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28th New York Infantry Regiment

Niagara Rifles; Scott Life Guard

Battle Honors of the 28th New York.

When formed in Albany on May 22, 1861 the regiment was to serve for a maximum of two years. Few of the 800 Officers and Men expected to serve out the entire duration of their enlistment. Many expected that the Southern Rebellion would collapse with one push through to it's capital city, Richmond, Va.

As history has shown us, the men of the 28th did serve out the entire two years and many went on to serve in other regiments and branches of service through to the conclusion of the war, nearly two years after the enlistment of the 28th had expired.

During these two years, the regiment served with distinction, in many of the campaigns of the Eastern Theatre of the war, and had some involvement in the following major battles:

Battle of Winchester - May 25, 1862.

Battle of Cedar Mountain - August 9, 1862.

Battle of Antietam - September 17, 1862.

Battle of Chancellorsville - May 1-3 1863

The Battle of Winchester

The Battle of Winchester was fought as part of Confederate General Jackson's Valley Campaign of 1862. The objective of this campaign was to maintain Confederate possession of the Shenandoah Valley. It also served to divert Union soldiers away from the main Union objective of converging on Richmond.

Union forces in the Shenandoah at that time were commanded by General Nathaniel P. Banks.

On the day before the Battle of Winchester, the Union Army of the Shenandoah, had been withdrawing north from Strasburg, Va., following the news of the capture of Front Royal, Va., by Confederate forces. The army was attacked by elements of Jackson's army at Middletown and Newtown prior to the Union forces making a hold to the south of the city of Winchester.

Banks drew up the 2 brigades of the 1st Division, under the command of Brigadier General Alpheus Williams, approximately 6,500 men and 16 guns, in a line linking Bower's Hill on the right, manned by the brigade under the command of Colonel George R. Gordon, Camp Hill in the center, held by cavalry, and a brigade commanded by Colonel Dudley Donnelly, of the 28th New York, on the left covering the Front Royal and Millwood roads. The plan was, effectively, to slow, or possibly even completely halt, the advance of the Confederate forces.

General Nathaniel P. Banks

On the morning of May 25th with the initial Confederate advance against the Union left being repulsed, the battle began well for the North. However, Confederate forces reformed on the left and with artillery support they drove against the extreme left of the Union position, along the Front Royal road. Donnelly's Brigade withdrew, still maintaining its extreme right on Camp Hill, with its left now along the Millwood Road. At the same time, the Stonewall Brigade made a flanking assault against the extreme right of the Union line and was able to place artillery on an undefended hill to the right of the Union position which was then able to fire directly on the Union artillery on Bower's Hill.

Confederate forces under Isaac R. Trimble tried to flank the extreme left of the Union position by moving around the right of the Millwood Road in an attempt to cut off the Union forces from Winchester. With southern forces also making a major assault against the extreme right of the Union line, along the Valley Pike, both flanks were being pressurized and eventually broke. The result was that the Union position was flanked on both ends and the line collapsed.

With the Confederate soldiers exhausted from a weeks forced march, they had nothing in them to pursue the broken Union Division and Banks made his escape through Winchester along the Valley Pike. In fact, Confederate forces allowed the retreating Union soldiers to withdraw to the Potomac river before making any pursuit.

Union losses at Winchester were over 2,000, almost a third of the total strength, compared to 400 Confederate casualties out of 16,000 men on the field. Although the Union objective, in slowing the Confederate advance, had been accomplished, Union losses on the day gave glimpses into the military genius of General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson.

The Battle of Cedar Mountain

After the Union retreat to Harper's Ferry, the reorganized elements of the Union army in the Shenandoah Valley was reformed as the Army of Virginia, under the command of General John Pope. A Confederate corps under General 'Stonewall' Jackson was dispatched from the Army of Northern Virginia to counter this threat.

In early August, 1862, the Army of Virginia marched south and entered Culpepper County. Pope had ordered the 2nd Corps, under the command of General Nathaniel P. Banks, further south with the intention of identifying and slowing the Confederate forces which they were facing. On August 9th, Banks's command, encountered the lead elements of the Confederate forces and immediately launched an assault against the enemy of unknown disposition and strength.

The two Divisions under Banks were commanded by Williams, commanding the 1st Division, on the right of the line, and Augur, commanding the 2nd Division on the left. As more Confederate brigades began to come into the battle, the Union line turned from and intended offensive to defensive.

With Gordon, commanding the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division, on the extreme right of the Union line engaged against a flank attack by Pender's Brigade, the 1st Brigade, under the command of Crawford, of the 1st Division launched an assault over an open field and through a wood and was, at first, able to rout three Confederate brigades, those of Ronald, Garnett and Taliaferro, and capture an artillery battery.

