August 20, 1862, Col. Franklin Spaulding, succeeded, September 3, 1862, by Col. William Emerson, received authority to recruit this regiment in the then 29th Senatorial District of the State; it was organized at Lockport, and there mustered in the service of the United States for three years October 22, 1862. The men recruited for Col. Franklin Sidway's Buffalo Regiment, under authority, dated September 7, 1863, were merged into this regiment, completing its organization. December 21, 1864, it was consolidated into a battalion of five companies, A to E, the men of Company F being transferred to Companies A, C and E; those of G to Companies A and B; those of H to Company E; of I to D; and of K to A and B.
The companies were recruited principally: A—-Independent Rifles — at Medina; B at Niagara Falls; C at Batavia; D at Albion; E at Rochester; F and I at Lockport; G in the counties of Niagara and Orleans; H in the county of Niagara; and K at Somerset, Newfane, Olcott, Buffalo, Eden, North Collins and Lockport.
The regiment left the State October 23, 1862; it served in the Middle Department, 8th Corps, at and near Baltimore, Md., from October, 1862; in West Virginia, in the 3d Separate Brigade, 8th Corps, from February, 1863; at South Mountain, Md., in June, 1863; in 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 3d Corps, from July 10, 1863; in the 1st Brigade, 3d Division, 3d Corps, from August, 1863; in the 1st Brigade, 3d Division, 6th Corps, from April, 1864; and, under Lieut-Col. Charles Bogardus, it was honorably discharged and mustered out June 26, 1865, near Washington, D. C.
During its service the regiment lost by death, killed in action, 5 officers, 75 enlisted men; of wounds received in action, 26 enlisted men; of disease and other causes, I officer, 99 enlisted men; total, 6 officers, 200 enlisted men; aggregate, 206; of whom 23 enlisted men died in the hands of the enemy.
