47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

The 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, officially known as the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and frequently referred to as the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and the early months of the Reconstruction era. It was formed by adults and teenagers from small towns and larger metropolitan areas in central, northeastern, and southeastern regions of Pennsylvania. With respect to demographics, a large percentage of 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers were men who had emigrated from Germany during the early to mid-1800s or were Pennsylvania-born men of German heritage whose family and friends still spoke German or its Pennsylvania Dutch variant more than a century after their ancestors emigrated from Germany in search of religious or political freedom. In addition, a significant number of its members were immigrants from Ireland and two were natives of Cuba.