Colonels: Charles H. Van Wyck, Rockwell Tyler

Lieutenant colonels: James Jordan, Frederic Decker, John J. Wheeler, Rockwell Tyler, Eliphas Smith

Majors: Jacob Sharpe, John J. Wheeler, Rockwell Tyler, Eliphas Smith, James Dubois.

The 56th New York, recruited by Col. Charles Henry Van Wyck, was organized and received its numerical designation Oct. 15, 1861, at Newburgh, N.Y. It was composed of 11 companies, two light artillery batteries, and two cavalry troops, the whole being known, at least unofficially, as the Tenth Legion. (This nickname, which also is reflected in the "X" patch worn on the first jackets issued to the enlisted men, derives from the fact that Van Wyck, a congressman, represented the 10th Congressional District, the area from which the regiment was recruited. Van Wyck, a Rutgers College-educated lawyer, also was undoubtedly familiar with ancient history, and likely saw the nickname as a convenient allusion to Julius Caesar's renowned Tenth Legion, illustrating his high hopes for the regiment. ) 

The artillery batteries later became the 7th and 8th N.Y. Independent batteries, and the cavalry companies were incorporated into the 1st N.Y. Mounted Rifles as Companies C and D. Company L also was known as the 5th Company of N.Y. Sharpshooters.

Regimental flag of the 1st N.Y. Mounted Rifles

New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs

Flank marker, Tenth Legion artillery (7th N.Y. Independent Battery)

The men were mainly from Orange, Sullivan, and Ulster counties and were mustered into the service of the United States at Newburgh on Oct. 28, 1861, for three years. The regiment left for Washington on Nov. 7, 1861, and there became part of the 1st Brigade, 2nd (Casey's) Division, 4th Corps, and served in the defenses of Washington until March 1862.

Gen. Silas Casey

In the opening of the spring offensive, the regiment participated in the siege of Yorktown and was present without loss at the Battles of Williamsburg, Savage's Station, and Bottom's Bridge. At the Battle of Fair Oaks, the regiment lost 66 men killed and wounded and five missing.

In June, the brigade, now part of Peck's Division of the 4th Corps, Army of the Potomac, was present during the Seven Days' Battles before Richmond but was not closely engaged, and after the Battle of Malvern Hill it was withdrawn to Yorktown. In December, the brigade, under Gen. Naglee, was assigned to the 18th Corps and reached South Carolina in early January 1862. In the regimental history, it is recounted that the men, in troop transports en route to South Carolina, saw off in the distance the Union ironclad Monitor being towed near Cape Hatteras, N.C. The ship sank in a storm Dec. 31, 1862, and it is quite possible that the men of the 56th New York were the last to see the celebrated warship, which in March had dueled the CSS Virginia (also known as the Merrimack) to a draw off Hampton Roads, Va. 

Gen. Erasmus Keyes, commander of 4th Corps, Army of the Potomac

The regiment served in the Charleston, S.C., area and was active in the siege of  Fort Wagner in July 1863, and subsequent operations in the vicinity. It was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 18th Corps in March 1863, and was transferred to the 10th Corps in October.

While with the 18th Corps it was stationed on Folly Island and at Beaufort, S.C. In the summer of 1864, the regiment was stationed on James Island; lost 50 men in the engagement at Honey Hill; was active at Coosawhatchie and Boyd's Point in December; and shared in the operations at Deveaux Neck (all in South Carolina) during the same month with considerable loss. 

Brig. Gen. Henry M. Naglee, commander of 1st Division, 18th Corps, Department of the South 

Those members who didn't reenlist when their three-year term of service expired were mustered out. The regiment remained in the Department of the South, serving in the Coast Division during the winter of 1864-65 and at Charleston from March 1865 till Oct. 17, 1865, when it was mustered out.

During its four years of service, the regiment lost 64 officers and men from wounds and 216 from disease and other causes. Nine enlisted men were listed as missing.

Brig. Gen. Quincy Adams Gilmore, commander of Union forces during the siege of Charleston, S.C.

Pictorial record of the regiment's experiences

1861

Patriotic postal envelope showing Carver Barracks, foreground and upper right, where the 56th New York was stationed from November 1861 to early spring 1862. The tall buildings at left are part of Columbia College, which became George Washington University in 1904. This part of the nation's capital is known as Meridian Hill.

1862

Burying the dead after the Battle of Fair Oaks, Va., May 31-June 1, 1862, the bloodiest battle in which the 56th fought. Sixty-six men were killed or wounded and five were missing afterward.

1863-65

Map of Charleston Harbor showing Folly and Morris islands, two of the places where the 56th New York was stationed in 1863.

Another map of Charleston Harbor, this one appearing on the front page of the Wednesday, Aug. 5, 1863, edition of The New York Herald, and showing recent operations.

    From the collections of the South Carolina Historical Society

This map shows the area of the 56th's principal engagements in 1864.

Print titled "Scene in the Military Market at Beaufort, S.C.," from a sketch by W.T. Crane. Such a scene would have been witnessed by the 56th New York, which occupied the city and its outskirts from August 19, 1863, to Sept. 3, 1864. "We had fairly good times at Beaufort, living well, with comfortable, clean quarters, cool evenings and sea breezes," remembered the authors of the regimental history. This print is taken from "The Soldier in Our Civil War," first published in 1883.

Union troops landing on Morris Island on July 10, 1863, supported by artillery fire from nearby Folly Island. To pave the way for this landing, the 56th New York was part of a diversionary attack on James Island. 

Charleston, S.C., the birthplace of secession, was a ravaged city after a four-year siege. Above, a view of St. Michael's Church, which was used to set the range for Federal artillery firing from Morris Island. Below, a panorama of destruction, some of it caused by a fire of undetermined origin in 1861. Such were the scenes that greeted the 56th New York when it finally entered the city in 1865.

Cathedral of St. John and St. Finbar, destroyed by the fire of 1861.

Back to index