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51st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment

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51st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
ActiveSeptember 25, 1862 – July 27, 1863
Country United States of America
AllegianceUnion
BranchUnion Army
TypeInfantry
EngagementsAmerican Civil War
Commanders
ColonelAugustus B. R. Sprague

The 51st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of infantry that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was assigned to Major General John G. Foster's Department of North Carolina, later designated as the XVIII Corps. While based in New Bern, North Carolina, the 51st Massachusetts took part in several expeditions involving numerous units from Foster's command and were engaged in the Battle of Kinston, the Battle of White Hall and the Battle of Goldsborough Bridge, among other engagements.

History

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The Fifty-first Regiment was organized at Worcester September 25 to October 30, 1862,[1] during which time Thomas Wentworth Higginson became a captain in the unit.[2] November 25–30, the unit moved to Boston, and from there to New Bern, North Carolina.

Attachments

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  • 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Department of North Carolina, until December 1862.
  • Amory's Brigade, Department of North Carolina, until January 1863.
  • 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 18th Army Corps, Department of North Carolina, until June 1863.
  • 8th Army Corps in the Middle Department until July 1863.
  • Temporarily to the 1st Army Corps, Army Potomac, July 1863.

Service

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Mustered out July 27, 1863.[1]

Records show that no members of the 51st were killed in battle, but 44 enlisted men died of disease in the nine months service.[3]

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System Archived 2008-04-10 at the Wayback Machine of the National Park Service (retrieved on 2009 December 8) refers to it as "51st Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry (Militia)."
  2. ^ Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1892). "Higginson, Stephen" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  3. ^ Fox, William F., Lt.-Col., 'Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865', Albany, N.Y., 1889, p. 471.

Sources

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