The regiment was organized in New York City by Colonel George von Amsberg, a veteran Austrian cavalry officer and revolutionary in the Hungarian revolution of 1848.

[1] For the next month it encamped at the Landmann's Park section of Jones's Wood, at 3rd Avenue and 69th Street in Manhattan, and continued to recruit.

[2][3] Since 1991 this intersection on the east side of 3rd Avenue has been the location of Trump Palace Condominiums, but in the second half of the 1800s it was wooded, and a popular recreation area frequented by German immigrants.

[2] This camp is believed to have been located in what is today Arlington, Virginia, at the intersection of Glebe Road and Columbia Pike, at that time the site of the Hunter's Chapel Methodist Church.

[8] On December 2, 1861, while stationed in winter quarters at Hunter's Chapel, the regiment saw its first action of the war in a skirmish several miles to the south-west at Annandale, Virginia.

[9][10] In April 1862 Blenker's Division was transferred to the Mountain Department under Major General John C. Frémont, in response to the threat to Washington posed by Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign.

[11] According to Fremont, much of Blenker's division arrived late, exhausted, exposed to hardship, and severely lacking in equipment, with particular need of shoes, blankets, and overcoats.

[11] One statement in his report illustrates their state of supply; "In the important matter of arms there was great deficiency, Belgian or Austrian muskets of old and indifferent patterns being carried by many of the regiments.

"[11] Despite the condition of Blenker's troops and the arrival of the last of them in Petersburg less than 24 hours prior, reaction to Jackson's movements prompted Fremont to immediately redeploy the division to Franklin, 30 miles to the south.

[1] During this battle the regiment took part in a three-hour assault on a Confederate position in the woods on the road to Port Republic, which included hand-to-hand fighting with Bayonets.

[2] At this time many of the men were on the sick list due to constant and severe marches with insufficient food during May and early June.

In July and August the regiment was ordered to Sperryville, Madison Court House, Gordonsville, Cuylersville, Cedar Mountain and White Sulphur Springs.

[2] The regiment was engaged in skirmishing at Freeman's Ford and White Sulphur Springs in what is collectively referred to as the First Battle of Rappahannock Station.

They were immediately subject to heavy fire of grape, canister, solid shot, and shell from Confederate batteries on the hill.

Eventually the regiment turned down an alley and emerged into an enclosed square, the only exit of which had been blockaded by Confederate sharpshooters with the bodies of dead Union soldiers.

[14] The regiment remained in relative quiet in this position until 4:00 pm the next day, when Confederate batteries opened a heavy fire on Cemetery Hill.

[1] Captain Francis Irsch was awarded the Medal of Honor for "Gallantry in flanking the enemy and capturing a number of prisoners and in holding a part of the town against heavy odds while the Army was rallying on Cemetery Hill" on July 1.

To avoid consuming the limited rations available in Chattanooga, Hooker's troops were at first held to the railroad, where they could be supplied, and later staged at Bridgeport, Alabama, to await deployment.

[1] After Wauhatchie and Lookout valley Schurz's Division (3rd) was temporarily put under the command of William Tecumseh Sherman in support of his assault on the Confederate right on Missionary Ridge.

The main movement of Hooker's XI Corps was to push across Lookout Mountain toward the south end of Missionary Ridge.