Of this battle, the Civil War artist, Edwin Forbes, was quoted as saying:

"Our boys fought like heroes or devils; and although met by an immense force of the enemy, they succeeded in driving him back through one piece of woods into the open field beyond. The fighting in this wood was most terrible; men fought bayonet to bayonet."

It soon became clear that Banks had engaged the entire Corps under Jackson's command, a total of nearly 17,000 men. This force was matched against the 8,000 men under the command of General Banks. With additional Confederate brigades approaching, the early successes of the Union forces suddenly found themselves dangerously exposed.

Crawford's Brigade came under assault from a reorganized Confederate assault from elements of Hill's Division and, receiving no re-enforcements, was forced to withdraw, suffered over 50% casualties. Out of 1,767 Officers and men under the command of Crawford, 868 where killed, wounded or captured during the charge and subsequent withdrawal, 50% of the entire Brigade strength, with every officer of the 28th New York on the casualty list.

The Union forces, outnumbered, were forced onto the defensive and held their position until night ended the battle. Cedar Mountain would most likely not be regarded as much more than a skirmish, if it was not for the number of men involved; over 16,000 Confederate and 8,000 Union soldiers.

Union losses at Cedar Mountain were 1,400 with the Confederates taking over 1,300 casualties.

The Battle of Antietam

Following the Confederate victory at the Battle of Second Bull Run, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee and numbering some 45,000 soldiers, participated in the first Confederate invasion of Union territory when Lee decided to move his army north into Maryland.

The intention of this move, which saw Confederate tactics change from defense to offense, have been stated as a large scale raid for supplies; an attempt to gather new recruits from southern sympathisers within Maryland; or an attempt to relieve pressure on the state of Virginia, which had at that time experienced the brunt of engagements within the eastern theatre of the war, by taking the war to the north.

However, Lee's intentions took a bad turn from the very beginning when a copy of the plans for the invasion, Special Order 191, which included the entire armies intended invasion route, accidentally fell into the hands of soldiers of the 27th Indiana.

The information discovered in Special Order 191 provided the Union Army of the Potomac, at this time under the command of General George B. McClellan and numbering about 87,000 men, an opportunity to potentially destroy the entire Army of Northern Virginia by engaging the Confederate elements separately. However, due to McClellan's cautious movements and having miscalculated the size of the Confederate army as being twice the size that it actually was, he allowed this golden opportunity to slip through his fingers.

McClellan was able to engage one element of the Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of South Mountain which, despite being a Union Victory, did little short of delaying the Confederate forces involved there. McClellan was himself delayed in his attempt to engage the remaining elements of the Confederate army and Lee was able to concentrate his army to the east of Antietam Creek at the town of Sharpsburg on September 15 forming a defensive position about 4 miles in length linking Antietam Creek on the right with the Potomac River on the extreme left.

The first elements of the Union army had arrived at Sharpsburg in the late afternoon of September 15 with the majority of the remaining Corps arriving in the evening. However, McClellan, still convinced that the Confederates had over 100,000 men, hesitated, and gave no orders to attack until late on September 16.

General George B. McClellan

The battle itself, on September 17, was divided into three separate attacks by Union forces on the Confederate position. The first phase of the battle commenced in the early morning, from the north, attacking the extreme left of the Confederate forces, the second phase was an attack in the center of the Confederate position and the third phase was an attack against the south of the Confederate line across the creek itself and towards Sharpsburg.

The first phase of the battle, involved the Union 1st Corps, under Hooker, attacking the extreme left of the Confederate line had some success but was unable to break through the defensive positions of General 'Stonewall' Jackson's Corps, and suffered huge casualties without managing to achieve their objective.

In this early stage of the battle Hooker was supported by the Union 12th Corps, under Mansfield. When Hooker's advance stopped, Mansfield moved into line to the right of the 1st Corps and engaged Confederate forces of General Jackson at the East Woods and the Corn Field. The 12th Corps found itself so packed into their advance that they became a perfect target for Confederate artillery and suffered heavy casualties before being forces to withdraw from the attack.

By mid-morning both the 1st and 12th Corps had changed command, with Hooker and Mansfield being wounded and handing over command to Meade and Williams, respectively.

With the 12th Corps attack stalled the second phase of the battle commenced with the Union 2nd Corps, commanded by General Sumner, began to move forward and Sedgwick's division was committed to the left of the 12th Corps with the rest of the 2nd Corp close behind. The 2nd Corps moved against the Confederate forces at the Sunken Road, in the center of the Confederate position. By late morning, the 12th Corps renewed their attack and managed to take the Dunker Church but was driven back once again by a renewed Confederate counter-attack.

By noon, the Union 5th Corps, under the command of Franklin was arriving in support of the 12th Corps, but was held in reserve rather than committed to the fight.

