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The 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves, later known as the 31st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. They served in the Army of the Potomac, Deptartment of the Rappahannock, Army of Virginia and the Deptartment of Washington during the war.

After the attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for fourteen regiments of volunteers from the state of Pennsylvania. Within a short amount of time there was more than enough volunteers to fill this quota, and the extra volunteers were formed into a division known as the Pennsylvania Reserves. The 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves were the second such regiment and named accordingly. Later in the war they were redesignated the 31st Pennyslvania Infantry regiment, but like many of the Pennsylvania Reserves units they continued to use their original designation.

Service
The 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves were recruited mainly from Philadelphia along with two companies made up of men from  Blair and Huntingdon Counties in Pennsylvania. After being mustered into service they moved to Camp Curtin located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, then onto Washington, DC to be sworn into United States service.

When General Robert E. Lee invaded Pennsylvania, the officers of the 2nd Pennyslvania Reserves wrote a letter to their commander, Who forwarded to the commanding officers of the Army of the Potomac. It stated: "We, the undersigned, officers of the Second Regiment, Infantry, Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps, having learned that our mother State has been invaded by a confederate force, respectfully ask that you will, if it be in your power, have us ordered within the borders of our State, for her defense. Under M'Call, Reynolds, Meade, Seymour, Sinclair, and yourself, we have more than once met and fought the enemy, when he was at home. We now wish to meet him again when he threatens our homes, our families and our firesides. Could our wish in this behalf be realized, we feel confident that we could do some service to the State that sent us to the field, and not diminish, if we could not increase, the lustre that -attaches to our name."

Casualties
The 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves had a total enrollment of 850 men. They lost 4 officers and 73 enlisted men to battlefield wounds and another 3 officers and 71 enlisted men to disease for a total 151 deaths. 21 officers and 176 enlisted men were wounded during service. 5 officers and 48 enlisted men were missing or captured, for a total casualty figure of 400.