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

1206 EIGHTY-SECOND REGIMENT. 1863
gade, then engaged in the abortive movement of General Burnside to again
cross tLe Bappahannock,
The campaign of 1863 opened with the movement of the army, under
Hooker, upon Chancellorsville, The brigade formed part of the Third Division, General N'ewton, Sixth Corps, General Sedgwick. On the 28th of April,
the Eighty-second was ordered, with other troops, to bear pontoons to the river,
two miles below Fredericksburg, with as little noise as possible, so as not
to excite the attention of the enemy. A bridge was laid and a crossing
effected on the following morning. During the night of the 1st of May, Sedgwick moved up, and passing the enemy's outer lines, reached Fredericksburg
on the morning of the 2d. Orders having been given to storm the works on
Marvye's Heights, two columns were formed for the assault, the right composed
of the Sixty-first and Eighty-second Pennsylvania, the Sixty-first in advance.
A narrow causeway was to be passed, an impenetrable marsh on either side.
Moving by the flank, with a front to the enemy of four men, the column advanced under a murderous fire. The head of the assaulting party was soon
broken, a large proportion fallen, among them Colonel Spear, of the Sixtyfirst, who was killed. Without faltering the column closed up and pressed on,
carried the heights, the Eighty-second capturing the horses of one of the enemy's batteries. Advancing the same day to Salem Heights, the regiment joined
in the severe engagement at that point, and when it became necessary to withdraw, in the face of an overpowering force, it was among the last to cross the
river at Banks' Ford, on the morning of the 6th of May. Among the mortally
wolnded in the storming of the heights, was Captain John H. Delap.
Encamped near the bank of the Rappahannock, within long range of the
enemy's guns, where it was occasionally visited by the Whitworth missiles, it remained until the general movement of the two armies towards Pennsylvania
commenced. Early in May, Colonel Williams and Lieutenant Colonel Vallee
having previously resigned, Major Bassett was commissioned Colonel, and John
M:. Wetherill, Lieutenant Colonel. On the 30th of June, the Sixth Corps, which
formed the rear of the army, reached Manchester, Maryland, near the Pennsylvania border. Here it remained until the evening of the 1st of July, when it
was ordered upon a forced march to Gettysburg. The brigade, now under command of General Alexander Shaler, arrived upon the field on the afternoon of
the 2d, and was ordered into position on the left of the line, near Little Round
Top; but the fighting on that part of the field being nearly over, it was not engaged. On the morning of the 3d, Shaler was ordered to the extreme right,
to the support of Geary, who had been severely engaged since early dawn.
It was here exposed to a severe artillery fire. After the lines had been reestablished, and the fighting was over upon this part of the field, the brigade
was ordered to the left to meet a threatened attack, and was subsequently
brought back to the centre, where it was held in reserve until the close of the
battle. With the Corps, the regiment followed up the retreating enemy, and
on the 12th had a severe skirmish near Funkstown, where he had established
his lines, in which it suffered a loss of eight wounded. On the morning of the
14th, it was discovered that the enemy's works were abandoned, and upon advancing, the pickets of the Eighty-second picked up a number of stragglers.
Upon the return of the army into Virginia, the regiment participated in the
severe marching and counter-marching which ensued, and during the engagement at Rappahannock Station, on the 7th of November, with the Sixty-seventh