119th Infantry Regiment

Mustered in: September 4, 1862
Mustered out: June 7, 1865

The following is taken from New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. Frederick Phisterer. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1912.

Colonel Elias Peissner received authority, June 26, 1862, to recruit this regiment; it was organized in New York City, and there mustered in the service of the United States for three years September 4 and 5, 1862. The companies were recruited principally: A; Halleck Guard, B, Q, D; Sigel Life Guard, Siegel Sharpshooters; E, F, G, I and K in New York City, and H at Hempstead. The men not mustered out with the regiment were transferred to the load Infantry June 7, 1865.
The regiment left the State September 6, 1862; served in the defenses of Washington, from September, 1862; in the 2d Brigade, 3d Division, 11th Corps, Army of the Potomac, from October, 1862; in the 2A Brigade, 2d Division, 20th Corps, Army of the Cumberland, from April, 1864; and was honorably discharged and mustered out, under Col. John T. Lockman, June 7, 1865, near Bladensburg, Md.
During its service the regiment lost by death, killed in action, 4 officers, 48 enlisted men; of wounds received in action, 2 officers, 23 enlisted men; of disease and other causes, 2 officers, 92 enlisted men; total, 8 officers, 163 enlisted men; aggregate, 171; of whom 14 enlisted men died in the hands of the enemy.

The following is taken from The Union army: a history of military affairs in the loyal states, 1861-65 -- records of the regiments in the Union army -- cyclopedia of battles -- memoirs of commanders and soldiers. Madison, WI: Federal Pub. Co., 1908. volume II. 

One Hundred and! Nineteenth Infantry.—Cols., Elias Peissner, John T. Lockman; Lieut-Cols., John T. Lockman, Edward F. Lloyd, Isaac P. Lockman; Majs., Harvey Baldwin, Jr., Benjamin A. Willis, Isaac P. Lockman, Charles F. Lewis, Chester H. Southworth. This regiment was recruited and organized at New York city in the summer of 1862, and was mustered into the U. S. service on Sept. 4-5, for three years. On the 6th the regiment left for Washington, where it was attached to the 2nd brigade, 3d (Schurz') division, nth corps (Howard), and went into winter quarters at Stafford, Va. At the battle of Chancellorsville, Howard's corps was surprised and suffered severely, the 119th losing 21 killed, 67-wounded and 32 missing, Col. Peissner being killed while rallying his men. The regiment was commanded at Gettysburg by Col. Lockman, and was heavily engaged on the first two days of the battle, losing 140 in killed, wounded and missing. After returning-with the army to Virginia, it was ordered with its corps on Sept. 24, to Tennessee. It was present but not active at the midnight battle of Wauhatchie, fought valiantly at Missionary ridge, and was then ordered with the corps to the relief of Knoxville, en-during severe hardships and privations during the campaign. In April, 1864, when the 11th corps was broken up, the regiment was assigned to the 2nd brigade, 2nd division, of the newly formed 20th corps, commanded by Gen. Hooker, the veteran Gen. Geary being in command of the division. It moved on the Atlanta campaign and took part in numerous battles in the next four months, including Rocky Face ridge, Resaca, where the brave Lieut.-Col. Lloyd was killed, New Hope Church, Kennesaw mountain, Peachtree-creek, and the siege of Atlanta. After the fall of Atlanta, it remained with the corps to hold the city, while the rest of the army went in pursuit of Hood. On Nov. 15, the regiment moved with Sherman's army on the grand march through Georgia to the sea and took part in the siege of Savannah, Geary's division being the first to enter the city upon Hardee's evacuation. Early in the year 1865, it moved on the campaign of the Carolinas, fighting at Averasboro, Bentonville, Raleigh and Bennett's house, but sustaining a loss of only 4 missing. After Gen. Johnston's surrender, it marched on to Washington with the 20th corps, where it participated in the grand review, and was mustered out at Bladenburg, Md., June 7, 1865, commanded by Col. Lockman. The total enrollment of the regiment was 69 officers, 981 men. It lost by death during service, 6 officers and 71 men, killed and mortally wounded; 2 officers and 92 men by disease and other causes, a total of 171.

119thRegCoH1995-3751.jpg

Company H, 119th Regiment NY Volunteer Infantry | National Color | Civil War

Made by women from Hempstead, Long Island and reportedly received by Company H in the fall of 1862 while on duty near Washington, D.C., this silk…

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119thInfRegimental1995.3532.jpg

119th Regiment NY Volunteer Infantry | Regimental Color | Civil War

Late in the afternoon of September 5, 1862, the 119th New York Volunteers assembled outside regimental surgeon Dr. Charles Brueninghausen’s residence…

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NYSMM Online Resources

Battles and Casualties from Phisterer (pdf)
Battles and Casualties from Phisterer (spreadsheet)

Muster Roll

Unit Roster

Newspaper Clippings

Historical Sketch

Monument at Gettysburg
 

Search the Museum catalog for this unit

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Other Resources

This is meant to be a comprehensive list. If, however, you know of a resource that is not listed below, please send an email to ng.ny.nyarng.list.historians@army.mil with the name of the resource and where it is located. This can include photographs, letters, articles and other non-book materials. Also, if you have any materials in your possession that you would like to donate, the museum is always looking for items specific to New York's military heritage. Thank you.

Antebellum and Civil War collection: Correspondence, 1856-1865, undated.
Description:    42 documents
Abstract:    The series includes correspondence, including letters and diaries of Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, mostly during the Atlanta Campaign in the spring and summer of 1864. An exception is a letter written in 1856 from an Atlantan expressing fears of a slave revolt. Each entry lists the correspondent (when identified), their location (in italics) and to whom they are writing. Units for both Union and Confederate correspondents are sometimes identified; otherwise the correspondent is listed as either Union or Confederate. The letters are organized in chronological order. Notable correspondents include General Robert E. Lee, William Tecumseh Sherman, Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown, and Atlanta pioneer William Austin Leyden. Letters from Confederate soldiers from Georgia include subjects such as the formation and movements of military units, descriptions of camp life, a description of a Baptismal ceremony, a sympathy letter to family members of a fallen soldier, and a first-hand description of the battle of Kennesaw Mountain, and the fall of Atlanta. Many of the letters from Georgia soldiers were written in combat theaters across the Southeast including Yorktown, Richmond, and Petersburg, Virginia, as well as Vicksburg, Mississippi. Also included in this series is correspondence from other Confederate and Union soldiers in camps throughout Georgia during the Atlanta Campaign, which describes fighting near Dallas, Marietta, Kennesaw, Roswell, and Atlanta, as well as the latter stages of the conflict in Georgia. Correspondence from Union soldiers includes diaries and letters written in 1864-1865. Included are accounts from soldiers serving in infantry and cavalry units from Illinois, Ohio, Connecticut, and New York. The diaries of these soldiers consist of hundreds of entries, many only 3-4 lines, but some spanning multiple pages, describing camp life, soldier provisions, the landscape, Confederate fortifications surrounding Atlanta, the weather, health and ailments, caring for wounded soldiers, rumors of the movements of Confederate forces, battles and skirmishes, the death of General James B. McPherson in battle, the capture and occupation of Atlanta, and the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.
Held at the Atlanta History Center.

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. A Bird's Eye View of Our Civil War. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1897.

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. Addresses and reviews, by T. A. D. Boston: Henry S. Dunn, [189-].

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. Amry and other tales, by T. A. D. Boston: Henry S. Dunn, 1898.

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. "Left wounded on the field." Putnam's magazine ns IV (1869) 317-26. 
Available online at: http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. "Saaret og fanget, en episode af den nordamerikanske borgerkrig." Rundt paa jorden. (Copenhagen 1870) 111-33.

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. "The battle of Chancellorsville." Southern historical society papers XIV (1886) 276-92.

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. "The Gettysburg campaign." US XIII (1885) 1-21.

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. On campaign with the Army of the Potomac : the Civil War journal of Theodore Ayrault Dodge. New York : Cooper Square Press,2001. xviii, 340 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. "The romances of Chancellorsville." PM- HSM III (1886) 192-218.

