In accordance with the provisions of the act of July 22nd 1861 a draft of 10,478 nine-months men was made August 4th 1862 in this State, and the allotment for this county (Morris) was 650 men.  The arrangements for the draft did not interfere with volunteering, and the Morris County companies were at once raised in this way for the 27th regiment;  viz.: Company B, Captain John T Alexander from Randolph and Washington; Company C, Captain Nelson H. Drake, from Roxbury; Company E Captain August D. Blanchet, from Chatham, Hanover, etc.; Company G, Captain James Plant, from Pequannock; Company I, Captain Alfred H. Condict, from Morris and Chester; Company L, Captain F Willis, from Rockaway.

George W. Mindel was colonel of the regiment, Augustus D. Blanchet was commissioned major September 23d 1862, being promoted from the captaincy of Company E.  J. Henry Stiger was assistant surgeon of this regiment, as also of the 33rd.

The regiment was mustered September 10th 1862, and left the state for Washington October 10th 1862.  On arriving there it encamped on Capitol Hill, and soon after at Alexandria, where it was assigned to the second brigade of Casey's division, defending Washington.  On the 1st of December it went to the front of the Army of the Potomac, being assigned to the 9th Corps.  In that connection it was engaged at Fredericksburg, Deceber 13th and 14th 1862.  In February 1863 the corps went to Newport News, Va., to meet a threatened movement of the enemy.  In the following month the 27th was detached from the 9th corps and sent to the west.  On it's way home after the expiration of it's term it remained in Pittsburg and Harrisburg ten days to aid if needed in repelling Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania.  The regiment was mustered out at Newark, N.J. July 2nd 1863.

The principal loss of the regiment occurred May 6th 1863, as related below substantially in the words of a member of the regiment, who wrote from near Somerset, Ky., four days after the affair:

     "Last Tuesday we received a lot of tents borrowed from a cavalry regiment.  We had hardly pitched them when a most bountiful storm visited us, but my tentmates and I myself were prudent men, for we built our house upon a rock.  The storm had just passed over when our adjutant ordered tents to be struck and line of march formed in fifteen minutes.  In less than the allotted time the 27th was in line, ready for the word.  The mud in the road was deep, and, as it is very 'unmilitary' to let down fences and walk on the sod, we splashed through it until about 3 o'clock P.M., when we encampedon a hill at whose foot flowed a splendid stream of clear cold water.  Here Dayton and I fired a mammoth brush heap, by which we cooked our bacon, boiled our coffee, and dried our tents and blankets."

His written account continues:

     "In the morning bright and early we started for the Cumberland River, a distance of thirteen miles.  We reached iits banks at 3 o'clock P.M.  The means oof ferrying us over was flat boats--or, rather, coal barges--thirty feet long.  To prevent the boats being washed down by the current two ropes were stretched across like a letter V, the two uniting in one on the opposite shore.  The means of propelling us consisted of six men placed in the bow of the boat, who would grab the rope, pull, let go and grab again.  The upper rope was used by the infantry, while the artillery and transportation train were carried over by the lower boat.  All the companies with the exception of parts of companies B, C, and L had passed over without accident.  Fifty or sixty men were carried over at each trip.  Captain Alexander was in command of company L.  The boat that contained these companies had reached within forty feet of the opposite bank when the men at the bow lost hold of the rope and could not regain it.  The boat started down stream, driven by a rapid current.  The men became panic stricken and rushed to the opposite end of the boat, which caused it to sink, and iin less time that it has taken me to write this account the whole boatload was sweot by the lower rope into the rapid Cumberland.  Those who could swim were seized by the death grasp of those who could not swim.  It was an awful sight.  May God spare me from being a spectator of such a scene.  The men had on their cartridge boxes, filled with 60 rounds, and were fully armed, and equipped with tents, overcoats, blankets, etc., which hindered many from saving themselves.  I saw Captain Alexander and Orderly Sergeant go down.  Company B lost Three men, Company C nine and companies L and A Twenty."

He ends his account with the following:

     "After the accident we remained on the bank a day for the purpose of recovering the bodies that might float to our side of the river, as the rebels held the other side."