Services Performed by the Invalid Corps – 14th Regiment

These posts are part of a larger series highlighting the contributions and accomplishments of the Invalid Corps/Veteran Reserve Corps during the Civil War. This post only captures some of the activities of individual regiments. Clearly, this is an area ripe for additional research.

14th Regiment

Organized October 10, 1863, by consolidation of the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 30th, 41st, 88th, 186th, 200th, 201st and 202nd Companies, 1st Battalion. Mustered out by detachments July 14 to November 27, 1865.

One company (K) has been stationed during the year on the Government farms. Camp Wadsworth, Va. The remainder of the regiment has done duty at Camp Distribution, at Alexandria, Va., and in Washington, D. C., as garrison. Daily number of recruits, conscripts, convalescents, and deserters at Camp Distribution waiting escort to the front varied from 2,000 to 10,000. Duty very severe, the camp being large, the posts numerous, the winter uncommonly cold, and many of the men suffering from recent wounds. Sentinels frequently relieved from post and sent to hospital by order of the surgeon. In Alexandria and Washington the regiment has guarded or aided in guarding Government corrals, large depots of public stores, Washington Street Prison (500 rebel prisoners). Old Capitol and Carroll Prisons, and the Arsenal while used as a place of confinement for the assassins of President Lincoln.

In addition to their ordinary duties, the officers have performed a vast amount of special duty and detached service, thirteen being detailed at one time. They have made sixty-seven trips in charge of convalescents, recruits, conscripts, and deserters, escorting a total of 14,793, with a total loss of 325. When it is considered that this service covered in all a period of 317 days, and that thousands of the men guarded were professional bounty jumpers or similarly desperate characters, this loss will not appear surprising.

Reference:

The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies – https://archive.org/details/warrebellionaco17offigoog/page/n576