It was raised in Philadelphia close to the end of the war, and spent its year of service on guard duty in the Shenandoah Valley and Washington, D.C.

The 1,400-strong 214th Pennsylvania Infantry was organized at Philadelphia in March 1865, with men from that city and the counties of Lancaster and Northampton, under the command of Regular Army officer Colonel David B.

[2] Though most of the regiment was from Philadelphia, Company H was recruited at Easton in Northampton County.

[3] After completing its organization, the regiment left Philadelphia on 8 April[4] for the Shenandoah Valley, where it engaged in guard and provost duty until July as part of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, Army of the Shenandoah.

It was ordered to Washington, D.C. to garrison the city as part of the XXII Corps in July, and a detachment under Major Washington M. Worrall was sent to Annapolis to command the post there in November.