HISTORICAL NOTES:
Organized at Baltimore, Md., June to September, 1861. Col. John Sommer, a Mexican–American War veteran, was appointed as its first commander.
In the spring of 1862, the regiment traveled to New Bern, North Carolina, where it was incorporated into Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside's IX Corps of the Army of the Potomac. In July, the Second Maryland was dispatched along with the rest of Burnside's command to aid in Maj. Gen. George McClellan's foundering Peninsula Campaign outside of Richmond, arriving shortly after the Battle of Cedar Mountain.
On August 18, 1862, the Second raided a Confederate signal station at Clark Mountain, Virginia, which resulted in the discovery of a large number of Confederate troops in the area. The information confirmed that Confederate General Robert E. Lee had turned his attention to the Union Army of Virginia—headed by Maj. Gen. John Pope—and allowed Pope to shift his forces to meet the new threat.
At the Second Battle of Bull Run (August 28–30, 1862), the regiment saw its first large-scale action. On the afternoon of the 29th, the Second Maryland, as part of James Nagle's brigade in Burnside's IX Corps, assaulted troops under the command of Confederate General T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson, entrenched in an uncompleted railroad cut. After elements of the brigade pulled back in the face of a Confederate flanking attack, the Second Maryland found itself surrounded on three sides. The unit fought its way back to Union lines, but at the cost of nearly 200 men killed, wounded or captured in scarcely 15 minutes of combat.
At the Battle of Antietam (September 17, 1862), the Second was again called to assault a well-entrenched Confederate force. Union commander George B. McClellan had tasked Burnside with opening up a southern front to the battle to divert Confederate forces from a simultaneous attack taking place on the north end of the field. Burnside attempted to throw his corps across Rohrbach's bridge, a small stone crossing henceforth known as "Burnside's Bridge." The crossing was defended by 400 Georgians under the command of Confederate Brig. Gen. Robert Toombs, whose men had dug themselves into the 100-foot high wooded bluff which overlooked the west side of the bridge. After one abortive attempt to take the bridge with Col. George Crook's Ohio Brigade—which resulted in skirmishers of the 11th Ohio Infantry taking 139 casualties—Burnside ordered Nagle's brigade to assault the position. After traveling for several hundred yards down a road running parallel to the creek, and open to flanking fire the entire way, Nagle's brigade, with the 2nd Maryland and 6th New Hampshire in the vanguard, broke before reaching the bridge. The Marylanders sustained 67 casualties out of an active force of less than 300 men. They fell prey to the Confederate sharpshooters and artillery, and the attack fell apart.
The Second saw limited action at Fredericksburg, where they were held in reserve for most of the day before making a late assault on a stonewall at the base of Marye's Heights manned by Confederate forces. After receiving a withering fire, the Second called off the assault and lay on the field and continued firing until relieved after dark.
Many of the 2nd Infantry's surviving members were captured during the Siege of Knoxville on November 17, 1863, and sent to Andersonville Prison in Andersonville, Georgia.
The Regiment lost during service 5 Officers and 84 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 3 Officers and 134 Enlisted men by disease. Total 226.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Duty at Baltimore, Md., till March, 1862. Attached to Dix's Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Department of North Carolina, to July, 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to April, 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to June, 1863. Unassigned, 1st Division, 23rd Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to October, 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Divisien, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to January, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Ohio, to March, 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac to April, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 9th Army Corps, to June 5, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 9th Army Corps, to July, 1865.
SERVICE:
Duty at Baltimore, Md., till March, 1862. Ordered to North Carolina March. Duty at Roanoke Island, N. C., till June. Battle of Camden South Mills April 19. Expedition toward Trenton May 15-16. Skirmish at Young's Cross Roads May 15. Expedition to New Berne June 18-July 2. Moved to Newport News, Va., July 6-10; thence to Aquia Creek and Fredericksburg, Va., August 2-7. Pope's Campaign in Northern Virginia August 16-September 2. Battles of Groveton August 29. Bull Run August 30. Chantilly September 1. Maryland Campaign September 6-22. Battles of South Mountain , Md., September 14. Antietam September 16-17. Stone Bridge September 17. Duty in Pleasant Valley till October 27. Movement to Falmouth, Va., October 27-November 19. Battle of Fredericksburg , Va., December 12-15. Burnside's 2nd Campaign ("Mud March") January 20-24, 1863. Moved to Newport News February 11, thence to Lexington, Ky., March 26-April 1. Duty at Frankfort, Ky., till September. Rejoined Corps September 10. March to Knoxville, Tenn., September 12-20. Action at Blue Springs October 10. Operations in East Tennessee till November 14. Knoxville Campaign November 4-December 23. Loudon November 15. Campbell's Station November 16. Siege of Knoxville November 17-December 4. Repulse of Longstreet's assault on Fort Saunders November 29. Pursuit of Longstreet December 5-29. Duty in East Tennessee till March, 1864. Moved to Annapolis, Md., March 30-April 7. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May 4-June 15. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7. Spottsylvania May 8-12. Po River May 10. Spottsylvania Court House May 12-21. Assault on the Salient May 12. North Anna River May 23-26. On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Bethesda Church June 1-3. Before Petersburg June 16-18. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865, Mine Explosion , Petersburg, July 30, 1864. Weldon Railroad August 18-21. Poplar Springs Church September 29-October 2. Boydton Plank Road , Hatcher's Run, October 27-28. Fort Steadman March 25, 1865. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Assault on and fall of Petersburg April 2. March to Farmville April 4-10. March to City Point April 20-24, thence moved to Alexandria April 24-28. Grand Review May 23. Duty in the Department of Washington till July. Mustered out July 7, 1865.
ROSTERS:
The roster of this regiment contains the names of 3479 men.
HISTORICAL NOTES: