 The pressing need to send troops to the front required Wilson to abandon his original intention of raising multiple regiments of infantry and he instead selected the 10 companies closest to readiness, thus creating the 22nd Massachusetts Regiment.To this regiment were attached the 3rd Massachusetts Light Artillery and the 2nd Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters.Thus, the 22nd Massachusetts became one of the few infantry units in the Civil War with attached artillery and sharpshooters.