with one of his soldier's writing, "We have great faith in Colonel Farnham, having known him long and intimately as one deserving the confidence and esteem of his associates, and fully deserving of the position that he now occupies."Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). His appointment was graded as temporary, he was not commissioned as the regiment's colonel and remained at rank while in its command.[28] While popular with the enlisted men, the appointment was not without its controversy as several of the officers that Ellsworth recruited into the regiment soon left.[29]

The regiment remained on guard duty in and around Alexandria until July 15, 1861, when orders were received attaching the regiment to Willcox's Brigade, of Heintzelman's Division, in Brigadier General Irvin McDowell's Army of Northeast Virginia. They were to march out the next morning.[30] From July 16 to July 21, the regiment advanced to intercept P. G. T. Beauregard's Army of the Potomac. Three of McDowell's five divisions advanced towards Bull Run, outside the railroad junction of Manassas. The 11th New York expected to first engage Confederates at Fairfax Court House on July 17, only to find that they had pulled back towards Centreville, leaving Quaker Guns in their place.[31] These movements were to precipitate the first large-scale battle of the Civil War.

First Bull Run

The 11th New York was on the front lines for much of the fighting on Henry House Hill that occurred in the early afternoon of July 21.

The Zouaves first major combat experience occurred during the First Battle of Bull Run. At 2:00 a.m. on July 21, the men of the 11th New York were awoken and ordered to begin their march to intercept the Confederate army. After marching almost 14 miles (23 km), the lead units engaged skirmishers outside of Mitchell's Ford with artillery in the early dawn.[32] McDowell had divided his three divisions, sending Heintzelman to the north, sweeping down to cover the Union right, and thus was the last division to engage. The other two divisions, under colonels Daniel Tyler and David Hunter, engaged first on the left and center, at Matthews Hill.[33] With those divisions facing heavy resistance, Heintzelman's division with the 11th New York was called forward, fording Bull Run Creek, at the double-quick. One observer commented that the 11th New York looked more like firemen randomly running to a fire than soldiers marching towards the front.[34]

As the 11th New York engaged, it fought beside the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the 14th Brooklyn Regiment, intent on supporting two batteries of cannon, led by captains Charles Griffin and James B. Ricketts, which covered the Union right flank. The 11th New York and 14th Brooklyn were directed in to positon by Major William Farquhar Barry, McDowell's chief of artillery, at the top of Henry House Hill, having been ordered to assault the Confederate line.[35]

It was during these attacks that Confederate colonel J. E. B. Stuart saw a weakness in the 11th New York's lines and ordered his small band of "Black Horse" cavalry to charge from the right.[36] The 11th New York shifted formations to meet Stuart's men and quickly killed or wounded all but a few of the riders, the rest escaping back into the woods.[37] While repulsing the cavalry charge, Colonel Farnham was wounded, but remained on the field aided by Lt. Colonel John Cregier and Major Loeser.[38]

By 2:00 p.m., the three regiments and cannon found themselves confronting the 33rd Virginia Infantry of the Stonewall Brigade on the left of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson's line. Given that the Union and Confederate units were uncertain of the other's identity, they hesitated in opening fire upon the opposing force. This confusion resulted from the fact that the 33rd Virginia was dressed in dark blue frock coats and dark blue trousers. Upon identifying the other units as hostile, both sides soon opened fire, exchanging volleys.

Unable to maintain the near constant barrage from Confederate artillery and infantry, the Union regiments supporting the cannon fell back to the Manassas-Sudley Road.[39] The 11th New York, 69th New York Militia and 14th Brooklyn would charge Henry Hill four times, first in an effort to protect Ricketts' and Griffin's cannon, and later to push back the advancing Confederate forces but each attempt failed.

Prisoners of war of the 11th New York Infantry "Fire Zouaves" at Castle Pinckney, South Carolina.

When the order to withdraw from the field came later that evening from General Irvin McDowell, the 11th New York served as a rearguard. It was during this retreat that the regiment saw its heaviest casualties. Although accounts of the battle differ, most sources list 177 men lost at Bull Run, with 35 men killed, 74 wounded, and another 68 missing and presumed captured.[40] Those that were taken prisoner were initially confined in Richmond, where they became well known for their foul conduct in camp. Many of these men were eventually sent to Castle Pinckney, South Carolina, where they remained until they were sent home the following May.[7]

After Bull Run

Following the disaster at Bull Run in late fall, the remaining members of the unit were sent back to New York City to obtain equipment and replacements. On September 14, 1861, they were ordered by Governor Edwin D. Morgan, at the request of Secretary of War Simon Cameron, to return to Virginia with two days' cooked rations. They were to be encamped at Fort Monroe on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula.[41] Morgan must not have been quick to follow up with Cameron, as two days later Cameron sent him a cable pleading for an update, asking "Did you send the Fire Zouaves to Fort Monroe, as indicated in your message of the 14th?"[42]

An entry from January 31, 1862 of the Official Records of the American Civil War places the 11th New York as a unit of the Department of Virginia at Camp Butler under the command of Brigidier General Joseph Mansfield.[43] On March 8, 1862, they watched from shore as the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia dueled off the coast of Hampton Roads. Two members of the regiment were detailed to the nearby USS Cumberland and manned its cannons until they were forced to abandon ship.[7] With manpower further depleted as a result of injury and disease, the regiment was returned to New York City on May 7. There, it was mustered out of service on June 2, 1862.

The Draft Riots and disbanding

On May 18, 1863, Colonel James C. Burke received authority to reorganize the original regiment as a three-years regiment to be known as the J. T. Brady Light Infantry. Burke was required to raise 250 men for the effort, but failed. His authorization was revoked on June 7 and transferred to Colonel Henry F. O'Brien. O'Brien was required to raise 250 men by August 1, 250 others by September 1, and an additional 250 men by November 1.[44] These recruiting efforts were hampered by the draft riot in New York City of July 1863.

As the 11th New York Regiment had experienced first hand, the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861 had taken a heavy toll on Union forces, including those from New York City. As the war dragged on, a military manpower shortage occurred in the Union and Congress passed the first conscription act in United States history on March 3, 1863, authorizing the President to draft citizens between the ages of 18 and 35 for a three-year term of military service.[45]

Initially intended to express anger at the draft, the protests deteriorated into "a virtual racial pogrom, with uncounted numbers of blacks murdered on the streets".[46] The conditions in the city were such that Major General John E. Wool stated on July 16, "Martial law ought to be proclaimed, but I have not a sufficient force to enforce it".[47]

States militias and Federal troops attached to the Army of the Potomac, including the 11th New York Infantry, were dispatched to quell the riots. The 11th was one of several regiments utilized, including the 152nd New York Volunteers, the 26th Michigan Volunteers, the 27th Indiana Volunteers and the 7th Regiment New York State Militia from Frederick, Maryland, after a forced march. In addition, New York governor Horatio Seymour sent in the 74th and 65th regiments of the New York state militia, which had not been in federal service, and a section of the 20th Independent Battery, New York Volunteer Artillery from Fort Schuyler in Throgs Neck. At the height of the violence, Colonel O'Brien, the 11th Regiments commanding officer, was seized by the mob, beaten, and killed. In the wake of the riots, the reorganization produced few recruits and was stalled.[2] On October 1, 1863, the reorganization was discontinued and the men, then enlisted, were transferred to the 17th Veteran Infantry Regiment.[2]

Casualties

An 1861 Currier & Ives lithograph titled "Death of Col. Ellsworth"

During its limited but intense combat experience, the regiment lost 51 members, including three officers and 48 enlisted men. Among these was the regiment's first commander, Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, who was the first conspicuous casualty of the Civil War.[3] Private Francis E. Brownell became the first soldier in the Civil War to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in killing Col. Ellsworth's murderer.[48]

Following Ellsworth's death, Remember Ellsworth! and Avenge Ellsworth became Union rallying cries. The 44th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment was raised by the People's Ellsworth Committee and were known as the "People's Ellsworth Regiment", or more commonly "Ellsworth's Avengers", under the command of Stephen W. Stryker, a former lieutenant in the 11th New York.[49][50]

