10th Connecticut Infantry Regiment The 10th Connecticut Regiment Infantry was one of Connecticut ' s most successful civil war regiments , compling an exemplary record of service in the Union Army . The 10th Regiment saw action in the coastal campaign during the early years of the war , which culminated with the siege of Charleston . The 10th went on to fight the trench battles of Richmond , earning praise from Union generals and Ulysses S . Grant . The 10th was active at the war ’ s very end , when they blocked Robert E . Lee ’ s attempt to escape from Virginia . And , the 10th was present at Appomattox Court House when Lee surrendered to Grant . All told , the 10th regiment fought in twenty three battle s and at least as many skirmish es . Formation of the Regiment . The 10th Connecticut Regiment Infantry was originally formed from the 10th Connecticut Volunteers . After the Union loss at the first Battle of Bull Run , in the summer of 1861 , volunteers poured into the Union army ranks . In September , members of the 10th regiment started arriving at Camp Buckingham in Hartford . Members of the 10th regiment came from Connecticut towns large and small , including , Hartford , New Haven , Derby , Manchester , Sprague , New London , Stamford and Greenwich . After a few months at Camp Buckingham , the 10th regiment headed down to Annapolis , M . D . for additional training before joining General Burnside ’ s North Carolina Expedition to blockade vital Confederate ports . Combat record . Battle of Roanoke Island ( February 1862 ) . One of the first objectives for Burnside ’ s expeditionary force was to capture Roanoke Island in North Carolina . After a harrowing sea voyage through a violent storm , during which hundreds of Connecticut soldiers perished due to illness , the Tenth was put ashore on the North Carolina coast . The two day battle for Roanoke Island started with Union gunboat s bombarding the Confederate positions . The Tenth faced a daunting task trying to dislodge the 3 , 000 enemy defenders . Captain Pardee of the Tenth wrote , " They had three pieces of artillery fronting and commanding this clearing ; and large numbers of riflemen perched in trees , behind the turfed walls and under all possible covers . " The Tenth along with the other Connecticut units made a determined advance and completely routed the Confederates . After the victory , the Tenth was recognized for their bravery and excellent soldierly actions by commanding General John G . Foster . The Tenth also won praise from their comrades in the 8th Connecticut Volunteers , being written about as " the gallant Connecticut Tenth " . The Tenth sustained the heaviest losses in the Battle of Roanoke Island in North Carolina by any regiment engaged , with 56 soldiers killed or wounded . Battle of Newbern ( March 1862 ) . After taking Roanoke Island , the next Union objective was to move up the Neuse River and attack a Confederate position at Newbern , North Carolina , a strategic coastal town , west of the Outer Banks . On the morning of March 13 , General Burnside ordered the entire brigade to advance on the Confederate position . The Confederates had established a long line of impressive defensive fortification s manned by 7 , 000 soldiers and a large number of heavy artillery . Here , a heavy and sustained rifle fire from the Tenth Connecticut weakened parts of the Confederate line . This allowed the 8th Connecticut and 4th Rhode Island troops to charge and begin the rout of the enemy forces . Newbern was soon under Union control . In his report , General Foster praised the men of the Tenth , writing , " . . . ( the Tenth ) advanced . . . , in line of battle , fired with the most remarkable steadiness . . . , giving and taking the most severe fire . " Action at Rawls Mills ( November 1862 ) . The Tenth remained in Newbern all throughout the summer of 1862 . The next action for the Tenth came in November 1862 , when the regiment was ordered to attack a rebel supply route near Rawls Mills , N . C . The Tenth was out in front of the Union troops , the first to take fire in leading the advance . Rebel troops were pushed back repeatedly as the Union troops marched through Williamston and continued on to capture Rainbow Fort on the Roanoke River . Two weeks later , the Tenth was back in Newbern having accomplished their mission . Battle at Kinston ( December 1862 ) . In December 1862 , the Tenth moved out of Newbern to support General McClellan ’ s attack on the Confederate capital of Richmond and to cut off the Wilmington Railroad . The first encounter with the Confederate forces was near the Kinston Bridge over the Neuse River . The advance of the first two lines of Union troops was halted by the Confederate resistance and swamp terrain . Here , General Foster called on the Tenth to make a breakthrough . The Tenth pressed the attack through a hailstorm of bullets . They charged the Confederate positions , and , after half an hour of murderous , close - range , rifle - exchanges , the Tenth gained the upper hand . The Confederate lines collapsed . As they retreated , the Confederate troops set fire to the strategic Kinston bridge . Undeterred , the Tenth managed to douse the flames , capture the bridge and drive off the enemy forces . In this battle , the Tenth captured 100 Confederate soldiers and all of the Confederate artillery . This had been the most difficult fighting that the Tenth had experienced , thus far . The losses were large , both in officers and enlisted ranks . Of the three hundred and sixty officers and men sent into action , over a third were killed in action or died within four days of the battle . General Foster again hailed the Tenth as the " bravest among the brave " . Battle of Goldsboro Bridge ( December 1862 ) . The Tenth was given no time to rest . The regiment moved on toward the town of Goldsboro , North Carolina Again the Tenth was at the front of the Union force . At Goldsboro the regiment destroyed Confederate railroad tracks and a burned a railroad bridge . With the mission accomplished , the Tenth returned to Newbern , having absorbed one fourth of all Union losses in this expedition . Assault on Fort Wagner ( July 1863 ) . During 1862 , despite the Union Army advances along the Carolina coast , the