The late morning saw the Union 2nd Corps break the Confederate line at the Sunken Road, but they were unable to take advantage of a situation which would have, effectively, broken the Confederate line in two. During the previous four hours of fighting, at the Sunken Road, nearly 6,000 men were killed or wounded over an 800-yard section of the front, and the Sunken Road was renamed, Bloody Lane.

In the early afternoon, the main emphasis of the attack turned to the southern front with the third phase of the battle. The Union 9th Corps, under General Ambrose Burnside, moved across Antietam Creek to the south of Sharpsburg and encountered the extreme right of the Confederate position, Longstreet's Corps. The original plan was for Burnside to coincide his attack with that of the 1st Corps in the early morning, however, having not received explicit orders to attack, he was delayed until 10am to start moving his Corp to attack.

General Ambrose Burnside

Burnside was ordered to cross Antietam Creek at Rohrbach's Bridge (renamed Burnside's Bridge after the battle) however, this was heavily defended by Confederate soldiers with artillery batteries positioned on a bluff on the west bank. Over the next three hours, Burnside made several attempts to take the bridge and suffered over 500 casualties. Eventually though the Confederate defenders, commanded by General Robert Toombs, began to run low on ammunition and, having received news that a Union force (commanded by Rodman) had forded the Creek to the South, they withdrew.

The delay at the bridge had thrown Burnside's plan into disarray. Once across the creek, Burnside was forced to delay further as he waited for ammunition transports to cross the bridge. This held up his attack for a further two hours. The further delay was used by Lee to move men from the north to bolster the Confederate lines in the south.

By 3pm, Burnside moved his Corps forward and their assault on the Confederate position initially was successful, breaking the Division under Jones and moving to within only a few hundred yards of Sharpsburg itself. The men of Jones's Division began to retreat back through the streets of Sharpsburg. Then, at 3:30pm, Confederate reinforcements arrived at Sharpsburg in the form of the five Brigades of A. P. Hill's Division. Hill moved his Division to the right of Jones's Division and began to move against the flank of Burnside's Corp, breaking several regiments of Rodman's Division.

The 9th Corps had suffered 20% casualties and, seeing their flank collapsing, Burnside ordered his Corps back to the creek and they defended the Bridge for the rest of the day.

The Battle of Antietam showed the major weaknesses of General McClellan. His initial delay in attacking gave the Confederates precious time to improve their defenses and, despite outnumbering the Confederate army by 2 to 1, he was unable to coordinate the attacks of his Corps. As a result, General Lee was able to move men as they were needed, in order to counter each attack as it came up.

Although the battle of Antietam is generally regarded as a draw, the losses to the Confederate forces were such that Lee was forced to abandon his invasion of Maryland and withdrew back to Virginia.

Casualties in the battle were 12,400 Union and 10,300 Confederate soldiers, 25% and 31%, respectively, of the entire manpower present on the field for either side. It was the bloodiest single day that America has ever seen, before or since. Nearly 1 in 3 Confederate soldiers present on the field of battle were killed, wounded or captured during the battle. These were not losses that the Confederacy could replace as easily as the Union.

The Battle of Chancellorsville

Following the devastating battle at Antietam in September, Confederate General Robert E. Lee withdrew south back towards Virginia. If McClellan had moved against Lee at this time he would have been in a favorable position to engage the retreating Confederate army. However, McClellan stopped at Sharpsburg for several weeks while his Army was reinforced and resupplied. When he did move to pursue Lee he was extremely cautious in his advance. President Lincoln decided that a change of command was needed. Lincoln's choice was the commander of the 9th Corp, General Ambrose Burnside.

The decision for Burnside to replace McClellan was, to many people, a surprise. He was not regarded as the direct successor and during the following campaign his doubters were proved to be correct, with a campaign that ended with the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg. By December 1862, Union morale was at rock bottom.

President Lincoln again decided that a change of command was needed and replaced Burnside with the commander of the 1st Corps, General Joseph Hooker. Hooker spend the remaining winter months encamped and Union morale gradually recovered. In the meantime, General Lee had been encamped on the opposite, southern side of the Rappahannock River blocking the river at Fredericksburg.

During the winter months, the Union Army of the Potomac was reinforced to over 130,000 men while the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia increased in strength to over 60,000 soldiers, less than half the number of Union soldiers facing them across the Rappahannock. The numerical advantage to the Union was increased further as 15,000 men of Longstreet's Corps were stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, dealing with a potential Union threat from that front.

In April, 1863, Hooker dispatched four Corps of Union soldiers north west to cross the Rappahannock river further to the west. The intention was to use the extreme Union numerical advantage, outflank the Confederate Army and strike from two fronts at the same time.

The four Union Corps crossed the Rappahannock on April 27 near the hamlet of Chancellorsville; a second force, of about 30,000 soldiers, under the command of Major General John Sedgwick, crossing the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg.

