In the wake of the Battle of Fort Sumter and President Abraham Lincoln's subsequent call for 75,000 volunteers in the spring of 1861, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began organizing regiments for ninety days' service in the Union Army. As companies of volunteers and militiamen began arriving in the state capital at Harrisburg, the men were gathered north of the city at Camp Curtin. On April 20, 1861, ten companies of volunteers were organized into a regiment and dubbed the 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry. Most of the recruits came from central and south-central Pennsylvania. The next day they were sent to Washington but their train was halted near Cockeysville, Maryland because Secessionists had burned a railroad bridge as part of the Baltimore Riot. The regiment bivouacked in a field near the train for two days, worrying about further violence by the Secessionists. After the threat passed the regiment was sent to York, Pennsylvania arriving on April 24. They spent the next month drilling and training.