The 29th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army of the United States during the American Civil War. The regiment was organized in December 1861 when three new companies were attached to a battalion of seven Massachusetts companies that had been in active service since May 1861. These seven companies had been recruited to fill out the 3rd Massachusetts and 4th Massachusetts regiments and had signed on for three years of service. When the 3rd and 4th Massachusetts were mustered out in July 1861, the seven companies that had signed on for three years were grouped together to form a battalion known as the Massachusetts Battalion. Finally, in December 1861, three more companies were added to their roster to form a full regiment and the unit was designated the 29th Massachusetts.
The regiment took part in 29 battles and four sieges in a variety of theaters of the war. After their early service at Fortress Monroe in Virginia, the 29th was attached, in the spring of 1862, to the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsular Campaign as part of the famed Irish Brigade. The 29th had the distinction of being the only regiment of non-Irish ethnicity to serve in that brigade. In January 1863, the IX Corps (including the 29th Massachusetts) was transferred to Kentucky and engaged in operations against Confederate guerillas. In the summer of 1863, the IX Corps was again transferred and took part in the siege of Vicksburg and the siege of Jackson, Mississippi. In the fall of 1863, IX Corps took part in the Knoxville Campaign which resulted in the defeat of Confederate forces in eastern Tennessee. The spring of 1864 saw the IX Corps and the 29th Massachusetts once again returned to duty with the Army of the Potomac, just in time to take part in the Overland Campaign and the siege of Petersburg. During the siege of Petersburg, the unit suffered their worst casualties of the war in the Battle of Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865.
The 29th was mustered out of service on August 11, 1865. Including the seven months served by most of the regiment before its designation as the 29th, the unit had one of the longest terms of service of any Massachusetts regiment—a total of four years and three months.
Massachusetts Battalion
On April 15, 1861, three days after the attack on Fort Sumter, the call went out from Massachusetts Governor John Andrew for the immediate mobilization of the four existing regiments of Massachusetts militia. The 3rd and 4th Massachusetts both left for Washington, D.C., on April 17 to serve a term of 90 days. But in their haste to reach the capital, these regiments had departed without a full complement of ten companies as required by army regulations. In the following weeks, seven additional companies were formed in Massachusetts and assigned to the 3rd and 4th to fill out their rosters. Unlike the majority of companies in the 3rd and 4th regiments, which had enlisted for 90 days, these new companies signed on for three years of service. These seven companies would eventually form the majority of the 29th Massachusetts.
While serving with the 3rd and the 4th Massachusetts, these companies were primarily garrisoned at Fortress Monroe at the end of the Virginia Peninsula. This strategically important foothold in Virginia allowed Union forces to control the major waterway of Hampton Roads. In an unsuccessful effort to strengthen their hold on the Peninsula, Union troops marched from Fortress Monroe and attacked the Confederate position at Big Bethel Church, resulting in the Battle of Big Bethel on June 10, 1861. Two of the companies that would eventually become part of the 29th were involved in this action. The expedition was commanded by Colonel Ebenezer W. Peirce.
When the 3rd and 4th Massachusetts regiments were mustered out in July 1861, the seven "three-year" companies were consolidated on July 16 to form the "Massachusetts Battalion" under the command of Captain Joseph H. Barnes. The battalion served relatively light garrison and guard duty at Fortress Monroe, Newport News and Hampton for the remainder of 1861. In December, three more companies were added to the battalion and, with a full complement of ten companies, the unit became known as the 29th Massachusetts Infantry.
Peirce was appointed the first commander of the 29th. The regimental historian recorded that this appointment was "exceedingly distasteful" to the 29th as there had been an expectation that Barnes, who had led the Massachusetts Battalion, would command the new regiment. Barnes, however, was placed second in command to Peirce as lieutenant colonel. Further, Peirce was disliked for his failure at Big Bethel. During the winter of 1862, charges were brought against Peirce by officers of the 29th and he was court-martialed for incompetence and improper conduct. His superior officer, Brigadier General John E. Wool, overturned the ruling and Peirce remained in command of the 29th Massachusetts.
Peninsular campaign
During the winter and early spring of 1862, the 29th was deployed on various minor expeditions near Fortress Monroe, Newport News and Norfolk, Virginia. On March 8 and 9, the regiment was present during the Battle of Hampton Roads, a naval engagement fought primarily between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. The regiment helped man a land battery during the engagement, and the men of the 29th were amazed by the new ironclad vessels and the changes they brought to naval warfare.
