50th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment

United States Regiments & Batteries > Pennsylvania > Infantry

The 50th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment lost 8 officers and 156 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 4 officers and 180 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. It is honored by a monument at Antietam.

1861
Recruited in Berks, Schuylkill, Bradford, Susquehanna, Lancaster and Luzerne Counties and organized at Harrisburg
October 1 Mustered in under Colonel Benjamin C. Christ (former lieutenant colonel of the 5th Pennsylvania, which had mustered out at the end of its term), Lieutenant Colonel Thomas S. Brenholtz and Major Edward Overton, Jr.
October 2 Left State for Washington, D.C.
October 9 To Annapolis, Md. Attached to Stevens’ Brigade, W. T. Sherman’s South Carolina Expedition
October 21-November 7 Sherman’s Expedition to Port Royal, S. C. Sailed on steamer Winfield Scott and shipwrecked off coast of North Carolina.
1862
January 1 Occupation of Beaufort, S.C., December 6. Port Royal Ferry, Coosaw River and duty at Port Royal Island, S.C.

February 10 Barnwell’s Island, S.C.
April District of Beaufort, S. C, Dept. South (Co. D)
May 29 Pocotaligo
June 7 Camp Stevens
July Attached to 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, Army Potomac
July 14-18 Moved to Hilton Head, S.C., then to Newport News, Va.
August 3-6 To Aquia Creek and Fredericksburg, Va.
August 6-16 Operations in support of Pope
August 16-September 2 Pope’s Campaign in Northern Virginia
August 24 Sulphur Springs
August 29 Battles of Groveton
August 30
Second Battle of Bull Run

Lieutenant Colonel Brenholtz was wounded. With Colonel Christ commanding the brigade, Major Overton took over the regiment.
September 1 Chantilly
September 6-24 Maryland Campaign. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
September 14
Battle of South Mountain
September 16-17
Battle of Antietam

Colonel Christ continued to command the brigade. The regiment was commanded by Major Edward Overton until he was severely wounded in the advance from Burnside’s Bridge. The regiment “charged with great spirit and gallantry, and attained a position in advance of the Union lines, where it was exposed to a terrible cross-fire of artillery; but it maintained its position until the rebels were forced to retreat.”* After Major Overton was wounded Captain Diehl of Company E took command. The regiment lost 8 killed, 46 wounded and 3 missing.

*Bates, Samuel P., History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-65, Harrisburg: 1868-1871

From the War Department marker for Christ’s Brigade along Rodman Avenue on the Antietam battlefield:

On the morning of the 17th Christ’s Brigade was in reserve on the eastern slope of the ridge on the left bank of the Antietam, nearly opposite the Burnside Bridge.

About 2 P.M., after Sturgis’ Division had carried the bridge, the Brigade crossed and, following the stream and road to Sharpsburg, filed to the right where the course of the former diverged to the east and formed line on the narrow plateau at the foot of the bluff southeast of this point. After the formation of the Corps line, the Brigade advanced, under a heavy fire from Cemetery Hill and the high ground west of the road, to within a few yards of this point where it was checked. After a short delay the 79th New York advanced as skirmishers and compelled the Confederate Artillery to retire. The Brigade was about to move forward, when the attack of A.P. Hill on the left of the Corps obliged it to fall back to the Antietam, where it remained until the evening of the 18th, when it was relieved by Morell’s Division of the Fifth Corps.
September 19-October 2 March to Pleasant Valley and duty there
October 25-November 19 Movement to Falmouth, Va.
December 12-15 Battle of Fredericksburg
1863
January 20-24 Burnside’s 2nd Campaign
February At Falmouth
February 12-14 Moved to Newport News
March 21-26 To Paris, Kentucky and assignment to Army of the Ohio
April 27-29 Moved to Nicholasville, Lancaster and Stanford
May 6-8 To Somerset
June 4-10 Through Kentucky to Cairo, Ill.
June 14-17 To Vicksburg, Miss.
June 17-July 4 Siege of Vicksburg, Miss. Attached to 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee
July 5-10 Advance on Jackson, Miss.
July 10-17 Siege of Jackson
July-August At Milldale
August 12-23 Moved to Covington, Ky.
August to October Burnside’s Campaign in East Tennessee. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Ohio
August Major Overton was promoted to lieutenant colonel with the death of Lieutenant Colonel Brenholtz.
October 10 Action at Blue Springs, Tenn.
October 27 Clinch Mountain
November 4-December 23 Knoxville Campaign
November 16 Campbell’s Station
November 17-December 5 Siege of Knoxville
December 5-26 Pursuit of Longstreet’s army to Blain’s Cross Roads
1864
January 1 Reenlisted at Blain’s Cross Roads
April Moved to Annapolis, Md. and attached to 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army Potomac
May 4-June 12 Rapidan Campaign
May 5-7
Battle of the Wilderness
May 8-21
Battle of Spottsylvania Court House
May 9 Ny River
May 12 Assault on the Salient
May 23-26 North Anna River
May 24 Ox Ford
May 26-28 Line of the Pamunkey
May 28-31 Totopotomoy
June 1-12
Battle of Cold Harbor
June 1-3 Bethesda Church
June 16-18 Before Petersburg. Siege of Petersburg begins.
July 30 Mine Explosion, Petersburg
August 18-21 Weldon Railroad

Sergeant Charles Brown of Company C earned the Medal of Honor for capturing the colors of the 47th Virginia Infantry Regiment
September Attached to 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
September 29-October 2 Poplar Springs Church or Peeble’s Farm
October 8 Reconnaissance on Vaughan or Squirrel Level Road
October 27-28 Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run
1865
March 25 Fort Stedman
March 28-April 9 Appomattox Campaign
April 2 Assault on and fall of Petersburg
April 3-9 Pursuit of Lee to Burkesville
April 21-28 Moved to City Point, then to Washington, D.C.
May 23 Grand Review
July 4 Present at the laying of the corner stone at Gettysburg
July 30 Mustered out