46th Pennsylvania Infantry The 46th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was a Union Army regiment in the American Civil War . It served in both the Eastern and Western Theaters , most notably at the 1862 Battle of Cedar Mountain and during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign . During the war , the regiment lost 17 % of it strength through combat losses and disease . History . Organization and early movements . The regiment was recruited in Allegheney , Berks , Dauphin , Luzerne , Mifflin , Northampton , Northumberland , and Potter counties , and formally mustered into service on September 4 , 1861 , under the command of Colonel Joseph Farmer Knipe . At Camp Curtin , in Harrisburg , they were formally accepted into the service of the United States and received their uniforms and equipment . Additionally , they were presented with their regimental colors by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin . From late September 1861 through February 1862 , the 46th was stationed on the upper Potomac River in Maryland , performing guard and outpost duty in Brig . Gen . Alpheus Williams ' division , assigned to Maj . Gen . Nathaniel Banks ' corps . During this time , on September 22 , Maj . Arnold Lewis was shot and killed by Pvt . Dennis Lanaghan of Company I while trying to enforce discipline , for which he was sentenced by military court to be executed . He was hanged on December 23 of that year , in front of his gathered brigade . By March 1862 , the regiment had crossed the Potomac and reached Winchester , Virginia , beginning their part in what was to become the Valley Campaign . After a brief foray to Manassas , they were ordered back to Winchester and subsequently started a long march up the Shenandoah Valley , reaching as far south as Harrisonburg . From there they began a retrograde movement in which they fell back to the vicinity of Strasburg . On May 24 they again arrived at Winchester after a desperate march to reach the town before General Stonewall Jackson ' s troops . The next day they fought the First Battle of Winchester , in which , heavily outnumbered , General Banks ' troops were forced to frantically retreat thirty - five miles to Williamsport , Maryland , on the north bank of the Potomac . Battle of Cedar Mountain . In early August , Banks ' corps , now part of Maj . Gen . John Pope ' s Army of Virginia , was stationed at Culpeper , Virginia . With reports of Jackson ' s Confederate troops marching in their direction , the 46th and the rest of their brigade under Brig . Gen . Samuel W . Crawford were ordered to attack them near a promontory named Cedar Mountain . Advancing across a wheat field , Crawford ' s brigade smashed into the left of Jackson ' s line and collapsed elements of two brigades there , including the vaunted Stonewall Brigade . During the confusion of battle , the 46th split in two directions , with the right half engaging the right flank of the Stonewall Brigade , and the left half tangling with the left end of Brig . Gen . Richard B . Garnett ' s brigade . The fighting here was close and savage , including hand - to - hand combat . However , with no Union reinforcements immediately sent to sustain this breakthrough , and with pressure from additional Rebel troops sent to shore up and rally this end of the line , Crawford ' s men were soon outflanked and forced to retreat back across the wheatfield . The Battle of Cedar Mountain devastated the ranks of the 46th . Out of a total of 504 engaged , the regiment lost 31 killed , 102 wounded , and 111 taken prisoner or missing , a casualty rate of 48 % . Due to these losses , the regiment was not actively engaged in the Second Battle of Bull Run at the end of August . However , at the Battle of Antietam on September 17 , in spite of still having a fraction of their former number , they nevertheless saw action and lost an additional six killed and three wounded . After Antietam , the regiment occupied Maryland Heights opposite Harpers Ferry , Virginia , where they were placed on picket duty , lasting through the middle of December , when they marched to Fairfax , Virginia , and remained there until mid - January 1863 . 1863 . Subsequent to having taken part in Burnside ' s Mud March January 20 – 24 , 1863 , the 46th went into winter camp at Stafford Courthhouse , Virginia and remained there into late April . That spring , Union Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker reorganized the Army of the Potomac , of which he was now in command . One of Hooker ' s initiatives included assigning each army corps a particular badge symbol , color - coded to indicate the division to which the wearer of the badge belonged . Hence , the men of the 46th now wore a red star , indicative of their assignment to the First Division of the XII Corps . Thus organized , at the end of April , the regiment marched up the Rappahannock River around Gen . Robert E . Lee ' s left flank , on their way toward the Battle of Chancellorsville . On the Morning of May 3 ( after General Jackson ' s wounding ) , the resumption of the famous ' Flank Attack ' bore heavily upon the 1st Division . Generally , the XII Corps played a significant role throughout the battle in defending their part of Hooker ' s line and covering the army ' s retreat afterward . In June , Lee began advancing his Army of Northern Virginia through Maryland and into Pennsylvania , and the 46th likewise marched north with the Army of the Potomac to stop him , at the