Christopher Barry

No Flinching From Fire Christopher Barry

The 65th NY Volunteer infantry, trained in New York during the summer and arriving in Washington, D. C. in September 1861, saw action in most of the key battles fought by the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War. First fighting at a small skirmish at Lewinsville that very month, the regiment went on to fight at Fair Oaks/Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, and Fredericksburg in 1862. Playing a key role in the Chancellorsville campaign, marching 36 miles as part of the epic Sixth Corps march to Gettysburg, and finishing 1863 as part of the successful assault at Rappahannock Station, Virginia, the "Chasseurs" (as the men called themselves, as they began the war as the First United States Chasseurs) were in the middle of the action throughout the war. 1864 saw the regiment begin the year as prison guards at Johnson's Island, Ohio. The men would then brave General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864, facing the bloody battles of The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, before ending up in front of Petersburg, Virginia. Spending the fall of 1864 with General Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley and playing key roles at the Battles of 3rd Winchester and Cedar Creek, the Chasseurs would also participate in the Breakthrough at Petersburg in early April 1865, and then in the Appomattox denouement. Using numerous soldier letters, memoirs, and official records, this book is the first history of the regiment. It reveals all the struggles, hardships, sacrifices, and bloodshed suffered by the men fighting to restore their country. Over 200 images, photos, and maps supplement and enrich this account of the 65th NY Volunteer Infantry.