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191st Pennsylvania Infantry

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Muster In: Organized in the field from Veterans and Recruits of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps May 31. 1864.1
Muster Out: June 28, 1865 (but consolidated with the 190th Pennsylvania into one field command on September 1, 1864, an arrangement which lasted through the end of the war)2

Commander(s):
Colonel James Carle
Commander Image

Major Milton Weidler
Commander Image

Commander 3
Commander Image

First Offensive Order of Battle: Third Brigade | Third Division | V Corps | Army of the Potomac | Union Army3,4

Second Offensive Order of Battle: Third Brigade | Third Division | V Corps | Army of the Potomac | Union Army6,7

Third Offensive Order of Battle: Third Brigade | Third Division | V Corps | Army of the Potomac | Union Army10,11

  • Commander: Colonel James Carle (July 31, 1864)12
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle:

Third Brigade | Third Division | V Corps | Army of the Potomac | Union Army (August 1-21, 1864)13,14

First Brigade | Third Division | V Corps | Army of the Potomac | Union Army (August 21-31, 1864) 15

  • Commander:
    • ? (August 1-19, 1864)
    • Captain Richard M. Birkman (190th PA commanding both regiments)(at least August 19-21, 1864)16
    • Captain Richard M. Birkman (of the 190th PA, commanding only the 191st PA?)(August 31, 1864)17
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:
  • Note: Was combined with the 190th Pennsylvania after Globe Tavern (exact time needs to be researched) and they acted as a single battalion for the rest of the war.18

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle: Third Brigade | Second Division | V Corps | Army of the Potomac | Union19,20

  • No longer an independent command, though Richard Sommers’ doctoral thesis and the Official Records list the unit separately from the 190th Pennsylvania in late September 1864.21

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle:

  • No longer an independent command.22

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle:

  • Unit Strength:
    • >400 officers and men present for duty (for the 190th AND 191st PA)(early November 1864)23
    • 192 officers and men voted in the Presidential Election (November 8, 1864)24
  • No longer an independent command.25

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle:

  • No longer an independent command.26

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle:

  • No longer an independent command.27

Dyer’s/Sifakis’ Compendium Info:
Siege of Petersburg Battles28:

  • Before Petersburg June 16-18.
  • Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865.
  • Weldon Railroad June 21-23, 1864.
  • Mine Explosion, Petersburg, July 30 (Reserve).
  • Weldon Railroad August 18-21.
  • Poplar Springs Church September 29-October 2.
  • Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run, October 27-28.
  • Warren’s Expedition to Weldon Railroad December 7-12.
  • Dabney’s Mills, Hatcher’s Run, February 5-7, 1865.
  • Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9.
  • Lewis Farm, near Gravelly Run, March 29.
  • White Oak Road March 31.
  • Five Forks April 1.
  • Appomattox Court House April 9.
  • Surrender of Lee and his army.

Bibliography:

    Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

    Sources:

