Description
Organized at detroit, michigan, and mustered in august 15, 1862. Duty in the defences of washington, d. C., till october 1, 1862. Unit was to see service, in the eastern theatre as part of the union iron brigade. Battles: warrenton, fredericksburg, mud march, port royal, port conway, chancellorsviile campaign, april 27-may 6, operations at pollock’s mill creek april 29-may 2, fitzhugh’s crossing april 29-30, chancellorsviile, operations on northern neck may 20-26, gettysburg campaign june 11-july 24, gettysburg. Division was the first infantry unit under fire, and regiment lost in first day’s fight 316 killed, wounded and missing, out of 496. Pursuit of lee to manassas gap, duty on line of the rappahannock and rapidan till october, bristoe campaign october 9-22, haymarket, advance to line of the rappahannock november 7-8, mine run campaign november 26-december 2, demonstration on the rapidan february 6-7, 1864, campaign from the rapidan to the james river may 4-june 15, battles of the wilderness may 5-7, spotsylvania, laurel hill, spotsylvania court house, assault on the salient may 12, north anna river, jericho mills, totopotomy, cold harbour, bethesda church, before petersburg june 16-18, siege of petersburg, weldon railroad, boydton plank road, hatcher’s run, warren’s raid on weldon railroad december 7-12, dabney’s mills, ordered to baltimore, maryland, for special duty february 11, 1865. Moved to springfield, illinois, february 15 and, assigned to garrison and guard duty there at draft rendezvous till june 19. Regiment selected as escort at funeral of president lincoln. The regiment was mustered out from service on june 30, 1865.Regiment lost during service 12 officers and 177 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 3 officers and 136 enlisted men by disease, a total loss of 328 men. The flags adopt the standard pattern for the union with the national flag following the accepted format with 34 stars on the canton and, regimental designation in gold stencil. The regimental flag is fielded on blue silk with the state seal in the centre, which shows a peninsula extending into a lake. Supporting the crest are a deer on the right and, a mouse on the left. A male stands with a gun and, the rising sun. On the upper part of the flag the word tuebor (i will defend it). Within the red scrolls appears the motto in latin, si quarris penimsulam anaenam circumspice, if you seek a delightful country behold it. The original flags are held in the michigan state collections.
