The 17th Maine Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was particularly noted for its service during the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.
Organization The 17th Maine was organized at Camp King, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, it was mustered in for three years' service on August 18, 1862, and was mustered out on June 10, 1865. Recruits still liable to serve were transferred to 1st Maine Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment. The regiment was one of five raised in answer to the July 2, 1862, call by Lincoln for 300,000 volunteers for three years. The state of Maine's quota was 9,609.
The regiment was recruited in southern Maine from Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, and York counties. As recruits entered training camp, the regiment quickly fleshed out to ten companies, A through K. Upon muster into federal service, each recruit received a federal bounty of $27.00.
Service
1862 After mustering in to federal service for three years, the 17th left State for Washington, D.C., Thursday, August 21, 1862, under the command of Colonel Thomas Roberts. Upon arrival in the capital, it manned fortifications around Washington during the Maryland Campaign. On Tuesday, October 7, 1862, it was sent to Upton's Hill where it joined McClellan's Army of the Potomac (AoP). It became a member of Maine native Berry's 3rd Brigade in Birney's 1st Division of Hooker's III Corps. The other regiments in the brigade were the 3rd and 5th Michigan; the 1st, 37th, and 101st New York. The other regiments were proven veterans. The 3rd Michigan had fought at First Bull Run. All of them had fought on the Peninsula and at Second Bull Run.
The 17th was joining a corps that had suffered heavily at Second Bull Run. It was so severely understrength that during the Maryland Campaign in September 1862, it had remained in Washington DC to rest and refit. The 17th was one of the units joining it to bring it up to strength. On Saturday, October 11, the 17th crossed over the Potomac into Maryland over Chain bridge, and arrived two days later near Edward's Ferry on the Potomac in Poolesville, MD. The men saw the red diamond patch proudly worn by their veterans comrades and soon found new troops were not allowed them until proof of worthiness in battle was shown. While there, it found itself chronically short of rations and started foraging around local farms. This period at the ferry was spent drilling, as well as picketing, fatigue, and guard duty which included guarding a six-mile section of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal; this duty, although mounted in two-day stints, allowed the men to forage, in disobedience of orders, upon local secessionist farmers.
Having spent their initial service in the static defenses of Washington, the move from Maryland south was the 17th's first exposure to life with an army in the field. They soon learned from their veteran colleagues the various methods to supplement, substitute, or replace by living off the land. The presence of an army could destroy the future of any farm near even a one-night bivouac. The 17th proved apt pupils in the art of foraging. They quickly learned from other regiments the best areas to prowl. The regiment had not been supplied with tents or " shelter pieces " until October 26, although the weather all along was cold and rainy. The hardships they endured thus far cost the unit more than 100 men, equivalent to a large battle loss, many being permanently used up. Thus they became soldiers with the only remaining mark of neophytes being the twenty-pound knapsacks that became obsolete in the 1864 campaign.
The Fredericksburg campaign
On October 27, the AoP began moving across the Potomac The operation took McClellan five days. Lee reacted by moving troops out of the Shenandoah to the south to avoid being flanked. Due to McClellan's slow pace, the Rebels managed to get ahead of the AoP. Once across the river, the 17th bivouacked near Leesburg. The army moved slowly west from Edwards Ferry to the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains before heading south southwest between the Blue Ridge and Bull Run mountains. As the army moved south upon an axis of advance III Corps marched on the right flank of the army just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In this march, the 17th passed through the future battlefields of Upperville and Middleburg where their fellow Mainers, the 1st Maine Cavalry, would later see action.
As the army moved, they found the enemy had shifted its center of mass between them and Richmond such that they were soon a day ahead of the AoP on the move. The end target was soon identified as Warrenton where McClellan was planning to concentrate his army. An early blizzard arrived on the night of Thursday, November 6, continuing into the next day giving the men of the regiment a taste of home. On Friday evening, November 7, McClellan was relieved and replaced by Maj. Gen. Burnside as the army commander. Despite his lack of success in battle, McClellan had succeeded in building an army and was popular with the men for it. The army as a whole was not pleased with his relief, and the 17th despite their short tenure in the field and lack of combat experience, adopted this resentment.
A reluctant army commander, Burnside immediately received pressure from Lincoln to take aggressive action. In response to prodding from Lincoln and general-in-chief Maj. Gen. Halleck, Burnside planned a late fall offensive that the relied on quick movement and deception. Concentrating his army in a visible fashion near Warrenton, feigning a movement on Culpeper Court House, Orange Court House or Gordonsville, he would then rapidly shift southeast and cross the Rappahannock River to Fredericksburg, hoping to steal a march on Lee. The AoP would then move rapidly south along the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&P) against Richmond. He chose this course lest he strike directly south from Warrenton, exposed to a flanking attack from LTGEN Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley and because he felt the Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O&A) would be inadequate for logistics as well as the fact that Lee had blocked the O&A.
