The Civil War was the first opportunity that the Irish Catholic immigrants in this country had to participate in one of our wars in a significant fashion. In both the North and South, over 150,000 Irishmen enthusiastically answered the call to arms and fought exceptionally well during the course of the war. The best known of these units was the famous "Irish Brigade" led by the former Irish revolutionary Thomas F. Meager. Other leaders for the unit included Robert Nugent, Patrick Kelly, Richard Byrnes, and Richard Duryea. Both Byrnes and Kelly were killed in battle while leading the brigade. This article will attempt to briefly describe the history of the unit, and readers desiring more info on this brave contingent of Irishmen are directed to consult the sources listed at the conclusion of this article. It is my understanding that University of Alabama Professor Lawrence Frederic Kohl is currently working on what will more than likely become THE definitive history of the Irish Brigade, but I have no further details about this eagerly awaited book. Thomas Francis Meagher was an Irish revolutionary leader and orator who was arrested by the British in 1849 and exiled to Tasmania. Meagher subsequently fled to California in 1852, then migrated to New York City where he became a U.S. citizen and attorney. He was still at this time a lecturer and a figure of significant political influence among Irish immigrants and partisans of an independent Ireland. Meagher was totally convinced of Britain's pro—Confederate sympathies in the new war, and mustered into the service in April, 1861, as the leader of a company of the 69th New York State Militia known as "Meagher's Irish Zouaves". The regiment was led by his friend, Col. Michael Corcoran. Irishmen answered the call to arms so enthusiastically that the 69th could not accommodate them all, and many were not allowed to join the unit at this time. After its initial training period, in early July of 1861 the regiment became part of Col. William T. Sherman's Brigade of Brigadier General Daniel Tyler's Division of Brig. Gen. Irwin McDowell's Army. The approximate strength of the regiment at this time was about 1200 men. McDowell's Army numbered some 30,600 men at this time, and his ranks thinned somewhat on July 20th when several militia units' terms of enlistment expired and they left the ranks and marched home. Much to their credit the 69th's men, faced with similar circumstances, voted to stay and fight with McDowell in the impending battle. The 69th's first battle action came at Blackburn's Ford on July 18, where the Federals attempted a reconnaissance in force against Longstreet's Confederates. The 69th endured sustained artillery fire before McDowell rode up and ordered Sherman to withdraw his brigade. The Irishmen were proud of their initial bravery under fire and the cool, disciplined behavior of their officers. At the battle of First Bull Run, the 69th established the excellent reputation that it would maintain until the war's conclusion. The 69th moved out long before dawn on July 21 and marched along the Warrenton Pike to a position just short of the Stone Bridge over Bull Run. Sherman deployed his brigade here and waited until noon, at which time he felt certain that Federal forces had succeeded in crossing Bull Run at Sudley's Ford. Sherman crossed the Stone Bridge and moved towards his right and linked up with Federal forces making the main attack. Near the Henry House, the Confederates had formed a good defensive line with plentiful artillery support. Federal efforts to break the Confederate position were futile. Sherman sent his regiments in against the enemy one at a time. The 2nd Wisconsin attacked first, followed by the 79th N.Y.. Both were soon repulsed and it was the 69th's turn. They charged with a loud battle shout, half English and half Gaelic, a shout that would eventually become as famous as the Rebel Yell itself. The 69th swept up the hill, across an open field and on towards the woods concealing the enemy infantry. The regiment issued fire as it advanced, and the Rebel guns hurled grape into their faces from their left and right while they were pelted by a steady stream of musket fire from the woods that they were charging. The 69th was repulsed, but Col. Corcoran reformed them and they charged again. The Irishmen were repulsed several more times, but each time they reformed and rushed towards the enemy again in a remarkable display of courage. Meagher's company of Zouaves, very conspicuous in their red uniforms, suffered terribly from the enemy's fire. Meagher's horse was shot from under him by a rifled cannon bolt during one assault, and Lt. Col. Haggerty fell shot through the heart. Sherman shortly ordered the brigade to retire and Gen. McDowell, who witnessed the 69th's charges against the enemy position, rode over to the 69th and expressed his personal thanks to the regiment for their heroic efforts. Subsequently, the Union situation deteriorated as the Confederates rushed reinforcements to the front and attacked the exposed Federal right flank. The Federals began an orderly withdrawal, but it soon turned into a full—fledged rout. A few units, the 69th included, tried to fight a rear guard action to hinder the pursuing Confederates. Col. Corcoran was wounded in the leg and