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. "Tied up by the thumbs." The Galaxy 6:6 (1868) 790-797.
Available online at: http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. "Was either the better soldier?" Century magazine XL (1890) 144-8. 
Available online at: http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/

Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. "Valor and skill in the Civil War." Century magazine 42:4 (August, 1891) 634-636.
Available online at: http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/

Eder, Franz. Franz Eder diary, 1863-1865.
Description:    .21 linear foot (1 volume)
Language:    English; Primarily German, with some English, Greek, and Latin.
Abstract:    These pocket diaries (2 vols.) were kept in 1863 and 1865 by Franz or Francis Eder (born Benno Wohlgemuth, at Wolfsberg in Carinthia), during which time he served as a private in the U.S. Army, Company A and Company D, 119th Regiment, New York, Volunteers. Eder had enlisted in New York City on June 17, 1862 and was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky on July 10, 1865. Entries are in German, and in the reverse of the 1863 diary are the words of a soldier's song in English, along with Greek and Latin quotations.
Held at the New York Public Library.

Hart, Larry. Through the darkest hour : a romantic story of a Union College man's adventures and tribulations during the Civil War, 1862-1865. Scotia, NY: Old Dorp Books, 1990.

Knapp, Peter J. and Knapp, Anne H.  Now let us never from duty shrink :the Civil War through the eyes of the brothers Cornelius, Union soldiers : an exhibition, March-May 2005. Hartford : Watkinson Library, Trinity College, 2005. [8] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.

Kotzbauer, Robert W.  Elias, ersatz prinz, Union patriot :a true story. Wagontown, PA : R.W. Kotzbauer, 2004.

Livermore, Thomas L. Memoir of Theodore Ayrault Dodge. Boston: MA Hist Soc, 1909. 

Lockman, John T. Letter, Colonel John T. Lockman in Marietta, Ga, to Edward Dewitt in New York, N.Y. 1864 June 22.
Abstract:    Colonel John T. Lockman of the 119th New York Infantry wrote this letter to Edward Dewitt in New York, N.Y. The letter, written in diary form, was addressed from "near Marietta, Ga." and postmarked from Nashville, Tenn. It chronicled the activities of Lockman's unit from June 22-July 6, 1864. He mentioned moving closer to the enemy and getting set up. Another division had been attacked by the Rebels nearby before having had the chance to get set up. He mentioned some battles the Union won. Between battles they strengthened their breastworks. The temperature was very hot with little shade. They were expecting reinforcements. They were given orders to return fire if attacked only. Rebels attacked and Union won another battle on June 30. He moved to new position on July 1, 300 yards from main line for observation. Firing started from Rebels. Union fired heavily and Rebels retreated on July 2. Lockman's division took about 200 prisoners, the whole number on July 2 was between 3000-5000. Rebels were tiring and getting ready to desert. The Union had not taken Atlanta yet, but hoped to soon. Atlanta was in view.
Held at the University of Tennessee.

Southworth family, et. al. Southworth family papers, 1861-2003 bulk, 1861-1864.
Description:    1 box
Abstract:    Contains the following types of materials: correspondence / letters, memoirs, personnel documents, clippings, diary / journal, photographs. Contains information pertaining to the following war: Civil War. General description of the collection: The Southworth family papers consist of Joseph and Aurelia Southworth family material including two Civil War diaries and typed transcripts, copies and transcripts of letters, and family history. Present are materials from William L. Southworth, Company A, Chicago Light Artillery, including a diary (1861-1862) and copies of letters; from Chester H. Southworth, 119th New York Volunteers, diary (1862-1864) and copies of letters; and from Joseph Southworth, 71st Regiment, New York State Militia, copies of letters. Also present are copies of photographs, copies of military and pension records, and copies of newspaper articles.
Held at the U.S. Army Military History Institute/ Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, Pa. 

United States. Army. New York Infantry Regiment, 119th (1861-1865).  Ceremonies and addresses at the dedication of a monument by the 119th Regiment, N.Y. State Vols. at Gettysburg, July 3, 1888. Boston : Wright & Potter,1889. 35 p., [4] leaves of plates : ill. ; 25 cm.

Whitehead, Ralph J. The 119th New York Vols. and their participation in the Gettysburg Campaign June 12, 1863 to July 4, 1863." 1986.

 

Unit bibliography from the Army Heritage Center

Items in the museum collection are in bold.