The Union Army

Civil War History

For six days, General George B. McClellan's Union Army of the Potomac
had fought one bloody battle after another in the Seven Days Campaign. Almost within sight of Richmond's church spires, the powerful Federal advance had been halted and driven backward by stubborn Confederate defenders under newly-appointed General Robert E. Lee.
The fighting had been ferocious, and the untried 83rd Pennsylvania had been in the thick of it. Four days earlier at the Battle of Gaines' Mill, the 83rd had endured a deadly storm of Confederate fire that killed the regiment's commander, Colonel John W. McLane. "The fire was tremendous," reported Lt. Colonel Hugh S. Campbell, who took command when Colonel McLane fell. The regiment's battle flag was shredded by the enemy fire, two color-bearers were shot down, and the flagstaff was shot in half.

At the Battle of Malvem Hill, Lee's determined Confederates repeatedly assaulted the Federal line. At 6 p.m. on July 1,1862, they threatened to overrun the Federal artillery and the 83rd Pennsylvania was ordered into battle. General Daniel Butterfield galloped up to the Pennsylvanians and reminded them of their colonel's sacrifice. "When you advance," he shouted, "let your war-cry be, 'Revenge for McLane.'"
When the opposing forces were 200 yards away, the 83rd delivered a devastating volley of gunfire that staggered the Southerners but did not stop them. "Our regiment opened fire again," reported Lt. Colonel Campbell, "pouring in volley after volley until the Confederates were completely brought to a standstill. The enemy's dead lay in heaps [and] we felt almost overpowered — nay, annihilated — from the fury and storm of shot poured into us." Darkness finally ended the slaughter, and McClellan retreated. Although the Seven Days Campaign was a Federal failure, it ended in a one sided Northern victory at Malvern Hill. The 83rd Pennsylvania "behaved like veterans" in the campaign, noted General Butterfield, and displayed "a splendid bearing under their baptism of fire."

Few Federal regiments matched the action experienced by the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry in the Civil War. The regiment was organized at Erie, Pennsylvania and enlisted in Federal service on September 8,1861. Ten days later, the 83rd was sent to Washington, D.C., where it joined the Army of the Potomac in General Daniel Butterfield's Brigade, 1st Division, of the 3rd and later 5th Army Corps.
Until March of 1862, the regiment served in the capital's defenses, then after an advance into northern Virginia, it served under General George B. McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign. The 83rd was dispatched on several reconnaissance marches, was present at the Siege of Yorktown, and was engaged in heavy fighting at Mechanicsville, Games' Mill, Savage Station and Malvern Hill during the Seven Days Campaign. "The plains of Hanover, the banks of the Chickahominy, the heights of Malvern are wet with the blood of the gallant dead of this brigade," observed General Butterfield. Much of the blood belonged to the 83rd Pennsylvania.
The regiment was engaged at the Battle of Second Bull Run, where it was led by Lt. Colonel Hugh S. Campbell, who had assumed acting command of the 83rd when Colonel John W. McLane was killed at Games' Mill. At Second Bull Run, Campbell was seriously wounded, Lieutenants W.J. Wittich and Harry Hudson were killed, and several other officers were wounded. The 83rd served in the Antietam Campaign and was engaged at the Battle of Fredericksburg, where it was commanded by Colonel Strong Vincent, a Harvard alumnus and volunteer officer who had been absent on sick leave for months. "The storm of shot and shell and musketry that now poured into us was exceedingly destructive," Vincent reported from Fredericksburg. "The enemy's guns completely commanded this ridge and its front slope. Officers and men fell rapidly, but there was not a waver of the line."

In the reorganization of the army that followed the Federal defeat at Chancellorsville, where the 83rd was held in reserve, Colonel Vincent was promoted to command of a brigade that included the 83rd. At a crucial moment at the Battle of Gettysburg, Vincent rushed his brigade up Little Round Top just in time to defend the Federal left flank. It was a brutal struggle that lasted for several hours on the afternoon of July 2,1863. The 20th Maine, 44th New York and 83rd Pennsylvania finally repelled the Confederate assault — and saved the day for the Federals. While rallying his troops, the 26-year-old Vincent was mortally wounded, and — promoted to brigadier general — died several days later. The 83rd Pennsylvania saw action in key Eastern engagements through war's end including the Mine Run Campaign, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher s Run, Five Forks and Appomattox. The regiment marched in Washington's Grand Review and was disbanded in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on July 4,1865.