captured along with about thirty five soldiers of the 69th and the regiment's colors as well. The 69th's losses in the battle amounted to 38 killed, 59 wounded and 95 missing. Confederate soldiers and newspapers commented on how well the 69th had fought at Bull Run. The 69th was mustered out of the service two weeks after First Bull Run. A total of 1,276 men had served with the regiment in Virginia, and 1,034 of these would eventually return to serve the colors again in the very near future. Over 500 of the men immediately reenlisted in a new three year regiment that was being formed, the 69th New York Volunteers. At this time the idea was originated to raise an entire brigade of Irishmen for the Federal Army. Meagher helped to recruit members to the brigade with his oratory skills, and requested that General James Shields, an Irish—American hero of the Mexican War, be named to lead the brigade. Shields was named to command a division instead, but suggested to the authorities that Meagher was the obvious leader for the Irish Brigade. Meagher soon found himself authorized to arrange the formation of the brigade with the colonels of several regiments. Irishmen flocked to join the ranks of the brigade from all corners of the world, some of whom were former British soldiers who had seen action at Balaclava and Inkermann. Composition Initially the brigade was composed of the following regiments: 69th New York Volunteers, 88th New York Volunteers, and the 63rd New York Volunteers. By mid—November the brigade was judged fit enough to join Gen. McClellan's Army in Virginia. But before they departed, the Irish Ladies' Committee presented the regiments with magnificent handsewn National flags and Green Regimental colors, mounted on beautiful flagstaffs capped with silver plated eagles. By January 1 of 1862, the Irish Brigade numbered 2,500 men and was assigned to Major Gen. Edwin Sumner's Division. Col. Robert Nugent of the 69th acted as the brigade's leader until early February when Meagher was promoted to Brigadier General and given command of the brigade. Gen. Sumner was soon named to command a corps in McClellan's major reorganization of the Army of the Potomac. Sumner's replacement was Gen. Israel Richardson, a veteran West Pointer nicknamed "Fighting Dick" and a hard—nosed fighter he was, just the kind of leader the Irish Brigade liked, and the men quickly became quite fond of him. During McClellan's Peninsular Campaign and the Seven Days Battles, the Irish Brigade's reputation was born and solidly established. At the battles of Fair Oaks, Gaines' Mill, Frayser's Farm, Malvern Hill and Savage's Station, the Brigade fought well, being used time after time as a powerful reserve to counterattack the rebel assaults and repulsing them on every opportunity. Whether on the attack or on the defense, the men fought with both a strange gaiety and a wild determination, a sort of wreckless abandon. Whenever the Irish Brigade advanced, shouting their famous battle cry, all of the nearby Union troops including wounded, stragglers, and retreating friends were given renewed strength by the knowledge that the brigade was going into action. Their mere presence on the battlefield was a morale boost to the Union cause. The brigade lost 700 casualties (20% of its strength) in this campaign. The Irish Brigade was by this time famous, and Confederate officers were known to sweep the Union positions with their binoculars to determine the whereabouts of their famous green flags. The brigade was notable for fighting rearguard actions during this campaign also, but unfortunately this meant that they had to leave their wounded on the battlefield when they withdrew. After the battle of Fair Oaks, the ranks of the brigade were strengthened by the addition of the 29th Massachusetts. This regiment was solid old Yanks, not hardly of Irish descent, but the unit got along well with the other units in the brigade. The new regiment fought so well during the Seven Days Battles that Meagher referred to them as "Irishmen in disguise. Meagher and some of his regimental officers went on a recruiting trip in mid—July of 1862 in an attempt to beef up the strength of the brigade again, but they found that public opinion in the north was embittered and in general against the war. Many Irishmen were now of the opinion that perhaps too much was being asked of them in this American struggle. Many were still willing to fight, but they wanted to be under the command of Michael Corcoran (Corcoran was exchanged in August, promoted to Brigadier General, and soon had raised five new regiments of Irishmen to fight in his new brigade which was named the "Corcoran Legion." This, of course, did not do the Irish Brigade any good at all.). So, Meagher's recruiting trip did not go well. Meagher had wanted to get 1,000 new men for the brigade, but he was only able to sign up less than 250. Antietam The next battlefield test for the Irish Brigade came at Antietam. Gen. McClellan ordered Sumner's Corps to attack the "Bloody Lane", a strong entrenchment—like sunken road position occupied by veteran Confederates under the command of Gen. D.H. Hill. The regiments of the brigade had the following approximate strengths at the start of the battle: 69th N.Y. 300 men 63rd N.Y. 350 men 88th N.Y. 300 men 29th Mass. 400 men