On May 1, 1863, Lee, seeing his army completely outflanked, moved away from Fredericksburg, however, rather than move away to the south, Lee moved 40,000 men west to face the 70,000 man Union detachment at Chancellorsville. Lee left only 12,000 men, under the command of Major General Jubal Early defending Fredericksburg.

At this time, with a massive numerical advantage on every front, Hooker moved more defensively. Determined to not make the same mistakes as had been encountered at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Hooker waited.

The Union forces at Chancellorsville first came into contact with Confederate units on May 1 to the south and east of Chancellorsville, itself. However, it was on the evening on May 1st that Lee played his master stroke.

Robert E Lee

Breaking every rule of warfare, Lee divided his already massively outnumbered army again. Under cover of darkness and moving in silence, Lee instructed General Stonewall Jackson to take his Corps of 28,000 men around the extreme right flank of the Union line. This left Lee in command of only 12,000 men which managed to disguise the fact that two thirds of the entire Confederate forces had vanished.

Jackson made his 12 mile march, which took until late on May 2nd to finally get into position. The reduction in Confederate forces was noticed by Hooker, however, he suspected that the Union cavalry had cut the Lee's supply route and he was preparing to withdraw. Still Hooker did nothing.

On the extreme right of the Union line, the 11,000 men of the 11th Corps, under the command of Major General Oliver O Howard, had made no provisions for a flank attack. To his left, the Union 12th Corps and 3rd Corps, under the command of Sickles and Slocum, respectively, had moved forward to attempt an envelopment of the Confederate forces under Lee. The 11th Corps was almost now behind the 12th Corps.

At 4:30pm on May 2nd, the 28,000 men of Jackson's Corps burst out of the woodland of the Wilderness and caught the 11th Corps completely by surprise. The result was 4,000 men taken prisoner and the rest were routed and driven back. Jackson's Corps moved on Chancellorsville. He was held up by the 12th Corps, which was withdrawing in order to fill the gap left by the 11th Corps. Jackson's advance was finally halted by the gathering dusk. It was at this time that one of the key events of the American Civil War took place.

In the fading light, General Stonewall Jackson was scouting ahead of his Corps. As he was riding back to his lines, his staff was mistaken for Union Cavalry and was fired upon by Confederate infantry. Jackson was wounded and several of his staff were killed. Although Jackson's wounds were not life threatening his arm needed to be amputated. However, he contracted pneumonia, and died 8 days later on May 10th.

General "Stonewall" Jackson

With Jackson out of the fight, the Corps on the Confederate left came under the command of J. E. B. Stuart. A general known as a daring cavalry commander, also showed himself to be a fine infantry commander as well. The Union line had recovered it's composition through the night of May 2nd-3rd and constructed a defensive line around Chancellorsville which, despite the best efforts of the Confederates, did not fall until the afternoon of may 3rd.

With Hooker's forces around Chancellorsville beginning to break under the pressure of constant attacks, he ordered Sedgewick to attack Early at Fredericksburg and hit Lee from the rear. However, Sedgewick delayed. When he did attack, he managed to break through and drive Early away to the south, he then found his Corps held up by a single Brigade under the command of Brig. Gen. Cadmus Wilcox which carried out a delaying action on the Orange Plank Road and slowed Sedgewick to a crawl. Confederate reinforcements under Major General Lafayette McLaws arrived to support Wilcox and Sedgewick's advance was halted at Salem Church.

Through to the end of May 3rd and into May 4th, Lee continued to press Hooker at Chancellorsville, while McLaw, now reinforced by the return of Early, surrounded Sedgewick. On May 5th, Sedgewick was able to withdraw across the Rappahannock at Scott's Ford. After learning of Sedgewicks withdrawal, Hooker moved the remains of the four Corps at Chancellorsville across the Rappahannock the following day.

For his victory in the face of overwhelming odd and the use of some very risky tactics, Chancellorsville has been long regarded as Lee's "perfect battle", however, as had been the case with Antietam, the Battle of Chancellorsville had been a pyrrhic victory. Although Lee had defeated an army considerably larger than his own; Lee, his men and the Confederacy had paid a heavy price. Of the 59,000 Confederate soldiers present at the battle over 13,000, or 25%, were lost. The Confederacy could not absorb the level of casualties that the Union could and every veteran lost in battle would never be replaced.

For the Confederacy, the loss of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was a massive blow. His vital involvement at early battles of the eastern theatre of the war, his undeniable military genius, composition in the face of the enemy and belief in the southern cause would be missed massively until the fall of the Confederacy two years later.

As for Hooker, he showed the difficulties of centralized military command when his army was divided and out of contact for extended periods of time. The extreme external support lines initially used by Hooker did not provide any way for sufficient support when his flanks came under attack and the lack of flexibility he showed cost the battle and over 17,000 men of the Army of the Potomac.