Confederacy had largely succeeded in defending its territory , beating back the stronger Union forces with superior battlefield leadership . At the beginning of 1863 , the Union Army was still in search of a major , morale - boosting victory . The Tenth finally moved out of Newbern , North Carolina , in January 1863 . The regiment was ordered to St . Helena Island , South Carolina , near Charleston . The Union blockade of Charleston harbor was effective , but the city remained in Confederate hands . In early July , the Tenth was ordered to join a large - scale assault on Fort Wagner , situated on nearby Morris Island . This was part of the second Union attempt to capture Charleston . The Tenth ’ s main role in the assault was a successful diversionary action . The main attack force consisted of the African American troops of the 54th Massachusetts and the 6th Connecticut ( as depicted in the motion picture Glory ) . The attack on Fort Wagner did not initially succeed , although Union forces did breach the fort ’ s defenses . After the attack , Union soldiers spent months digging trench es parallel to the Confederate lines . This tactic eventually proved a successful strategy as the Confederate troops abandoned Fort Wagner in early September . Down the Atlantic coast to St . Agustine , Florida . In late October 1863 , the Tenth was ordered down the Atlantic coast for rest and recuperation in St . Augustine , Florida . The men of the Tenth were able to regain their strength at St . Augustine , but the enemy was always nearby . In fact , twenty two soldiers of the regiment were captured and one soldier was killed during a Confederate ambush . The men of the 10th were escorting a wood chopping detail near the base when the Confederates attacked . On the James River , City Point and Bermuda Hundred ( May 1864 ) . As 1864 began , the Union Armies of the Potomac and the James were methodically pushing General Lee ’ s Army to the strong defenses of the Confederate capital of Richmond . During February 1864 , Connecticut veterans of the war were given furlough s . Veterans of the Tenth arrived in New Haven on February 19 and then travelled to Hartford . They were warmly received and praised by town and state leaders . Veterans of the Tenth re - enlisted for another three years and new recruits joined the regiment . In May 1864 , men of the Tenth Connecticut were back on the front line . The regiment was assigned to the Tenth Corps in the Army of the James . Their first mission was to take the strategic riverfront s at City Point and Bermuda Hundred in Virginia . The 10th regiment and accompanying Union troops accomplished this mission by moving quickly up the James River , surprising the Confederate forces , and landing unopposed . City Point , situated on the confluence of the James and Appomattox Rivers , would later become General Grant ’ s main headquarters and the Union ’ s staging area for the siege of Petersburg and Richmond . Battle of Fort Darling ( Drewry ’ s Bluff ) ( May 1864 ) . The next objective of the Union force was a march toward Richmond to encircle the Confederate capital . In their path stood Fort Darling , a strong defensive position on the James River , near Drewry ’ s Bluff and just south of Richmond . The assault on Fort Darling did not succeed . However , the Tenth fought bravely , mainly in rearguard action , protecting other Union regiments . Despite this setback , Union troops continued on toward Richmond . Repelling an attack on the march to Richmond . In early October , the advancing Union army was suddenly counterattacked by Confederate cavalry and infantry units . The Tenth fended off the attack despite fighting with an exposed flank , as an adjacent New York regiment turned and ran when the Confederates charged . General H . M . Plaisted , commander of the Tenth Army Corps , wrote of the Tenth Connecticut , " In my opinion , the conduct of the Tenth Regiment , when the troops on its right broke and fled , saved the Army of the James . " Battle for Fort Gregg ( April 1865 ) . By early April 1865 , Union forces were at the outer defenses of Petersburg . The Tenth was now poised to attack Fort Gregg , an intimidating defensive position , consisting of well constructed trenches and earthworks , backed up by many artillery pieces . On April 2 the Tenth , supported by the 100th New York , advanced toward Fort Gregg , facing murderous cannon and rifle fire . Many of the Tenth fell far short of their objective . But , the main body of the regiment reached the fort , and there began fierce hand - to - hand combat . The Connecticut flag was first to be placed on the parapet of the fort , and after the brutal struggle , the Tenth Connecticut emerged victorious . Victory came at a high cost ; half of the Tenth ’ s assault force were either killed or wounded . After the battle , Major General John Gibbon , presented to the Tenth Connecticut , an ornate bronze eagle , resting on a globe to place atop the Connecticut state flag . This distinction went to the men of the Tenth for " . . . for gallant conduct in the assault on Fort Gregg . . . " . Appomattox Court House ( April 1865 ) . The men of the Tenth were pressed into action once again in pursuit of the retreating Robert E . Lee . Lee withdrew from Richmond to Danville , Virginia and looked to link up with General Johnston ’ s army in North Carolina . At dawn , on April 9 , Lee tried to break through Union lines near Appomattox Station , 100 miles west of Richmond . After an initial surge forward by the Confederate troops , the Tenth and First Connecticut Cavalry blocked Lee ’ s escape . The war lost , Lee signed the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia , just hours later , at Appomattox Court House . The 10th Connecticut was present . Record and legacy . The Tenth Connecticut was mustered out of the Union Army on August 25 , 1865 . During the four - year war , the Tenth Connecticut saw service from 2 , 124 men . These men fought in 23 battles and at least as many skirmishes . Fifty seven men were killed in action . Fifty nine died of wounds and one hundred fifty two died of disease . The Tenth was one of the top 300 Union regiments in the Civil War ( out of over 1 , 700 ) , according to historian William F . Fox .