The 17th was afforded a closer view of life in Virginia in comparison to their home state and were unimpressed. As well as slavery's racial divisions, the men noted with dislike the rigid class division among the white population. The 17th Maine due to its inexperience did not realize how destructive the first eighteen months of the war had already been on the local environment, greatly adding to the dreariness they duly noted.
While Burnside began assembling a supply base at Falmouth, Washington reviewed the plan. Lincoln, correctly, saw the main goal was the destruction of Lee and his army and not Richmond, but despite this when Burnside presented his plan on Thursday, November 14, Lincoln reluctantly approved it. Halleck wired Burnside, "The President has just assented to your plan," adding for emphasis: "He thinks that it will succeed if you move rapidly; otherwise not."
Burnside's plans
Burnside saw rapid movement could catch Lee off guard and make a river crossing possible before Lee could concentrate his forces to contest it. The Rappahannock, rises in the mountains as a stream until Warrenton, where several tributaries swell it into a river. At Fredericksburg, it is quite deep below the falls and can be crossed only by bridges. Opposite the northern end of Fredericksburg was a smaller town, Falmouth. They were both mill towns that had prospered grounding the local grains into flour. Powered by canals as well as the river, the mills tapped the river above the dam. In the antebellum era, bridges had connected the two towns but they had been destroyed during Johnston's withdrawal a year before. Any crossing would need to be done at a ford or with pontoon bridges. The AoP had experienced engineers well-practiced in assembling pontoons and manipulating canals for various purposes.
Burnside went into action immediately. On Saturday, November 15, he began to pull his army out of the Warrenton, Virginia area and head southeast towards Fredericksburg. That morning, AoP artillery roused the Confederates. IX Corps struck the Rappahannock River at Warrenton Springs, and I Corps demonstrated focusing on Freeman's and Beverly's fords to the east. Cavalry and infantry attacked Rebels at Rappahannock Station and captured the bridge there intact. The sudden action on a wide front surprised Lee who pulled back from in front of the AoP. Unsure of the Federals' destination, Lee held back and sent an infantry regiment and an artillery battery to strengthen Fredericksburg. If Burnside had already crossed and occupied Fredericksburg, Lee would withdraw to North Anna River. Anticipating that the town could not be held, Lee got permission to destroy the railroad between Fredericksburg and Hanover Junction. Lee thought it likely that Burnside would transfer his army south of the James River.
Burnside had moved rapidly that weekend without Lee discovering his intent. On Sunday evening, when he heard Sumner's men were approaching Falmouth, Lee immediately had Longstreet send two of his divisions toward Fredericksburg. As these units left their camps the next morning, Monday, November 18, Stuart's scouts forded the Rappahannock arriving at Warrenton just as the last U.S. troops were departing. In the meantime, when the AoP started from Warrenton, Sumner's grand division led the way, arriving on Sunday evening, 17 November, opposite the upper edge of Fredericksburg; Burnside had fooled Lee and made it opposite Fredericksburg almost undetected. Next, he needed to get the army across the Rappahannock and push on to Richmond.
When Sumner arrived at Falmouth, Fredericksburg was occupied by only a small force. As soon as the Union troops appeared on the Stafford Heights, an artillery duel began. The Rebels were soon driven from the guns. Standing unmanned, the Rebel guns tempted Sumner to cross the river and capture them. Lest he incur Burnside's wrath, Sumner would not permit volunteers to go over and get them, but he did ask permission to take Fredericksburg, if he (Sumner) could find a crossing. Burnside turned him down as he felt it unwise to take Fredericksburg before he had fully established his communications. He was also concerned that the increasing autumn rains would make the fording points unusable and that Sumner might be cut off and destroyed. He ordered Sumner to wait in Falmouth ending the matter, and the troops went into camp waiting for orders.
The 17th, as part of III Corps waited in Warrenton until Monday, November 17, when they stepped out at 7:30 a.m. to join the rest of the army massing at Falmouth. Traveling for four days in cold rain and mud, they received orders for Falmouth, arriving there Saturday, November 22. While the army waited for bridging equipment, it remained across the river from the Rebels. In the meantime, General Hooker had been promoted to the command of the Center Grand Division, composed of the III and V Corps; General George Stoneman had been assigned to the command of the III Corps; General Birney to that of the 1st Division; General Daniel E. Sickles to the 2nd Division; and a third division of only two brigades (including the corps' three nine-month regiments) under General Amiel W. Whipple had been added.
The 17th waits across from Fredericksburg