19th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Gentlemen— Stan Hurt invited the 19th to his rural Brown County for a Civil War weekend. We could use this as a low-key training weekend.

He suggested late April or May (not Memorial Day weekend).

Thoughts? Andy, Mathew Wash, Chuck? Joel?

Not 19th Indiana but still Iron Brigade:

Happy Thanksgiving to all and especially those deployed!

Now that we have seen how the soldier cleaned their piece in the field, what tools did they use?

US Musket Tools - Vol. VI, Episode 7 In this episode, learn about the many tools that matched up with the different US rifles and muskets. We explore what was issued to the men and at what ratio...

This is a task every soldier in the infantry would know how to do.

Field Cleaning - Vol. VI, Episode 14 In this episode, two questions are covered around a topic that has been requested many times! How did a soldier in the Civil War clean his musket in the fiel...

On this morning 158 Gen Ho**er advances his corps south along the Hagerstown Pike against Gen Jackson's corps. Due to the limited size of the field the Iron Brigade was split in two with the 2nd and 6th Wisc fighting in the famous cornfield and the 7th Wisc and 19th Ind in the West Woods. After pressing back Gen Jackson's men Gen Hood comes up to support. Gen Hood's division was pushing the Union soldiers out of the cornfield when LtCol Alois Bachman, acting commander of the 19th Ind, to assault the left flank of Gen Hood's division. Seeing the 19th charge forward the 7th Wisc went with them. The charge allow the 2nd and 6th Wisc along with Battery B to take up new positions. It was on this day 158 years LtCol Bachman lost his life leading this assault.

We are sadden to hear about the loss of Ed Bearss, a cornerstone in the Civil War history community.

Ed Bearss, Past Chief Historian Of National Park Service, Dies At 97 Ed Bearss, a former National Park Service chief historian with a penchant for Civil War history, has passed away at the age of 97.

Theodore Pease served with the 19th Indiana Infantry in the famed Iron Brigade on July 1, 1863. This fateful morning defined the rest of his life.

As the regiment fought along Willoughby Run that morning, 26-year-old Private Pease fell to the ground with a dangerous wound to the leg. A musket ball had slammed into his right thigh, passing through a ligament, fracturing the upper third of his femur, and damaging the connection between femur and hip.

157 years ago today, Theodore Pease had a new splint applied on July 20, 1863. This splint was a new design called Smith’s Anterior Splint, and involved a shaft tied to the leg and then suspending the limb in mid-air so it was not resting on the bed. Pease became well acquainted with this style of splint, as it was constantly adjusted or restarted. He spent late July through early November in the splint. Before arriving at Camp Letterman, Pease was treated at the hospital at the Lutheran Seminary, now the United Lutheran Seminary.

On November 15, Pease was sent to the hospital in York, Pennsylvania, but his medical saga had not yet ended. After his discharge from the army due to disability, Pease suffered from shortening of his leg, extreme pain, and discharge. An additional surgery in 1871 removed a portion of the lead ball that had struck him eight years prior, and his situation improved. In 1877, a doctor finally attested that he could now “walk quite well with a cane,” and hardened cartilage now mimicked much of the lost bone. He had gradually improved from immobility to being able to walk on his own with only a small cane and a small lift under his boot seen in this photo.

Refusing to be defined solely by his wound, Pease became a pillar of his community, serving in roles such as Justice of the Peace and Doorkeeper for the Indiana State Senate. He was also a dedicated member of the Grand Army of the Republic and served on the committee for the placement of the 19th Indiana’s monument at Gettysburg. Theodore Pease died on Wednesday, July 31, 1912 at the age of 74, his cause of death attributed to the wound he had struggled with for so long.



Photo: Pvt. Theodore W. Pease (SP 371), National Museum of Health and Medicine.

Along with the 6th Wisc during the assault on the railroad cut was the brigade reserve made up of 20 men from all five regiments.

Medal of Honor Citation for Francis Waller, December 1st, 1864: “Capture of flag of the 2nd Mississippi Infantry.”

Francis Ashbury Waller was born in Sunday Creek, Ohio on August 15, 1840. Waller decided not to fight with his home state and joined Company I of the 6th Wisconsin with his brother Sam on June 16, 1861. By 1863, Frank had been promoted to Corporal.

On July 1, the 6th Wisconsin and their comrades of the Iron Brigade rushed towards McPherson’s Ridge. Under the command of Colonel Rufus Dawes, the 6th was positioned along the Chambersburg Pike. Later in the fight, Dawes watched as Culter’s Brigade was pushed from the field. He realized he was the only force that could stop Confederate General Joseph Davis’s brigade from breaking the Union line near an unfinished railroad cut.

The 6th Wisconsin charged into the railroad cut to seal the breakthrough. As Union soldiers surrounded the Mississippians in the cut, Frank and Sam Waller spotted the color bearer of the 2nd Mississippi. As they charged towards him, a Confederate soldier took aim at Frank, but Sam struck him down with the butt of his gun. Frank wrestled with Sergeant William B. Murphy, the 2nd’s color bearer, and tore the flag away from him. Waller then stood on the flag to prevent foe or friend from taking it, defending his trophy. As the 6th fell back, Waller took the flag to Colonel Dawes. Dawes sent the flag back with Sergeant Evans, who was wounded. Evans was captured during the retreat but concealed the flag from recapture.

Once the flag returned to the 6th Wisconsin, Waller was credited for its capture and awarded the Medal of Honor the following year. After the war, Waller moved to South Dakota and passed away on April 30, 1911. He was buried back in his home state.

The M1858 dress coat was a major part of the iconic look these brave westerns wore.