John G. B. Adams, Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment

Of the thirty-seven commissioned officers who left Massachusetts with the regiment in 1861 only one returned,--Col. Edmund Rice, who went out as captain and came home colonel commanding the regiment.

Fourteen officers and two hundred fifty men were either killed or died of wounds received in action, and four hundred forty-nine were discharged for disability, occasioned by wounds or disease contracted in the service.

In no better way can I close my story than by quoting from the 1865 report of Adjutant-General Schouler:--

“No regiment has had a more eventful history, or has fought more, fought better, or performed its duties with more promptitude and alacrity. During its existence the regiment has been engaged in forty-five battles and skirmishes, in six of which it has lost from one-third to five-sixths of its men. It has captured and turned over to the War Department seven stands of colors (1st Texas, 14th, 19th, 53d, and 57th Virginia, 12th South Carolina and 47th North Carolina) and six pieces of artillery. When it is said that the regiment has been characterized by the most kindly and brotherly feeling, the best discipline and alacrious obedience in all ranks, that it has been frequently commended and never censured by its superior commanders — the story is done.”