View History of the 16th Louisiana Infantry Regiment

The Twelfth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers was recruited at Hartford, and was known as The Charter Oak Regiment. It was organized as a part of the New England Division which Major-General B.F. Butler was authorized by the Secretary of War, September 16, 1861, to raise for special service. The Hon. Henry C. Deming, then Mayor of Hartford, was selected by General Butler to be its Colonel, and Ledyard Colburn, who had served as Major of the Second Regiment – three month troops, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel. At a later date, January 20, 1862, Frank H. Peck of New Haven, became its Major.

The recruits for the regiment began going into camp November 11, 1861, when the nucleus of four companies reported. The camp was named Camp Lyon, and was located in West Hartford, about two miles west of the State House, near Farmington Avenue. Here, in Sibley tents and upon snow covered ground, the regiment was fully recruited, equipped, and drilled, until its departure from the State on the 24th of February, 1862. It numbered 1,008 men, and left for the front in an advanced state of drill and discipline, sailing from New York, February 27th, on the steamship Fulton, and arriving at Ship Island, Miss., March 8th. The regiment was assigned to a brigade commanded by Brigadier-General John W. Phelps, and remained at Ship Island until April 16th, when it embarked on board the ship E. Wilder Farley, bound for the Mississippi River, and lay in that river just below Forts Jackson and St. Phillip several days, awaiting the result of Admiral Farragut’s attack on those forts. After their capture, two companies of the regiment were landed and ordered into Fort Jackson, the first Union troops to occupy the captured forts. Before others could be landed, news of the capture of New Orleans changed General Butler’s plans, and the two companies were at once re-embarked and the regiment ordered to proceed to that city, where it arrived April 30th, the first Union regiment to appear before New Orleans. It was landed the next day, and went into camp in Layette Square. (Editor’s note: This square still exist today and is bounded by Gallier Hall, the United States District Court and the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.) On the 5th of May the regiment, with its brigade, went to occupy an extensive earthwork known as Fort John Morgan situated about ten miles above New Orleans, built by the Confederates as one of the defenses of that city. After its occupation by the Union forces it was named Camp Parapet. (Editor’s note: This landmark also still exists and is located just off Causeway Boulevard near the River.) The regiment here was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Colburn, Colonel Deming having been detached to act as Mayor of New Orleans.

The regiment remained at this point through the summer. While here an expedition consisting of five companies of the regiment and a section of Holcomb’s Second Vermont Battery, all under command of Major Frank H. Peck, was sent on the United States gunboat Grey Cloud, Commander Buchanan, its object being to destroy railroad bridges and break up camps of mounted rangers and bushwackers, said to be located at several points in Mississippi. The expedition sailed July 25th, destroying bridges at Pass Machac and North Pass, thence through Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne, up Pearl River, landing at Covington, Louisburg, Madisonville, Pass Christian, and other points. Having accomplished its object, it returned to Camp Parapet, after an absence of ten days, with little loss.

On the 29th of September the regiment was transferred to the Reserve Brigade commanded by Brigadier-General Godfrey Weitzel, and went into Camp Kearney, at Carrollton.

On October 24th the brigade, consisting of four regiments of infantry, two batteries, and four troops of cavalry, left Carrollton on transports on an expedition to dislodge the Confederate forces under General Dick Taylor, who occupied the La Fourche district. They were posted at Georgia Landing, on both sides of La Fourche Bayou. The attack was made October 27th, and the enemy dislodged after a sharp fight. The Twelfth distinguished itself in this affair-its first engagement- and was highly complimented by General Weitzel for its steadiness under fire. Its losses were nineteen killed, wounded and missing. The enemy having been dispersed, the brigade went into camp near Thibodeaux. While here Lieutenant-Colonel Colburn was detached to act as Superintendent of the New Orleans & Opelousas Railroad, leaving Major Peck in command of the regiment.

In January, 1863, the brigade proceeded up the Teche River to destroy the rebel gunboat Cotton, which was attacked on the 14th. Infantry, artillery, cavalry, and gunboats were engaged on both sides. The Cotton was destroyed and the enemy dispersed, and the brigade returned to Thibodeaux.

On March 27th, Company A, under command of Lieutenant William S. Buckley, with other troops, on board the gunboat Diana, was captured on the Teche, near Pattersonville, after a sharp and gallant fight. The enemy, taking possession of the Diana, paroled the enlisted men and sent the officers as prisoners to Texas. Company A lost in the affair seven men killed and wounded.

