Responding to President Abraham Lincoln's call in mid-April 1861, for 75,000 men to serve for three months to help put down the rebellion, Governor Erastus Fairbanks ordered the recruitment of the regiment.

[2] Militia Captain Peter T. Washburn of Woodstock, later Adjutant General and Governor of Vermont, was appointed lieutenant colonel.

[1] On May 23, the regiment made the first reconnaissance upon Virginia soil by United States troops, marching six miles from Fortress Monroe to Hampton.

On May 26, the regiment took the steamers Cataline and Monticello, up Hampton Roads to Newport News, where they made camp, which ended up being their home for the rest of its stay in Virginia.

Two hundred and fifty served as field and line officers in Vermont and neighboring states' units.