Raised in the Pittsburgh area in August and September 1864, the regiment was sent to the Army of the James at Bermuda Hundred during the Siege of Petersburg.

The 206th Pennsylvania was raised in the Pittsburgh area during August 1864 for a one-year term in response to President Abraham Lincoln's call for 500,000 men.

The 206th was ordered to Washington, D.C., on the day after its organization, but it was diverted at Baltimore to City Point, where it joined a provisional brigade in the XVIII Corps of the Army of the James.

On 27 March, when the Army of the James began its movement to attack positions for the Petersburg breakthrough, the 206th was detached from the brigade and attached to the 3rd Division, remaining in camp on provost duty in spite of protests from the regiment.

[2] During its service, the regiment suffered a total of thirty deaths: one enlisted man killed and twenty-nine died of disease.