97th PVI History

The origin of the 97th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment (97th) can be traced back to the Honorable H. Jones Brook, State Senator for Delaware and Chester Counties. In July 1861, Senator Brooks asked Secretary of War Simon Cameron for permission to form a regiment from Brook's congressional district. Permission was granted on July 25, 1861. Brooks contacted Capt. Henry Guss, late of the three month 9th Pennsylvania volunteers, to form a regiment. Henry Guss, promoted to colonel, was initially given 21 days to raise the regiment. Col. Guss started to recruit from his home in West Chester on August 2nd. Many of his first recruits served under him in 9th Pennsylvania. The majority of the initial volunteers for the regiment lived in Chester County. Other volunteers came from surrounding Pennsylvania Counties and neighboring states.

The regiment consisted of ten companies and a cornet band. The 97th formed in a wooded grove in West Chester, Pennsylvania dubbed Camp Everhart. On September 12, the 97th moved to the Agricultural Fair Grounds. The regiment, with 1,089 officers and men, was declared formed, but not filled to complete strength, on October 28th. The first inspection of the regiment was on October 30th. On November 12th the 97th was presented with their regimental colors.

Company	Comapny Name	Volunteers
A	Guss Fencibles	114
B	Chester County Greys	102
C	Paoli Guards	104
D	Concordville Rifles	109
E	Mulligan Guards	108
F	National Guards	103
G	Broomall Guards	105
H	Greble Guards	112
I	Brook Guards	78
K	Wayne Guards	89
	Guss Fincibles Cornet Band	23

The Companies of the 97th PVI

The 97th was ordered to Washington D.C. and arrived there on December 17th. While in Washington, the 97th was issued with new rifled muskets. The 97th was assigned to the Department of Virginia and was shipped off on November 22 to Fortress Monroe at the mouth of the James River in Virginia. The regiment stayed at Camp Hamilton near Fortress Munroe until December 8th.

For the next three years, the 97th would participate in numerous operations along the Atlantic coast as part of the Anacaonda Plan. The Anaconda Plan was designed to blockade and capture southern ports along the Atlantic and Gulf coast and capture the Mississippi River in order to deprive the southern states trade and supplies. During this time the 97th was involved in actions in Hilton Head, NC; Warsaw Sound, GA; Fernandia and Jacksonville FL; and Morris Island, SC among others. Often the 97th was held in reserve. Ocassionally elements of the 97th would take part in small skrimishes and expeditions inland to capture or destroy Confederate supplies and industry. The 97th also took part in garrison duty around captured southern ports.

During this time, arguably the most famous action, in which the 97th took part, was the assault of Fort Wagner on Morris Island outside Charleston harbor, SC. From July 18 to September 7, 1863, the 97th took part in the assaults and seige of Fort Wagner as part of the Union attempt to capture Charleston. The first assault was on July 18th. The assault was lead by the 54th Mass. USCT. After sunset, elements of the 97th were sent to reinforce the first wave of the assault but were sent in too late and found no Union troops to reinforce. Other companies of the 97th were detailed that night to remove the wounded and dead from the failed first assault.

For the next month and a half, the 97th took part in the siege operations against Fort Wagner. Elements of the 97th helped dig the parallels (entrenchments that allowed Union forces to get progressively closer to the walls of Fort Wagner), acted as sharpshooters to suppress fire from the fort, and patrolled the waterways near the fort to prevent supplies and reinforcement. Elements of the regiment were detailed to helped build a gun platform in the marsh for the "Swamp Angle", a 200 pound Parrott gun. The battery was positioned so as to bombard Charleston. Company D was assigned to guard the engineers building the gun platform. During this period, the 97th suffered some casualties and a few deaths.

Finally, after the fourth parallel was finished, another assault on Fort Wagner was ordered. The 97 was selected to lead the charge on September 7, after a concentrated artillery barrage from land and sea. The 97th moved up to the fourth parallel on the night of September 6. The 97th charged after the barrage ended in the morning of September 7. The 97th scaled the walls of Fort Wagner only to find the fort abandoned. The 97th then preceded ¾ of a mile down the beach to Fort Gregg. They found Fort Gregg was as well all but abandoned. The 97th did captured some Confederate stragglers in Fort Gregg.

After the assault on Fort Wagner was completed, the 97th retired to St. Helena Island and were stationed there until the end of October. The 97th, now 660 strong, was then transferred to Fernandina, FL. The towns of Old Fernandina and New Fernandina along with fort Clinch were taken unopposed as the garrison and most of the townspeople had fled the night before. There, the 97th garrisoned the town, posted pickets, drilled, practiced using artillery, and conducted expeditions inland to capture lumber supplies and destroy railroad tracks. The 97th remained in the Fernandina area until April 13, 1864.

