68th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Re-enlistment and The End of The War

Re-enlistment and The End of The War

Among those continuing in the army was the colonel of the 8th New York, Prince Felix Salm-Salm. As the 68th had been without a colonel since von Bourry had been cashiered, Governor Seymour appointed Salm-Salm to the post on June 8, 1864. The youngest son of a minor German prince, Salm-Salm had served in the Prussian and Austrian armies before coming to America and joining the Union Army in 1861. His appointment to lead the 68th caused consternation among the officers, who had hoped for the promotion of one of their own. They protested to the governor unsuccessfully, but accepted that Salm-Salm was to be their leader. After the commissions and re-enlistments were sorted out, the 68th returned to Tennessee. They were again serving under Hooker in the XX Corps, which was consolidated from the XI and XII Corps and had now been attached permanently to Thomas's Army of the Cumberland. The 68th was assigned to Maj. Gen. James B. Steedman's 4th Brigade of the new corps and spent the next few months patrolling the Nashville and Chattanooga Railway in Tennessee. By that time, Confederate resistance in the area was weakened, and the rails and bridges were not damaged. Salm-Salm's wife, Agnes, joined him during the winter of 1864–1865, and the officers spent much of their time entertaining.

The 68th was not involved in the Battle of Nashville that December, in which Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood's Confederate army was nearly destroyed, but Salm-Salm did get permission to join the battle himself while the 68th stayed at their patrol stations. After Thomas's victory at Nashville, the 68th was ordered to prepare to pursue what remained of Hood's army. They redeployed to Decatur, Alabama, where Salm-Salm rejoined the regiment. They skirmished with Hood's rear guard, but the rainy weather aided the Confederates' escape. Salm-Salm led the regiment in the minor engagements following in January and February 1865 at Elrod's Tan Yard, Hog Jaw Valley, and Johnson's Crook. As Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Army of the Tennessee advanced farther into Georgia, the 68th did as well, making Atlanta their headquarters in March 1865. They continued to serve in northern Georgia through the spring and summer of 1865, and were stationed there when news came that the major Confederate armies had surrendered to Grant and Sherman. While there, they were ordered to facilitate the transition from a slave-based economy to a sharecropper system by encouraging plantation owners and their former slaves to sign farming contracts.

The 68th moved to Fort Pulaski, outside Savannah, Georgia, in October 1865. The men remained there until November 30, 1865, when, with the war finally ended, the 68th New York was mustered out of federal service. They boarded a steamship for New York and received their final pay at Hart's Island on December 14, where they disbanded. The regiment had served for more than four years, and had suffered casualties of 47 killed, 133 wounded, and 116 captured.