38th New York Infantry Regiment

The 38th New York Infantry Regiment was a two-year infantry regiment in the U.S. Army during the American Civil War.

The 38th New York Infantry was organized at New York city by Colonel J. H. Hobart Ward who was appointed by the State of New York May 25, 1861. It mustered in the United States service at East New York for two years, June 3 and 8 (Company I), 1861. The 18th Militia furnished men for one company. In September, 1861, ninety-seven men of the 4th Me. Volunteers were assigned to the regiment. December 21, 1862, the regiment was consolidated into six companies, A, B, C, D, E and F, and the same day the 55th New York Infantry Regiment, consolidated into four companies, joined by transfer, forming new Companies G, H, I and K of the regiment. June 3, 1863, the three years' men of the regiment, all in the four companies G, H, I and K, were transferred to the 40th New York Infantry Regiment, and became Companies A, E and H of the latter.

The original companies were recruited principally:

• A, B, C, D and F — New York city
• E — Westchester county
• G — Westchester and Dutchess counties
• H — Geneva and in the county of Ontario
• I — Horseheads
• K — Elizabethtown

The regiment left the State June 19, 1861 and returned to New York city to muster out on June 22, 1863.

Attached to:

• Col. Willcox's Brigade, Brig.Gen. Heintzelman's Division, Brig.Gen. McDowell's Army of Northeast Virginia, to August, 1861.
• Col. Howard's Brigade, Division of the Potomac, to October, 1861.
• Brig.Gen. Sedgwick's Brigade, Brig.Gen. Heintzelman's Division, Army of the Potomac (AoP), to March, 1862.
• 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, III Corps, AoP, to July, 1862.
• 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, III Corps, to June, 1863.

The official list of battles in which the regiment bore a part:

Regiment lost during service 3 Officers and 72 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 3 Officers and 39 Enlisted men by disease. Total 117. The regiment's bloodiest battles were First Bull Run, Williamsburg, Seven Days, and Fredericksburg.

Soldiers in the 38th were initially armed with Model 1841 Mississippi rifles. These rifles had been manufactured by the Harper's Ferry Arsenal and by contract in 1844 in Windsor, Vermont by the Robbins and Lawrence Armory (R&L) which had also made the 1855 modifications of increasing the bore to .58 and fitting them with a sword bayonet. On July 7, 1861, companies A through F exchanged these rifles for rifle-muskets at the Washington DC arsenal. By the end of the first full year of hard campaigning, the regiment reported the following survey result to U.S. War Department:

Fredericksburg

• A — 41 Springfield Rifled Muskets, model 1855, 1861 National Armory (NA) and contract (.58 Cal.)
• B — 35 Austrian Rifled Muskets, leaf and block sights, Quadrangular bayonet (.577 Cal)
• C — 7 Springfield Rifled Muskets, model 1855, 1861, NA and contract, (.58 Cal.); 36 Austrian Rifled Muskets, leaf and block sights, quadrangular bayonet (.54 and.55 Cal)
• D — 44 Austrian Rifled Muskets, leaf and block sights, quadrangular bayonet (.54 and.55 Cal)
• E — 36 Austrian Rifled Muskets, leaf and block sights, quadrangular bayonet (.577 Cal)
• F — 1 Springfield Rifled Muskets, model 1855, 1861, N.A. and contract. Calibre .58; 29 Austrian Rifled Muskets, leaf and block sights, quadrangular bayonet (.577 Cal)
• G — unreported, probably Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet
• H — unreported, probably Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet
• I — unreported, probably Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet
• K — unreported, probably Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet

Chancellorsville

• A — 47 Springfield Rifled Muskets, model 1855, 1861, NA and contract, (.58 Cal.)

• B — 60 Light French Liege M1853 rifle, sabre bayonet (.577 Cal.)

• C — 50 Light French Liege M1853 rifles, sabre bayonet (.577 Cal.)

• D — 59 Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet

• E — 52 Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet

• F — 46 Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet

• G — unreported, probably Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet

• H — unreported, probably Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet

• I — 41 Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet

• K — unreported, probably Model 1841 rifles, NA and contract, (.54 and .58 Cal.), leaf and block sights, sabre bayonet

• Issued weapons

• Model 1842 smoothbore musket

• M1841 Mississippi rifle

• Lorenz Rifle Model 1854

The men of the regiment were initially issued the standard blue sack coats, sky blue infantry trousers, and the sky blue infantry winter overcoat.

• Col. J. H. Hobart Ward - June 8, 1861 to October 10, 1862

• Col. James Clark Strong - October 10, 1862 to December 23, 1862

• Col. Philipe Régis de Trobriand - December 23, 1862 to June 22, 1863

• List of New York Civil War regiments

• New York in the Civil War

• New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center

• New York State Adjutant General Reports Database 1846-2021