...
Companies D, H and K of 2nd Battalion, 4th New York numbered 440 men (pg. 165). ...
I suppose this is the
4th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment, but maybe not.
If this is a "standard" Civil War infantry regiment and that number really is 440, something very strange and unusual has happened here.
A full-war-strength infantry company in a standard single-battalion infantry regiment, according to US Army Regulations from 1860, would be 1 Captain, 2 Lieutenants and 100 rank-and-file enlisted men. The regiment itself would have been a theoretical 1036 officers and men (10 companies totaling 1,000 enlisted men with 1 Colonel, 1 Lieutenant Colonel, 2 Majors, 10 Captains, 20 Lieutenants, an armory sergeant and his assistant, IIRR) If the regiment had been unofficially divided up into
ad hoc battalions, either the Lieutenant Colonel or one of the two regimental Majors might be in command of this 2nd Battalion. That would make this 3-company battalion a theoretical 1 Lt. Colonel or Major, 3 Captains, 6 Lieutenants and 300 enlisted men according to the regulations.
Of course, we would rarely expect the regimental companies to be at this full-war-strength size (like at their initial mustering-in, when they were stationed in a permanent camp for a long period and had just been filled with replacements, etc.) At various times before the Civil War the Congress actually funded the Regular Army at levels that led to full-peace-strength companies of 40, 64, or 80 men in real-life practical terms.
Which is just to say that number is an extremely high example for a 3 company "battalion" in a Civil War infantry regiment. The 3 companies in this 2nd Battalion are averaging out at about 145 men/company (about 40% over their regulation full-war-strength). If it is accurate, I would wonder where all the extra men came from (consolidation that eliminated the other companies?)
If this is the 4th New York Heavy Artillery, that unit had a slightly tangled organizational history. A heavy artillery regiment might run to 1200 men if it had not seen field service yet.
Only eight companies were originally formed, A & B were originally supposed to be trained as lancers in November 1861; C in December; D, G & H in January 1862; E & F in February. That original G was dissolved with the men recruited transferred to H on February 8, 1862. A new company G was then formed and joined the regiment in October 1862. After Gettysburg, companies A, B, C & D of the 11th Artillery were transferred into the 4th to become companies I, K, L & M, completed in October 1863. (I have no idea why I can't find a company J
)
When the 4th NY Heavy Artillery was transferred into the AoP in March 1864, they split it up into three "battalions" like this:
- 1st battalion was attached to VI Corps
- 2nd battalion was attached to V Corps
- 3rd battalion was attached to II Corps
At the end of May 1864, all three battalions of the regiment were re-concentrated in the Artillery Brigade of II Corps. On June 25th the 1st and 2nd battalions were assigned to the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 3rd Division of II Corps. On July 13, the entire regiment was transferred to the Artillery Reserve of the AoP. Some of the men from the first seven companies were released from the Army when their terms expired in late 1864 or early 1865).