20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry

20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
State of Massachusetts · Public domain · source
Unit name	20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
Dates	August 1861 – July 1865
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Infantry
Size	Regiment
Notable commanders	Colonel William S. Clark; Colonel George H. Gordon

20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment raised in Massachusetts for service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment served in multiple campaigns and battles in the Eastern Theater, participating in operations from the Peninsula Campaign to the Appomattox Campaign. Composed largely of volunteers drawn from Boston and surrounding counties, the regiment became noted for its endurance at sieges and assaults under commanders who later served in staff and corps commands.

Formation and Recruitment

Organized at Boston, Massachusetts in August 1861, the regiment drew recruits from Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and Essex County, Massachusetts under the auspices of the Massachusetts Militia system and state authorities headed by Governor John Albion Andrew. Recruitment drives were publicized in newspapers such as the Boston Daily Advertiser and the Boston Evening Transcript, and many volunteers answered appeals made at Faneuil Hall and town meetings in Salem, Massachusetts and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Men were mustered into federal service at Camp Meigs (Massachusetts), joining other regiments forming the Department of the Gulf and later corps attached to the Army of the Potomac.

Organization and Leadership

Originally mustered as ten companies, the regiment was assigned to brigades and divisions within the II Corps (Union Army) and at times the V Corps (Union Army). Initial commanding officers included Colonel William S. Clark and Lieutenant Colonel George H. Gordon, who later served on the staff of generals such as George B. McClellan and Joseph Hooker. Company officers often included local notables and veterans of pre-war militia units like the Boston Light Infantry; adjutant and quartermaster roles connected the regiment with state military infrastructure centered in Boston. The regiment’s chain of command intersected with corps commanders including Winfield Scott Hancock and division leaders like Daniel Sickles during reassignments and battlefield promotions.

Service History and Major Engagements

After training at Camp Meigs (Massachusetts), the regiment moved to the Peninsula for the Peninsula Campaign and took part in operations around Hampton Roads and the Siege of Yorktown (1862). It engaged in the Seven Days Battles including actions at Gaines's Mill and Malvern Hill, and later fought at the Battle of Antietam and the Battle of Fredericksburg (1862). During the Chancellorsville Campaign the regiment served in the Army of the Potomac and saw combat at Chancellorsville. It was heavily engaged during the Gettysburg Campaign, participating in maneuvers and defensive operations associated with the Battle of Gettysburg. In 1864 the regiment took part in the Overland Campaign and fought in battles such as The Wilderness (1864), Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor, later joining the Siege of Petersburg (1864–1865). During the final months the regiment participated in assaults associated with the Appomattox Campaign leading up to the surrender at Appomattox Court House, and mustered out following the general demobilization after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and the conclusion of Confederate resistance.

Casualties and Losses

Throughout its service the regiment suffered casualties from combat, disease, and the harsh conditions of siege warfare. Engagements during the Seven Days Battles, Antietam, and Cold Harbor produced significant killed and wounded, while epidemic diseases common in Civil War camps, including typhoid fever and dysentery, caused additional deaths and hospitalizations treated in facilities like Armory Square Hospital. Officers and enlisted men were captured and paroled during various skirmishes, processed through prisoner exchanges influenced by policies shaped at Fort Monroe and by the breakdown of the Dix–Hill Cartel. Muster rolls and casualty lists were recorded in state returns submitted to the Adjutant General of Massachusetts.

Equipment, Uniforms, and Camp Life

Armed with rifled muskets issued through the United States War Department supply system, members of the regiment carried pattern arms common to Union infantry such as the Springfield Model 1861 and captured or exchanged weapons acquired after engagements. Uniforms reflected standard issue from Quartermaster Department stores—dark blue frock coats and forage caps—augmented by privately purchased accouterments bought in Boston shops or provided by local relief organizations including the United States Sanitary Commission and Massachusetts Soldiers' Aid Society. Camp life involved routine drills, picket duty, and the construction of entrenchments during sieges at Petersburg, with recreation provided by regimental bands, correspondence with newspapers, and visits from clergy and philanthropic figures like Dorothea Dix and Henry Barnard.

Legacy and Commemoration

Veterans of the regiment participated in Grand Army of the Republic posts and in reunions in Boston and elsewhere, contributing memoirs, regimental histories, and monument dedications at battlefields such as Gettysburg and Antietam. Surviving records appear in collections at institutions including the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Boston Athenaeum, and the Library of Congress, while monuments and plaques erected by veterans’ associations and municipal governments commemorate the regiment’s service. Annual observances, scholarly works on the Army of the Potomac, and interpretive programs at national parks like Gettysburg National Military Park preserve the regiment’s memory for public history and Civil War scholarship.

Category:Units and formations of the Union Army from Massachusetts Category:Military units and formations established in 1861 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1865