Forty-eighth New York Infantry

The second regiment in Barton's New York brigade was the Forty-eighth New York Volunteer Infantry. This unit was organized in Brooklyn, New York City, and Peekskill during the late summer of 1861, a dark period for the north following the humiliation of First Bull Run. In addition to the men recruited in the Empire State, companies of the regiment were also formed in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

Drawing from the
Olustee Post Card Set.

The Forty-eighth was also known as the Continental Guards Regiment or "Perry's Saints." The former designation referred to the multi-state composition of the unit, while the latter was in honor of the regiment's organizer and first commander, Colonel James H. Perry. Perry had attended West Point for three years in the 1830's, before resigning to serve prominently in the Army of the Republic of Texas during its War of Independence with Mexico. Disillusioned by the bloodshed and carnage of that war, he turned his attention to the ministry in the post-war years and became a major figure in the Methodist Church in New York. Because of Perry's prominence as a minister, the Forty-eighth attracted a different kind of recruit. Included were many seminary students and others from strongly religious backgrounds. Perry contributed to the unusual, if not unique, composition of the unit by discouraging the consumption of alcohol. In June 1862 the regiment was at Tybee Island, near Savannah, when a quantity of alcohol washed ashore from a stranded ship. Many of Perry's men consumed these spirits and became drunk. Colonel Perry died of a heart attack the next day, but whether his attack was the result of the activities of the previous day is unclear.

Soon after its organization, the Forty-eighth was also sent to the lower Atlantic Coast, where it would actively campaign for the next two years. Unlike, the Forty-seventh New York, Perry's Saints participated in several heated battles during the period, including the bloody, ill-fated assault on Battery Wagner in July 1863, (the 48th was part of the same brigade that included the 54th Massachusetts). in which the regiment suffered nearly 250 casualties. The Forty-eighth saw no further combat action after Battery Wagner, serving on garrison duty at St. Augustine and in various locations along the Georgia and South Carolina coast. At the time of the Florida campaign, the regiment was seriously under-strength. Nearly 300 veterans of the unit had recently been awarded thirty-day furloughs as a reward for their reenlistment.

At Olustee the Forty-eighth suffered 215 casualties, including forty-seven men killed or mortally wounded. Later in 1864 the regiment joined the Army of the James during its operations against Richmond and Petersburg, and also at the assault on Fort Fisher. The New Yorkers suffered 859 casualties during the course of the war.

War Records of Thomas Parrott, Company C

External Web sites related to the Battle of Olustee
Regimental History
Photograph of the regiment's officers
The regiment's flank markers
Perry's Saints or The Fighting Parson's Regiment in the War of the Rebellion - full text from the 1886 book on the 48th New York Volunteer Infantry
The 48th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Campaign for Charleston, July 1863 - Master thesis by Lou Evans

48th New York Reenacting Units
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Co. D
Co. F - Jacksonville, FL

Union Order of Battle
Battle of Olustee Home Page
http://battleofolustee.org/