United States Regiments & BatteriesConnecticut


The 11th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment lost 8 officers and 140 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 1 officer and 176 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. A monument to the 11th Connecticut is on the Antietam battlefield near Burnside’s Bridge.

1861
October 24 – November 14 Organized at Hartford under the command of Colonel Thomas H.C. Kingsbury (West Point Class of 1832), Lieutenant Colonel Charles Matthewson, and Major Griffin A. Stedman.
December 16 Left State for Annapolis, Md.
1862
January 7-
February 8
Burnside’s expedition to Hatteras Inlet and Roanoke Island, N. C. Attached to Williams’ Brigade, Burnside’s Expeditionary Corps.
February 8 Battle of Roanoke Island
February At Roanoke Island
March 11-13 Moved to Newberne
March 14 Battle of Newberne
March 26 Colonel Thomas H.C. Kingsbury was discharged for disability due to typhoid pneumonia.
March-July Duty at Newberne
April Attached to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Dept. of North Carolina
April 25 Lieutenant Henry W. Kingsbury (West Point Class of 1861) former Acting ADC to Major General McDowell, was promoted to colonel and given command of the regiment.
June 11 Lieutenant Colonel Matthewson resigned and Major Stedman was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
July 2 Moved to Morehead City
July 3-5 To Newport News, Va.
July Attached to 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
August 1-6 Moved to Fredericksburg
August 31-September 3 Moved to Brooks’ Station, then to Washington, D.C.
September-
October
Maryland Campaign
September 14
Battle of South Mountain
September 16-17
Battle of Antietam

Colonel Kingsbury led the regiment in an unsuccessful attack on Burnside’s Bridge. The regiment continued to provide cover fire to new attacks, and Colonel Kingsbury was mortally wounded, shot in the leg, foot, shoulder and abdomen. Lieutenant Colonel Stedman took command of the regiment. He was badly wounded in the leg but refused to leave the field until the battle was over.

The regiment’s monument just to the east of Burnside’s Bridge on the Antitetam battlefield lists the 37 men who were killed or mortally wounded at Antietam:

Col. H.W. Kingsbury
Capt. J.D. Griswold, Co. A
Christian Steinmetz, Co. C
William Halbeass, Co. C
1st Sergt. J.R. Read, Co. D
Corp. G.R. Crane, Co. D
Edward Demming, Co. D
Lewis Dayton, Co. D
Alvin Flint, Co. D (Jr.)
1st Sergt. Hiram C. Roberts, Co. E
Corp. Theodore S. Bates, Co. E
Benjamin J. Beach, Co. E
William F. Coggswell, Co. E
Theodore Parrett, Co. E
George L. Wilson, Co. E
Clinton Fessington, Co. F
David Tarboc, Co. F
Fennimore Weeks, Co. F
Frank Chaffee, Co. G
George H. Heflin, Co. G
William H. Hitchcock, Co. G
Corp. David M. Ford, Co. H
Corp. John C. Holwell, Co. H
Corp. Orville F. Armstrong, Co. H
Davis Batty, Co. H
William H. Hall, Co. H
Thomas Lawson, Co. H
Charles H. Morse, Co. H
Asa W. Rouse, Co. H
John H. Walker, Co. H
James Morgan, Co. I
John Murray, Co. I
Albert Todd, Co. I
1st Sergt. George E. Bailey, Co. K
Henry W. Davis, Co. K
William H. Houghton, Co. K
William Lane, Co. K

103 men were also wounded in the battle.

From the War Department marker to Harland’s Brigade on the Antietam battlefield:

On the morning of the 17th, Harland’s Brigade moved from its position southeast of Burnside Bridge. The 11th Connecticut, deployed as skirmishers, preceded Crook’s Brigade in its assault on the bridge and was repulsed with great loss. During the forenoon the remaining Regiments of the Brigade moved down the left bank of the Antietam, crossed at Snavely’s Ford and, moving up the right bank of the stream, formed line on the left of the Division, Ewing’s Ohio Brigade in support. At about 3 P.M., the Brigade advanced in the direction of Sharpsburg. The 8th Connecticut passed to the west of this point and the 16th Connecticut and 4th Rhode Island were in the 40 acre cornfield east, when they were attacked in flank by the right of A.P. Hill’s Division and compelled to retire to the cover of the high ground near the bridge.

From the War Department marker to the 11th Connecticut on the Antietam battlefield:

This Regiment opened the engagement on this part of the field on the morning of September 17. It was partially deployed in skirmishing order and preceded Crook’s Brigade, Kanawha Division, in an attack on the stone bridge. It descended the hill on the east and passed over this ground under a severe fire of Confederate Artillery on the high ground west and Infantry concealed in the woods, in pits and behind stone fences, loose rocks and rails commanding the bridge and its approaches. The left and center reached the banks of the stream, the right, the level ground between this and the bridge. Colonel Kingsbury was mortally wounded a few feet northwest of this. Captain John Griswold was killed in the stream opposite the end of Rohrback Lane, and after a severe contest in which the Regiment suffered a loss of 139 killed and wounded, it retired to the shelter of the wooded ravine running north past this spur.

September – October Duty at Pleasant Valley, Md.
September 25 Lieutenant Colonel Stedman was promoted to colonel.
October 27-November 19 Movement to Falmouth, Va.
December 12-15
Battle of Fredericksburg
1863
January 20-24 Burnside’s 2nd Campaign, “Mud March”
February 6-9 Moved to Newport News, Va.
March 13 To Suffolk
April 12-May 4 Siege of Suffolk. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 7th Army Corps, Dept. of Va.
April 24 Edenton Road
May 3
Providence Church Road and Nansemond River

Captain Randall H. Rice of Company G was wounded in the left arm.

May 4 Siege of Suffolk raised
June 9-16 Reconnaissance to the Chickahominy
June 24-July 7
Dix’s Peninsula Campaign
July 1-7 Expedition from White House to South Anna River
July Moved to Portsmouth, Va. and attached to 2nd Brigade, Getty’s Division, Portsmouth, Va., Deptartment of Virginia and North Carolina
October 1 Moved to Gloucester Point
1864
January The regiment reenlisted for the duration of the war.
April Attached to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 18th Army Corps, Dept. Va. and N. C.
May 4-28 Butler’s operations on south side of the James River and against Petersburg and Richmond
May 5 Occupation of Bermuda Hundred, Va.
May 7 Port Walthal Junction, Chester Station
May 9-10 Swift Creek or Arrow field Church
May 12-16 Operations against Fort Darling, Battle of Drewry’s Bluff
May 17-27 On Bermuda Hundred front
May 27-31 Moved to White House, thence to Cold Harbor
June 1-12
Battle of Cold Harbor
June 15-18
First Assault on Petersburg

Captain Randall H. Rice was wounded in the abdomen.

June 16 – April 2 Siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond
July 30
Mine explosion Petersburg (Reserve)
August 5 Colonel Stedman was mortally wounded, shot in the stomach after a skirmish while talking with General Ames. He died the next day. A major redoubt on the Union defensive line would be named after him.
August 25 On Bermuda Hundred front, attached to Provisional Division, Army of the James
November 25 Captain Randall H. Rice was promoted to major.
December On north side of the James before Richmond, attached to 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 24th Army Corps, Dept. of Virginia
November 25 Major Rice was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
1865
April 3 Occupation of Richmond
April-December Duty at Richmond and Lynchburg, Va.
May 14 Lieutenant Colonel Rice was promoted to colonel.
July Attached to 1st Independent Brigade, 24th Army Corps
September 18 Colonel Rice was discharged for disability due to wounds.
December 21 Mustered out