During their posting at Fernandina, the 97th received two groups of reinforcements. A total of 288 men, both substitutes and conscripts, were received in November. While some of these new recruits were described as good soldiers, most of the new men were described as ill disciplined and caused problems for the duration of their enlistment.

In April 1864, the 97th was ordered north to Virginia so as to join General Grant's push toward Richmond. They became part of General Butler's Army of Virginia and North Carolina. During the next twelve months, the 97th saw it's most intense and frequent combat. In May alone, the regiment fought at Bermuda Hundred, City Point, Swift Creek, Proctor's Creek, operations against Fort Darling, the battle of Drewry's Bluff, and the devastating battle of Green Plains. During the battle of Green Plains, the regiment was attacked by a full division under the command of General Pickett. The 97th was unsupported and suffered 47 killed, 123 wounded and 12 captured. The 97th then participated in the battle of Cold Harbor and the siege operations against Petersburg. While in the trenches outside Petersburg, the regiment was on the right flank of the ill executed Battle of the Mine. On September 1, 1864, the regiment received a new flag to replace its three year old battle-worn banner.

During this period, the 97th "behaved gallantly and were steadfast in their duty". The regiment, several of its officers, non-commissioned officers, and a private were praised in a letter by General Butler dated October 11, 1864. By October 29, according to Guss's history of the 97th, the regiment numbered only 483 due to injuries, deaths, capture, desertions, and finished enlistments. All of the original officers except Col. Pennypacker had by this time been discharged or mustered out of service. In November, the regiment was reinforced with about 150 men who came from many parts of Pennsylvania. The regiment set up winter quarters Chapman's Farm, Virginia.

On January 2, 1865, part of the 97th, now part of the 24 Corps, were detached to North Carolina as part of the force to capture Fort Fischer on the tip of Cape Fear which guarded the approach to Wilmington, North Carolina. The initial assault against Fort Fischer occurred on December 24, 1864. This assault had failed. On January the 13, 1865 the regiment landed with the rest of the 24th corps four miles north of Fort Fischer. The final assault on Fort Fischer began at 1 p.m. on January 15. Though the 97th started out as the second rank on the right flank, the 179 officers and men that were available to the regiment were the first to get over the wall and plant their regimental colors on the parapet. The regiment's color guard were all killed or wounded including their commander Col. Pennypacker who was seriously wounded in the hip. The regiment suffered 6 dead and 39 wounded. Fort Fischer fell at 10 p.m. After the battle it was noted that the regimental colors had been pierced by 107 bullets and canister shot and that the staff had been shot away.
For his bravery and action on the assault on Fort Fischer, Col. Pennypacker was promoted to brevet brigadier general and later awarded the Medel of Honor.

On February 10, the rest of the regiment arrived from Chapman's Farm. After the fall of Fort Fischer, the 24th corps proceeded to engage the confederate forces as they fell back upon the city of Wilmington, North Carolina.   On February 22, Wilmington was captured by Union forces. The capture of Wilmington also liberated a number of Union prisoners including some from the 97th.

The 97th continued operating in the Wilmington area until April 10th.   During this period the regiment received 403 new recruits and conscripts. On April 10th, the 97th was part of the union force that maneuvered against the Confederate Army of Tennessee led by General Johnson.   Johnson surrendered to Union General Sherman on April 26, 1865. The surrender of Johnson and his army marked the end of major hostilities of the Civil War. After the surrender, the 97th was ordered to Raleigh, North Carolina which they garrisoned until July 10.
From July 11 until August 28, the 97th were garrisoning Weldon and Gaston, North Carolina. On August 28 the 97th was mustered out at Weldon, North Carolina. The regiment was then shipped back to Philadelphia. The regiment reached Philadelphia on September 4 and was subsequently discharged.

One final official act was conducted by some of the former officers and men of the regiment on July 4, 1866. On that date, the governor of Pennsylvania requested the return of regimental colors to the state for their preservation and safe keeping.   Former soldiers and their officers from various regimens made their way to Philadelphia where they paraded though the streets to Independence Hall carrying their battle tattered flags. There, the flags were proudly surrendered.

After the war was over, veterans of the regiment continued to meet. The proceedings of the 1884 reunion were even published. One of the goals of the group was to erect a monument. The idea for the monument started in 1864. Because of the time it took to raise all the necessary money and local politics, it took twenty three years of planning and negotiating before the monument was erected. On October 29, 1887 the monument was dedicated. Ten veterans of the 97th were recorded as being in attendance at the dedication.

97th PVI History compiled and edited by Keith R. Doms

Much of the information in the preceding article is abstracted from Issiah Price's 1875 History of the Ninety-Seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry During the War of Rebellion, 1861-65. This book contians much additional information about the personalities and activities of the regiment that are beyond the scope of this short history. The Civil War Archive (www.civilwararchive.com) was also consulted. The Civil War Archive has the transcription of unit histories that are from "A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion" by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3).