Organization of the Regiment

• Company A – Allegheny County – Captain James C. Hull
• Company B – Allegheny County – Captain James W. Patterson
• Company C – Clarion County – Captain Thomas B. Monks
• Company D – Armstrong County – Captain William C. Beck
• Company E – Clarion County – Captain Thomas Kerr
• Company F – Pittsburg, Allegheny County – Captain Edward S. Wright
• Company G – Allegheny County – Captain Frank C. O’Brien
• Company H – Allegheny County – Captain Thomas Espy
• Company I – Jefferson County – Captain Robert R. Means
• Company K – Allegheny County – Captain Alexander W. McDonald
• Company L – Pittsburg, Allegheny County – Captain Detrick Gruntz
• Company M – Blair County – Captain Richard J. Crozier

Colonel Samuel Black had served as Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment during the Mexican War and went on the become Governor of Nebraska Territory for two years.

• Captain James W. Patterson of Company B was promoted to Major
• Captain Alexander W. McDonald of Company K resigned
• First Lieutenant Edward W. Timmony was promoted to Captain of Company K

Advance on Manassas

The army moved up on the Confederate positions at Manassas, only to find them abandoned. The regiment was halted at  Fairfax Court House, then moved to Alexandria.

Peninsula Campaign

Embarked upon ships for the Virginia Peninsula and landed at Fort Monroe. Attached to the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 3rd Corps, Army Potomac

Skirmish at Howard’s Mills, near Cockletown

The regiment lost one enlisted man killed and three wounded.

Siege of Yorktown

Operations about Hanover Court House

Arrived at Gaines’ Mill and continued the next day to Hanover Court House.

Hanover Court House

The 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry was part of the Second Brigade advanced to support the First Brigade, which had encountered the Confederates. The brigade deployed on the right of the line and according to Colonel Black’s official report, “captur(ed) all his camp and garrison equipage with many prisoners. In the course of the afternoon’s operations we captured eighty-one prisoners, including seven officers.” The loss to the regiment was six men wounded. The regiment then returned to its camp at Gaines’ Mill.

Seven days before Richmond

Battle of Mechanicsville

The Second Brigade marched to support the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, which had been attacked at Beaver Dam Creek. The Second Brigade arrived on the battlefield in the evening and was under fire but was not engaged.

Gaines Mill

In the morning, Porter’s Corp withdrew to Gaines’ Mill and formed on a ridfe east and south of the mill. The regiment was on the extreme left of the line, connecting with Sykes’ Division. When  Longstreet’s Corps advanced the 62nd Pennsylvania with the Ninth Massachusetts was ordered forward. It charged across a ravine in the face of heavy fire and into a woods. Colonel Samuel Black was shot down before reaching the woods, and Lieutenant Colonel Sweitzer took over the regiment. The enemy was driven back, leaving the regiment in an exposed position in advance of the main Union line. The Confederates quickly launched a flank attack, forcing the regiment to withdraw. It reformed in the open to the right of the woods.

General Seymour then rode up and asked Lieutenant Colonel Sweitzer if the regiment had ammunition. When told that it was completely exhausted he ordered that cartridge boxes be filled, and directed Lieutenant Colonel Sweitzer to move to the extreme left of the line. He did so at the double quick and formed, then charged up hill into the woods into heavy musketry. Eventually units to the right of the regiment were forced to withdraw, and the entire Federal line fell back toward the river. It was at this time that Lieutenant Colonel Sweitzer was captured. He would be sent to Richmond’s Libby Prison.

• Colonel Samuel L. Black was killed
• Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Sweitzer was wounded and captured, but was promoted to Colonel.
• Captain Thomas Espy of Company H was mortally wounded and captured
• First Lieutenant Alvin King of Company K was wounded

Savage Station

The regiment continued its fighting withdrawal.

Turkey Bridge or Malvern Cliff

The 62nd reached Malvern Hill.

Malvern Hill

The regiment had no field officers and was led by Captain James C. Hull of Company A. It was sent to support of Battery D, Fifth United States Artillery.

• Second Lieutenant John D. Elder of Company D was killed
• First Lieutenant William Kennedy of Company G was wounded
• First Lieutenant Samuel M. Adams of Company H was wounded and captured.

At Harrison’s Landing

The regiment had lost 298 men killed, wounded and missing in the Peninsula Campaign.

• Colonel Sweitzer was exchanged and returned to command the regiment
• Major James W. Patterson resigned
• Captain James C. Hull of Company A was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel
• First Lieutenant William G. Lowry of Company C was promoted to Major
• First Lieutenant James Brown was promoted to Captain of Company A

Battle of Gainesville

The regiment was lightly engaged, losing two men wounded.

Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)

The 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry remained in reserve with the rest of Porter’s Fifth Corps and suffered no casualties.

Battle of Antietam

The regiment was commanded by Colonel Jacob B. Sweitzer. It was in reserve supporting a battery of 20 pieces and suffered no casualties.

Shepherdstown Ford and Blackford’s Ford

The regiment crossed the Potomac but found little more than a few stragglers before recrossing. However, the division’s rear regiment, the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry, was surprised by a large enemy force and badlt battered before it could withdraw across the river.

Organizational changes

Major General Ambrose Burside replaced George McCLellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac. He believed that eight Corps were too many for a general to try to control, he reorganized the army’s structure to create three “Grand Divisions” and a Reserve, each of two corps. The 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry remained in Major General Fitz John Porter’s Fifth Corps, which was assigned to the Center Grand Division under Major General Joseph Hooker. Porter would be replaced by Major General Daniel Butterfield on November 25.

Colonel Jacob Sweitzer took command of the Second Brigade as senior colonel, and Lieutenant Colonel James C. Hull took command of the regiment.

Battle of Fredericksburg

Art noon on the 13th the regiment crossed the Rappahannock on a pontoon bridge leading into the town of Fredericksburg. They had no sooner finished crossing when they were ordered to return, and had almost done so when they were again ordered to countermarch back into Fredericksburg.  All of this was done in the open on the bridge under heavy Confederate fire.

They had moved through the town and out into the suburbs along the bank of the canal when the brigade was disrupted by a group of stragglers retreating from the collapse of the formation on the right. Order was restored, and the regiment removed their knapsacks and overcoats for a charge.

They advanced under heavy fire to within 30-40 yards of the Confederate position at the stone wall beneath Marye’s Heights, when they could go no farther and dropped to the ground. For two nights and a day they remained in this exposed position under heavy fire. “Lying flat upon the ground in mud and water, with the dying and the dead thickly strewn about them, and no possibility of caring for or removing them, the men clung to the ground they had so nobly won.” Finally, on Sunday night the men were relieved and under cover of darkness fell back to the town.

On Monday the regiment picketed the front, serving as a rearguard until the rest of the army had crossed the Rappahannick, when they quickly followed.

The 62nd Pennsylvania lost two officers and five enlisted men killed, and seven officers and fifty-six enlisted men wounded.

• Adjutant J. E. Cunningham was struck by a cannon ball and instantly killed
• First Lieutenant Stephen C. Potts of Company M was mortally wounded
• Colonel Jacob Sweitzer was wounded and his horse killed

Expedition to Richard’s and Ellis’ Fords, Rappahannock River

General Averell was ordered to make a cavalry raid towards Richmond, and the 1st Division was detailed to support the force in crossing of the Rappahannock. The regiment marched in the afternoon of the 29th of December, and at Hartwood Church the Second Brigade continued fifteen miles further upstream to Unionville. There an order was received countermanding the raid, and the brigade returned to camp that evening, having marched 33 miles that day in a heavy snow storm.

Burnside’s Second Campaign, “Mud March”

The regiment took part in the march, and for several days afterwards constructed and improved roads to bring the artillery back to camp.

Chancellorsville Campaign

The regiment marched upriver to Kelley’s Ford and crossed the Rappahannock, then crossed the Rapidan at Ely’s Ford, continuing to the area around the Chancellor House.

Battle of Chancellorsville

The division was ordered to the left. It spent much of the day marching and counter-marching. Near evening the Second Brigade became separated from the division. The Confederates blocked the road on which the brigade was advancing while opening upon its rear with artillery. Escape seemed impossible. Colonel McQuade, who was in command of the brigade as senior colonel, proposed to surrender. But Colonel Sweitzer, the next in rank, refused and took over command. He sent out companies L and M of the 62nd as skirmishers to engage the attention the enemy while he began withdrawing the brigade. By maneuvering and fighting, through most of the night, he succeeded in escaping the trap.

Battle of Chancellorsville (Cont.)

The regiment was not engaged.

Battle of Chancellorsville (Cont.)

On Sunday morning the brigade was ordered to the right on the road leading to Ely’s Ford, north of Chancellorsville, where the artillery was concentrated. A line of breast-works was thrown up west of the road, behind which the guns were posted, with the infantry immediately behind. The 62nd Pennsylvania was ordered to advance into the woods as skirmishers, drive back the enemy, and establish a new and more advanced line. The Confederate skirmishers were driven and some prisoners taken; but before a line could be established, the woods were fired and the regiment was forced to fall back.

Battle of Chancellorsville (Cont.)

The brigade was ordered to advance in front of the lines and reconnoitre the enemy position. It formed in two lines, with the 62nd Pennsylvania in the first followed by the 32nd Massachusetts, with the Fourth Michigan sent ahead as skirmishers. The brigade pushed forward until it found the Confederate trenches, which opened a heavy fire.s mission accomplished, the line  fell back. The regiment lost 14 men wounded, several mortally. Five members of Company D were wounded by a single shell.

Battle of Chancellorsville (Cont.)

At three a.m. the Fifth Corps withdrew and crossed the Rappahannock, the First Division acting as rear guard. Confederate cavalry followed aggressively and the 62nd The Sixty-second was sent back to keep them in check and was the last regiment to withdraw across the river.

Middleburg

The regiment supported Union cavalry when it clashed with Confederate cavalry screening Lee’s march north.

