"I do not regret having done as I have done, for I with many thousands was honest and enlisted for our country. If I was home and knew as much as I do now I would enlist at the first opportunity."
Corporal Andrew D. Couch - January 1863
Killed May 2, 1863 at Chancellorsville, Virginia
Contents
Introduction
Pistol of Captain William Lacey, Co. D
The Seventeenth at Chancellorsville
The 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry first saw combat during "Fighting Joe" Hooker's Chancellorsville campaign. The following is a "work in progress" covering the regiment's participation in that campaign. Please see Major Allen Brady's official report on the action as well. Major Brady assumed command of the regiment after Colonel William Noble was seriously wounded and Lt. Colonel Charles Walter was killed in action on May 2nd.
Post-war view of the Virginia Wilderness in which the battle was fought (from the Library of Congress)
The regiment lost approximately 120 soldiers from a strength of slightly more than 500 men, many of those being captured as Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's men obliterated the Union right flank on that fateful afternoon. The complete list of casualties may also be perused here.
Winslow Homer's "Skirmish in the Wilderness" - different battle, same terrain
Just added are photo's of Captain William Lacey's pistol, contributed by Larry Stewart. Larry is the current owner of the pistol, a silent eyewitness to the battle. Click on the photo to the left for more information.