The 2nd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

 that served in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

Service

The 2nd Kentucky Infantry was organized at Pendleton

Pendleton, Cincinnati, Ohio

Pendleton is a small neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, located on the east side of Over-the-Rhine, north of the Central Business District, and south of Mount Auburn. It is home of the Pendleton Art Center...

 in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, May - June 1861. It was organized in Ohio while Kentucky tried to remain neutral.

The regiment moved to the Kanawha Valley, Virginia, July 10 where it was attached to Kanawha Brigade, Western Virginia, to October 1861. District of the Kanawha, Western Virginia, to January 1862. 22nd Brigade, Army of the Ohio

Army of the Ohio

The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863.-History:...

, to February 1862. 22nd Brigade, 4th Division, Army of the Ohio, to September 1862. 22nd Brigade, 4th Division, II Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Left Wing, XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland

Army of the Cumberland

The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. It was originally known as the Army of the Ohio.-History:...

, to January 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, XXI Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October 1863. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, IV Corps, to June 1864.

The 2nd Kentucky Infantry mustered out of service on June 19, 1864 at Covington, Kentucky

Covington, Kentucky

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 43,370 people, 18,257 households, and 10,132 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,301.3 people per square mile . There were 20,448 housing units at an average density of 1,556.5 per square mile...

.

Detailed service

Campaign in western Virginia July to October 1861. Red House July 13 (Companies A, B, D, F, and K). Barboursille July 16. Scarrytown July 17. Gauley's Bridge September 1. Operations in Kanawha Valley October 19-November 16. Attack on Gauley by Floyd's Batteries November 1–9. Gauley Bridge November 10. At Charlestown, Va., December 4 to January 24, 1862. Moved to Louisville, Ky., thence to Bardstown February 5. March to Nashville, Tenn., February 14-March 12. March to Savannah, Tenn., March 13-April 5. Battle of Shiloh April 6–7. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., April 29-May 30. Phillips' Creek, Widow Serratt's, May 21. Bridge Creek, before Corinth, May 28. Occupation of Corinth May 30. Pursuit to Booneville May 31-June 6. Buell's Campaign in northern Alabama and middle Tennessee June to August, March to Louisville, Ky., in pursuit of Bragg August 21-September 25. Pursuit of Bragg to London, Ky., October 1–22. Battle of Perryville October 8. Camp Wild Cat October 17. Destruction of Salt Works at Goose Creek October 23–24. March to Nashville, Tenn., October 24-November 9. Duty at Nashville until December 26. Advance on Murfreesboro December 26–30. Lavergne December 26–27. Battle of Stones River December 30–31, 1862 and January 1–3, 1863. Duty at Murfreesboro and Cripple Creek until June. Expedition to Woodbury April 2. Action at Snow Hill, Woodbury, April 3. Tullahoma Campaign June 24-July 7. At Manchester July 9 to August 16. Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga Campaign August 16-September 22. Pea Vine Creek, Ga., September 10. Lee and Gordon's Mills September 11–13. Battle of Chickamauga, September 19–20. Siege of Chattanooga September 24-October 27. Reopening of Tennessee River October 26–29. At Bridgeport, Ala., October 28, 1863 to January 26, 1864. (A detachment at Ringgold Gap, Ga., November 27, 1863, and on Demonstration on Dalton February 22–27, 1864. Near Dalton February 23. Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost Gap and Rocky Faced Ridge February 23–25.) At Ooltewah, Ga., until May 17, and at Resaca until June 3. Ordered home June 3. Operations against Morgan in Kentucky until June 19. Mt. Sterling June 9.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 165 men during service; 3 officers and 74 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 1 officer and 87 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

• Colonel William E. Woodruff
  William E. Woodruff (soldier)
  William E. Woodruff was an American soldier who served as colonel of the 25th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Woodruff was given temporary brigade and division command in the Army of the Cumberland, but not promoted to brigadier general. He resigned in January...
  
  
• Colonel Thomas D. Sedgewick

See also

• List of Kentucky Civil War Units
• Kentucky in the Civil War
  Kentucky in the Civil War
  Kentucky was a border state of key importance in the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln recognized the importance of the Commonwealth when he declared "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky." In a September 1861 letter to Orville Browning, Lincoln wrote "I think to lose...