Parts of four companies mustered in:

• Company B (remainder) –  Captain Andrew J. Davis – mostly from Chittenden and Addison Counties
• Company C – Captain Frank Kenfield – Lamoille and Washington counties
• Company D – Captain Henry A. Eaton – Windsor County
• Company E – Captain George S. Robinson –  Washington County

Parts of three more companies mustered in:

• Company F – Captain Lyman E. Knapp – Windham and Windsor Counties
• Company G – Captain Eldin J. Hartshorn – Caledonia, Essex and Windsor Counties
• one squad of Company H

Campaign from the Rapidan to the James Virginia

The rest of Company H mustered in at Brattleboro under the command of Captain Charles M. Corey and left to join the regiment.

Battle of the Wilderness

The 17th Vermont Infantry Regiment was commanded at the Wilderness by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Cummings and brought 313 men to the field. They had barely rested from their march when they were awakened at 2 a.m. and moved to the center of the Union lines along Germanna Plank Road to make an assault. The men advanced into the woods and across open fields until they ran up against the Confederate line. They were then driven back to the woods. They moved forward again around 9 a.m., seizing a rail fence which they defended for the remainder of the morning, despite lacking support on each flank.

Lieutenant Colonel Cummings was wounded at this time and Major William Reynolds took command.

At about 2 p.m. the brigade charged log breastworks in the woods behind a ravine and drove back its defenders, taking over 200 prisoners. A counterattack then drove the brigade back to their original positions, which they defended until they were withdrawn when the battle died down after dark.

The 17th Vermont lost 10 men killed, 64 wounded, ten mortally, and six missing in its first battle.

Lieutenant Colonel Cummings received a scalp wound, Captain Stephen F. Brown of Company A was wounded, losing his arm, and Captain Frank Kenfield of Company C was wounded.

Spotsylvania Court House

The regiment was commanded by Major William Reynolds and went into battle with about 250 men. It lost 12 men killed, 58 wounded, and 2 missing.

Captain Lyman E. Knapp of Company F and First Lieutenants Henry Gilmore of Company A and George Kingsbury of Company F were wounded.

North Anna River

Totopotomoy

The regiment lost one man killed and 4 men mortally wounded.

Cold Harbor

The 17th Vermont Infantry Regiment was on the extreme right of the army but was not engaged in the morning assault. It supported the afternoon assault, losing one man killed and 17 wounded, five mortally.

Captain Andrew J. Davis of Company B and First Lieutenant Gardner Gibson of Company D were mortally wounded.

Grant’s First Assault on Petersburg

The first day the 17th Vermont attacked two redans without loss. On the second it attacked at first light, capturing the Confederate line and advancing more than a mile. and capturing two guns, two stands of colors and many prisoners, 70 of whom and 1 color were from the 17th Tennessee. In the second charge the regiment lost 6 men killed and 20 wounded, 7 mortally, out of 135 men. First Lieutenant Guy H. Guyer of Company C was killed.

In the next two days it lost 4 men skirmishing, 2 mortally, then settled into trenches and lost 3 men killed and 2 wounded, 1 mortally.

Siege of Petersburg

Stationed in the first line in the trenches, constantly exposed to enemy fire and losing one man a day on the average. By July 21 the regiment was down to 150 men.

Mine Explosion (Battle of the Crater)

Lieutenant Colonel Cummings had been sick for several days and unfit for service, so Major Reynolds commanded the regiment, which numbered 8 officers and 120 enisted men. The men were caught in the horrible slaughter of the Crater, unable to advance or retreat and so densely packed as to often be able to fire their weapons. Finally they were forced to retreat across the shot-torn no mans land to the their own lines.

The 17th Vermont lost 10 men killed, 46 wounded, and 18 captured or missing.

Major William B. Reynolds, First Lieutenants William E. Martin of Company E , Hicks of Company F, Leonard P. Bingham of Company G, and Second Lieutenant John R. Converse of Company H were killed. Captain Frank Kenfield of Company C and Lieutenant Pierce of Company D were taken prisoner.

First Lieutenant Henry B. Needham of Company H was the only officer to return, but died of his wounds a week later.

The 46 survivors were divided into two groups under First Sergeants Henry D. Jordan of Company A and Joel H. Lucia of Company H. Adjutant Peck, returned from sick call to take command until Captain Lyman Knapp could return from detached service.

Weldon Railroad

Poplar Spring Church, Peebles Farm

Confederate forces moved through a gap in the Federal lines and attacked the brigade from the front, flank and rear. Three officers and five enlisted men were killed, 40 men were wounded, 2 mortally, and 27 were captured, of whom 9 died in Confederate captivity.

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Cummings, Major Henry A. Eaton, and Second Lieutenant George Tobin of Company I were killed. First Lieutenants Joel H. Lucia of Company H and Almeron C. Inman were wounded, Lucia losing his left arm.

Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run

The regiment suffered no losses.

Company K and 95 men under the command of Captain John L. Yale finally arrived, completing the formation of the regiment. Colonel Francis V. Randall was allowed to muster in and join the regiment in the field, even though it was horribly reduced in numbers..

Assaults on Petersburg

During the night of April 1 the 17th Vermont and 2nd Maryland penetrated the Confederate pickets line between Fort Sedgwick and Fort Davis and swept up around 250 prisoners, clearing the way for the assault the next day. The main attack was made at daybreak, and after back and forth fighting part of the Confederate line had been captured and held.

In its last battle the regiment lost 10 men killed and 39 wounded, 5 mortally. Lieutenants C.W. Ellsworth of Company B and J. Edwin Henry of Company K were mortally wounded.

Lieutenant Colonel Knapp, Captain Washington Pierce of Company D, Captain Charles M. Cory and First Lieutenant Hollis O. Claflin of Company G and First Lieutenant Charles D. Brainard of Company F were bereveted for gallantry in the attack.