The 121st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of the Union Army during the United States Civil War.
History This regiment, chiefly recruited in the city of Philadelphia, and in the county of Venango, was organized at camp of rendezvous, near Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, early in September 1862, with the following field officers: Chapman Biddle, of Philadelphia, colonel; Elisha W. Davis, of Venango County, lieutenant colonel; Alexander Biddle, of Philadelphia, major;
Soon after its organization, it was ordered to Washington, D.C., and upon its arrival, went into camp at Arlington Heights. Arms and equipment were not delivered until some weeks after its arrival, but drill and instruction were immediately commenced, and prosecuted with vigor, the regiment becoming noted for good discipline at the drills and reviews of General Silas Casey's Provisional Brigade, to which it was then attached.
On October 1, 1862, the regiment moved to Frederick, Maryland, and a week later joined General George Meade's Division of Pennsylvania troops, above Sharpsburg, and near the battle ground of Antietam. With the exception of slight skirmishing, as the army moved south through Virginia, it had no experience in fighting until it entered upon the Fredericksburg campaign. After reaching Warrenton, where McClellan was replaced by Major General Ambrose Burnside, it passed through Fayetteville, Stafford Court House, Brooks' Station, and White Oak Church, encamping a short time at each place.
Fredericksburg Campaign On December 12, it crossed the Rappahannock at Franklin's Crossing, below Fredericksburg, and moved to a position near Deep Run, where it bivouacked for the night in line of battle.
On the morning of the 13th, moving forward over the broken ground near the Run, it crossed the Bowling Green Road, and took position opposite a wooded hill on which the enemy lay in well provided breast-works. This movement was made under a fire of artillery from the left flank, which was kept up for more than an hour, by which the line was twice struck, and ten men disabled. it was at the same time exposed to a direct fire from the front, which was answered by Ransom's guns in the immediate front of the regiment. A rebel caisson that was at this juncture fortunately exploded, when, taking advantage of the favorable moment, the order was given to advance, and the division crossed the plain, four hundred yards wide, under fire from front and both flanks, drove the rebel skirmishers from a deep ditch which skirted the woods, ascended the slope of the hill, and broke the line of the enemy, which was distinctly marked by his dead. The line of battle of the division having been somewhat disordered by the inequalities of the ground over which it had passed, and the obstructions met, it was here partially re-formed, and the position held without further orders, under a hot fire from all directions. The impression prevailing that the troops were surrounded, the fire of the enemy coming from flanks and rear, in the absence of orders from either brigade or division chiefs, the troops retired to put themselves in communication with them; but finding that they were entirely unsupported, they took up a position facing the woods, still under fire, from which they were finally ordered to retire to the position occupied in the early morning.
During Sunday, the 14th, and Monday, the 15th, the position was retained, in the hope that the enemy might be tempted from his fastness on the wooded heights, to the open fields below; but finding no indications of a hostile movement on his part, the army was withdrawn, and the regiment retired to camping ground near White Oak Church.
A few weeks later it moved to Belle Plains, where it remained in huts and under canvas during the winter, performing the usual routine of picket duty and drill. The loss in the campaign was one hundred and eighty, chiefly sustained in the action at Fredericksburg, including two officers killed, Lieutenants George W. Brickley and M. W. C. Barclay, for lost to the service:one by wounds, and one from sickness.
Burnside's second campaign, which was entered upon on January 20, 1863, was cut short by impassable roads. The artillery could not be moved, and after four days of exposure to the chilling weather, the army returned to its encampments. In returning, the regiment was left behind to assist in extricating the artillery, and afterwards to explore its way through an unknown country back to camp. This and another fruitless expedition to Port Conway, which the rebels, from the southern shore of the Rappahannock, were suspected of visiting, were the only variations from the usual routine of camp duty experienced during the winter.
Chancellorsville Campaign The spring campaign opened with the march of the army to Chancellorsville. The First and Fifth corps were at first moved to Franklin's Crossing, of the Rappahannock, where they remained in support of the Sixth Corps, which made the passage of the stream, while Hooker, with the remaining three corps, marched and crossed several miles above. After remaining here until the 30th, the Third Corps, and on the 2d of May the First Corps, also moved above, and crossing, re-joined the army at Chancellorsville. After the reverse of the Eleventh Corps, on the evening of 2 May, the First Corps was hurried away from the extreme left, where it had halted on its way to the front, to the right, to meet a triumphant foe. The regiment, although much worn by fatiguing duty, suffered but slight loss. When the army withdrew to the neighborhood of Falmouth, after the battle, the regiment was stationed near the banks of the Rappahannock, three miles in advance of its former camping ground.
