1st Delaware  "Suicidal Charges Against The Enemy"

Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution, and the 1st Delaware was one of the first Union volunteer regiments to organize and offer their services to put down the rebellion. Despite their zeal, the soldiers found that after more than a year of service they had been assigned to garrison duty and never been involved in battle. The men suspected that because they came from a slave state, officials may have doubted their loyalty.

When its initial three-month enlistment expired in August 1861, the unit voluntarily reenlisted as a three-year unit. Its men were sent to Virginia for the Peninsular campaign but were left at Norfolk when the rest of the army marched off to fight in the battles around Richmond. Though they hat witnessed real battle when the CSS Virginia rampaged through Hampton Roads and destroyed Union warships and fought the USS Monitor, the men of the 1st Delaware were not engaged in combat themselves until the September 1862 Battle of Sharpsburg, MD.

The regiment's baptism of fire began with the order to charge the Rebel's defensive position in the sunken road at Sharpsburg. A Rebel observer reported that the Confederate fire "brought down the enemy as grain falls before the reaper." Of the 650 members of the regiment that went into the charge, only 364 were left in the ranks after they were forced to retreat. Their next battle was in December at Fredricksburg, and once again the 1st Delaware was ordered to make a suicidal charge, this time against the Confederate position in front of Marye's Heights. The unit's formations collapsed before the barrage of fire and, seeking any cover, the men were not able to retreat until nightfall hid them from the view of the Rebel riflemen.

At the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, members of the 1st Delaware avenged the slaughter at Marye's Heights when they helped to repulse the Rebel charge on the battle's third day. They fought on through the war to see the Confederates surrender at Appomattox.

Fascinating Fact:  Thomas A. Smyth, who had been the 1st Delaware's second commander, became the last Union general to be killed in the war when he died from wounds received at Farmville during the Appomattox campaign.


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