Military unit
The 59th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a unit of the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was one of the four Massachusetts "Veteran Regiments" raised in the winter of 1863–64. Recruits joining these regiments were required to have served at least nine months in a prior unit. The regiment was attached to the IX Corps of the Army of the Potomac and took part in Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864. They participated in heavy combat during several battles including the Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, and the Crater.