Willard did not want to give up his regular commission for the command, so on May 10, the state turned the regiment over to Joseph B Carr, an Albany native who had risen in the New York militia to the renk of Colonel.

It It served there until June 10, when it received orders to move to the support of the force encamped at Mill Creek.

From April 6 to 17 it was stationed at Young's Mill, and on June 6 was assigned to the 3d Brigade, 2nd Division, III Corps of McClellan's Army of the Potomac which had just landed on the Peninsula.

It fought at Chantilly and then remained in the defenses of Washington near Fort Lyon, Fairfax Seminary and at Munson's Hill until November.

On December 14–15, it participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg, after which it went into winter quarters near Falmouth, which were occupied until the opening of the Chancellorsville movement in the spring of 1863.

On May 26, 1863, commanded by Col. Sidney Wesley Park, the men of the regiment were honorably discharged and mustered out in New York city.

Attached to:[14] The official list of battles in which the regiment bore a part:[9] The regiment suffered 1 Officer and 25 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 22 Enlisted men by disease.

[17] The 2nd New York were issued the Model 1842 Springfield Muskets .69 caliber, smoothbore when accepted by the state on Wednesday, April 24, 1861.