150th Pennsylvania VolunteersRegimental History

COLONEL'S	LIEUTENANT COLONEL'S	MAJOR'S
Langhorn Wister	Henry S. Huidekoper	Thomas Chamberlin
Henry S. Huidekoper	Thomas Chamberlin	Cornelius C. Widdis
George W. Jones	Cornelius C. Widdis	George W. Jones
	George W. Jones	Benjamin F. Topham
	John W. Sigler

This regiment (Bucktail), like the 149th, was intended to form part of a Bucktail brigade, which Maj. Stone of the original Buck- tails was authorized to raise in July 1862. (See 149th.) Four companies, A B, E and F were raised in Phliadelphia, C, H, I and K, in Crawford county, D in Union, and G in McKean. It rendezvoused at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, where it was mustered into the U. S. service for three years, in the latter part of Aug., 1862. Col. Wister had commanded a company of the old Bucktails, and Maj. Chamberlin, one in the 5th reserves, while Lieut.-Col. Huidekoper had prepared himself for service by dil- igent study during the previous year at Harvard university. The organization was completed on Sept. 4, 1862, and was com- posed of an excellent body of recruits. Soon afterward it pro- ceeded to Washington and was engaged in guard duty in and a- round the capital until ordered to the front about the middle of Feb., 1863. Co. K had been detailed for guard duty at the soldiers' home, the summer residence of the president, and re- mained on duty alternately, winter and summer, at the home and the White House, serving as President Lincoln's body guard, un- til the close of its term of service. In Feb., 1863, the Buck- tail troops -the 150th and 149th- joined the Army of the Poto- mac at Belle Plain, Va., and were assigned to Stone's (2nd) brigade, Doubleday's (3d) division, Reynolds' (1st) corps. The 150th was in position, but was not active at the battle of Chancellorsville and suffered no loss. It was hotly engaged on the first day of the battle of Gettysburg, in which it fought with the utmost bravery, changing front forward and also front to rear while under fire. While retiring with the rest of the line through the town in the evening, the last of the color- guard was killed, clasping the colors, and the regimental flag was lost. In the spring of 1865, it was found among the ef- fects of Jefferson Davis, when he was captured in Georgia, and was held by the secretary of war, until Oct. 25, 1869, but is now among the other tattered emblems at Harrisburg. The regi- ment was held in reserve the second day of the battle and was exposed to the severe artillery fire of the third day. Its to- tal losses in killed, wounded and missing were 264, out of 17 officers and about 400 men engaged. Of the officers, 2 were killed, 10 wounded and 4 captured or missing. One of the he- roic incidents of the first day's fight occurred when old John Burns asked and received permission from Col. Wister to fight with the regiment, at the time it was rallied in the orchard during the retreat. Another hero who joined the command and remained with it throughout the first day was Dennis Buckley, Co. H, 6th Mich. cavalry, whose horse had been shot under him earlier that morning. The 150th joined in the pursuit after the battle; subsequently shared in the various marches and countermarches of the army , was stationed at Warrenton junc- tion upon railroad guard duty from Nov. 1, until the return of the army from the Mine Run campaign, when winter quarters were established at Paoli mills and afterwards at Culpeper. Mean- while the command was reduced to less than 200 men and Capt. Jones and Lieut. Kilgore were sent to Philadelphia on recruit- ing service, returning with a large number of new men. On May 4, 1864, it entered on the Wilderness campaign, assigned to the 3d brigade (Col. Stone, afterwards Col. Bragg), 4th division (Gen. Wadsworth, afterwards Gen. Cutler), 5th corps (Gen. War- ren). At the Wilderness it lost 92, killed, wounded and miss- ing; at Spottsylvania Court-House, including the engagement at Laurel hill, its losses were 51; in the engagements at the North Anna and Totopotomy 7 in killed and wounded, the Bucktail brigade being highly praised for its gallantry at the North Anna. It did not suffer heavily in the fighting at Cold Harbor and Bethesda Church, having only 2 men wounded. On June 6, while at Cold Harbor, it was transferred to the 1st brigade, Col. Chamberlain, 1st division, Gen. Griffin. It was engaged in the assault on the works of Petersburg on June 18, being highly praised for its valor by Gen. Griffin, and a few days later skirmished on the Jerusalem plank road. It shared in the raid on the Weldon railroad in August, and then assisted in building Fort Dushane. It was active at Hatcher's Run in Octo- ber, in the raid on the Weldon railroad in December; and par- ticipated in its last fight at Dabney's mill in Feb. 1865, af- ter which it was relieved at the front and sent north to guard the camp of Confederate prisoners at Elmira, N. Y., where it was mustered out on June 23, 1865. CO. K was mustered out on June 15, at Harrisburg, Pa. The total enrollment of the regi- ment during service was 1,039, of whom 112 were killed or died of wounds, and 95 died of disease or in prison.

SOURCE: The Union Army, vol. 1

From	To	Brigade	Division	Corps	Army	Comment
Aug '62	Feb '63		Infantry		Military District of Washington	New Organization
Feb '63	Dec '63	2	3	1	Army of Potomac
Feb '63	Jun '65		Dist of Washington	22	Department of Washington, D.C.	Co. K Pres. Body Guard, Mustered Out
Dec '63	Mar '64	1	3	1	Army of Potomac
Mar '64	Jun '64	3	4	5	Army of Potomac
Jun '64	Sep '64	1	1	5	Army of Potomac
Sep '64	Jun '65	1	3	5	Army of Potomac	Mustered Out

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