Civil War: 17th Infantry | Wisconsin Historical Society

Historical Essay

17th Wisconsin Infantry History

Wisconsin Civil War Regiment

Civil War: 17th Infantry | Wisconsin Historical Society
EnlargeA portrait of an unidentified Civil War soldier.

Civil War Soldier, 1860s ca.

A portrait of an unidentified Civil War soldier. View the original source document: WHI 33514

The 17th Wisconsin Infantry was organized at Camp Randall in Madison and mustered into service on March 15, 1862. The regiment left Wisconsin for St. Louis, Missouri, on March 23 and then went to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, on April 10-14.

During its service it moved through Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia, the Carolinas, Washington D.C., and Kentucky. The regiment participated in the battles of Corinth, Port Gibson, Champion Hill, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, and Jonesboro, as well as the sieges of Vicksburg, Atlanta, and Savannah and Sherman's March to the Sea.

The regiment moved to Louisville, Kentucky, at the war's end and there mustered out on July 14, 1865. It lost 269 men during service. Forty-one enlisted men were killed and 228 enlisted men died from disease.

[Source: Estabrook, Charles E, ed. Records and sketches of military organizations: population, legislation, election and other statistics relating to Wisconsin in the period of the Civil War. (Madison, 1914?)]