106th Regiment of Infantry, Pennsylvania
Volunteers
(5th California Regiment)
Organized as the 5th California
Regiment at Philadelphia August 14 to October 31, 1861. Moved
to Washington, D.C., November. Attached to Baker's Brigade, Stone's
(Sedgwick's) Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862. 2nd
Brigade, 2nd Division. 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to
June, 1864. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, to June,
1865.
Service
Duty on Upper Potomac
until March, 1862. Moved to Virginia Peninsula March 24-April
1. Siege of Yorktown April 5-May 4. Moved to West Point May 7.
At Tyler's Farm until May 31. Battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines,
May 31-June 1. Skirmish at Fair Oaks June 8. Seven days before
Richmond June 25-July 1. Peach Orchard and Savage Station June
29. Charles City Cross Roads and Glendale June 30. Malvern Hill
July 1. At Harrison Landing until August 16. Movement to Newport
News, thence to Alexandria August 16-28, and to Centreville August
28-30. Cover Pope's retreat August 31-September 1, Chantilly
September 1 (Reserve). Maryland Campaign September 6-22. Battle
of Antietam September 16-17. Moved to Harper's Ferry, W. Va..
September 22, and duty there until October 30. Movement to Falmouth,
Va., October 30-November 20. Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December
12-15. Burnside's 2nd Campaign, "Mud March," January
20-24, 1863. At Falmouth until April. Hartwood Church February
25. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Operations at Franklin's
Crossing April 29-May 2. Maryes Heights, Fredericksburg, May
3. Salem Heights May 3-4. Banks Ford May 4. Gettysburg (Pa.)
Campaign June 11-July 24. Haymarket June 21 and 25. Battle of
Gettysburg July 1-3. Pursuit of Lee July 5-24. Advance from the
Rappahannock to the Rapidan September 13-15. Bristoe Campaign
October 9-22. Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8
Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. Payne's Farm November
27. Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6-7, 1864. Rapidan
Campaign. May 4-June 12. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7. Laurel
Hill May 8. Spottsylvania May 8-12. Po River May 10. Spottsylvania
Court House May 12-21. Assault on the Salient May 12. North Anna
River May 23-26. On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy
May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Before Petersburg June 16-18.
Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865. Jerusalem
Plank Road June 22-23, 1864. Demonstration on north side of the
James at Deep Bottom July 27-29. Deep Bottom July 27-28. Mine
Explosion, Petersburg, July 30. Demonstration on north side of
the James at Deep Bottom August 18-20. Strawberry Plains, Deep
Bottom, August 14-18. Ream's Station August 25. Boydton Plank
Road, Hatcher's Run, October 27-28. Dabney's Mills, Hatcher's
Run, February 5-7, 1865. Watkins' House, Petersburg, March 25.
Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Vaughan Road, near Hatcher's
Run, March 29. Crow's House March 31. Fall of Petersburg April
2. Sailor's Creek April 6. High Bridge and Farmville April 7.
Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army.
At Burkesville May 2. March to Washington May 2-12. Grand Review
May 23. Mustered out June 30, 1865.
Regiment lost during service 9 Officers and 95 Enlisted men killed
and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 92 Enlisted men by disease.
Total 197..
History
by Gary Lash
Commanders
Colonel Turner G. Morehead
to April 5th, 1864
Lieut.-Col. William L.
Curry to May 11th, 1864
Total Enrollment: 1,020
Officers and Men
After the return of the
22d Regiment of the three-months' enlistments, its Colonel, Turner
G. Morehead, a veteran of the Mexican War, and some of his officers
commenced to recruit a new regiment for the three-year service.
It was mustered in during August, September and October, 1861.
Many members of the Philadelphia Light Guards and a large number
of the enlisted men of the 22d joined this command, which
was first known as the "Fifth California" Regiment,
being part of Colonel Baker's California
Brigade, but later
as one of the four regiments composing the Philadelphia Brigade.
The 106th joined Colonel
Baker's Brigade just prior to the battle of Ball's Bluff, Va.,
in which part of his force was trapped.
Under Brigadier-General
William W. Burns, and as a unit to the Second Army Corps in the
Second Brigade, Second Division, Second Corps of the Army of
the Potomac, the 106th shared in all of the marches and battles
of the Philadelphia Brigade through the Virginia Peninsula up
to the gates of Richmond, and from Savage Station to Harrison
Landing, fighting desperately at Savage Station, at Glendale
and Malvern Hill, then in the succeeding Pope Campaign, where,
at Flint Hill, acting as rear guard of the army in the retreat
from the Second Bull Run, they led the enemy into a trap, inflicted
great loss upon him and checked his advance in that direction,
thence along the road that led to Antietam.
Here, with Gen. Oliver
O. Howard as Brigade Commander, on that beautiful September morning,
in what is known as the "West Wood," the brigade fought
heroically against fearful odds when all the other troops had
left, holding their ground until the enemy, in overwhelming numbers,
swept around their flank, compelled them to retire, leaving upon
that part of Antietam's bloody field five hundred and forty-five
of their members killed and wounded.
