History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates.

SEVENTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.
N the 1st of August, 1861, Frederick S. Stumbaugh, a citizen of Chambersburg, received authority from the War Department to recruit a regiment,
to be composed of eight companies of infantry, and one of artillery. A camp
of rendezvous was established at Chambersburg, and subsequently at Camp
Wilkins, near Pittsburg. The men were principally recruited in the counties
of Franklin, Cumberland, Allegheny, Lancaster, Huntingdon, Blair, Fulton,
and Luzerne. Company G, raised at Scranton, was composed of Welchmen,
or of Welch descent, noted for their stern bravery, as were the men generally
of this regiment, well proved on many a hard fought field. A body of men
known as company H, though never fully organized on account of lack of numbers, continued with the regiment some time, marched hundreds of miles, and
was actually engaged in one battle, but was never paid, and was finally disbanded. The company of artillery was recruited at Erie, under Captain
Muehler, which received some accessions from a company recruited at Chambersburg, under Captain Housum. It remained with the regiment until the
beginning of the year 1862, when it was detached, and never afterwards rejoined it. In October, 1861, a regimental organization was effected by the choice
of the following officers: Frederick S. Stumbaugh, Colonel; Peter B. Housum,
of Franklin county, Lieutenant Colonel; Stephen N. Bradford, of Luzerne
county, Major. While at Camp Wilkins, company and regimental drill was
studiously prosecuted, and the command was assigned to a brigade composed
of the Seventy-seventh, Seventy-eighth, and Seventy-ninth Pennsylvania Regiments, under command of Brigadier General James S. Negley.
On the 18th of October the regiment moved by transport to Louisville, and
thence marched south on the line of the Louisville Railroad to the north bank
of the Nolin River, where it was encamped for a month, and subsequently at
Camp Negley, a mile south of the stream. Here the regiment was detached
from Negley's Brigade, and assigned to Wood's,* when it moved to the camp of
the latter, five miles east. Proceeding leisurely forward, and spending considerable time in camps by the way, the regiment arrived at Nashville, on the
2d of March, 1862, the capture qf Forts Henry and Donaldson, two weeks
earlier, by General Grant, having opened the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers,
and prepared the way for its occupation. Soon after his victories of the 16th
of February, General Grant, crossing over to the Cumberland River, moved up
with his command, first encountering opposition at Pittsburg Landing. At the
*Organization of the Fifth Brigade, (subsequently the Second,) General Thomas J. Wood,
Second Division, General A. M'Dowell MI'Cook, Buell's Army, (subsequently the Twentieth Corps.) Seventy-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Frederick S.
Stumbaugh; Twenty-ninth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, Colonel John F. Miller; Thirtieth
Regiment Indiana Volunteers, Colonel Sion S. Bass; Thirty-fourth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, Colonel Edward N. Kirk.