5th U.S. Cavalry at Gaines Mill – Casualties

The official casualty count of the regiment in the battle was 1 officer and 3 enlisted men killed in action, 3 officers and 27 enlisted men wounded in action, and 2 officers and 19 enlisted men captured or missing in action, for a total of 55 casualties. (OR, Vol. 11, pt. 2, pg. 40)

To the best of my knowledge, no one has listed the names of the casualties, so it seems appropriate to do so for the 150th anniversary of the battle.

The regimental muster rolls for June 1862 reflect the following casualties in the battle. Some of the names could be misspelled, as they are very difficult to read on the return, and I haven’t yet been able to verify them through CWSS or their enlistment documents.

Killed in action:

Lt. John J. Sweet
Pvt. Christopher Baumann, Band
Pvt. Clarence O. Bingham, Co. A
Pvt. Michael Cantor, Co. I

Wounded in action:

Lt. Abraham K. Arnold
Lt. Louis D. Watkins
Lt. Thomas E. Maley

Company A:
Pvt. Ed Horner
Pvt. Jacob Ginsler
Pvt. Frederick Klein
Pvt. David Haas
Pvt. Wm. Conroy

Company D:
Sgt. Wm. Brophy
Pvt. Michael Considine
Pvt. Edward Dolan
Pvt. Edward Gill
Pvt. Albert Saunders
Pvt. Jacob Riis
Pvt. Leonard W. Berner
Pvt. James Comfy

Company F:
Pvt. William A. Rose
Pvt. John Drum

Company H:
Corp. George A. Hess
Pvt. John Coffey
Pvt. James D. Cairns
Pvt. Thomas Crowley
Pvt. Bernhart Miller
Pvt. William Gregory
Pvt. John Fitzpatrick
Pvt. Eugene Gleason
Pvt. Michael Halenhan
Pvt. Thomas McDermott

Company I:
Pvt. Edward C. McGowan
Pvt. Neill Lamont

Missing in action:

Capt. Charles J. Whiting
Capt. William P. Chambliss

Company A:
Pvt. William Flynn
Pvt. Jos. H. Reinholt

Company D:
1st Sgt. Charles Rouen
Sgt. John H. Keane
Sgt. Miles W. Douk
Corp. John J. James
Pvt. Thomas Canavan
Pvt. William Howerr
Pvt. George W. Hicks
Pvt. Patrick Maloney
Pvt. James M. Reno
Pvt. Michael Quinn
Pvt. Peter H. May

Company F:
Corp. Edward Harris
Corp. John J. Moody

Company H:
Sgt. Sheffield Autino
Sgt. Thomas Bennett

The monthly return for June 1862 states a total of 58 missing in action for the regiment for the month. 30 of these were lost at Old Church on the 13th, presumed captured on picket.

There is a discrepancy between the number of wounded enlisted men listed by company on the first page of the return and the names listed on the second page. The numbers of Companies A, D and F match. Company H lists 9 wounded but 10 names wounded in action. Company I lists 4 wounded but only two names.

Listed strength of the companies present for duty listed above in the muster rolls for the end of June 1862:

Co. A: 1 officer, 45 enlisted men
Co. D: 32 enlisted men
Co. F: 1 officer, 44 enlisted men
Co. H: 26 enlisted men
Co. I: 47 enlisted men

The regiment’s mounts suffered in the fight as well. Company A lost no horses, but had 17 unserviceable mounts at the end of the month. Company D lost 29 horses. Company F lost 20 horses, and an additional 4 were unserviceable at the end of the month. Company H lost 18 horses, with an additional mount unserviceable at the end of the month. Company I lost 9 horses, with 4 additional horses unserviceable at the end of the month.

Memorial Day

Since we’re celebrating Memorial Day today, it seems appropriate to post about those who lost their lives in the regular cavalry regiments during the Civil War. Who knows, someday I might even find all of their names someday.

The 1st US Cavalry lost 9 officers and 73 enlisted men killed and died of wounds, for a total of 82. Another 93, 2 officers and 91 enlisted men, died of disease, accidents or in prison. Total deaths were 175, the most of any of the six regiments. I found this surprising, since they missed all of the fighting in 1861 and had no exceedingly high casualty engagements such as Gaines’ Mill or Fairfield.

The 2nd US Cavalry lost 5 officers and 73 enlisted men killed and died of wounds, for a total of 78. Another 95 personnel, 3 officers and 92 enlisted men, died of disease, accidents or in prison. Total deaths were 173, second among the six.

The 3rd US Cavalry lost 2 officers and 30 enlisted men killed and died of wounds, for a total of 32. Another 108 personnel were lost due to disease, accidents and prison deaths. Total deaths were 140, the lowest of the six regiments. This is easily explained, given that they had the fewest engagements of the six regiments during the war.

The 4th US Cavalry lost 3 officers and 59 enlisted men killed and died of wounds, for a total of 62. One additional officer and 108 enlisted men died due to disease, accident or prison, for a total of 109. Total deaths were 171, third among the regiments. I’d expected this total to be higher since they had elements in major battles in both theaters before the regiment was consolidated in the western theater following Antietam.

The 5th US Cavalry lost 7 officers and 60 enlisted men killed or died of wounds, for a total of 67. Another 2 officers and 90 enlisted men died due to disease, accidents or in prison. Total deaths were 159, again lower than I’d expected due to the losses at Gaines’ Mill alone.

The 6th US Cavalry lost 2 officers and 50 enlisted men killed or died of wounds, for a total of 52. They lost an additional 107, one officer and 106 enlisted men, to disease, accidents or prison deaths. Again, these numbers were lower than I’d expected, given losses at Fairfield and Funkstown.

Totals for all regiments were 28 officers and 345 enlisted men killed or died of wounds, for a total of 373. 12 officers and 592 enlisted men died of disease, accident or prison, for a total of 977. Again, these numbers seem somewhat low, but only include deaths, not total casualties.

Sources for this information include Haskin and Rodenbough's 1896 The Army of the United States and Fox's Regimental Losses of the Civil War.