In the middle of March, once again at Fortress Monroe, the 29th witnessed the arrival of the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General George B. McClellan. McClellan intended to use Fortress Monroe as his base of operations for an assault on the Confederate capital of Richmond. The effort would be known as the Peninsular Campaign. Over the course of March 1862, the men of the 29th watched as roughly 100,000 Union soldiers and 15,000 mules and horses debarked from Fortress Monroe. The 29th was to remain at Fortress Monroe as the Army of the Potomac made its way toward Richmond. As the campaign became bogged down outside the Confederate capital, additional troops were called for and the 29th Massachusetts departed Hampton Roads on June 7, 1862.
Attachment to the Irish Brigade Traveling by steamboat up the York River, the 29th arrived at White House Landing and marched to the battle front on June 8, 1862. The regiment was attached to the Irish Brigade (2nd Brigade, 1st Division, II Corps). Contemporaries and historians alike have wondered at this unusual assignment. The 29th Massachusetts was made up of men descended, largely, from old-stock English families, some with heritage dating back to the Mayflower. There was, at the time, significant social friction in New England between established Protestant families and Irish immigrants. While the regimental historian observed that the 29th was "cordially welcomed" to the Irish Brigade, other historians, such as Marion Armstrong, point out the oddity of the "aristocratic 29th Massachusetts ... thrown in with three regiments of New York Irishmen." Historian Daniel Callaghan quotes period sources describing the "unlikely matching of ancient political foes," and the manner in which the men of the 29th tolerated the Irish-born commander of the Irish Brigade, Brig. Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, "coldly, in a pinched and critical silence."
Despite these social differences, the 29th Massachusetts fought alongside the Irish regiments through heavy combat (the first the regiment had seen) during the Seven Days Battles. During this series of battles, the Confederates drove McClellan's army away from Richmond, resulting in the failure of the Peninsular Campaign. After the Union retreat, Meagher praised the 29th's actions in battle saying that they "had proved themselves the equals of any others in the Brigade, and had no superiors in the army." Meagher would later call the 29th "Irishmen in disguise." During the Seven Days Battles, the 29th suffered moderate casualties of six killed and 18 wounded. These casualties included Peirce whose right arm was shot off by cannon fire. Command of the regiment then fell to Barnes.
Maryland campaign Following the failure of the Peninsular campaign, elements of the Army of the Potomac were shipped to northern Virginia to provide assistance to Union Maj. Gen. John Pope. Pope had been attempting to open a second assault on Richmond from the north, but he was defeated during the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 30, 1862. The 29th Massachusetts, along with other elements of the II Corps, arrived too late to take part in the battle.
After his victory at Bull Run, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee invaded Maryland in September 1862. The Army of the Potomac, including the 29th Massachusetts, moved to intercept the Confederate offensive. The two armies clashed at Sharpsburg, Maryland, during the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862.
Battle of Antietam The battle commenced in the early morning with several assaults on the Confederate left flank by the I Corps and the XII Corps. After these failed, the II Corps, including the Irish Brigade, was called upon to assault a position near the Confederate center known as the "Sunken Road" or "Bloody Lane." The trench-like road afforded the Confederates a strong defensive position. Just after 9 a.m., Maj. Gen. Israel B. Richardson's division, with the Irish Brigade in the lead, moved toward the Sunken Road. Meagher envisioned the delivery of a few volleys from the brigade followed by an impetuous charge. As the Irish Brigade advanced up the crest toward the Sunken Road, it took heavy fire from the Confederates. The progress of the brigade was slowed by a sturdy split rail fence. When Meagher asked for volunteers to run forward and take it down, Corporal Samuel C. Wright of the 29th sprang forward with several others. Wright recalled that many were shot down before they reached the fence and, as "one would grasp a rail, it would be sent flying out of his hands by rifle shots." The dash back to the lines was just as dangerous. Cpl. Wright was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery at Antietam. He would, over the course of successive battles, be wounded five times and reported dead twice. Despite his travails, he survived the war.
The Irish Brigade, though advancing in good order under heavy fire and delivering effective fire in return, did not reach the Sunken Road. The brigade retired, the regimental historian observed, "as steadily as on drill." The 29th has been criticized by some historians, including Marion Armstrong, for not advancing as quickly as the rest of the Irish Brigade. An accident in the terrain, a small rise in front of the 29th's position, afforded them cover, and their casualties were lighter than those of the other regiments of the brigade. Armstrong argues that Barnes was reluctant to leave this advantageous ground, a factor which may have contributed to the failure of the Irish Brigade's charge. The casualties of the 29th were nine killed, 31 wounded and four missing.
Fredericksburg Campaign The Battle of Antietam had been a tactical stalemate. McClellan claimed it as a strategic victory as Lee's army retreated into Virginia. Despite this, President Lincoln was displeased with McClellan's failure to pursue Lee and replaced him with Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside. During November 1862, Burnside proceeded to gather the Army of the Potomac in Falmouth, Virginia, preparing to assault Lee's army across the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Removal from the Irish Brigade