    1. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3) ↩
    2. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3) ↩
    3. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XL, Part 1 (Serial Number 80), p. 225 ↩
    4. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XL, Part 2 (Serial Number 81), p. 546 ↩
    5. Volume 14 (Ordnance Returns for the Second Quarter, April-June, 1864); 191st Pennsylvania Entry, Page 61; Summary Statements of Quarterly Returns of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores on Hand in Regular and Volunteer Army Organizations, 1862-1867, 1870-1876. (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1281, Roll 7); Records of the Office of the Chief of Ordnance, 1797-1969, Record Group 156; National Archives Building, Washington, D.C. ↩
    6. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XL, Part 1 (Serial Number 80), p. 225 ↩
    7. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XL, Part 2 (Serial Number 81), p. 546 ↩
    8. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XL, Part 2 (Serial Number 81), p. 546 ↩
    9. Volume 14 (Ordnance Returns for the Second Quarter, April-June, 1864); 191st Pennsylvania Entry, Page 61; Summary Statements of Quarterly Returns of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores on Hand in Regular and Volunteer Army Organizations, 1862-1867, 1870-1876. (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1281, Roll 7); Records of the Office of the Chief of Ordnance, 1797-1969, Record Group 156; National Archives Building, Washington, D.C. ↩
    10. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XL, Part 1 (Serial Number 80), page 256 ↩
    11. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XL, Part 3 (Serial Number 82), page 733 ↩
    12. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XL, Part 3 (Serial Number 82), page 733 ↩
    13. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 1 (Serial Number 87), page 124: “Return of Casualties in the Union Forces (August 1864)” ↩
    14. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 2 (Serial Number 88), page 372: “Special Orders, No. —. Hdqrs. Third Division, Fifth Corps, August 21, 1864. The One hundred and ninetieth and One hundred and ninety-first Pennsylvania Volunteers, heretofore composing the Third Brigade, are hereby transferred to the First Brigade, and the Third Brigade will be discontinued until further orders. By command of Brigadier-General Crawford: GEO. MONTEITH, Assistant Adjutant-General.” ↩
    15. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 2 (Serial Number 88), page 615: “Organization of the Army of the Potomac…August 31, 1864” ↩
    16. McBride, R. E. “Pennsylvania Reserves. Career of These Veterans from Cold Harbor to Appomattox.” National Tribune 10 November 1898. 1:1-6 and 2:3-4: “About 300 men were left from this disaster. Of the officers who escaped were Capt. Birkman…….On the 21st the Reserves assisted in repulsing a stubborn attack of the enemy near the Yellow House, and had a chance to even matters up a little by inflicting heavy loss on their assailants. This was the only time they fought from behind intrenchments, except skirmish-pits. Capt. Birkman was in command.” ↩
    17. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 2 (Serial Number 88), page 615: “Organization of the Army of the Potomac…August 31, 1864”: In the August 31, 1864 organizational charts, Birkman of the 190th PA is in command of the 191st Pennsylvania, while Captain Neri B. Kinsey is in command of the 190th Pennsylvania.  It looks liike Colonel Pattee arrived the next day and took over the two regiments as one consolidated field command.  The 191st Pennsylvania’s war as an independent command was over. ↩
    18. McBride, R. E. “Pennsylvania Reserves. Career of These Veterans from Cold Harbor to Appomattox.” National Tribune 10 November 1898. 1:1-6 and 2:3-4: “Lieut.-Col. Pattee, though still suffering from the wound received June 18, and also one received May 30, returned about Sept. 1 and took command of the two regiments, which acted as a single battalion from this time till the close of the war.” ↩
    19. Sommers, Richard J. “Grant’s Fifth Offensive at Petersburg: A Study in Strategy, Tactics, and Generalship.  The Battle of Poplar Spring Church, the First Battle of the Darbytown Road, the Second Battle of the Squirrel Level Road, the Second Battle of the Darbytown Road (Ulysses S. Grant, Virginia).” Doctoral Thesis. Rice University, 1970. Print. p. 1300. ↩
    20. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 1 (Serial Number 87), page 140: “Return of Casualties in the Union Forces (September-October 1864)” ↩
    21. McBride, R. E. “Pennsylvania Reserves. Career of These Veterans from Cold Harbor to Appomattox.” National Tribune 10 November 1898. 1:1-6 and 2:3-4: “Lieut.-Col. Pattee, though still suffering from the wound received June 18, and also one received May 30, returned about Sept. 1 and took command of the two regiments, which acted as a single battalion from this time till the close of the war.” ↩
    22. McBride, R. E. “Pennsylvania Reserves. Career of These Veterans from Cold Harbor to Appomattox.” National Tribune 10 November 1898. 1:1-6 and 2:3-4: “Lieut.-Col. Pattee, though still suffering from the wound received June 18, and also one received May 30, returned about Sept. 1 and took command of the two regiments, which acted as a single battalion from this time till the close of the war.” ↩
    23. McBride, R. E. “Pennsylvania Reserves. Career of These Veterans from Cold Harbor to Appomattox.” National Tribune 10 November 1898. 1:1-6 and 2:3-4: “This was the year of the Presidential-election, and the Pennsylvania soldiers voted. The ballot of the Reserves was as follows: Lincoln, 272; McClellan, 125. Total, 397. On the somewhat violent supposition that none of the boys who were under the legal age did any of the voting, the command must have numbered well beyond 400 at this date.” ↩
    24. “Camp near Petersburg, Va.” The Bedford Inquirer (Bedford, PA), November 18, 1864, p.3, c.3: This number does not reflect either Present for Duty or Present strength.  It simply gives the reader an idea of the relative size of the regiment at this point in the Siege of Petersburg. ↩
    25. McBride, R. E. “Pennsylvania Reserves. Career of These Veterans from Cold Harbor to Appomattox.” National Tribune 10 November 1898. 1:1-6 and 2:3-4: “Lieut.-Col. Pattee, though still suffering from the wound received June 18, and also one received May 30, returned about Sept. 1 and took command of the two regiments, which acted as a single battalion from this time till the close of the war.” ↩
    26. McBride, R. E. “Pennsylvania Reserves. Career of These Veterans from Cold Harbor to Appomattox.” National Tribune 10 November 1898. 1:1-6 and 2:3-4: “Lieut.-Col. Pattee, though still suffering from the wound received June 18, and also one received May 30, returned about Sept. 1 and took command of the two regiments, which acted as a single battalion from this time till the close of the war.” ↩
    27. McBride, R. E. “Pennsylvania Reserves. Career of These Veterans from Cold Harbor to Appomattox.” National Tribune 10 November 1898. 1:1-6 and 2:3-4: “Lieut.-Col. Pattee, though still suffering from the wound received June 18, and also one received May 30, returned about Sept. 1 and took command of the two regiments, which acted as a single battalion from this time till the close of the war.” ↩
    28. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3) ↩

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