Connecticut At Gettysburg (Pt. 2): Profiles Of Connecticut Participants

By Philip R. Devlin

By the time the Battle of Gettysburg took place 150 years ago this week, Connecticut had contributed more than 35,000 men to the Union Army — all by voluntary enlistment. 

Nearly 1,300 of those volunteers from five infantry regiments and one light-artillery battalion participated in the battle; 68 of those men died at Gettysburg, and another 291 either were wounded, missing or captured. That casualty rate of more than 28% for Connecticut units exceeded by 3 percentage points the overall casualty rate for the entire Union Army at Gettysburg.

One of the infantry regiments from Connecticut at Gettysburg was the 17th, a regiment formed almost entirely of men from Fairfield County. First mustered into service a year prior to Gettysburg, the 17th was initially commanded by Col. William H. Noble of Bridgeport, a friend of showman P.T. Barnum. Noble was severely wounded at Chancellorsville two months prior to Gettysburg, so Lt. Col. Douglas Fowler was in command of the 17th’s 386 men — down from 1,000 men in less than a year. Gettysburg would claim more than 200 casualties from the 17th — dead, wounded, missing and captured.

The 5th Connecticut regiment was also present at Gettysburg. The 5th had originally consisted of over 1,100 men drawn from all over the state. This regiment had been particularly hard-hit at Chancellorsville, so that on the eve of the fight at Gettysburg, its size had been reduced to only 221 men of the original 1,100 mustered in July 1861 in Hartford. The 5th was commanded by Col. Warren W. Packer of Groton at Gettysburg. Unlike previous major engagements in the war, the 5th saw only light duty at Gettysburg and suffered few casualties: none were killed, but 8 were either wounded, captured or missing.

The 20th Connecticut Regiment had first been organized in July of 1862 and consisted of 981 men drawn largely from New Haven, Middlesex, and Hartford counties. The unit was commanded by Lt. Col. William B. Wooster of Derby. Wooster, who had been taken prisoner at Chancellorsville and then exchanged, was later to command the Connecticut 29th — the state’s only Black regiment. On the eve of Gettysburg, the 20th had been reduced by more than two-thirds from its original strength to 321 men. The unit would see eight of its men killed in action at Gettysburg and have 28 more wounded, reducing its number further to 285.

The Connecticut unit with the highest casualty rate prior to Gettysburg was clearly the 27th Regiment. Formed in New Haven in October of 1862, the unit originally consisted of 829 men drawn mainly from New Haven, Madison, Milford, Meriden, Wallingford, Branford, Guilford, and Clinton. Commanded by Col. Henry C. Merwin, this regiment had the fewest number of soldiers at Gettysburg of any other regiment in the entire Union Army — just 75! 

The 27th would lose 11 more at Gettysburg killed in action along with 24 more who were either wounded, missing or captured. By the end of Gettysburg, the 27th was reduced to just 40 men — less than a company! That’s a casualty rate approaching 50 percent.

The “Fightin’ 14th” was the other Connecticut infantry regiment present at Gettysburg. Formed in August of 1862 — one month prior to Antietam — the 14th originally consisted of 1,106 men. Its commander on the eve of Gettysburg was Major Theodore Ellis of Hartford. Major Ellis had but 166 men under his command. The unit would incur 68 more casualties at Gettysburg, including 14 killed in action. 

After Gettysburg, unit strength had dropped to below 100 men and by the end of the war, it would be reduced even further. By the time Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, no Connecticut regiment had lost as many men as the “Fightin’ 14th.”

Besides the five infantry regiments listed above, the 2nd Connecticut Light Artillery Battery also saw action at Gettysburg. The 2nd Connecticut was formed in Bridgeport just a few days before the Battle of Antietam in September of 1862. Consisting of 106 men, the unit spent much of its time in the Civil War on the banks of the Potomac, defending Washington, D.C., from a Confederate attack. This unit suffered five casualties at Gettysburg — 3 wounded and 2 missing in action. It was commanded by Captain John W. Sterling, a Bridgeport merchant.

Additionally, there were many other Connecticut-born soldiers who fought at Gettysburg, most notably General Alexander Shaler, a Haddam native who commanded a New York regiment during the war. Shaler is the only man born in Middlesex County to have ever been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.