Historical Sketch:
Col., Horatio G. Sickel; Lieut.-Cols., William S. Thompson, John Clark; Majs., R. H. Woolworth, William Briner. The 31st, the 3d of the Pa. reserves, was recruited mainly in Philadelphia and Bucks county and was mustered in for three years, at Harrisburg, July 27, 1861. It became at once the 3d regiment of the 2nd brigade, under Brig.-Gen. George G. Meade, posted at Tennallytown. It participated in the reconnoissance to Dranesville, in Oct., 1861 ; the operations of the Army of the Potomac on the Peninsula in the spring of 1862, including the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines' mill, Glendale and Malvern hill. In August it joined the Army of Virginia, with which it was active at the second Bull Run and in reserve at Chantilly. Returning to the Army of the Potomac, it was engaged at South mountain, Antietam and Fredericksburg. In Feb., 1863, the regiment was ordered to Washington and assigned to the 22nd army corps, with the rest of the 2nd brigade, remaining there until Jan., 1864, when it was ordered to West Virginia and reached Martinsburg on the 7th, where it remained on picket duty until the 28th. It then moved west to New creek ; marched in futile pursuit of the enemy until Feb. 6; returned to Martinsburg; performed picket duty at Vanclevesville until Mar. 27; moved to Harper's Ferry, and then to Webster. On April 22, it started for Parkersburg, continued from there to Brownstown on the Great Kanawha river, and on up the river to Fayette, the object of the expedition being to destroy the communication furnished Lee by the Virginia & Tennessee railroad. On May 9, 1864, the command engaged the enemy at Cloyd's mountain successfully, but with heavy loss. Driving the enemy before them the Union troops reached the railroad and accomplished the object of the campaign. The return was commenced and after days of arduous marching and skirmishing the command reached Meadow Bluff on May 19. Three days later it was ordered to Millville, and on the 30th started for home. The regiment was mustered out at Philadelphia June 17, 1864, when the veterans and recruits were consolidated into a battalion, which participated in the engagements of the remainder of the campaign and was finally transferred to the 54th Pa. infantry.
Roster:
The Roster of this unit contains the names of 1673 men. Source:
The Union Army by Federal Publishing Company, 1908 - Volume 1 Bibliography:
Barcousky, Len. Civil War Pittsburgh: Forge of the Union. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2013. ISBN 9781626190818.
Blair, William and William Pencak, editors. Making and Remaking Pennsylvania's Civil War. University Park, Pennsylvania: Penn State University Press, 2004.
Fox, Arthur B. Our Honored Dead: Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, in the American Civil War. Chicora, Pennsylvania: Mechling Bookbindery, 2008.
Fox, Arthur B. Pittsburgh During the American Civil War 1860–1865. Chicora, Pennsylvania: Mechling Bookbindery, 2002.
Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce. Southern Revenge: Civil War History of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Chambersburg, Pennsylvania: Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce, 1989.
Miller, William J. The Training of an Army: Camp Curtin and the North's Civil War. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: White Mane, 1990.
Sandou, Robert M. Deserter County: Civil War Opposition in the Pennsylvania Appalachians. Fordham University Press, 2009.
Skinner, George W., ed. Pennsylvania at Chickamauga and Chattanooga: Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Monuments Erected by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Wm. Stanley Ray, State Printer, 1897.
Taylor, Frank H. Philadelphia in the Civil War. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The City, 1913.
Wingert, Cooper H. Harrisburg and the Civil War: Defending the Keystone of the Union. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2013. ISBN 9781626190412.
Young, Ronald C. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the Civil War. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: published by the author, 2003.
Historical Sketch: