SYKES'S DIVISION
Another division remarkable for superiority in discipline and efficiency, was Sykes's Division of Regulars. The regular troops of the United States Army serving in the Army of the Potomac were formed into one division of two brigades, under command of Major-General George Sykes, who was succeeded in 1863 by General Romeyn B. Ayres. This division included the Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Fourteenth, and Seventeenth United States Infantry. The regiments were small, seldom having over eight companies to a regiment, and often only three. At Gaines's Mill, and at Gettysburg, they sustained a terrible percentage of loss. The division became so reduced in numbers that it was withdrawn from the field in 1864. The largest losses in the division occurred in the Fourteenth Infantry; but that might have been due to larger numbers. The Regular Division was, undoubtedly, the best officered of any division in the Army, the officers being selected solely with reference to their ability. In addition to those from the National Military Academy, a large number were promoted from the ranks.
Attached to the division of Regulars was an additional brigade, composed of volunteer regiments, which had demonstrated by their discipline and efficiency their fitness to be associated with the Regulars. Conspicuous among the volunteer regiments thus attached to the Regular Division was the Fifth New York, or Duryeé Zouaves--General Warren's old regiment.