106th New York Infantry Regiment

106th New York Infantry Regiment
Flag_of_New_York.svg: State of New York derivative work: Fry1989 (talk) 22:39, 2 · Public domain · source
Unit name	106th New York Infantry Regiment
Dates	August 1862 – June 1865
Country	United States
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Infantry
Size	Regiment
Notable commanders	Colonel Benjamin C. Butler; Colonel Lewis A. Grant

106th New York Infantry Regiment was a Union infantry regiment raised in New York during the American Civil War that served in multiple campaigns across the Eastern Theater. Organized in the wake of Confederate offensives, the regiment participated in operations in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, joining brigades and divisions that took part in the Maryland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign. Its service connected it to principal formations and personalities of the war, reflecting broader patterns of recruitment, battlefield engagement, and postwar commemoration.

Formation and Organization

The regiment was mustered in during August 1862 in New York and drew companies from counties including Monroe County, Ontario County, Wayne County, and Livingston County. Early officers included local politicians and veterans of militia units who had ties to the New York State Militia and civic networks in Rochester and surrounding towns. The 106th was assigned to brigades within the Union Army's formations that included attachments to the VI Corps and later to provisional brigades operating under commanders who served in coordination with army leaders such as George B. McClellan, Ambrose Burnside, and Ulysses S. Grant during different phases of the war. Recruitment posters and town meetings in Canandaigua and other localities mirrored statewide mobilization drives led by figures like Horatio Seymour and Gouverneur K. Warren.

Service History

After mustering, the regiment moved to the front and was engaged in the Maryland Campaign, joining operations related to the Battle of Antietam and the defense of Harper's Ferry in September 1862. It subsequently participated in maneuvers and battles across the Virginia theater, including actions near Fredericksburg during the winter campaigns linked to Ambrose Burnside's operations. Elements of the regiment fought in the Overland Campaign, encountering Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee and corps commanders like Winfield Scott Hancock and Philip Sheridan as Union armies pressed toward Richmond.

The 106th took part in the prolonged Siege of Petersburg, where trench warfare and siege operations placed the regiment alongside units associated with the Army of the Potomac in engagements that included assaults and reconnaissance toward strategic points such as the Jerusalem Plank Road and Hatcher's Run. During the Appomattox Campaign, the regiment was engaged in the final operations that compelled the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court House; its companies were involved in the flanking movements and skirmishes that tightened the fiscal and tactical noose on Confederate retreat routes. Throughout its service the 106th operated in concert with divisions led by figures including Horatio G. Wright and John G. Parke, and faced Confederate brigades under commanders like A.P. Hill and James Longstreet.

The regiment also served on provost and occupation details in captured towns such as Richmond after Evacuation of Richmond and participated in demobilization duties connected to the surrender ceremonies that involved officers like Rutherford B. Hayes and logistics organized via the Quartermaster Department.

Casualties and Strength

Initial muster returns listed an authorized strength near 1,000 men distributed among ten companies, but by wartime attrition the effective strength typically ranged lower, in keeping with patterns observed across regiments such as the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. The 106th sustained losses from combat, disease, and capture; notable battles and sieges produced significant killed and wounded figures comparable to other veteran New York regiments. Disease outbreaks reflected medical conditions documented by surgeons like Jonathan Letterman, and hospital evacuations connected to facilities in Washington, D.C. and field hospitals near Petersburg.

The regiment's casualty lists included those killed in action, mortally wounded, and those who died of disease, with additional men discharged for wounds or incapacitation. Prisoner-of-war cases were processed through exchanges overseen by officials such as Elihu B. Washburne and the Confederate Cartel of 1862. Postwar veterans' rolls and pension records filed with the United States Pension Bureau provide data on survivors and dependents.

Commanders

Commanding officers of the regiment included colonels and lieutenant colonels drawn from New York civic and military leadership. Officers who led the 106th had prior militia experience or had served in earlier volunteer units; their careers intersected with prominent generals including Benjamin Butler, Lewis A. Grant, and staff officers from the Army of the Potomac. Some served on brigade or division staff later in the war, and several received brevet promotions recognized in records compiled by the War Department and summarized in state adjutant general reports.

Regimental Culture and Legacy

The regiment's identity was shaped by ties to New York towns, veterans' associations such as the Grand Army of the Republic, and commemorative practices including monument dedications at battlefields like Petersburg National Battlefield and cemetery memorials at places like Antietam National Battlefield. Veterans participated in reunions, published regimental histories, and contributed to local memory through speeches invoking leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Frederick Douglass in civic ceremonies. The 106th's relics and artifacts entered collections at institutions such as the New York State Military Museum and municipal historical societies, while academic studies referencing the regiment appear in scholarship on the American Civil War's Eastern Theater, regional enlistment patterns, and the social history of New York's wartime communities.

Category:Units and formations of the Union Army from New York