Service
The 24th Michigan Infantry was organized at Detroit, Michigan and mustered into Federal service on August 15, 1862. It was assigned to the famous Iron Brigade in the Army of the Potomac. The brigade's commander General John Gibbon had requested a new regiment be added to his command because its four original regiments (the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin and the 19th Indiana) had been severely depleted by combat action and numbered less than 1000 men total by October 1862. He said that ideally it should be a Western regiment since the others were from that part of the country. Gibbon's request granted, the 24th Michigan joined the brigade and saw its first action at Fredericksburg taking on a nuisance battery of Confederate horse artillery south of the town.
The 24th saw no major action during the Chancellorsville campaign, but at Gettysburg it "Went into action with 496 officers and men. Killed & mortally wounded: 89; Otherwise wounded: 218; Captured: 56; Total casualties: 363. Five color bearers were killed and all the color guard killed or wounded."
Colonel Morrow was wounded while holding the regimental flag, or "colors" (See also: Colours, standards and guidons). "Just before reaching the fence, Col. Morrow was wounded in the head while bearing the colors. He was stunned by the wound and fell down. He was then helped from the field by Lt. Charles Hutton of Company G."
From thenceforth, the 24th participated in the rest of the Army of the Potomac's campaigns and battles, but was not present at Appomattox because it had been reassigned to a garrison post in Illinois two months earlier.
The regiment was selected as escort at funeral of President Abraham Lincoln.
The regiment was mustered out on June 30, 1865.
Read more about this topic: 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“A man’s real faith is never contained in his creed, nor is his creed an article of his faith. The last is never adopted. This it is that permits him to smile ever, and to live even as bravely as he does. And yet he clings anxiously to his creed, as to a straw, thinking that that does him good service because his sheet anchor does not drag.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“You had to face your ends when young
‘Twas wine or women, or some curse
But never made a poorer song
That you might have a heavier purse,
Nor gave loud service to a cause
That you might have a troop of friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Let the good service of well-deservers be never rewarded with loss. Let their thanks be such as may encourage more strivers for the like.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)