The 151st Pennsylvania Regiment was organized in September of 1862 and its ten companies congregated at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg that October. The recruits had all signed up for a volunteer service term of nine months.
In Company D alone there were more than 60 schoolteachers and their significant and surprising numeric concentration earned the company and the regiment the sobriquet of the â??Teacherâ??s Regimentâ? after the war. Many of these volunteers were teachers from the McAlisterville Academy in Juniata County, along with their principal turned company commander, Lt. Col. George McFarland.
On November 28, the regiment was ordered to Washington and then proceeded to Arlington Heights. On December 3, the regiment moved with Col. Frederick D'Utassayâ??s Brigade to Union Mills, Virginia, where it was placed on duty. Now in enemy territory, Col. D'Utassay, and his successor, General Alexander Hays, strictly instructed and drilled the 151st Pennsylvania while always looking out for an attack by John Singleton Mosbyâ??s elusive raiders.
In February, 1863, the regiment was transferred to Belle Plain, where it was brigaded with the 121st, 135th, and 142nd Pennsylvania regiments to form the First Brigade, of the Third Division of the First Corps commanded by General John Fulton Reynolds. The harsh winter conditions and left many soldiers ill, convalesced, or dead.
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