The 46th Fought on Thirteen Major Battlefields
All photos and illustrations are from the Library of Congress unless noted otherwise
First Winchester
To them, it was called the Second Battle of Winchester, they thinking the first battle was what history now calls the Battle of Kernstown, fought on March 23, 1862. The battle they fought was on May 25, 1862, when Stonewall Jackson attacked a lone Union division with two divisions of rebels, and succeeded in driving the Union force out of the Shenandoah Valley. One-hundred twenty-one names would be written of the casualty list of the 46th Pennsylvania.
Cedar Mountain
On August 9, 1862, Jackson again encountered a Union Army camped around Culpeper, Virginia. The 46th’s brigade was ordered to attack a Confederate artillery position. They succeeded, only to be nearly surrounded when Jackson organized a strong counter-attack. Of the 504 men who marched into the battle with the Forty-Sixth, 259 became casualties, more than fifty of whom were killed on the field or died soon thereafter.
Antietam
On September 17, 1862 the 46th Pennsylvania and Union Twelfth Corps arrived early on the Union right flank, stepping in the replace the First Corps, and advanced to a fence along the north side of Miller’s Cornfield. While there, and while subjected to rebel artillery fire a little later, the regiment lost more than 25 percent of the one hundred or so soldiers who managed to make it to the battlefield. Among them were Capt. George Brooks, the only captain present, and George Etter, a new recruit brought to the battle by Brooks, who had been in uniform less than a day.
Chancellorsville
Fought over three days, May 1-3, 1863, Williams’ Division, of which the 46th was a part, stopped the famous flank attack made by Stonewall Jackson on the night of May 2. In the confusion of darkness, the regiment’s field commander, Major Cyrus Strous, was mortally wounded, and 111 men became casualties, most of them as prisoners of war. The fight continued on May 3, Williams’ men holding off repeated rebel attacks until their own ammunition was exhausted.
Gettysburg
Also fought over three days, July1-3, 1863, the 46th was only lightly engaged and its only casualties happened when Union artillery posted on Powers’ Hill fired over them at rebels on Culp’s Hill, and the shells fell grievously short. Among the sixteen casualties were two men killed, one being the color-bearer, Pvt. Charles H. Briner of Reading.
Resaca
In late September 1863, the Union Twelfth Corps and the 46th were sent to relieve and reinforce the Union army at Chattanooga. In the spring of 1864, the regiment began campaigning with William T. Sherman. Resaca was fought on May 14-15, 1864, and the 46th was engaged on both days, most seriously on May 15, losing 46 men over the course of the fight, including Capt. Ned Witman, Company D, to a foot wound, and Lt. John Knipe, mortally wounded while serving as an aide to his uncle, Brig. Gen. Joseph Knipe.
New Hope Church
Hoping to seize the crossroads at New Hope Church before the rebels could strengthen their position, Geary’s and Williams’ divisions were ordered to assault an impregnable Confederate defensive line. The regiment took seventy-three casualties that afternoon, many of them hit by grapeshot and canister loads fired by rebel cannoneers at point blank range. Among the lost, Captains Neal Craig, Co. F seriously wounded, and Dennis Chesebro, Co. G, killed.
Gilgal Church
The Confederate army led by Joe Johnston withdrew from the defensive works at New Hope Church to a series of new lines near Lost Mountain. While probing with skirmishers to locate the new line, the men of Companies G and H became heavily engaged during this battle on June 15-16, 1864. The rebels abandoned this line shortly after, pulling back closer to Kennesaw Mountain and Marietta. Sixteen men were killed or wounded.
Kolb’s Farm
In an effort to slow Sherman’s advance, on June 22, 1864 Johnston ordered Hood’s Corps to attack the advancing Twentieth Corps on the Union right flank. Williams’ Division was able to take up a strong defensive position, and they were able to easily repulse the attack, inflicting heavy losses while suffering relatively few. The Forty-Sixth lost twenty-two, including four men who were captured and died in Andersonville prison.
Peach Tree Creek
The day after being given command of the Confederate forces around Atlanta, on July 20, 1864, John Bell Hood launched an attack, hoping to catch the Union Army spread apart and unprepared. The men of the Forty-Sixth found themselves being shot at from three sides, losing 123 men in the severe fire-fight. They were able to reform their line, and the rebels attacks were eventually repulsed.
Siege of Atlanta
Sherman’s armies were able to place the city of Atlanta under siege in late July 1864, and it lasted all through August. Constant skirmishing, sniper fire, and artillery barrages brought a steady stream of casualties. The 46th Pennsylvania suffered its share, losing sixteen men before the city fell.
March to the Sea
No major losses were suffered during this important campaign that destroyed the war-making capacity of the state of Georgia, which began on November 15, 1864. In the 46th, five men were captured on various dates along the line of march, and three men were wounded at the Battle of Monteith Swamp on December 9, 1864. Three more were wounded during the Siege of Savannah, which surrendered on December 21, 1864.
Averasboro
The Union columns advanced through South Carolina and on into North Carolina beginning on January 17, 1865. They faced no opposition until mid-March, when Confederate General William Hardee made a stand near Averasboro, NC on March 16, 1865 trying to slow down the Union columns. He bought the Confederacy a day, which was enough for Joseph Johnston to unite the various units under his command. In the campaign to this point, the 46th had lost eleven men captured. They lost one killed and four wounded at Averasboro.
Bentonville
Johnston made one last attempt to defeat Sherman’s forces in detail by launching an attack on the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps as they moved toward Goldsboro on March 19. The 46th was left behind to guard a crossroads when the battle began, and lost three men in a skirmish. One of them, Pvt. Edward Troxell, recovered enough from a shot through the lung to return to the regiment’s camp to be discharged, but died there on July 13, three days before the regiment left for home.