After a few weeks of training in Providence the newly-organized 2nd Rhode Island Infantry regiment was ordered to Camp Sprsge in washington D.C. in June of 1861. As commander Colonel John S. Slocum and his blue and grey uniformed troops left home to fight the rebels,end the war and preserve the Union. Less than a month had passed since they left Providence, and already they were about to engage the enemy as part of General Irvin McDowell's great 31,000 man army.
It was Sunday morning,July 21,1861 and Mc Dowell's army was about to fight the first major land battle of the war along a muddy northern Virginia creek calld Bull Run. As the Rhode Island troops and the rest of thier bragade paused to catch thier breath at about 9:30 A.M. , an alarm was sounded: the rebels were in front and in force and were advancing. Slocum's regiments supported by a battery of field artillery, was ordered forward while the bragade formed for battle. With in minutes the men of the 1st and 2nd Rhode Island were engaged in the kind of fierce,bloody warfare that few solders on either side had expected.
The Rhode Islanders bore the brunt of the enemy assault, but under Colonel Slocum command they stood firm. As the crescendo of battle intensified Colonel Slocum was suddendly shot down. Command of the regiment passed to Major Sullivan Ballou. Moments later a confederate cannonball killed Ballou's horse and mangled the Majors legs. Both men soon died, but the 2nd remained steadfast and helped turn back the Confederate attack. Later, when the Federal line broke and provoked a panicky route, the men of the 2nd Rhode Island calmly covered the Northern retreat. The Rhode Island units suffered serious casualties. Thier first battle end in defeat., but the Rhode Islanders tasted the reality of war.
After duty in the defence of Washington, the regiment joined the Army of the Potomac for the Peninsula Campaign. The regiment participated in the siege of Yorktown, and was engaged in the battle of Williamsburg and Seven Pines. During the Seven Days Campaign that followed the 2nd RI fought at Fair Oaks, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill. After the army of Potomac's forced withdraw the regiment was posted to Maryland and Virginia.
The Second Rhode Island was engaged at the bloody battle of Fredricksburg in December of 1862, then participated in the Army of the Potomac's unsuccessful "Mud March". In May of 1863, the regiment distinguished itself during nthe Army's defeat at Chancellorville. "Nothing could have surpassed the determination with which they advanced to the extreme front when a regiment was flying panic stricken through thier ranks," reported Colonel Horatio Rogers afterwards." The gallantry with which they drove back the rebels; the excellent order and spirit with which they retired when ordered back. This regiment as much or more than any other, contributed toward checking the enemy when our forces were being driven on the right."
The regiment fought at Gettysburg, participated in the Bristoe and Mine Run campaigns, and fought at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor. At Spotsylvania the regiment was engaged in the bloody struggle for the "Salient". Detached from the siege of Petersburg they served defending Washington from Confederate General Jubel Early's 1864 advance on the capital and participated in General Philip Sherdan Shenandoah Campaign. Again detached from the siege of Petersburg the unit participated in the Battle of Fort Fisher which closed the North Cololina seaport of Wilmington . Then back to Petersburg where they were involved in the final assault on Lee defenses and they served in the Appomattox Campaign . The second Rhode Island was present at Lee's surrender.
On July 13,1865 the men of the regiment were mustered out of service in Washington D.C. after compiling one of the most extensive combat. record of the war.
The Second Rhode Island Regiment, including an Artillery corps, with six pieces of James rifled cannon,arrived here yesterday by the steamers Metropolis,State of Maine and Kill Von Kull. Thier stay here was not prolonged over about one hour, for some important business by the Paymaster,when they took thier departure for Elizabeth, N.J., whence they proceeded by railroad to Harrisburgh, to Washington, through Baltimore.
The Metropolis brought four companies,viz company B,Capt John Wright; company E,Capt. Issaic R Rodman; company G,Capt Nathan Goff jr; company K,Capt Charles Turner. These were transferred to the steamer Kill Von Kullwhich had aboard the Artillery Corps with the canons and camp equippage of the regiment,& etc. The steamer State of Maine arrived at 10 o'clock, bringing the six remaining companies, with Gov.Sprage and suite.
The names of the Staff Officers are as follows, John J.Slocum,Colonel C.T.Robbins, Leutenant-Colonel Sullivan Ballou, Major Samuel J. Smith, Adjuant; Abert Eddy,Acting Adjutant
The Quest are Col.William Goddard,Bishop Thomas H. Clark of Providence, Secretary of State John K.Bartlett and others.
The companies aboard the State of Maine were Company A,Capt. Cyrus G. Dryer; company C,Capt Nelson Vail; Company D, Capt W.N.P. Steere; Company F, Capt. Livi Tower; Company A, Capt Charles H. Greene; company I, Samuel J. Smith. There is a band of twenty pieces with the corp. the brief notice of thier arrival and departure and the uncertainty as to which route they would take,disappointed many friends of the regiment who wished to call apon them. The men are uniformed like the first regiment, with blue flannal fatigue shirts,grey pants and felt hats,turned up on one side with an eagle for a cockade. They are as an average larger men then those who composed the first regiment, and are in every respect equal to that unsurpassed body of men.
The steamer State of Maine returned to New York in the afternoon in time to take her place in the line. Col.Bordon, agent of the Bay State Line, who went with the regiment to elizabeth and rendered them every faclidty in landing, reports that they disembarned in finec orded, and proceeded on thier journey without detention or accident.
Col Slocum distinguished himselfv during the Mexican War, as Captain of Company B 9th Rhode Island Regiment.and his friends predict that he will prove an able and courageous officer. Several of the other officers of the regiment have seen active service.
This article was published in The New York Times June 21,1861