Civil War Regiments?

[FiremarshalBill]

I know that a typical Infantry regiment contained around 1,000 men. But if (for example) the 80th Ohio Volunteer Regiment has been mustered into service, does that mean that are 79 regiments (79,000 men) from Ohio already enlisted before them? Were State Regiments mustered sequentially by number? By that I mean, if the first 3 Ohio regiments enlisted were the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Infantry regiments, but the next regiment formed was a Cavalry regiment, would it be the 4th Ohio?

 

[nc native]

The 1,000 man number was a dream for most Civil War regiments, both North and South. By the year 1863, many regiments in both the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Virginia were under 500 men. As far as sequential numbering, I'm no expert, especially on the Union side of things but I would think that the numbering of infantry regiments would be sequential based upon type of service. In other words, per your example, the fourth regiment that was raised would be the 1st Ohio Cavalry.

The South used most of the soldiers who joined up to fill the ranks of already existing commands later in the war where as the Union was still building new regiments and filling the gaps in older regiments. I remember reading what a captured Confederate said after finding out his captors were part of a regiment with a triple digit designation. He said " You've got that many regiments from your state? Well, I reckon we are whipped then".

 

[RedRover]

Generally speaking the regiments were designated by branch of service first, then sequentially.

Consequently, the 1st through umpteenth regiments of "New York Volunteer Infantry." Simultaneously the 1st to umpteenth "New York Volunteer Cavalry" etc.

 

[Kyle Kalasnik]

Pennsylvania's number sequence is pretty straightforward, like the other states, but it can be a little bit confusing.

Pennsylvania Regimental Designations – Naming and Numbering

Pennsylvania regiments that served in the Civil War used a numbering system that is sometimes confusing to those not familiar with the practices in place at the time the war began and the practices…

civilwar.gratzpa.org

 

[Sowbelly and Hardtack]

Regimental numbering? | Civil War Potpourri

How were State regiments (Federal and/or Confederate) numbered as they were mustered into service? For example, assuming there was a 183rd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, does that mean that there were 182 New York infantry regiments mustered into service before the 183rd was established...

civilwartalk.com

 

[10th Michigan Infantry]

The 1,000 man number was a dream for most Civil War regiments, both North and South. By the year 1863, many regiments in both the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Virginia were under 500 men.

By the time of Appomattox a few Confederate regiments numbered less than 80 men.

 

[The Last Observer]

Dr David B. James says the following:

Regiments were very rarely at or even near establishment strength due to battle casualties and the simple rigours of campaigning with sickness, straggling, desertion and even leave all taking a toll of the regiment's effective combat strength. Where regiments had a paper strength of perhaps a thousand, it was not untypical for only a few hundred to be present under arms when battle loomed.

Let us now consider a typical formation: Birney's 1st Division of the Third Corps, Army of the Potomac, at Gettysburg. Birney commanded three brigades totalling some 5,000 men in 18 regiments. These averaged about 270 combatants each, though they varied from the smallest at 150 to the largest at 430 – nearly three times bigger – but all well below their establishment strength.

The largest regiment present at Gettysburg was the 26th North Carolina, numbering 840 men. This is an extreme example in an army where the average regiment numbered only 330.

EDIT:
Also, loyalist volunteer regiments usually only served for a fixed term. When they were "mustered out", the regiment number was sometimes (not always) recycled, and sometimes discarded. Soldiers who reenlisted would go to a "new" regiment, even if (like after Antietam) entire regiments were mustered out and then made a show of marching together down to the recruiting office to all reenlist.

This means that if there was a 79th Ohio, then it might include many people who had already been in other Ohio units before, which means that the total number of discrete Ohioians who fought would be lower than you'd expect from simple maths.

 

[RedRover]

Pennsylvania's number sequence is pretty straightforward, like the other states, but it can be a little bit confusing.

Pennsylvania Regimental Designations – Naming and Numbering

Pennsylvania regiments that served in the Civil War used a numbering system that is sometimes confusing to those not familiar with the practices in place at the time the war began and the practices…

civilwar.gratzpa.org

That's an interesting link!

Try Georgia for confusing. It had three "1st Georgia" infantry regiments in Confederate service, organized by different laws, or by different branches, viz.

The secession convention, exterior to the State constitution or government, ordained that two regiments of "regular" troops be raised, which were consolidated into one (the 1st Regiment) of State Regulars. This outfit (known as the 1st Georgia Regulars) was tendered and accepted into the Provisional Army of the Confederate States...
About the same time was raised from volunteer companies for State volunteer (not regular) service, the "1st Georgia Volunteers" (Col. Olmstead's)... which was, like the 1st regulars, tendered and accepted into Confederate provisional army service...
And then there was the 1st Regiment of Georgia Volunteers (Col. Ramsey) which was organized upon a call by the Confederacy on the State for a quota of volunteer troops...

Those are besides the 1st Regiment of various Georgia corps...