First State Color, 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (presented to the regiment by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, 20 September 1861; retired 11 May 1865, public domain).

Largely forgotten by mainstream historians, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was a Union Army unit which served for nearly the entire duration of the American Civil War. Formed by the fruit of the Great Keystone State’s small towns and cities, the regiment was born on August 5, 1861, when its founder, Tilghman H. Good, received permission from Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin to form an entirely new regiment in response to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for additional volunteers to help preserve American’s Union. It ended its service during the early months of the nation’s Reconstruction Era, officially mustering out at Charleston, South Carolina on Christmas Day in 1865, its members receiving their final discharge papers at Camp Cadwalader in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in early January of 1866.

Along the way, the 47th Pennsylvania made history, becoming an integrated regiment in 1862 and the only regiment from Pennsylvania to participate in the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana. Its members also distinguished themselves in battle, repeatedly, including during Union General Philip Sheridan’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign, which unfolded between August and December of 1864.

Learn more about key moments in this regiment’s history by reading the following posts:

1861:

• August 5, 1861: A New Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment Is Born
• The Demographics of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry
• September 1861: Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
• September 1861: A New Pennsylvania Regiment Heads for Washington, D.C. and War
• October 1861: Drummer Boys, Disease, and Death
• Fall 1861: Camp Griffin, Langley, Virginia
• December 1861: A Young Regiment’s First Christmas and New Year’s Day Away from Home

1862:

• Late Winter through Early Spring 1862 (Florida): Serving as Soldiers and Surrogates for Family
• Black History Month: An Early Encounter with the Evil of Slavery and a Celebration of Washington’s Birthday (February 1862)
• Spring and Summer of 1862: Disease, Duty and Another Departure
• Late September to Early October 1862: First Victory
• Early to Mid-October 1862: Jacksonville, a Confederate Steamer and a Regiment’s Historic Integration
• First Blood: The Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina (Planning and Preparation: Mid-October 1862)
• First Blood: The Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina (October 22, 1862)
• First Blood: The Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina (47th Pennsylvania Volunteers’ Perspective, October 22, 1862)
• In Their Own Words: Soldiers Reflect on Life as Christmas and the New Year Approach During the U.S. Civil War 

1863:

• New Year, Familiar Duties: Preventing Assaults on Federal Forts by Confederate Troops and Foreign Powers (Florida, late December 1862 – early February 1864)
• Attempts to End Chattel Slavery: President Abraham Lincoln Issues the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863)
• New Year, New Duty Station: Adjusting to Life at Fort Jefferson in Florida’s Dry Tortugas (Late December 1862 – Late February 1863)
• Occupation and Garrison Duties in Florida (March through June 1863)

1864:

• Red River Campaign (Louisiana, March to June 1864)
• Battle of Sabine Crossroads/Mansfield, Louisiana, April 8, 1864
• Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, April 9, 1864
• The Aftermath of Combat: An Army Captain Reports His Company’s Losses During the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign Across Louisiana (12 April 1864)
• Battle of Monett’s Ferry/Cane River, Louisiana, April 23, 1864
• Building Bailey’s Dam on the Red River, Alexandria Louisiana, Late April to Mid-May, 1864
• The March from Marksville to Morganza, Louisiana and the Battle of Mansura, Mid to Late-May, 1864
• A Voyage North and a Memorable Encounter with Abraham Lincoln
• From Louisiana to Virginia (1864): The Battle of Snicker’s Gap and Service with the Army of the Shenandoah
• Sheridan’s Tide-Turning Shenandoah Valley Campaign: The September Battles (Virginia: July – September 1864)
• Sheridan’s Tide-Turning Shenandoah Valley Campaign: The Battle of Cedar Creek and Its Aftermath (Virginia: October – December 1864)
• Sheridan’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign: Battlefield and Follow-Up Medical Care (Sheridan Field Hospital)
• Late Fall 1864: Camp Russell, Stephens City, Virginia
• Winter 1864: Camp Fairview, Charlestown, West Virginia

1865:

• The Lincoln Assassination: A Union Chaplain’s Angry, Heartsick Response
• April 16, 1865: Stanton and Grant Inform the Union Army That President Lincoln Has Been Assassinated
• April 17, 1865: A Nation in Mourning Begins to Move Forward
• Spring 1865: Camp Brightwood, Washington, D.C.
• A Musical Tribute to Beloved Commanding Officers: The 47th Pennsylvania’s Regimental Band “Serenades” Generals Grant and Sheridan (May 22, 1865)
• “Propitious Weather and a Splendid Spectacle”: The United States of America’s Grand Review of the Armies (May 23, 1865)
• Reconstruction and Provost Duties: The 47th Pennsylvania Heads for Georgia (Early to Late June 1865)
• Reconstruction and Diplomacy: The 47th Pennsylvania in Georgia (Summer 1865)