Introduction

The percentage of killed in the soldiers of the Keystone State, as based upon the white troops, is greater than in the quota of any other Northern State. This high percentage of loss in battle was largely due to the fact that nearly all the Pennsylvania troops served in Virginia, where the territory was better contested and the war more prolonged. Then, again, the Pennsylvania regiments were second to none. The cavalry of the State were, as a whole, unsurpassed; they saw plenty of hard fighting, and their total losses in action exceed the cavalry losses of any other State.¹

A peculiarity in the numerical designations of the Pennsylvania regiments was the consecutive numbering, irrespective of the arm of the service to which they belonged. The volunteer regiments, as fast as they were organized, were numbered as volunteers; but at the same time some of them were given other numbers, pertaining to their arm of the service. The infantry regiments bore numerical designations identical with their volunteer numbers; but the cavalry and artillery were numbered as such, their titles being synonymous with their numbers in the volunteer line. The cavalry and artillery were never known by their volunteer numbers; hence, the apparent vacancies and lack of consecutive numbers in the list of Pennsylvania regiments. This consecutive numbering-- including, as it did, all arms of the service-- had the effect of running the numbers of the last infantry regiments beyond those furnished by any other State, and creating an impression that Pennsylvania furnished more regiments than any other. No number was repeated in the Pennsylvania line, while in other States the numerical designations of the regiments were repeated by each arm of the service.

The regimental numbers apparently vacant, with their synonymous designations, were:

Volunteer Number	Synonym
30th Penn. Volunteers	1st Penn. Reserves
31st Penn. Volunteers	2d Penn. Reserves
32d Penn. Volunteers	3d Penn. Reserves
33d Penn. Volunteers	4th Penn. Reserves
34th Penn. Volunteers	5th Penn. Reserves
35th Penn. Volunteers	6th Penn. Reserves
36th Penn. Volunteers	7th Penn. Reserves
37th Penn. Volunteers	8th Penn. Reserves
38th Penn. Volunteers	9th Penn. Reserves
39th Penn. Volunteers	10th Penn. Reserves
40th Penn. Volunteers	11th Penn. Reserves
41st Penn. Volunteers	12th Penn. Reserves
42d Penn. Volunteers	13th Penn. Reserves
43d Penn. Volunteers	1st Penn. Artillery
44th Penn. Volunteers	1st Penn. Cavalry
59th Penn. Volunteers	2d Penn. Cavalry
60th Penn. Volunteers	3d Penn. Cavalry
64th Penn. Volunteers	4th Penn. Cavalry
65th Penn. Volunteers	5th Penn. Cavalry
70th Penn. Volunteers	6th Penn. Cavalry
80th Penn. Volunteers	7th Penn. Cavalry
89th Penn. Volunteers	8th Penn. Cavalry
92d Penn. Volunteers	9th Penn. Cavalry
108th Penn. Volunteers	11th Penn. Cavalry
112th Penn. Volunteers	2d Penn. Artillery
113th Penn. Volunteers	12th Penn. Cavalry
117th Penn. Volunteers	13th Penn. Cavalry
152d Penn. Volunteers	3d Penn. Artillery
159th Penn. Volunteers	14th Penn. Cavalry
160th Penn. Volunteers	15th Penn. Cavalry
161st Penn. Volunteers	16th Penn. Cavalry
162d Penn. Volunteers	17th Penn. Cavalry
163d Penn. Volunteers	18th Penn. Cavalry
180th Penn. Volunteers	19th Penn. Cavalry
181st Penn. Volunteers	20th Penn. Cavalry
182d Penn. Volunteers	21st Penn. Cavalry
185th Penn. Volunteers	22d Penn. Cavalry
204th Penn. Volunteers	5th Penn. Artillery
212th Penn. Volunteers	6th Penn. Artillery

Vacant numbers were also caused by the failure of the following regiments to complete their organizations: the 10th Cavalry; 4th Artillery; 86th, 94th, 120th, 144th, 146th, 156th, 164th, 170th, and 189th Infantry. The 66th Regiment, after serving about seven months, was disbanded and transferred to the 73d and 99th Regiments. 

The first twenty-five regiments of volunteers from this State served in 1861, at the commencement of the war, but were enlisted for three months only; these regiments are omitted in the above tabulation, except the 11th and 23d Regiments, which re�nlisted for three years and retained their original designation.

In addition to these twenty-five volunteer regiments of three-months men, Pennsylvania sent to the Army, in 1863, 34 regiments of militia for ninety days' service; also, about 5,000 more emergency-men in separate companies or battalions. Two of these companies served three years, and five of them nine months.

The deaths in the first twenty-five volunteer regiments, and in the thirty-four militia regiments, in 1863, and in the miscellaneous companies, and in all other commands omitted in the above tabulated list of Pennsylvania organizations,-- aggregated 112 from disease and 2 killed in action.

Five companies of Pennsylvania Militia were the first volunteer troops of the war that arrived at Washington, they having marched promptly to the defense of the National Capital at the first note of alarm. These companies were the Ringgold Light Artillery, of Reading; the Logan Guards, of Lewistown; the Washington Artillery and National Light Infantry, of Pottsville; and the Allen Rifles, of Allentown. They entered the city at 7 p. M., on the 18th of April.² On the following day, the 26th Pennsylvania and the 6th Massachusetts arrived at Baltimore en-route for the Capital, and in the fight with the mob in the streets of that city the 26th Pennsylvania lost one man killed and several wounded.

The nine-months regiments from Pennsylvania furnished some noteworthy items to the casualty lists of the war. For instance:

Regiment	Battle	Killed and Wounded
125th Pennsylvania	Antietam	145
130th Pennsylvania	Antietam	178
131st Pennsylvania	Fredericksburg	175
132d Pennsylvania	Antietam	152
133d Pennsylvania	Fredericksburg	184
134th Pennsylvania	Fredericksburg	148
151st Pennsylvania	Gettysburg	2333
203d Pennsylvania4	Fort Fisher	191

The greatest battle of the war was fought on the soil of Pennsylvania, and by a well-ordered fortune the first volley to greet the invading foe flashed from the rifles of a Pennsylvania regiment. To the 56th Pennsylvania Infantry, Colonel J. W. Hofman commanding, belongs the historic honor of firing the first volley on that field. The skirmishers of Buford's Cavalry were earlier on the field, but were only holding the ground until the infantry columns could arrive and open the battle. Cutler's brigade was the first infantry to arrive, and General Cutler states officially that the 56th was the first regiment of his brigade to open fire.⁵

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¹Some of the cavalry regiments of other states failed to receive their horses; they served dismounted, as infantry, and were cavalry only in name.

²History of the Penna. Volunteers by S. P. Bates.

³Not including 102 missing or captured.

⁴Enlisted for one year.

⁵History of the Penna. Volunteers by S. P. Bates.