A substantial portion of the antebellum Regular Army along with four of the new 1861-authorized new Regular regiments played their Civil War roles as part of the Army of the Potomac.  They initially formed as the Regular Infantry Brigade, but as the regiments began to add up, a Regular Infantry Division – Sykes’ Regulars – built up.  Recruitment never caught up with battle and disease losses, however, and after several hard-fought battles, the surviving Regulars found themselves pulled from the battlefield after the battle of Cold Harbor in mid-June 1864, their ranks much diminished. In this post, we look at the overall history of the Regular Infantry in the East.

After the war Romeyn Ayres, commander of the Regular Division during 1863-1864 was asked if any of his regulars were still serving. Ayres replied “I had a division of regulars once. I buried half of them at Gettysburg and the other half in the Wilderness. There’s no regulars left.”