The Nineteenth Infantry was organized under authority of a proclamation issued May 4, 1861, by President Abraham Lincoln. On March 15, 1862, the partially organized regiment, under Major Stephen D. Carpenter Commanding, joined the Army of Ohio which occupied positions around Nashville, Tennessee.

Shortly after activation, the Regiment fought heroically on the Battlefield of Chickamauga, Tennessee. The firmness of the Fourteenth Corps, under General Thomas on that disastrous battlefield, was all that saved a terrible defeat from becoming a hopeless rout. Stationed on the left of General Thomas’ line, the 19th Infantry, then Commanded by Major E. L. Dawson, bore the brunt of the fiercest assaults from early morning until late afternoon on September 20th. The shock and carnage were as savage and as deadly as men could make them. When their ammunition was exhausted, the men of the Regiment were told to use their bayonets and hold their ground.

They replied that they would hold their position or go to heaven from it. And they did hold, until the Union Army was safely through McFarland’s gap. Major Dawson and seventy-five percent of the regiment fell killed or wounded at Chickamauga.

Its heroic stand against overwhelming odds on September 20, 1863, won for the Nineteenth Infantry its proud appellation, “The Rock Of Chickamauga.”

The colors of the Nineteenth Infantry are decorated with the streamers of twelve campaigns and the Regiment has participated with distinction in eighty-six battles and engagements throughout the American Civil War, the Indian Wars, the War with Spain, the Philippine Insurrection, WW II, and the Korean War.