It was one of three units to be raised after President Abraham Lincoln called for five hundred thousand more men in July 1864 to finish off the Confederacy.
West Point graduate and Regular Army officer Abram Calvin Wildrick was appointed colonel and commander of the 39th New Jersey Infantry Regiment, and James H. Close, a veteran officer who served in the 2nd New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, became the regiment's lieutenant colonel.
On that day, the Union Army enacted assaults on Confederate positions, which were designed to break the Siege of Petersburg.
At the onset of the Attack on Fort Mahone, the 39th New Jersey was charged with leading the assault and hacking through the enemy's defenses including the Cheval de frise.
On April 2, 1865, Colonel Wildrick received a brevet rank of brigadier general in the Regular Army for his leadership.