Organization and Early Service
The 9th Infantry was formed in September 1861, primarily using recruits whose terms of enlistments in Connecticut's early three-months regiments had expired. Its first field officers were relatively experienced soldiers. Colonel Thomas W. Cahill of New Haven had a number of years experience with the antebellum state militia as captain of the Emmet Guards, while Lieutenant Colonel Richard Fitzgibbons and Major Frederick Frye had both served as captains of three-month companies at the First Battle of Bull Run in July.
Although recruitment at Camp English in New Haven proceeded slowly due to the lack of proper clothing and equipment, the regiment had 845 men when it left New Haven in November by rail for Camp Chase in Lowell, Massachusetts. There, the 14th was part of Brigadier General Benjamin Butler’s "New England Brigade" organized for the capture of New Orleans.
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