The Second Corps now returned
to Virginia and to Fredericksburg's fatal field where, for the
first time, the Philadelphia Brigade was commanded by one of
Philadelphia's sons, Brigadier-General Joshua T. Owen, who led
his brigade in that fearful charge upon Marye's Heights, until
he got within ninety yards of the famous stone wall, and, unwilling
to give up one foot of the ground he had gained with such
heavy loss, directed his men to lie down, and all that long,
cold December day they lay there, subjected to both infantry
and artillery fire, until relieved after dark.
The regiment had been
so depleted by the storm of battle at Antietam and Fredericksburg
that, after a winter in camp and accession of recruits, it reported
to Gettysburg, along with the equally reduced 69th, 71st and
72d Regiments, with but three hundred and thirty-five officers
and men. The brigade was now commanded by Brigadier-General Alexander
S. Webb. Arriving upon the field on the morning of the second,
Companies A and B were at once advanced as skirmishers to the
Emmitsburg road, and during the morning made a gallant attack
upon the Bliss House, between the lines, and with the help of
four companies of the 12th New Jersey Regiment, dislodged the
enemy, burned the house and barn and captured one hundred prisoners.
Near the conclusion of
the heavy fighting on the left of our line, on the afternoon
of July 2d, when Wright, with his Georgia brigade, had swept
around the right of Sickles' command and had captured the guns
of Brown's Rhode Island Battery and was forcing his way to the
position of the Philadelphia Brigade, Gen. Hancock ordered the
106th Regiment to charge upon the advancing enemy, upon whom
the brigade was pouring a withering fire. Dashing over the low
stone wall the regiment rushed the then discomfited enemy and
drove him back to and beyond the Emmitsburg road, recapturing
the guns of Brown's Battery and two hundred and fifty prisoners,
principally of the 48th Georgia Regiment, including its colonel
and twenty officers. The regiment returned to its position with
the brigade and was immediately hurried to the right, upon request
of Gen. Howard, leaving a detail of fifty men and two full companies,
A and B, with the brigade, upon the front of Gibbon's Division
of the Second Corps.
In the gathering shadows
of evening a gray column of Early's men, among them the vaunted
"Louisiana Tigers," was sent swarming up the slope
of Cemetery Hill, east of the Baltimore pike, where Rickett's
and Weiderick's batteries needed instant help, and the 106th
arrived in time to join with the decimated regiments of Howard's
Eleventh Corps, saved the guns of those batteries, and
hurled back the few survivors of that gallant and deadly sortie.
On the morning of the
fourth, the regiment was ordered to advance and reconnoiter towards
the town. Finding their way but feebly contested, they pushed
forward and found that the enemy had evacuated. Thus the 106th
Regiment was among the first to enter Gettysburg since the retreat
through it on the night of July 1st. Its outpost line and the
two companies that remained with the brigade shared the glory
of the repulse of Pickett at the "clump of trees."
After Gettysburg, the
Philadelphia Brigade, less than a regiment in numbers, returned
to Virginia, and went into camp near Brandy Station for the winter,
during which time many of the regiment re-enlisted. In April,
1864, Col. Morehead resigned.
During the summer campaign
of 1864, battle followed battle with terrible regularity, as
the waning fortunes of the Confederacy made its brave soldiery
more desperate, and our men more determined to bring the war
to an end, beginning with the three-days' battle of the Wilderness
and continuing through Spotsylvania Court House, North Anna,
Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor and Petersburg, in all of which the
regiment was in the thickest of the fighting and suffered the
heavy loss of five officers and one hundred and ten men from
its already reduced numbers. Among the many lost at Spotsylvania
was Lieut.-Col. William L. Curry, who died, a month later, of
his wound.
Before Petersburg, the
106th was given surcease of fighting, when its term of enlistment
expired, but unfortunately, before that event, on June 22d, 1864,
three officers and ninety-one men were taken prisoners.
On July 27th the veterans
and recruits were consolidated into three companies, F, H and
K, and united with the 69th Regiment for field service, but retained
its identity as a separate battalion. The remainder of the regiment
was sent to Washington, and after a period of guard duty at Arlington
Heights, for about thirty days, was ordered to Philadelphia and
was mustered out on September 10th, 1864.
The 106th Battalion, left
in the field, served through Deep Bottom, Reams Station, Boydton
Plank Road, Hatcher's Run and Dabney Mills to the scene of the
surrender of Appomattox, participated in the Grand Review at
Washington, and was mustered out on June 30th, 1865
Total
Losses
Killed or died from wounds
- 9 officers; 90 men
Died of disease or other
causes - 1 officer; 94 men
Wounded, not mortally
- 24 officers; 373 men
Captured or missing -
5 officers; 152 men
Battles
Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Peach
Orchard, Savage Station, Glendale, Malvern Hill, Flint Hill,
Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Haymarket, Gettysburg,
Kelly's Ford, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna,
Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Strawberry Plains, Deep
Bottom, Reams Station, Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Fun (February
6 and 7, 1865), Hatcher's Run (March 25, 1865), Dabney's Mill,
Appomattox Court House