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29th Regiment Michigan Infantry

29th Regiment Michigan Infantry 1864-5

In the orders authorizing the forming of the regiments raised during the year 1864, this Regiment was originally designated the Thirty First. The recruits which had enlisted for the Thirtieth, having been absorbed into the Third and Fourth Regiments, re-organized, the Twenty Ninth, as originally known, consolidated with the Twenty Eighth, the Thirty First was given the designation as the Twenty Ninth. It was raised entirely in the Sixth Congressional District, being organized at Saginaw, by the Honorable John Driggs, the muster of the Regiment was completed on the 3rd. of October 1864.

The 29th. broke camp on the 6th., for Nashville,Tn, under the command of Colonel Saylor, who had been commissioned from the 3rd. Cavalry, having on its rolls, 856 officers and men. The Regiment was diverted to Decatur,Al on the 26th., the Confederate army, under General Hood attacking that city the same day, with the 29th. aiding in the defence until the 30th., when the Southern forces retired.

On the 24th. of November, they marched to Murfreesboro, arriving there on the 27th., then moved out to Overall Creek, where they were engaged on the 7th. of December. On the 13th., they were sent out again, as an escort of a Railroad train to procure fuel for the locomotive, when they were attacked by a superior force near Winstead Church, where a severe engagement occurred. The Confederates were repulsed, but only after they had torn up the track. The Regiment relaid the track, and succeeded in saving the train, by pulling it into Murfreesboro by hand. On the 15th and 16th., they were again attacked while guarding another train near Alexandria on the Shelbyville Pike.

They were then assigned to guarding the Nashville and Chattanooga rail line until July of 1865, then moved to Murfreesboro until September the 6th. when they were mustered out of the service, returning to Michigan, arriving in Detroit on the 8th., where they were paid off and disbanded on the 12th.

During their term of federal service, they were engaged at:

Decatur,Al/ Overall Creek,Tn/ Winstead Church,Tn/ Shelbyville Pike,Tn/ Nolansville,Tn

Total Enrollment--1470..... Killed in Action--2..... Died of Wounds--4..... Died of Disease--65

Total Casualty Rate--4.8%

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