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2nd New
Jersey Cavalry
| Regimental History |
| Second Cavalry. — Col., Joseph Karge; Lieut.-Cols., Marcus L. W.
Kitchen, P. Jones Yorke; Majs., Frederick B. Revere, Peter D. Vroom, Jr., Philip L. Van
Rensselaer. This regiment was recruited in the summer of 1863 and left Trenton for
Washington on Oct. 5 of that year, reaching the capital on the following day with 890 men.
On Oct. 17 Co. A was attacked by Mosby at Fairfax, Va., and the company was routed, the
captain, with 2 sergeants and 1 private being taken prisoners and 1 corporal wounded and
left on the field. Being transferred to the southwest, the first skirmish of importance
took place at Iuka, Miss., where two companies of the regiment encountered a force of the
enemy and drove it through the place, losing 1 man killed. On Dec. 6, a change in the plan
of operations in that quarter having been determined upon, the regiment was transferred by
steamer to Columbus, Ky., whence, on the 15th, it proceeded to Union City, Tenn., where it
was placed in the cavalry brigade commanded by Col. Waring, of the 4th Mo. cavalry. In
Jan., 1864, the command moved forward rapidly without encountering the enemy in any force,
but meeting and dispersing small gangs of guerrillas, until the 2nd Jersey, having the
advance, came into collision with and routed a force of hostile cavalry near Aberdeen,
Miss., the same evening occupying Prairie Station and destroying an immense quantity of
corn, together with cotton and other property belonging to the Confederate government. The
regiment, still advancing, skirmished for some hours with Forrest's cavalry, finally
reaching the vicinity of West Point, about 100 miles north of Meridian, where Sherman's
cooperating column had already arrived. The following day it was also engaged, and on Feb.
22 it participated in a fierce conflict at Okolona. On April 10, Maj. Yorke, with 300 men
of the regiment, was sent against the enemy in the vicinity of Raleigh, Tenn., some
distance north of Memphis, and coming up with the hostile force bravely charged into its
midst, driving it into its brigade camp, after inflicting severe loss in killed and
prisoners. The regiment also participated in the fight at Bolivar, Tenn., and lost in the
engagement 2 killed and 6 wounded. The conduct of the regiment in the disastrous affair at
Guntown, Miss., both in the main action and on the retreat, was creditable in the highest
degree, but it suffered heavily, losing 8 officers and 130 men out of 17 officers and 350
men taken into action. On July 11, with other troops, it moved in search of the enemy,
encountering him at Port Gibson, Miss., and losing in the combat which ensued, through
alleged mismanagement, 2 men killed and Lieut. Braun, 26 men and 2 guidons captured. Two
days afterward, at an early hour in the morning, the enemy in some force made a sharp
assault upon the Union picket line, pressing it with equal vigor along the entire front,
but the assailants were promptly met and after an hour's fighting were driven in
confusion. Being ordered into Arkansas and disembarking at Osceola, the command crossed a
swamp some 18 miles in length, the mud and water reaching to the saddle-girths of the
horses, to Big lake, where after some brisk firing a Confederate train consisting of some
18 wagons, loaded with over 900 stand of arms of approved pattern, together with 11
prisoners and 2 commissioned officers, was captured. Reaching Verona, Miss., on Dec. 25,
the command at once charged gallantly on the enemy, who was completely surprised and
offered but a feeble resistance, most of them escaping into the timber under cover of the
darkness, leaving as spoils, eight buildings filled with fixed ammunition, estimated at
300 tons, 5,000 stands of new carbines, 8,000 sacks of shelled corn, a large quantity of
wheat, an immense amount of quartermaster stores, clothing, camp and garrison equipage, a
train of cars and a large number of army weapons which had been captured by Forrest from
Gen. Sturgis during the latter's disastrous expedition in June. The regiment also
participated in the fight at Egypt Station, in which 74 men and over 80 horses of the 2nd
N. J. were killed or wounded. The regiment returned by steamer to Memphis, having lost
during the entire expedition 19 men killed, 69 wounded and 2 missing, and 155 horses and
mules killed or disabled. The regiment was finally mustered out on Nov. 1, 1865. (This was
also known as the 32nd N. J. volunteers.) |
Footnotes:
Regimental history taken from "The Union Army" by Federal Publishing
Company, 1908 - Volume 3
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