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203rd Pennsylvania Infantry

Editor’s Note: Do you have information on this unit’s role at the Siege of Petersburg?  Please contact us using the Contact button in the menu at the top of the screen.  We are happy to exchange information with other researchers.

Note: The troops composing this regiment were recruited at the suggestion of General Birney, to serve as sharp-shooters in his division; but the General dying soon after their reaching the field, they were treated as an ordinary infantry regiment.1

Muster In: Organized at Philadelphia September 10, 1864.2
Muster Out: Mustered out June 22, 1865.3

Commander(s):
Colonel John W. Moore
Commander Image

Commander 2
Commander Image

Commander 3
Commander Image

First Offensive Order of Battle:

  • Not yet in existence.4

Second Offensive Order of Battle:

  • Not yet in existence.5

Third Offensive Order of Battle:

  • Not yet in existence.6

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle:

  • Not yet in existence.7

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle: Second Brigade | Second Division | X Corps | Army of the James | Union Army8,9

  • Commander:
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:
  • Note: The 203rd Pennsylvania was left to garrison Deep Bottom while the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm took place on September 29-30, 1864 and was not present with its brigade.10

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle: Second Brigade | Second Division | X Corps | Army of the James | Union Army11,12

  • Commander: Colonel John W. Moore (October 31, 1864)13
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle:

Second Brigade | Second Division | X Corps | Army of the James | Union Army (November 1-December 3, 1864)14

Second Brigade | Second Division | XXIV Corps | Army of the James | Union Army (December 3-7, 1864)15

  • Commander: Colonel John W. Moore (December 31, 1864)16
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:
  • Note: On December 3, 1864, the X Corps and XVIII Corps of the Army of the James were reorganized into the XXIV Corps and the XXV Corps.
  • Note: In trenches before Richmond until December 7. Left to participate in the First Fort Fisher Expedition and never returned. 17

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle:

  • No longer present at the Siege of Petersburg.18

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle:

  • No longer present at the Siege of Petersburg.19

Dyer’s/Sifakis’ Compendium Info:
Siege of Petersburg Battles20:

  • Moved to Petersburg, Va., September 22-27.
  • Detached from Brigade and provost at Deep Bottom, Va., and picket at Malvern Hill September 27-October 5.
  • Rejoined Brigade October 5.
  • Battle of Fair Oaks October 27-28.
  • Siege operations against Richmond until December 7.

Bibliography:

    Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

    Sources:

    1. Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion Compiled and Arranged from Official Records of the Federal and Confederate Armies, Reports of he Adjutant Generals of the Several States, the Army Registers, and Other Reliable Documents and Sources.Des Moines, Iowa: The Dyer Publishing Company, 1908, 203rd Pennsylvania entry.
    2. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
    3. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
    4. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
    5. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
    6. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
    7. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
    8. Sommers, Richard J. “Grant’s Fifth Offensive at Petersburg: A Study in Strategy, Tactics, and Generalship.  The Battle of Poplar Spring Church, the First Battle of the Darbytown Road, the Second Battle of the Squirrel Level Road, the Second Battle of the Darbytown Road (Ulysses S. Grant, Virginia).” Doctoral Thesis. Rice University, 1970. Print. p. 1303.
    9. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 1 (Serial Number 87), page 133: “Return of Casualties in the Union Forces (September-October 1864)”
    10. Sommers, Richard J. “Grant’s Fifth Offensive at Petersburg: A Study in Strategy, Tactics, and Generalship.  The Battle of Poplar Spring Church, the First Battle of the Darbytown Road, the Second Battle of the Squirrel Level Road, the Second Battle of the Darbytown Road (Ulysses S. Grant, Virginia).” Doctoral Thesis. Rice University, 1970. Print. p. 1303.
    11. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 3 (Serial Number 89), page 465: “Organization of the Union Forces” (October 31, 1864)”
    12. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 1 (Serial Number 87), page 149: “Return of Casualties in the Union Forces…Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road, Va., October 27-28, 1864”
    13. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 3 (Serial Number 89), page 465: “Organization of the Union Forces” (October 31, 1864)”
    14.  A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
    15. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 3 (Serial Number 89), page 1124: “Organization of the Union Forces” (December 31, 1864)
    16. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLII, Part 3 (Serial Number 89), page 1124: “Organization of the Union Forces” (December 31, 1864)
    17. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
    18. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
    19. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
    20. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (Part 3)
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