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

414 SIXTY-FIRST REGIMENT. 1864
ceeded to Philadelphia where they were mustered out of service. In compliance with an order issued from the headquarters of the army, the men remaining in the field were consolidated into five companies, known as the Battalion
of the Sixty-first Regiment, and placed under command of the senior captain,
Charles S. Greene, Major Orr being on staff duty. On the 27th Colonel Smith
was re-appointed and returned to service.
At two o'clock A. M. of the 19th of September, the army of the Shenandoah, now under command of General Sheridan, moved in the direction of
Winchester, with the purpose of giving battle, and at daylight met the enemy
at the Berryville Crossing of the Opequan. The contest was maintained until
midday with unabated fury, when Sheridan, who, having his men well in hand,
and inspired with his own fiery zeal, ordered a general advance, and the enemy
was swept from the field. In this engagement known as the battle of the Opequan, or Sheridan's battle of Winchester, the battalion suffered severely. It
went into the fight with three officers and one hundred and twenty-five men,
and of this number lost twenty-two killed and wounded. Among the latter
was Captain Greene, who received a shot in the right eye causing also a fracture of the jaw.
The battalion joined in the pursuit of the fleeing enemy, and on the 22d,
the division to which it belonged, now under command of General Getty, carried the famous position at Fisher's Hill, the Sixty-first sustaining considerable
loss in the assault. The pursuit was continued to Mount Crawford, which was
reached on the 29th. After various movements up and down the valley, which
continued until the 14th of October, the division finally encamped at Cedar
Creek, and here, before light on the morning of the 19th, General Early, who
had brought his army into position under cover of darkness, and a dense fog
which completely masked his movements, suddenly attacked the Union troops
upon either flank, at a moment when they were reposing unsuspicious of danger, and their leader "twenty miles away." In the tumultuous action which
ensued, in which the army was driven, and in its turn routed and almost annihilated its adversary, the battalion, now numbering but about one hundred
men, lost in killed the only two remaining officers, Captains D. J. Taylor and
John Barrett, and fourteen men killed and wounded. For its gallantry in this
engagement, it was highly complimented by the commanding general. After
the battle, the division to which it was attached, was pushed forward considerably in advance of the main body, and was posted near the town of Strasburg.
While here, one hundred and eighty drafted men were assigned to the command, who were organized in two new companies, raising the number to seven,
and officered by the veteran sergeants. Many of the wounded returned to the
ranks, bringing its effective strength to about three hundred and fifty men.
Remaining in camp at this point until the 8th of November, it moved down the
valley to the neighborhood of Kernstown, where it encamped and continued
until the 3d of December. In pursuance of orders, it broke camp on that day,
and proceeded to re-join its old companions of the army of the Potomac, in front
of Petersburg, and was assigned a place in the besieging lines on the Squirrel
Level Road, which it continued to hold during the remainder of the siege.
On the 2d of March, 1865, two new companies, fully armed, equipped, and
officered were sent t tthe battalion from Harrisburg, increasing the number to
nine, and restoring it again to the proportions of a regiment. In the January