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Responding to President Lincoln's initial call for 75,000 troops, the 18th NY Infantry emerged as one of the Excelsior State's first regiments and mustered many of its earliest volunteers. Given the short-lived nickname, "New York State Rifles," the 18th New York was mustered into service at Albany on May 17, 1861 for a period of two years. Their first military duty came with their appearance in the funeral procession of the martyr, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, in Albany, as the 18th was one of only two uniformed regiments in the city at the time. The unit saw combat early, suffering the first casualties of the Bull Run campaign when they were ambushed on the march four days before the battle.

 

As part of the Army of the Potomac, they would fight in battles including Gaines's Mill, Crampton's Gap, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.

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Join the Dan Sickles Civil War Round Table with historian Ryan A. Conklin as he draws on

numerous sources, including several unpublished letters and diaries, to give the complete history of the 18th -- from the first enlistee to the last surviving veteran, who died in 1938!