53rd Pennsylvania Infantry

53rd Pennsylvania Infantry
Pennsylvania flag
Active	August 1861 – June 30, 1865
Country	United States
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Infantry
Motto(s)	We Might As Well Die Here
Engagements	Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Gaines Mill, Peach Orchard, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, Mine Run, Wilderness, Po River, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Totopotomoy, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, Reams Station, Fort Stedman, Hatchers Run, Appomattox Court House
Commanders
Notable commanders	John R. Brooke

The 53rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was a volunteer infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

The regiment was organized at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 1861, with John R. Brooke, of Pottstown, Montgomery County, was commissioned colonel on August 21. Brooke had previously served as a captain in the three-month 4th Pennsylvania Infantry, and he immediately commenced recruiting his own regiment. By late September, the first companies had been organized and the first company was mustered into the service of the United States on September 28 at Camp Curtin.

Ten companies were eventually formed, raised in the following counties:

Richard McMichael of Berks County was commissioned lieutenant colonel, Thomas Yeager of Lehigh County major, and Charles P. Hatch of Philadelphia was appointed adjutant. While at Harrisburg, the regiment performed provost guard duty in the city.

On November 7, the 53rd moved to Washington and encamped north of the Capitol before crossing the Potomac River on the 27th, and went into camp near Alexandria. Here, the regiment was assigned to the brigade of Brigadier General William H. French in General Edwin Sumner's division of the newly organized Army of the Potomac.

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Wikipedia