Gettysburg campaign On June 12, the regiment moved by steady, rapid marches to Centreville, reaching the town on the 16th. It moved then onto Broad Run, crossed the Potomac at Edwards' Ferry, passing through Middletown and arriving at Emmitsburg on the 29th. On the night of the 30th, the regiment formed the advance picket of the Third Division, Doubleday's, at a point about seven miles from Gettysburg, covering the ground from Marsh Creek to Middle Creek, the center of the line being near the Cross Roads at Ross White's house.
On the morning of July 1, the regiment marched at the head of the brigade, which also included the 142nd and 151st Pennsylvania regiments, and the 20th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, as well as a battery of artillery, all under command of Colonel Biddle, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Biddle being in command of the regiment.
As the brigade approached Gettysburg, the noise of artillery was heard, and shells were seen bursting over some distant woods. Crossing the hills to the west of the town, it came upon Buford's Cavalry, which was engaging the enemy, and formed in a field facing to the westward, with a wood in front held by the enemy. Soon afterwards it moved to the north, and united with the left of the First Division, under General Wadsworth, arriving in time to meet an advance of the enemy through the woods to the west of the Theological Seminary. The position thus occupied, was held during most of the day, though frequently changing front as the enemy manifested a disposition to advance from the north or from the west. With his numerous batteries, the enemy kept up a vigorous shelling of the position, until he made his final assault at half past two in the afternoon, advancing from the north and the west in overpowering force.
To meet his attack from the west, a change of front was made, which brought the 121st on the extreme left of the line, having upon its right the 20th New York, then a battery, and upon the extreme right, the 142nd. The 151st Pennsylvania having been previously detached to support the Second Brigade, commanded by General Roy Stone, was posted near the pike, farther to the right, and just in rear of the Seminary, but was subsequently brought up and formed on the right of the 142nd. The enemy's line of battle extended far beyond the extreme left of the Union line, lapping around it, his fire completely enfilading the 121st regiment.
When the direct assault on the front of the brigade came, it was at first successfully resisted. His line was received with an effective fire, and wounded men of the brigade, who were left upon the field, afterwards reported that none but scattered troops ever passed over the position; but his forces swarming in upon the left, and completely outflanking the brigade, gave no chance for successful resistance. The ground was, however, held until the brigade battery was withdrawn in safety, when the fragment of the command remaining, retired to a barricade in the woods, to the rear of the Seminary. Clinging to this until a large portion of the troops engaged, and the artillery and ambulances had passed on through the town, the brigade withdrew to Cemetery Hill, and re-formed in rear of its crest. Receiving a fresh supply of cartridges, the regiment was held in readiness to repel an anticipated assault from General Ewell, who had come in from the north; but no assault came, the rebel troops seeming content with their successes, and the men bivouacked at night, feeling that though beaten and driven back from their position of the morning, they had successfully checked the enemy, in vastly superior numbers, until a new position could be taken, immeasurably better than the first, and until the army could come up in sufficient strength to successfully cope with its adversary. Out of seven officers and two hundred and fifty-six men who entered the engagement in the morning, they were left at night with two officers and eighty-two men. An aggregate of one hundred and seventy nine, either killed, wounded, or missing - upwards of sixty-five percent.
On the following day, the brigade occupied a position on the Taneytown Road, to the left of the Cemetery, and during the cannonade in the afternoon was much exposed, the enemy's shells, from opposite directions, frequently bursting in the same field. Early on the morning of the 3rd, it was moved into line of battle on the left center, the regiment occupying a position immediately in front of General Doubleday's headquarters. A barricade of rails was thrown up for its protection, in case it should be pressed by infantry, but in the fierce cannonade by the enemy in the afternoon, which preceded his last grand charge, this barricade was shattered and leveled with the dust. The men slept on their arms during the succeeding night, and on the two following days were employed in clearing the field and in burying the dead.
On the afternoon of the 5th, the enemy being in full retreat, it moved with the corps by the Emmitsburg Road, and crossing the mountains opposite Hagerstown, came up with the enemy, in position near Williamsport. His skirmishers were speedily driven in. Pausing before his entrenched line, until the forces could be brought into position, an advance was ordered; but the enemy had made good his escape across the Potomac, and his entrenchments were possessed with but the feeble opposition of a line of skirmishers.
Returning over the South Mountains to Berlin, the regiment crossed the Potomac, followed substantially the route of the previous year to Warrenton and Rappahannock Station, and thence, after the lapse of some weeks, through Brandy Station, and Culpeper, to a point near Raccoon Ford on the Rapidan, where it remained until Lee attempted to turn the right of the Union army, causing a retrograde movement.