Battle of Fredericksburg

The regiment lost 3 enlisted men wounded and 10 missing.

Chancellorsville Campaign

Battle of Chancellorsville

The regiment lost 2 enlisted men killed, 2 mortally wounded, 1 officer and 9 enlisted men wounded and 1 officer and 6 enlisted men missing.

Gettysburg Campaign

Battle of Gettysburg

The regiment was commanded by Colonel Patrick Henry O’Rorke and brought 526 men to the field.

The 140th was marching across the north slope of Little Round Top to the support of Sickle’s 3rd Corps on July 2nd. It was intercepted by General Gouverneur Warren, who was desperately improvising a defense of the vital hill. By luck, Warren had commanded the brigade in the past and was well known to Colonel O’Rorke. When according to one story Warren said, “Paddy, give me a regiment!” O’Rorke was quick to oblige with his own.

After cresting Little Round Top O’Rorke dismounted and led the regiment in column of fours toward the Confederates threatening to break the Union line, drawing his sword and shouting, “Down this way, boys!” As the men began to form a line and O’Rorke shouted, “Here they are men, commence firing!” a Confederate about forty feet away shot O’Rorke in the neck. The Confederate did not long survive the Colonel; after the battle seventeen holes were counted in his body.

Colonel O’Rorke and 25 enlisted men were killed, 2 officers and 9 enlisted men were mortally wounded, 3 officers and 75 enlisted men were wounded and 18 enlisted men were missing. Lieutenant Colonel Louis Ernst took command of the regiment when O’Rorke fell.

The assault by the 140th was one of the decisive moments in the saving of Little Round Top and the Union left flank during the battle.

There is a monument to the 140th New York at Gettysburg on the summit of Little Round Top.

Bristoe Campaign

Rappahannock Station

Mine Run Campaign

Campaign from the Rapidan to the James

Battle of the Wilderness

In the opening fighting of the battle the regiment charged across Saunders Field. This became the subject of a painting by noted artist Keith Rocco. A monument and a wayside marker tell more about the charge.

The regiment lost 1 officer and 35 enlisted men killed, 2 officers and 15 enlisted men mortally wounded, 3 officers and 98 enlisted men wounded, and 5 officers and 96 enlisted men missing or captured. Captain Willard Abbott was one of the wounded.

From the wayside marker near the monument:

“The regiment melted away like snow. Men disappeared as if the earth had swallowed them.”

-Captain Porter Parley
140th New York Infantry

Shortly after noon on May 5, the battleline of the 140th New York burst from the woods to your right-rear – the first regiment to advance against the Confederates here in Saunders Field.

Undaunted by a devastating Confederate fire, the 529 New Yorkers sprinted across the field and assailed the Confederates along the woodline before you. But supporting units, Caught in the tangled woods north of the field, could not keep pace. Confederate fire raked the 140th exposed right flank. For perhaps 30 minutes the 140th New York clung to its foothold in the woods. Then, with nearly half its men shot or captured, the regiment retreated.

The advance of the 140th New York was but the first bloodletting in what would be two days of savage fighting in and around Saunders Field.

From the monument on the Wilderness battlefield:

Number Engaged 529. Casualties 23 killed, 118 wounded, 114 missing.

Frederick Phisterer breaks out the casualties differently in his book, New York and the War of the Rebellion:

1 officer and 35 enlisted men killed, 2 officers and 15 enlisted men mortally wounded, 3 officers and 98 enlisted men wounded, and 5 offiers and 96 enlisted men missing.

Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

The regiment lost 2 officers and 11 enlisted men killed, 8 enlisted men mortally wounded, and 3 officers and 37 enlisted men wounded.

Laurel Hill

Colonel George Ryan and Major Milo Starks were killed.

Assault on the Salient

North Anna River

Totopotomoy

Two men were wounded and seven missing. Captain William Grantsyne was among the wounded.

Battle of Cold Harbor

The regiment lost 2 enisted men mortally wounded, 10 wounded and 48 missing.

First Assault on Petersburg

The regiment lost 1 enlisted man killed, 3 enlisted men mortally wounded, 1 officer and 14 enlisted men wounded and 1 officer and 2 enlisted men missing. Captain Benjamin Harmon was among the wounded.

Siege of Petersburg 

Attached to 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 5th Army Corps

Weldon Railroad

The regiment lost 4 enlisted men killed and 2 mortally wounded, 1 officer and 16 enlisted men wounded, and 51 enlisted men missing.

Mine Explosion (Battle of the Crater)

The regiment was in reserve.

Poplar Springs Church, Peeble’s Farm

Lieutenant Colonel Otis was wounded and eventually discharged due to wounds. Four enlisted men were also wounded and seven missing.

Warren’s Raid on Weldon Railroad

Dabney’s Mills, Hatcher’s Run

The regiment lost 3 enlisted men killed, 2 mortally wounded, and 18 wounded.

Appomattox Campaign

In addition to the killed and wounded listed below at White Oak Road and Five Forks the regiment lost 18 enlisted men wounded and 30 missing from March 29 until Appomattox.

White Oak Road

The regiment lost 4 enlisted men killed and 2 mortally wounded.

Five Forks

The regiment lost 2 enlisted men killed and 1 mortally wounded.

Fall of Petersburg

Appomattox Court House

Surrender of Lee and his army.