Henry W. Benham to Channing Clapp, January 1, 1863

No. 22. Camp near Falmouth, Va., Jwne 13, 1863.

The general commanding cannot part with so large a portion of the gallant Fifteenth Regiment New York Volunteer rained without expressing to them his high appreciation of their valuable services and gallant conduct while under his command.

In the operations upon the Peninsula last year, their name and their fame are identified with every important operation of the Engineer Brigade during that struggle. And through the present campaign, as thus far opened, upon the Rappahannock, in all the efforts made by your gallant comrades of the brigade, the Regular Engineer Battalion and the Fiftieth New York Volunteer Engineers, the Fifteenth Regiment has borne its equal share of arduous labor, privation, and exposure, in every duty it has been called upon to perform. From the ordinary labors or soldier duties of the brigade, to the arduous and rapid march and countermarch to widely distant points, when its services have been called for in the late operations, or the unarmed labor under fire—that severest test of the true soldier’s courage—which this brigade is so constantly required to endure; in all, the members of the Fifteenth Regiment have shown a cheerfulness and alacrity, a steady endurance and courage, that cannot and need not be exceeded.

Your general loses you with regret, but with the hope that, after a brief return to your homes, and to the well-merited greetings of your friends, the soldier spirit that you have so nobly shown here will bring you back again to the ranks of your old regiment, where you have already been so eminently useful in your country’s service.

By order of Brigadier-General Benham.