The organization left the state in May 1861, and went to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, where it unsuccessfully tried to report to Maj Gen Benjamin F. Butler.

When Colonel Bartlett had a serious accident in August 1861, it was reorganized as an infantry regiment, and mustered into the service between June 1861 and March 1862.

Detachments of the regiment, operating as a coast guard, participated in skirmishes in coastal Virginia and the capture of forts at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

It served in detachments on army gunboats from August 1862; as a regiment at Suffolk, Virginia, in 7th Corps; at the White House in the Department of Virginia during the summer of 1863 under Brigadier General Isaac J. Wistar; and in the 18th Corps and District of North Carolina during 1864.

In June 1864 when terms of service expired, the original members mustered out, and the veterans and recruits consolidated into a battalion and finally just two companies in February 1865.