The 6th 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 6th Kentucky Infantry was organized at Camp Muldraugh's Hill

Muldraugh, Kentucky

Muldraugh is a city in Hardin and Meade Counties in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It lies on U.S. Route 31W, approximately halfway between Louisville and Elizabethtown. The city's limits are completely encompassed by the Fort Knox Army base...

 and Shepherdsville, Kentucky

Shepherdsville, Kentucky

As of the census of 2000, there were 8,334 people, 3,177 households, and 2,363 families residing in the city. The population density was 791.3 people per square mile . There were 3,402 housing units at an average density of 323.0 per square mile...

 and mustered in for a three year enlistment on December 24, 1861 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...

 Walter Chiles Whitaker

Walter C. Whitaker

Walter Chiles Whitaker was an American farmer, attorney, and soldier. He served as an officer in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War, and also was a Union general during the American Civil War...

.

The regiment was attached to Rousseau's 1st Brigade, McCook's Command, at Nolin, Kentucky, to November 1861. 12th 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 December 1861. 12th Brigade, 1st Division, Army of the Ohio, to January 1862. 19th Brigade, 4th Division, Army of the Ohio, to September 1862. 19th Brigade, 4th Division, II Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862. 2nd 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. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, XXI Corps, to October 1863. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, IV Corps, to August 1864. 1st Brigade, Defenses of Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, to September 1864. Unattached, 4th Division, XX Corps, to November 1864. District of Kentucky to January 1865.

The 6th Kentucky Infantry mustered out of service at Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

 from September 23, 1864 to January 2, 1865.

Detailed service

Engaged in the defense of eastern Kentucky before muster. Moved to Lebanon, Ky., November 28, 1861. Skirmish at Bagdad, Selby County, Ky., December 12, 1861. At Camp Wyckliffe, Ky., until February 1862. Advance on Nashville, Tenn., February 14–25. Occupation of Nashville February 25-March 18. March to Savannah, Tenn., March 18-April 6. Battle of Shiloh, April 7. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., April 29-May 30. Occupation of Corinth May 30, and pursuit to Booneville May 31-June 12. Buell's Campaign in northern Alabama and middle Tennessee June to August. Flat Lick, Tenn., August 17 (detachment). March to Louisville, Ky., in pursuit of Bragg August 17-September 26. Pursuit of Bragg to London, Ky., October 1–22. Battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8. Danville October 11. Near Crab Orchard October 15. Wild Cat Mountain, near Crab Orchard, and Big Rockcastle River, near Mt. Vernon, October 18. Pittman's Cross Roads October 19. March to Nashville, Tenn., October 23-November 6, and duty there until December 26. Advance on Murfreesboro, Tenn., December 26–30. Springfield, Ky., December 30 (detachment). Battle of Stones River December 30–31, 1862 and January 1–3, 1863. At Murfreesboro until June. Woodbury January 24. Expedition to Woodbury April 2. Snow Hill, Woodbury, April 3. Tullahoma Campaign June 24-July 7. Liberty Gap June 24–27. Occupation of middle Tennessee until August 16. Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga Campaign August 16-September 22. Lee and Gordon's Mills, Ga., September 11–13. Battle of Chickamauga, September 19–20. Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn., 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. March to relief of Knoxville November 28-December 8. Operations in eastern Tennessee December 1863 to April 1864. Atlanta Campaign May 1 to August 19, 1864. Demonstrations on Rocky Faced Ridge and Dalton May 8–13. Battle of Resaca May 14–15. Adairsville May 17. Near Kingston May 18–19. Near Cassville May 19. Advance on Dallas May 22–25. 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 19. Ordered to Chattanooga, Tenn., August 19. Garrison duty there and at Bridgeport, Ala., until November 2. Moved to Nashville, Tenn.; thence ordered to Louisville, Ky. Mustered out September 23, 1864 to January 2, 1865.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 216 men during service; 10 officers and 105 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 5 officers and 96 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

• Colonel Walter Chiles Whitaker
• Colonel George T. Shackelford - commanded at the battle of Chickamauga
• Lieutenant Colonel Richard Rockingham - commanded at the battle of Chickamauga
• Major Richard T. Whitaker - commanded at the battle of Chickamauga

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...
  
  

External links

• 6th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry U.S. by Joe Reinhart