53rd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry The 53rd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment recruited in Massachusetts for service in the American Civil War . The volunteers , mostly farmers , predominately hailed from north - central Massachusetts . Service . The Fifty - third Regiment was in the Department of the Gulf . It arrived at New Orleans , Louisiana , 30 January 1863 , after a stormy passage . It encamped at Carrollton , reporting to Brigadier General Emory , and attached to the Third Brigade , Third Division . It was employed for six weeks in improving the drill and discipline of the regiment . War history . 1863 . 6 March . On 6 March , the Fifty - third was ordered to Baton Rouge and , on the 12th , was sent on a reconnaissance up the river , where it encountered , and drove in , the enemy ' s pickets . On the 13th , it marched with the division in the expedition to Port Hudson ; but arriving after the object of the expedition was accomplished , it returned to Baton Rouge . On 1 April it was ordered to Algiers with the rest of the division , and , on the 9th , took passage for Brashear City , to join in the movement through the Teche country , which began 11 April . The enemy having been encountered at Pattersonville on the 13th , the Fifty - third was engaged in supporting a battery , and skirmishing towards the fortifications , when it was under fire of musket ry and shell for five hours . The flag of the Fifty - third was the first to be placed upon the ramparts of Fort Brisland . The regiment lost in this action one officer and thirteen privates , killed and wounded . But eight companies were engaged , two being on detached service . 15 March . On the 15th , it marched with the division in pursuit of the retreating enemy , with an occasional skirmish , and reached Opelousas on the 20th , where it remained a fortnight , employed in drill and picket duty . 24 May . The army having moved towards Port Hudson , the Fifty - third was detailed as guard for the engineer corps , and led the column . Encountering the enemy ' s skirmishers , the regiment was immediately moved forward ; three companies , thrown out as skirmishers , soon became engaged with the enemy , and succeeded in driving them back , so that the engineer corps could proceed in its labours . 27 May . The day of the general attack upon Port Hudson , the regiment was ordered forward , and was soon under fire of shot and shell . It moved to the front to support a battery , and to the front line of skirmishers . By this time , it had lost thirty killed and wounded . 28 May . It joined the brigade , and remained until 1 June , engaged in picket duty , and fortifying the position ; it was then ordered to occupy rifle pits at the front , and sustained a loss of five men , killed and wounded . 5 June . It marched as a part of the expedition to Clinton , which occupied four days , and resulted in driving the enemy from that locality . On the 13th it was ordered to join in the assault upon the fortifications at Port Hudson . This assault cost the regiment heavily . Of the three hundred officers and men ( being but eight companies ) who were sent in , seven officers and seventy - nine men were killed and wounded . 19 June . The Fifty - third was ordered to the front in support of a battery , where it remained till the surrender of Port Hudson , 9 July . It was then ordered on picket duty five miles from Port Hudson , when it marched with the brigade to Baton Rouge . On the 15th it embarked for Donaldsonville and remained in camp , engaged in drill and picket duty until 2 August when it returned to Baton Rouge , and , on the 12th , was ordered to Massachusetts by way of Cairo , Illinois . It arrived at Cairo 19 August , and at Fitchburg , Massachusetts , the 24th , where , after a public reception , it was furloughed one week , and mustered out of service 2 September , by Captain I . R . Lawrence . Result . Died : 146 ; Killed : 18 ; Discharged : 54 ; Prisoners : 0 ; Deserted : 21