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

SIXTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
EARLY in August, 1861, Alexander Hays, a citizen of Pittsburg, who had
been Major of the Twelfth Regiment in the three months' service, received
authority from the Secretary of War to raise a regiment for three years. Recruiting immediately commenced, and the ranks were rapidly filling up, when
an order was received from army headquarters directing that all men who had
been enlisted, whether in companies or singly, should be sent to Washington
without a moment's delay. Accordingly on the 26th, two companies under
command of Captains Berringer and Kirkwood, and several squads temporarily
organized in two additional companies, in all about four hundred men, without
arms, uniforms, or equipments, proceeded by railto the National Capital. Recruiting continued at Pittsburg, and during the month of September a sufficient
number of men were in camp to complete a regiment, and towards the close of
the month were transferred to Washington, where they joined the battalion
which had preceded them. Companies A, B, D, E, H, I and K were principally
recruited ini Allegheny county, company C in Beaver, F in Clarion, and G in
Venango and Mercer counties. Many of the officers and men had served in the
Twelfth Regiment. The following field officerswere commissioned: Alexander
Hays, Colonel; A. S. M. Morgan, Lieutenant Colonel; Maurice Wallace, Major.
Shortly after being commissioned, Major Wallace resigned, and William S.
Kirkwood succeeded him. Colonel Hays was a graduate of West Point, and
as a soldier in the Mexican War, bore the scars of wounds received at Resaca
de la Palma and National Bridge.
Early in October the regiment was ordered across the Potomac and went
into camp near Fort Lyon, upon the road leading from Alexandria to Mount
Vernon. Soon afterits arrivalit was assignedto theThirdBrigade of Heintzelman's Division. In this camp the Sixty-third remained during the entire winter, engaged in drill and picket duty. As soon as it was settled, a school for
officers was established under the charge of Lieutenant Colonel Morgan, which
had daily sessions, and which was continued without interruption until the
regiment took the field in the spring of 1862. At first the officers were drilled
in the school of the soldier; then tactics were introduced. Lessons from a textbook were regularly assigned, and at recitation the black-board was freely used
for illustration, and difficult points fully discussed. A deep interest was soon
manifested in this school which in no manner abated until its close. The sergeants were daily assembled and taught in the manual of arms, and in their
*Organization of Jameson's Brigade, of Heintzelman's Division. Sixty-first Regiment
Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel O. H. Rippey; Fifty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel William Maxwell; Ninety-ninth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel
Thomas W. Sweeney; One Hundred and Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel
AmorA. M'Knight; Sixty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Alexander Hays.