The "Fighting Fifth": The Fifth Michigan Infantry Regiment in the Civil War's Peninsula Campaign

Abstract

The "Fighting Fifth":The Fifth Michigan Infantry Regiment in the Civil War's Peninsula Campaign by Thomas E. Sebrell II Every regiment that fought in the Civil War, whether Union or Confederate, has a story to tell.Unfortunately, too many of these units' histories, like that of the FifthMichigan Infantry,were not recorded and are thus not available tomodern-day scholars and others who might be interested in such accounts. This article draws material from the diaries and lettersof the FifthMichigan's soldiers and surgeons, aswell as those of members of the unit's "sister" regiments: the Second and Third Michigan and theThirty-seventh New York. Some of these sources are held in private collections. These documents not only make clear the roles the FifthMichigan played in the batdes inwhich it fought, but also emphasize the effects these batdes had on members of the unit and their responses to slavery in Virginia. I have also consulted Detroit-area newspapers of the time, as well as the Regimental Descriptive Books and the Order Books.1 Using these sources, this article will detail the formation and the firstmajor campaign of a unit that frequendy led charges against enemy lines throughout the Civil War and suffered the fifth-highest casualty rate of allUnion regiments during that conflict.2 On April 13, 1861, news spread across theNorth of theConfederate bombardment of Fort Sumter. The headlines of theDetroitDaily Advertiser included: "THE CRISIS REACHED!" and "The Rebels Attack Fort Sumter."3 Four days laterGovernor Austin Blair ofMichigan proclaimed in Detroit that he would immediately respond to Lincoln's call for volunteers and organize regiments to fight for the preservation 1 The Regimental Descriptive Books and the Order Books provide detailed information about officers and enlistees in the various regiments, including the Fifth Michigan. Descriptive Books provide names, birthplaces, and occupations, while Order Books include most, ifnot all, of each unit's officers' orders. These sources are housed at theNational Archives and Records Administration (hereafter NARA), Washington, D.C. 2 George S. May, Michigan and theCivil War Years, 1860-1865: A Wartime Chronicle (Lansing: Michigan Civil War Centennial Observance Commission, 1966), 84. 3 "THE CRISIS REACHED!" "The Rebels Attack Fort Sumter," Detroit Daily Advertiser, April 13,1861. Michigan Historical Review 35:2 (Fall 2009): 27-51 ?2009 by Central Michigan University. ISSN 0890-1686 All Rights Reserved. 28 MichiganHistoricalReview of the Union.4 An article in the Detroit Daily Tribune, titled "Military Movements inMichigan," declared: "We cannot doubt thatMichigan will prove equal to any other State in devotion to the Union."5 Not surprisingly,Michigan citizens rushed to enlist. In fact, too many rallied around the flag, resulting in some volunteers being turned away.6 On May 3, 1861, in order to create a regimental company of the United States Army called the Fifth Michigan Infantry Regiment, the Adjutant General of the United States Military Department of Michigan ordered the following state militia companies to combine: the "Sherlock Guards," "Mount Clemens Rifle Guard," "Saginaw City Light Infantry," "Pontiac Volunteers," "Huron Rangers," "Governor's Guard," "Washington Guard," "Ingersoll Rifles," "Livingston Volunteers," and "East Saginaw Volunteers."7 On June 10, Governor Blair appointed Colonel Henry D. Terry of Detroit as commander of the newly created regiment.8 Eleven days later the regiment was officially formed at Fort Wayne inDetroit, which would be the Fifth Michigan's home as itprepared for service inVirginia. Early in July, Governor Blair named Dr. Robert A. Everett of Hillsdale, Michigan, as the unit's permanent assistant surgeon.9 It was not until September 1 that a thirty-nine-year-old doctor from Detroit named Moses Gunn became the senior regimental surgeon.10 The men who comprised the Fifth Michigan came from diverse backgrounds. The ages of the approximately nine hundred enlisted men ranged from sixteen to fifty-four. Michigan did not become a state until 1837, and prior to that date itwas a relatively underpopulated territory. Therefore, a large number of its citizens were not native to the region and themembers of the FifthMichigan were no exception to this rule: A bit more than one-quarter of itsmen (230) were born inMichigan. The FifthMichigan had almost as many men (206) who were New York...