Apart from those who died of battle wounds, three officers and 12 enlisted men succumbed to disease, including its second colonel, Noah Farnham, who died of typhoid.[7] A total of 66 men of the 11th New York Infantry Regiment died in the course of the war.[51]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 245.
  2. ^ a b c d "11th Infantry Regiment during the Civil War". New York State Military Museum. Retrieved 2007-12-03. Cite error: The named reference "names" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c "American Civil War: First Shots". Kennedy Hickman. Retrieved 2007-12-04. Cite error: The named reference "medalofhonor" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 229.
  5. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 11 - The 11th's service commitment was later transferred by the State of New York to the Federal government, which ordered them to serve "for the war".
  6. ^ "Elmer Ellsworth". Aldie's Civil War Weekly. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Tiger! Zouave!". Marc A. Hermann and Shaun C. Grenan. Retrieved 2007-12-04. Cite error: The named reference "secession" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  8. ^ Ingraham (1925), pp. 128.
  9. ^ Ingraham (1925), pp. 128.
  10. ^ a b "11th Infantry Regiment, New York: Civil War Newspaper Clippings". New York State Military Museum. Retrieved 2007-12-04. Cite error: The named reference "newclippings" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  11. ^ Ingraham (1925), pp. 130.
  12. ^ Ingraham (1925), pp. 130, 132.
  13. ^ Ingraham (1925), pp. 134.
  14. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 237.
  15. ^ Ingraham (1925), pp. 1346.
  16. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 239.
  17. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 239.
  18. ^ "Elmer Ellsworth (1837-1861)". The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
  19. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 241–242.
  20. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 242.
  21. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 246.
  22. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 246.
  23. ^ "Operations in MD, PA, VA, and W. VA". The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 2, Chapter 1. United States Department of War. 1880. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  24. ^ "Fragment of Confederate flag cut down by Colonel Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth, 1861". Smithsonian Institution Press. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
  25. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 256.
  26. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 257.
  27. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 257-258.
  28. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 58.
  29. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 15.
  30. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 21.
  31. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 22, 26.
  32. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 38.
  33. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 38–39.
  34. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 48.
  35. ^ "Correspondence, etc. Union". The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 2, Chapter IX. United States Department of War. 1880. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  36. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 63.
  37. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 65.
  38. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 66.
  39. ^ "First Bull Run: An Overview". United States Army. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  40. ^ Murray (2005), pp. 110.
  41. ^ "Union Authorities". The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 3, Volume 1. United States Department of War. 1899. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  42. ^ "Union Authorities". The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 3, Volume 1. United States Department of War. 1899. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  43. ^ "Correspondence, etc. Union". The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 1, Chapter XIX. United States Department of War. 1883. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  44. ^ "11th Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, Historical Sketch from the 3rd Annual Report of the Bureau of Military Statistics". New York State Military Museum. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  45. ^ Rhodes (1899), pp. 320–323.
  46. ^ Foner (1988), pp. 32.
  47. ^ "Maj. Gen. John E. Wool Official Reports (OR) for the New York Draft Riots". Shotgun's Home of the American Civil War. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
  48. ^ "New York Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients". NYGenWeb. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  49. ^ Randall (1960), pp. 274.
  50. ^ "The 44th NY Volunteer Infantry". Martha S. Magill, Rootsweb. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
  51. ^ "11th Infantry Regiment Battles and Casualties". New York State Military Museum. Retrieved 2007-12-04.

References

  • The Civil War Archives: Union Regimental Histories: New York
  • Foner, Eric (1988). Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. New York, New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 006091453X.
  • Ingraham, Charles A (1925). Elmer E. Ellsworth and the Zouaves of '61. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
  • Murray, R.L. (2005). "They Fought Like Tigers": The 11th New York Fire Zouaves, 14th Brooklyn and the Irish 69th New York at First Bull Run. Wolcott, New York: Benedum Books.
  • Phisterer, Frederick (1912). Distant Drums: Herkimer County, New York in the War of the Rebellion, 1861 to 1865. Albany, New York: J.B. Lyon Co. ISBN 0925168424.
  • Randall, Ruth Painter (1960). Colonel Elmer Ellsworth. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Company.
  • Rhodes, James Ford (1899). History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850. New York, New York: Macmillan.
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