14th Connecticut Infantry

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry
dates= August 23, 1862, to April 10, 1865
country= United States
allegiance= Union
branch= Infantry
equipment=Springfield rifled muskets
battles= Battle of Antietam
Battle of Fredericksburg
Battle of Chancellorsville
Gettysburg Campaign
Overland Campaign
Siege of Petersburg
Appomattox CampaignThe 14th Connecticut Infantry (Nutmeg Regiment) was an infantry regiment that participated in the American Civil War. It participated in the Battle of Gettysburg, helping to repulse the Confederate attack on the third day known as Pickett's Charge.

The 14th Connecticut was organized at Hartford, Connecticut, on August 23, 1862, and mustered into the volunteer army.

The organization of the Fourteenth Regiment began under the order promulgated May 22, 1862, to furnish Connecticut's contingent of the fifty thousand men called for by the War Department at Washington to go into "Camp of Instruction" at Annapolis, Md. Recruiting for the regiment began at once, but progressed slowly until, in July, after the Union reverses on the peninsula, the President called for three hundred thousand volunteers for three years or the war, when it received a tremendous impulse and the regiment filled up rapidly, being the first one to complete its organization under that call. It was recruited from the state at large, having its rendezvous, named "Camp Foote," at Hartford. [Stevens, "14th Regiment C.V. Infantry".]

Initially, 1,015 men were mustered under the command of Colonel Dwight Morris. As an example, over the course of the war, 181 men served in Company G, including replacements, and, of these, 61 were from the Guilford/Madison area.

Major battles of the 14th Connecticut included: Antietam Md., Fredericksburg Va., Chancellorsville Va., Gettysburg Pa., Falling Waters Va., Auburn Va., Bristoe Station Va., Blackburn's Ford Va., Mine Run Va., Morton's Ford, Va., Wilderness Va., Laurel Hill Va., Spotsylvania Va., North Anna River, Va., Tolopotomy Va., Cold Harbor Va., Cold Harbor Va. (three days later), Petersburg Va., Deep Bottom Va., Ream's Station Va., Boydton Plank Road Va., Hatchers Run Va. Feb 5. 1865, Hatchers Run Va. March 25, 1865, Highbridge, Farmville Va. and Surrender of Lee's Army March 30 to April 10, 1865.

Initially, the regiment did not augment its ranks by replacing the dead or wounded with fresh troops. When it arrived at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, the regiment was reduced to 165 officers and men. After the Battle of Gettysburg, they were down to 100. [Busey & Martin, "Regimental Strengths".] Common practice in other units also was not to replace personnel; the 14th became one of the first exceptions to this rule in late July 1863 following Gettysburg, when scores of men were recruited in New Haven County to bolster the heavily depleted ranks.

Sgt. George Augustis Foote of Guilford was wounded in the foot during the Battle of Fredricksburg. He was a grandson of General William S. Wells of the Revolutionary War. He died in 1868 from his wounds, which never healed correctly. He is buried near the famed generalin the same cemetery, off Bear Hill House Road in Guilford.

References

* Stevens, Rev. Henry S., Late Chaplain of the Fourteenth Connecticut Volunteers, "14th Regiment C.V. Infantry".
* Busey and Martin, "Regimental Strengths and Losses in the Gettysburg Campaign".

Notes