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Civil War Records of Colonel Richard White and the 55th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Accession #7458-e , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
Gift of Mrs. Charles Otis Trainer, Indiana, Pennsylvania, January 25, 1965.
The 55th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers was organized at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania by Colonel Richard White (1826-1865) in the summer and autumn of 1861 in the counties of Bedford, Berks, Blair, Cambria, Dauphin, Indiana, and Schuylkill. Leaving Pennsylvania on November 22, 1861, they were stationed at Fort Monroe until assigned to the First Brigade, T.W. Shermans Division, Department of the South, which it accompanied to Hilton Head, S.C., remaining until February 25, 1862. They were then ordered to North Edisto Island until October 20, 1862, taking place in the Battle of Pocotaligo. Thereafter they were stationed at Beaufort Island, S.C. doing picket duty, and duty as heavy artillery until January 1864.
Nearly the entire regiment reenlisted for three more years of duty and returned home on furlough. They returned to duty at Beaufort until April 13, 1864, when they boarded a steamship for Yorktown, Virginia. The regiment began guarding Hampton Roads to prevent the Confederates from sailing up the James River. The most costly battle that they participated in was an attack on [Chafin's] Bluff, losing three commissioned officers and 78 men. This action was part of the Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Virginia, where Colonel White was captured with 164 of his men and taken to Libby Prison.
From Libby Prison, Colonel White and other officers were transferred to the forts at Charleston, South Carolina, and placed under siege guns in an attempt to prevent the Union Navy from bombarding the city. White was finally released from captivity by an exchange of prisoners. He returned to service in January 1865 at Signal Hill, Virginia, until March 24, when he was discharged because of ill health. He died shortly after his arrival home. The rest of the Regiment was present at Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, and were mustered out of service on August 20, 1865.
This collection consists of the records of the 55th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1855-1909, and undated, chiefly 1861-1865, ca. 300 items, including written and printed orders; volunteer enlistment records; autographs of Union officers imprisoned at Charleston, S.C.; camp and garrison equipment reports; ordnance and ordnance stores reports; quartermaster's stores reports; correspondence, chiefly of Colonel Richard White concerning military matters, but also a letter regarding a prisoner exchange with a captured Confederate Artillery Colonel, a letter from Dr. David Merritt (1865 Dec 8) about White's death and another letter about the Cold Harbor Battlefield Commission's erection of a monument at Cold Harbor, Virginia; and news clippings.