Historical Sketch:
Col., John F. Ballier; Lieut.-Col., Charles Ernenwein ; Maj., Adolph Mehler. This regiment was a Philadelphia organization and it was there mustered in for three months' service on April 29, 1861. It was the outgrowth of a rifle battalion attached to the 1st brigade, 1st division of the state militia. On May 20 it was ordered to Suffolk Park; on the 28th to Chambersburg, where it became part of the 1st brigade, 1st division of Gen. Patterson's army. It crossed the Potomac on June 17 but the force soon returned to the Maryland side and encamped. On July 2 the army moved to Martinsburg and thence after a fortnight, to Bunker Hill, Charlestown and Harper's Ferry. While in Martinsburg the 21st was presented with a beautiful flag by the loyal Union Germans of that city. On Aug. 8 the regiment was mustered out at Philadelphia.
Roster:
The Roster of this unit contains the names of 1007 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: