The 201st Pennsylvania was raised in the Harrisburg area during August 1864 for a one-year term in response to President Abraham Lincoln's call for 500,000 men. Within 30 days of the start of recruitment, it reached its required membership strength, and became the first of ten regiments to fulfill the state's assigned enrollment quota. Although the majority of its members were residents of Dauphin County, others came from Duncannon and Fairview, in Perry and Cumberland Counties while part of Company K was composed of men from Franklin County. The regiment concentrated at Camp Curtin and was organized there on 29 August,[1] under the command of Colonel F. Asbury Awl. Many of the 201st Pennsylvania's officers and enlisted men had served previously with other regiments from the state, including the entire group of field and staff officers who had fought with the 127th Pennsylvania Infantry at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.[2]
A newspaper reward notice for returning deserters from a company of the regiment
Shortly after its organization, the regiment moved to Chambersburg, where it encamped five miles from the town near the Black Creek crossing of the Chambersburg turnpike. After training at the camp, the 201st went on a three-day march for exercise on 12 September. Company H was sent to York for duty at the army hospital there on 17 September, while Companies F and G were sent to Bloody Run on the same day to join the Juniata District under General Orris S. Ferry. Company F soon transferred to McConnellsburg, and Companies F and G spent the northern hemisphere fall and winter arresting deserters, ultimately detaining nearly 500. Following the relief of Ferry in December, Major John T. Morgan of the regiment became district commander. Company E was moved to Scranton on 18 September,[1] where it served on provost duty.[2]
The 201st moved to Alexandria on 13 November, where it was stationed at Camp Slough. For the rest of the war, the regiment served on guard duty in the city, in the defenses south of the Potomac, on railroad trains, and escorted recruits and stragglers towards the front. Many officers served on court martial boards, and Lieutenant Colonel J. Wesley Awl was appointed commander of the Alexandria Soldiers' Rest distribution camp in early May. Company G was sent to Pittsburgh on 24 May, where it served on provost duty. The main body of the regiment was ordered transferred to Fort Delaware on 26 May, and served there for the rest of its term. It was stationed at the fort alongside the 215th Pennsylvania Infantry, and helped to process Confederate prisoners of war for release.[4] In mid-June the regiment concentrated at Harrisburg, where it mustered out on 21 June.[2] During its service, the regiment suffered a total of sixteen deaths: one enlisted man killed and fifteen died of disease.[1]
