The 23rd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

 that served in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

Service

The 23rd Kentucky Infantry was organized at Camp King in Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

 and mustered in for a three year enlistment on January 2, 1862 under the command of Colonel

Colonel (United States)

In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...

 Marcellus Mundy.

The regiment was attached to District of Kentucky, Department of the Ohio

Department of the Ohio

The Department of the Ohio was an administrative military district created by the United States War Department early in the American Civil War to administer the troops in the Northern states near the Ohio River.General Orders No...

, to March 1862. 23rd Independent Brigade, Army of the Ohio

Army of the Ohio

The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863.-History:...

, to July 1862. 10th Brigade, 4th Division, Army of the Ohio, to September 1862. 10th Brigade, 4th Division, II Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Left Wing, XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland

Army of the Cumberland

The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. It was originally known as the Army of the Ohio.-History:...

, to January 1863. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, XXI Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October 1863. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, IV Corps, to August 1864. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, IV Corps, to June 1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, IV Corps, to August 1865. Department of Texas to December 1865.

The 23rd Kentucky Infantry mustered out of service on December 27, 1865.

Detailed service

Garrison and guard duty in southern Kentucky and middle Tennessee January to August 1862. Round Mountain, near Woodbury, Tenn., August 27. March to Louisville, Ky., in pursuit of Bragg, September 1–26. Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1–16. Battle of Perryville October 8 (reserve). March to Nashville, Tenn., October 17-November 7, and duty there until December 26. Advance on Murfreesboro December 26–30. Lavergne December 27. Battle of Stones River December 30–31, 1862 and January 1–3, 1865. Woodbury January 24. At Murfreesboro until June. Scout from Clarksville May 20–22. Tullahoma Campaign June 23-July 7. At Manchester until August 16. Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga Campaign August 16-September 22. Ringgold September 11. Lee and Gordon's Mills September 12–13. Battle of Chickamauga September 19–20. Siege of Chattanooga, September 24-November 23. Reopening Tennessee River October 26–29. Brown's Ferry October 27. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23–27. Orchard Knob November 23–24. Missionary Ridge November 25. Pursuit to Graysville November 26–27. March to relief of Knoxville November 28-December 8. Charlestown December 28. Operations in eastern Tennessee December 1863 to April 1864. Regiment veteranized at Blain's Cross Roads, Tenn., January 5, 1864. Atlanta Campaign May 1 to September 8, 1864. Demonstrations on Rocky Faced Ridge and Dalton, Ga., May 5–13. Battle of Resaca May 14–15. Adairsville May 17. Near Kingston May 18–19. Near Cassville May 19. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Pickett's Mills May 27. Operations about Marietta and against Kennesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11–14. Lost Mountain June 15–17. Assault on Kennesaw June 27. Ruff's Station, Smyrna Camp Ground, July 4. Pace's Ferry July 5. Chattahoochie River July 6–17. Peachtree Creek July 19–20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Utoy Creek August 5–7. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25–30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Lovejoy's Station September 2–6. Operations against Hood in northern Georgia and northern Alabama October 1–26. Nashville Campaign November-December. Columbia, Duck River, November 24–27. Battle of Franklin November 30. Battle of Nashville December 15–16. Pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River December 17–29. Moved to Huntsville, Ala., and duty there until March 1865. Expedition to Bull's Gap and operations in eastern Tennessee March 15-April 22. At Nashville, until June. Ordered to New Orleans, June 6; thence moved to Texas July. Duty at Indianola, Green Lake and Victoria until December.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 191 men during service; 5 officers and 84 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 102 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

• Colonel Marcellus Mundy
• Lieutenant Colonel J. P. Jackson
• Lieutenant Colonel James C. Foy
• Lieutenant Colonel George W. Northup - commanded at the battle of Nashville
• Major Thomas J. Hamrick

See also

• List of Kentucky Civil War Units
• Kentucky in the Civil War
  Kentucky in the Civil War
  Kentucky was a border state of key importance in the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln recognized the importance of the Commonwealth when he declared "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky." In a September 1861 letter to Orville Browning, Lincoln wrote "I think to lose...