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Welcome to the Ninth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers: A CT Civil War Memorial

The Ninth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers (Connecticut’s “Irish Regiment”) was organized in New Haven in September of 1861. They were transported to Ship Island, MS on the Gulf Coast by the end of the year where they saw action as well as in New Orleans the following spring. During the summer of 1862 they were part of the first campaign against Vicksburg and assigned to the “Williams Canal” operation, an unsuccessful Federal project to divert the course of the Mississippi River, bypass Confederate guns at Vicksburg and win control of the Mississippi. Beginning there the regiment lost 150 men due to the lack of supplies, heat, dysentery and malaria conditions in a four month period. At Baton Rouge Colonel Thomas Cahill of the Ninth took command of the Federal troops after the death of Brigadier General Williams and successfully repulsed the Confederate attack. After being assigned to defend New Orleans they later served in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and played a prominent role in General Sheridan’s 1864 victory at Cedar Creek.

 

This website is intended to provide a history of the Ninth (1861-1865) as well as some soldier’s stories, information on the makeup of the Ninth, a listing of known gravesites, a description of regimental flags and various newspaper histories. In addition a review is provided of the Ninth’s monument dedicated in New Haven in 1903 and the Connecticut monument honoring the Ninth Regiment dedicated at the Vicksburg National Military Park in October of 2008.

For revisions or additions please contact Robert Larkin.

Regiment Highlights:
• 1st Regiment to capture Confederate colors (Pass Christian, MS on April 4, 1862)
• 1st Regiment to capture Confederate colors (Pass Christian, MS on Apr 4, 1862)
• 2nd Regiment to enter the fallen city of New Orleans (May 1, 1862)
• May 2, 1862 - 9th selected to parade through New Orleans “as an object lesson to a belligerent populace”
• June 25, 1862 - 9th arrives as part of the 1st assault on Vicksburg, the Gibraltar of the South
• Col Cahill of the 9th assumes command of the brigade at battle of Baton Rouge (Union victory) on August 5, 1862
• July 1864 -Veterans Reenlist - 9th reaches Bermuda Hundred, VA on the James River outside Richmond
• Oct 19, 1864 - 9th is 1st Union troops to plant their battalion flag on recaptured works at Cedar Creek, VA                                                           
• March 1865 - 9th organized a St Patrick's Day parade in Savannah, GA with the help of local "Jasper Greens"
• 9th is the first Union regiment to return captured Confederate colors at New Orleans Exposition (i.e Worlds Fair) on Connecticut Day, Feb 27, 1885
• August 5, 1903 - Uninvited to Vicksburg, the 9th placed a monument in New Haven at what is now known as Bayview Park
• October 14, 2008 – Connecticut state monument honoring the 9th Regiment C.V. was dedicated at the Grants Canal area of the Vicksburg National Military Park.
March 2010 – Civil War plaque (51” x 44” casting) outlining 1862 operations against Vicksburg was donated and placed at Grants Canal near the Connecticut monument.

Commermorating the American Civil War on its 150th anniversary, nationwide, statewide and townwide.

For more information on the statewide celebration click here to view the CCSU Sesquicenennial Commemoration.

Ninth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. 2010 © All rights reserved.