7th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment

7th Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry
Active	April 23, 1861 to May 8, 1863
Country	United States
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Infantry
Engagements	Battle of Big Bethel Peninsula Campaign Seven Days Battles Battle of Antietam Battle of Fredericksburg Battle of Chancellorsville Battle of Gettysburg

The 7th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It is also known as the Steuben Guard or the Steuben Regiment.

Service

The regiment was organized in New York City and was mustered in for a two year enlistment on April 23, 1861. Early in its training, it was so poorly equipped that a civilian who visited the troops wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Times (published May 16, 1861) complaining that tailors within the regiment had to resew the uniforms and put buttons on them, and that some of the soldiers were wearing "flip-flaps". The letter-writer was impressed (spelling and punctuation as in the original):

"I have seen no troops before, and I have seen none since, in which there was the same indescribable aspect of discipline. The men were not in uniform, but very poorly dressed, — in many cases with flip-flap shoes. The business-like air with which they marched rapidly through the deep mud of the Third-avenue was the more remarkable."

With "one or two exceptions" almost every officer then in the regiment had experience in European armies, and six out of eight of the soldiers had seen service, often in battle. "The only arms they have as yet are a few old muskets bought by the officers themselves."

The regiment was mustered out of service on May 8, 1863.

Casualties

The regiment suffered 102 deaths from wounds and 47 from other causes, for a total of 149 fatalities.

Commanders

• Colonel John E. Bendix
• Colonel Edward Kapff
• Colonel George W. Von Schack

See also

• List of New York Civil War regiments
• 7th New York Militia

References

• Phisterer, Frederick (1912). New York in the War of the Rebellion. Albany: J.B. Lyon Co.. 
• The Union army: a history of military affairs in the loyal states, 1861-65 -- records of the regiments in the Union army -- cyclopedia of battles -- memoirs of commanders and soldier. Madison, Wisc.: Federal Pub. Co.. 1908. 

External links

• New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center - Civil War - 7th Infantry Regiment History, photographs, table of battles and casualties, Civil War newspaper clippings, and historical sketch, for the 7th New York Infantry Regiment.
• Recollections of the early days of the National Guard: comprising the prominent events in the history of the famous Seventh Regiment New York Militia (1868) on Internet Archive