Its members volunteered in answer to President Abraham Lincoln's August 1862 call for 300,000 men to serve for nine months.

There they were assigned to Major General John G. Foster's Department of North Carolina, later designated as the XVIII Corps.

The objective of this maneuver was to disrupt the Confederate supply line along the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad by destroying the Goldsborough Bridge.

[2] On June 22, 1863, with only three weeks left in their term of service, the regiment received orders on short notice to board steamships for Fortress Monroe where they expected to join a campaign in Virginia.

The 46th Massachusetts marched 25 miles in 16 hours to reach Funkstown, Maryland where they were put into position with the I Corps and expected to be part of a large engagement.