Traci and I chose to begin our third season of reenacting by joining the 40th Pennsylvania, also known as the 11th Pennsylvania Reserves. Now that we both live in the Pittsburgh area, it made sense to join a unit based closer to our home. The 40th is larger than our former unit, often fielding as many as 30 to 40 participants at an event. Combined with their memberships in the USVs and the nascent Tri-States Reenacting Association, the 40th and its sister units should prove capable of fielding significant numbers of reenactors at affiliated events.

The 40th Pennsylvania was recruited from Cambria, Indiana, Butler, Fayette, Armstrong, Westmoreland and Jefferson counties in Western and Central Pennsylvania. Formally mustered into United States service at the end of June, 1861, the 40th was assigned to the second brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps as the Eleventh Regiment.

The 40th was assigned to Fitz John Porter's V Corps in the spring of 1862 immediately prior to Mclellan's abortive Peninsular Campaign. On June 26, Confederate forces commanded by Robert E. Lee broke through Federal lines at Mechanicsville. The Eleventh Reserves and the Seventh New Jersey fought a rear guard action against an attacking rebel brigade, but their stand ultimately left them trapped as supporting units melted away. After suffering 46 dead and 109 wounded, most of the regiment surrendered.

Paroled in August, the regiment's survivors were attached to the III Corps. The 40th saw action at the Second Battle of Bull Run, and again at South Mountain, where Colonel Gallagher was severely wounded. Continuing its tortuous route through the equally tortuous system of corps and divisions the plagued the Army of the Potomac during the conflict's early years, the 40th was assigned to the I Corps, and saw action in the Cornfield at Antietam.

South Mountain is overshadowed by the bloody images of Antietam's Cornfield and Sunken Road. The 40th saw heavy action here, as the Pennsylvania Reserves played a crucial role in driving back Robert Rodes Confederate defenders at Turner's Gap on September 14.

When the 11th and her sister regiments of the Pennsylvania Reserves came into line on September 17th, Hood's Texans were driving the Federals back through the Cornfield. The Reserve regiments met and repulsed the Rebel attack, sending the attackers back through the shambles of Miller's field. The 40th suffered 7 dead and 15 wounded, far fewer than the 1st Texas' 186 dead and wounded. That units on either side of the political divide would take such losses speaks volumes of the courage of these men.

The Army of the Potomac's glacial pursuit of Robert E. Lee's thwarted invaders led to the tragic confrontation at Fredericksburg. The 11th Reserves were savaged during the ill-advised frontal assault on Lee's entrenched forces, losing a staggering 112 casualties out of the 400 men involved (compared with many regiments that day, the 40th's 27% casualties were actually light).

The Reserve Corps was assigned to the XXII Corps following Burnside's "mud march," sparing the 40th and her sister regiments from the Union debacle at Chancerlorsville. When the Army of Northern Virginia followed up its victory with an invasion of the North, the 40th was taken from the defenses around Washington and attached to the V Corps.

The 40th Pennsylvania (11th PA Reserves) served with the V Corps, Third Division at Gettysburg. The regiment carried .69 caliber M1842 smoothbore muskets as late as 1863, putting them at a disadvantage when facing regiments armed with long-range rifle muskets . . . provided that the fighting took place at distances over 100 years. At closer ranges, the buck and ball loads (1 .69 caliber ball and three smaller "buckshot" rounds) often inflicted devastating losses on the tightly packed formations of the enemy.

At Gettysburg, the 40th arrived with the main body of the Army of the Potomac on the second day of the fighting. The 40th was among the regiments posted to the right and front of Little Round Top, where it faced portions of the Confederate forces attempting to flank the Union Army. Although the maneuver placed the regiment within range of rebel musketry, the deadly buck and ball loads fired from the Pennsylvanian's muskets slowed the enemy advance. Half of the unit's casualties occurred at this phase of the battle.

Angered by their losses and extolled to advance by their officers, the men of the 11th Reserves advanced on the Confederate attackers. Their assault was fortuitously timed, as Longstreet ordered one of the opposing brigades to withdraw. The Reserves and supporting regiments recaptured Walcott's Battery, taken earlier by Wofford's Brigade, and eventually halted their attack near the Wheatfield. The regiment would fight the next day, capturing a number of prisoners and arms.

The 40th Continued service through the next year, fighting at Bristoe Station, New Hope Church and the Wilderness. The Unit's term of service expired on May 30, 1864, although a number of recruits whose enlistments hadn't expired and veterans who chose to renew their enlistments joined the 190th Pennsylvania. On June 13, 1864, the 40th Pennsylvania was mustered out of service.