On April 8th a large force, under command of Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks, crossed Berwick Bay, and proceeding via the Atchafalaya and Teche, found General Taylor strongly posted behind entrenchments at Centerville, supported by gunboats. The engagement began on the 13th, lasting two days, when the enemy retired in the night. The Twelfth, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Peck, was actively and creditably engaged, its losses being fifteen killed and wounded. On the 14th of April General Banks started in pursuit of the retreating enemy, and with occasional skirmishing reached Opelousas, La., on the 29th, where the regiment was placed on picket duty for several days. On the 4th of May it joined in the advance on Alexandria on the Red River, ninety-six miles distant, reaching that city on the 7th, and on the 9th marched thirty-six miles up the river to Piney Woods, returning to Alexandria on the 12th, where it remained on provost duty until the 17th. It then marched to Simsport, on the Atchafalaya River, and proceeded on transport to Laurel Hill to St. Francisville, Bayou Sara above Port Hudson, reaching the latter place May 25th. On the 27th it joined in the general attack on that stronghold, driving the enemy from its front into their last line of entrenchments, silencing four pieces of artillery, and reaching the parapet of the enemy’s earthworks, when the brigade was withdrawn and replaced by another. The regiment falling back, took position about 150 yards from the earthworks of the enemy, where, under cover of hastily constructed breastworks, it remained under continuous fire, doing duty as sharpshooters until the surrender of Port Hudson, July 8, 1863. During this period the regiment took part in two general attacks on the enemy, June 10th and 14th. Its losses during the forty-two days under fire at Port Hudson was 108 killed and wounded, and the regiment was frequently complimented by General Weitzel and others for its staying and fighting qualities.

After the fall of Port Hudson, the regiment was sent by transports to Donaldsville, thence to New Orleans, and from that city via the Gulf of Mexico to Brashear City, on Berwick Bay. Accompanied by gunboats, it arrived July 25th, and with the Thirteenth Connecticut occupied that post, Lieutenant-Colonel Peck being in command. While here the regiment was seriously reduced by sickness and malaria, which so greatly incapacitated both officers and men that it was difficult to find enough of either to perform the daily duty required.

On the 2nd day of September the regiment went to Algiers, opposite New Orleans, to prepare to join an expedition against Galveston, Texas, under Major-General William B. Franklin. The transport selected for the regiment was found to be unseaworthy, and before another could be procured, news of the failure of the enterprise was received-the gunboats accompanying the expedition having been captured at Sabine Pass. In October the regiment with its brigade and a large force under General Franklin, penetrated the western part of Louisiana, reaching Opelousas. Remaining in that section until late in the fall, it returned to New Iberia and went into winter quarters. In February, 1864, a large percentage of the regiment re-enlisted as veterans, the first regiment in the Department of the Gulf to take that step; and in March it was sent home to Connecticut to enjoy its veteran furlough.

May found it again in Louisiana on provost duty at Carrollton, from whence it was ordered to Morganzia and attached to the Second Brigade, First Divison, Nineteen Army Corps, Brigadier-General McMillen commanding. In July the regiment, with the Nineteenth Corps, was sent to Fortress Monroe, Va., thence to Bermuda Hundred, remaining there but two days, when it was sent to Washington, D.C., and on the 7th of August the corps became a portion of the army commanded by Major-General P.H. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. The regiment had traveled over 5,000 miles in a period of three months. The Twelfth participated in all the battles fought by General Sheridan in that glorious campaign, distinguishing itself in each one, particularly at Opequan and Winchester September 19th, and at Cedar Creek October 19th. At Opequan, Colonel Frank H. Peck was mortally wounded while gallantly leading the regiment into action, and the command developed upon Captain Sidney E. Clark, Company F—Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis being absent from the effect of a wound received at Port Hudson. Captain Clark handled the regiment in a highly satisfactorily manner. At one time in the afternoon the Twelfth regiment and the Eighth Vermont, Colonel Stephen Thomas, were alone at the front. The regiments on their right and left being withdrawn to make new dispositions, the position was critical in the extreme. The Eighth Corps on the extreme right of the Union line was just coming into action, turning the left flank of the enemy, and the crisis had come. The Twelfth with the Eighth Vermont, under the lead of Colonel Thomas, with a mighty rush made a bayonet charge, slivering the enemy’s line in their front to atoms, silencing a battery, and sending the foe in disorder back on Winchester. The loss of the regiment in that engagement was seventy-one killed and wounded.

On September 25th it was again engaged at Fisher Hill, occupying an important position. At Cedar Creek, October 19th, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis, who had joined a few days previous, the regiment bore a conspicuous part, being engaged at close quarters,” where bayonets dripped blood and skulls were broken by clubbed muskets.”

Surrounded at one time, it stood steadily to its work, and with its companion regiments of the Second Brigade, then under command of Colonel Thomas, held at bay the victorious divisions of Gordon and Kershaw, and with colors floating defiantly fought its way to the rear, to again, later in the day, with depleted ranks, join in the grand charge that swept the enemy as an army from the valley. The loss of the regiment in this terrific battle was one hundred and seventy killed, wounded, and captured.

The battle of Cedar Creek ended the fighting days of the regiment, that action being the last general engagement in which it participated. In consequence of the severe losses of the regiment in battle, by death from disease, and the muster-out at the end of term of service of those who did not re-enlist as veterans, the regiment was, on the 2nd of December 1864, consolidated into a battalion of six companies, under Special Order No. 95, Headquarters Middle Division, November, 26, 1864.

The Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley ended, the battalion went into winter quarters at Summit Point, Va., remaining in the valley until April 30, 1865, when it went to Washington, D.C., and participated in the Grand Review in that city, May 23rd.

On the last of June the battalion went by transport to Savannah, Ga., remaining there until August 12th, when it was mustered out. It was then sent to Hartford, Conn., where on the 22nd of August, 1865, it was paid off and discharged, having been in service three years, nine months, since organization.

The record of the regiment was one of honor, its flag was always to the front. No act of the regiment ever tarnished its fame or left a blemish on its escutcheon.

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