The 115th New York in the Civil War: A Regimental History
By Mark Silo

Illustrated, maps, endnotes, bibliography, index, 306 pp. McFarland, P.O. Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640, $55 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Michael Russert
Michael Russert, a member of the North Shore Round Table of Long Island and the Company of Military Historians, has a MALS plus 60 hours in American Studies. He is Coordinator of The New York State Veteran Oral History Program.

Review:
During the post-Civil War period a former member of the 115th New York recalled the 115th’s “banner [was] not inscribed with the names Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Appomattox”; however, although their battles were “small in comparison,” the battle results were just as sanguinary.

It is unfortunate, as that veteran was well aware, that regiments that served in the battle zone between Washington, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, receive so much notoriety in the annals of the war.

It is only within recent memory that historians such as Sword, Daniels, Cozzens, McMurry and Woodworth, among others, have examined the neglected Western Theater. As the noted Civil War scholar John Hennessey observed in his introduction, although great emphasis is placed on the Army of the Potomac regiments, “only about 10% of all Union soldiers served in that army….”

In addition, not only did the 115th New York not serve in the Eastern Theater, it was truly a migratory regiment that was relocated from one theater to another and suffered from a history of defeats and setbacks until the very end of its history.

Initially, the new-formed regiment endured the ignoble mass surrender at Harpers Ferry in 1862. Then it was shipped to Camp Douglas, Illinois, where the members were alleged to have burned a barracks. Thus, they were exiled to the much-ignored Department of the South where they bravely fought next to Colored Troops in the battle of Olustee.

Once again they were transferred and battled under the hapless political general Ben Butler in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign. Lastly, they headed south once again and were involved in two attacks on Fort Fisher.

Although its past was checkered, the 115th New York is listed as one of Fox’s Fighting Three Hundred.

The author has been accumulating material on the 115th New York for more than 15 years. The result is a masterfully written study of a regiment that deserves to be better known.

Silo’s book is a portrait of a unit, the men in the ranks and their officers, along with a detailed narrative of their odyssey and well-constructed accounts of military actions not so well known even to the most avid readers of Civil War history.

The 115th New York in the Civil War is an important study. The author is well versed in the unit’s exploits and he is adept at presenting his material through a balanced blend of a well-written and informative narrative with a measured amount of anecdotes from a variety of primary sources.

Silo was fortunate to have access to the writings of 67 of the regiment’s veterans, which he very successfully blends into his text. The fast-moving chronicle is accompanied by a large number of their photographs and is complemented by the easy to follow and well-executed maps by the cartographer Blake A. Magner.

A two-part appendix supplements the narrative with a chronology of where the regiment served during its service and a complete and annotated roster of the regiment.