Battle of Gettysburg . However , the regiment had a limited role in the battle . After first occupying a position near the Union line ' s right flank on Culp ' s Hill late July 1 , they were ordered to march toward the left flank in support of the line on Cemetery Ridge . They later countermarched back to Culp ' s Hill , but now found the enemy occupying the breastworks they had earlier constructed , and instead remained in a reserve position . The only casualties the 46th suffered at Gettysburg were the result of friendly fire from a Union battery posted on Powers Hill behind them . With Lee defeated at Gettysburg and retreating back into Virginia , the Army of the Potomac pursued him to the Rappahannock River . In September , the XI and XII Corps were detached from the Army of the Potomac and transferred west by rail to Tennessee to aid Maj . Gen . William Rosecrans , who was besieged in Chattanooga . For the remainder of 1863 , the 46th was assigned to guard duty near Bridgeport , Alabama , on the rail lines leading to Nashville . 1864 . In January 1864 , enough of the officers and men of the regiment volunteered to re - enlist for an additional three years ' service that the unit was granted “ veteran ” status , which entitled them to a thirty - day furlough , and to thenceforward be referred to as 46th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry . Additionally , the XI Corps and XII Corps were now consolidated into one and reorganized as the XX Corps , taking the XII Corps badge as their insignia . However , still being assigned to the First Division of the corps , the men of the regiment retained their red star badges . The first week of May saw the beginning of Maj . Gen . William Tecumseh Sherman ' s Atlanta Campaign . The 46th was actively engaged in the fighting at the Battle of Resaca on May 14 and 15 , and the Battle of New Hope Church on the 25th of the same month . Throughout June , Sherman continued to attempt to outmaneuver Confederate Gen . Joseph E . Johnston ' s forces . On the 22nd , the regiment saw a stiff fight at the Battle of Kolb ' s Farm . In this battle , the men had stacked their arms toward the rear of a position they had just begun to fortify with breastworks , when suddenly two divisions of Confederate troops appeared in the clearing . After running to retrieve their rifles and loading them as they returned to the line , the 46th and the rest of their brigade , supported by artillery , proceeded to handily repulse the Rebels , inflicting terrible casualties , but incurring very few of their own . Peachtree Creek . In mid - July , with Sherman practically on the doorstep of Atlanta , Confederate President Jefferson Davis demonstrated his dissatisfaction with Gen . Joseph Johnston ' s efforts to stop him by relieving him of command and placing the troops under Gen . John Bell Hood instead . Living up to his aggressive and often reckless nature , Hood wasted little time in ordering an attack on the Union forces near Peachtree Creek . Late in the afternoon on July 20 , the Confederates assaulted Union Maj . Gen . George H . Thomas ' Army of the Cumberland , to which the XX Corps was assigned , catching them completely off guard . Occupying the right flank of Alpheus Williams ' First Division , the 46th was in danger of being overlapped by the Confederates . The companies positioned on the right were ordered to refuse the regiment ' s line , or pull back to form a right angle to the companies on the left . Eventually , with reinforcements arriving to plug a gap between Williams and the next Union division to his right , the Confederates were beaten back . For the 46th , the Battle of Peachtree Creek was second only to Cedar Mountain in the losses they sustained : 26 officers and men killed or mortally wounded , 86 wounded , and 1 missing . Following the Battle of Atlanta on July 22 , Sherman enveloped the fortifications around the city and settled in for a siege , which lasted until September 2 . After occupying Atlanta for two and a half months , the Union forces then set out on Sherman ' s March to the Sea , with the 46th among the ranks , on November 15 , ending with the capture of Savannah , Georgia , on December 22 . End of the war . From Savannah , the 46th turned north with Sherman ' s army and marched through South Carolina and into North Carolina in what became known as the Carolinas Campaign . At the Bennett Place near Durham , North Carolina , Confederate Gen . Joe Johnston surrendered his forces to Sherman . With hostilities now being ended , the regiment continued their march north through Virginia and into Washington , D . C . , where on May 24 they took their place in the Grand Review of the Armies . On July 16 , the men of 46th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers were formally mustered out of service of the United States . Losses . Over the course of the war , the 46th Pennsylvania had 1794 officers and men enrolled in its ranks . Of these , 179 were killed or mortally wounded , or 10 % . An additional 138 died of disease , for a total of 317 deaths , or 17 % . John Wadsworth Vodrey , son of noted American potter Jabez Vodrey , was killed at the Battle of New Hope Church while serving with the regiment . Re - enactors . There is a group of musicians from Central Pennsylvania known as the 46th PA Regiment Band ( The Logan Guard ) , which portrays the regimental band that accompanied the 46th in the first part of its service , until being discharged in August 1862 .