Battle of Gettysburg

The 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment was commanded at Gettysburg by Lieutenant Colonel James C. Hull. It brought 26 officers and 400 enlisted men to the field.

From the monument to the 62nd Pennsylvania at Gettysburg: 

Position occupied by the Regiment on the evening of July 2, 1863 after the troops on the right had retired, and where the Brigade had a bayonet contest.

Long before dawn on the 2nd the division marched for Gettysburg, arriving on the field before daylight. They moved up the Baltimore Pike were posted to the west of the road behind Cemetery Hill. Late in the afternoon the division moved south, with the Second Brigade taking position in a strip of woods on the right of the Wheatfield and in front of Little Round Top with the 62nd Pennsylvania holding the left of the line.

Soon Confederates were discovered advancing through a ravine on the flank. The regiments were wheeled to the left and rear, forming three lines facing in the same direction and supporting each other. “The fighting became very warm, but as the brigade was favorably posted it easily held its ground, and kept the enemy at bay.” But the First Brigade was driven back, and the Second was soon in a critical situation.

Colonel Sweitzer was ordered to withdraw the brigade through the woods. It reformed along the Wheatfield Road north of the Wheatfield, at right angles to its former position. An hour later it once again advanced into the Wheatfield to the support of General Caldwell, hotly engaged in the wood beyond. But before they could cross the field the Caldwell’s men in the wood fell back, followed by large numbers of Confederates.

Colonel Sweitzer changed front to the right and a hand to hand struggle ensued. The enemy was along the road in the immediate rear of the brigade, the woods which surrounded the Wheatfield were filled with Confederates and every avenue of escape was cut off, with the men terribly exposed in the open. But the regiment kept a bold front and fired volley after volley as the lines moved diagonally across the field, crossed the stone fence in front of Little Round Top and reached the low ground which skirts the hill. At this point the Pennsylvania Reserves charged down on the enemy’s flank and threw them back in confusion, and the brigade was rescued.

The division was posted during the night along the stone wall at the foot of the hill, to the right of Little Round Top, where it remained until the close of the battle.

Casualties were heavy

The Second Brigade lost half of its 900 men. The 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry lost 4 officers and 24 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 10 officers and 40 enlisted men wounded, and 40 men captured or missing. As it marched away from Gettysburg the regiment could muster only about ninety men.

• Major William G. Lowry, Captain Edwin H. Little of Company I, First Lieutenant Scott C. McDowell of Company G and Second Lieutenant Josiah P. Mouck of Company K were killed
• Captain James Brown of Company A and First Lieutenant Patrick Morris of Company M were mortally wounded
• Colonel Jacob Sweitzer (commanding the brigade) was wounded, and his horse was killed.

Bristoe Campaign

Rappahannock Station

Mine Run Campaign

Rapidan Campaign

The regiment mustered 557 men.

Battle of the Wilderness

The 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James C. Hull while Colonel Jacob Sweitzer commanded the Second Brigade.

Battle of the Wilderness

In the morning the regiment was employed in throwing up breastworks, with Confederates in heavy force in its immediate front. Fighting began mid morning and continued until nightfall. The 62nd was on the extreme right of the division and advanced a half mile beyond the breast-works. It became heavily engaged.There was no support on the left so that they were outflanked and were forced to fall back, although in good order.

Captain William C. Beck of Company D was captured.

Battle of the Wilderness (Cont.)

Fighting continued, with neither side gaining an advantage.

Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

Laurel Hill

The Fifth Corps ran into Confederaate General Jubal Early’s Corps on a ridge north of Spotsylvania Court House and fierce fighting ensued with heavy casualties. The Fifth Corps dug in and remained in the position for several days but were plagued by Confederate sharpshooters.

Assault on the Salient

A massive dawn assault was launched on an awkward Confederate salient, and the whole Union line attacked in support.

• Adjutant John E. Myers was killed
• Lieutenant Colonel James C. Hull and First Lieutenants William H. Johnston of Company C and William Phillips of Company G were mortally wounded
• Captain William Kennedy of Company G was wounded

Captain William P. Maclay of Company C took command of the regiment for the rest of its enlistment, as Colonel Jacob Sweitzer still commanded the Second Brigade as senior colonel.

North Anna River

The Fufth Corps disengaged and marched to the North Anna River, forded the river at Jericho Ford and ran into defending Confederates. By noon the entire corps and a part of the Sixth Corps were on the field and engaged, fighting until sundown.

Totopotomoy

The regiment recrossed the North Anna and drove the enemy on the opposite bank.

Battle of Cold Harbor

The 62nd Pennsylvania Infantry was heavily engaged and suffered severe casualties. Second Lieutenant Jefferson Truitt pf Company D was killed and First Lieutenant Samuel M. Adams of Company H was mortally wounded.

Grant’s First Assault on Petersburg

The attack was made behind a battery of artillery which led the way, clearing a path with grape. The men advanced beyond the Norfolk & Petersburg Railroad and erected strong earthworks. 

Jerusalem Plank Road

The regiment suffered light losses, then was engaged in picket and fatigue duty.