5th Massachusetts Militia Regiment

5th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia
The 5th Massachusetts charges up a hill in Washington D.C. during training, May 1861. The U.S. Capitol is shown in the background.
Active	April 21, 1861 – July 29, 1861; September 16, 1862 – July 2, 1863 and July 16, 1864 – November 16, 1864
Country	United States of America
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Union Army
Type	Infantry
Part of	In 1863: 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XVIII Corps
Commanders
Notable commanders	Colonel Samuel C. Lawrence Colonel George H. Peirson
Insignia
XVIII Corps, 1st Division badge

The 5th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia was a peacetime infantry regiment that was activated for federal service in the Union army for three separate tours during the American Civil War. In the years immediately preceding the war and during its first term of service, the regiment consisted primarily of companies from Essex County as well as Boston and Charlestown.^[1]

The regiment first served a 90-day term of service from April to July 1861. Near the end of this first enlistment, the 5th Massachusetts was heavily engaged in the First Battle of Bull Run. Their second term of service lasted 9 months from September 1862 to July 1863 during which they were stationed in New Bern, North Carolina, participated in several expeditions and saw minor combat including the Battle of Goldsborough Bridge. Their third enlistment in response to the emergency call for troops to defend Washington, D.C. lasted 100 days from July to November 1864 during which they were stationed in various fortifications around Baltimore, Maryland, primarily in Fort McHenry.^[2]