It was part of the Union Iron Brigade. It was assigned to the famous Iron Brigade in the Army of the Potomac. The brigade's commander General John Gibbon had requested a new regiment be added to his command because its four original regiments the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin and the 19th Indiana had been severely depleted by combat action and numbered less than men total by October He said that ideally it should be a Western regiment since the others were from that part of the country.
Gibbon's request granted, the 24th Michigan joined the brigade and saw its first action at Fredericksburg taking on a nuisance battery of Confederate horse artillery south of the town. The regiment would follow up its actions at Fredericksburg with a raid on Port Royal, Virginia and fighting at Fitzhugh Crossing. The 24th saw no major action during the Chancellorsville campaign, but at Gettysburg it "Went into action with officers and men.
Colonel Morrow was wounded while holding the regimental flag. Morrow was wounded in the head while bearing the colors. He was stunned by the wound and fell down. He was then helped from the field by Lt. Edwards, assuming command of the regiment. Thereafter, the 24th participated in the rest of the Army of the Potomac's campaigns and battles, participating in the Overland Campaign , being heavily engaged at both the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House , with Colonel Morrow being wounded in the Wilderness and Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Wight would take command through the rest of the Overland Campaign until he was forced to resign to his wounds he sustained at Gettysburg, with command of the Regiment once again falling on Albert M.
Edwards, who by then was a Major and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, who would be the commander of the regiment until December, when Colonel Morrow would return and then would become commander once again when Morrow was promoted to Brevet Brigadier General. The regiment was selected as an escort at the funeral of President Abraham Lincoln. The regiment suffered 12 officers and enlisted men who were killed in action or who died of their wounds and 3 officers and enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of fatalities, [ 3 ] including John Litogot, the maternal uncle of auto tycoon Henry Ford.
Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. Military unit. Service [ edit ]. Total strength and casualties [ edit ]. Commanders [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Pages ill. Page A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion.