The division advanced with the Irish Brigade in the lead until they reached the crest of a hill to the left of Gen. French's Division. Here Meagher halted them to fire two volleys at close range into the ranks of the defending Rebels with their smoothbore muskets armed with buck and ball ammunition. Meagher shouted for them to charge, but the Confederates let loose with an incredible fusillade of musketry fire and the charge collapsed almost before it began. The men fell prone and hugged the ground, and the Rebel fire was too intense to do much else. In a matter of just a few minutes, the 69th and the 63rd each lost 60% of their strength. The Irish Brigade was relieved by Caldwell's Brigade and they thus retired accordingly. Meagher stated in his official report that his horse was shot from under him during the assault, but some said that he was drunk and fell from his horse. Gen. Richardson was mortally wounded by a shell during the heavy fighting as well. Gen. Hancock commanded the division after Richardson's demise. The brigade's total casualties for the battle were about 450 men. Soon after the battle, the brigade's strength was bolstered by the addition of the 116th Pennsylvania and the 28th Massachusetts, but the 29th Massachusetts was transferred out of the brigade, leaving Meagher five veteran regiments to command. Fredericksburg After McClellan was relieved of command and replaced by Gen. Ambrose Burnside, the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia locked horns again at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862. Gen. Lee, with 75,000 men and over 300 guns, fortified the heights west of Fredericksburg instead of contesting Burnside's crossing of the Rappahannock River. Burnside crossed the river and ordered the corps of Sumner, Franklin and Hooker to attack the virtually impregnable Confederate position across a two mile wide open field. The Federal troops attacked all day long, but it was some of the most futile fighting the Army of the Potomac would ever do. The Federal Army lost nearly 13,000 men to Lee's just over 5,300. The Irish Brigade gallantly attempted to do their duty along with many other brave Federal units and take the Rebel position, but it was just not humanly possible. The Irishmen knew before they began the advance that it was pure suicide to try to attack the heights, having seen French's Division and another brigade brutally repulsed moments earlier, but these men possessed uncommon courage and determination. The brigade suffered terrible losses in the assault, and it was little consolation after the battle when burial parties reported that the Federal troops closest to the stone wall at the foot of the Confederate position on Marye's Heights all had green sprigs in their caps. Of the more than 1,300 men that Meagher led into the attack, only 280 answered the roll call the following morning. Confederate General Pickett observed the attack of the brigade and said his "heart almost stood still as he watched those sons of Erin fearlessly rush to their deaths. The brilliant assault was beyond description... .we forgot they were fighting us, and cheer after cheer at their fearlessness went up all along our lines...Never at Fontenoy, Albuera or at Waterloo was more undaunted courage displayed by the sons of Erin than during those six frantic dashes which they directed against their foe...The bodies which lie in dense masses within forty yards of the muzzles of Colonel Walton's guns are the best evidence what matter of men they were who pressed on to death with the dauntlessness of a race which has gained glory on a thousand battlefields, and never more richly deserved it than at the foot of Marye's Heights on the 13th day of December, 1862." While this was undoubtedly the brigade's finest moment and it covered itself in a multitude of glory, so it was also its saddest moment. The loss of so many veteran soldiers could not be overcome. The Irish Brigade would never be able to recover from the tragedy of Fredericksburg. The next battle for the Army of the Potomac was Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, but the Irish Brigade was not heavily engaged here. The brigade was not in the path of Jackson's flank attack, so it saw little action during the day. On May 3, 1863, Gen. Meagher tendered his resignation, saying that the Irish Brigade no longer really existed due to its unreplaced battle losses. Maegher's resignation was accepted by Lincoln on May 14 and he said farewell to the brigade on May 19. His speech was very emotional and many of the 400 men of the brigade wept as he spoke. The command of the brigade was turned over to Col. Patrick Kelly of the 88th N.Y. But many felt that Meagher, their idol and hero, could never be replaced. Gettysburg As the Gettysburg campaign began, the brigade's strength was still less than 550 men, in the same five regiments. The regimental strengths were as follows: 116th Penn. 66 men 88th N.Y. 90 men 69th N.Y. 75 men 63rd N.Y. 75 men 28th Mass. 224 men Gen. George Meade replaced Gen. Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac. In the pivotal battle of Gettysburg, the Irish Brigade was only heavily engaged on the second day of the battle, July 2, 1863. Early on the morning of the 2nd, Hancock moved his 2nd Corps into the battle line on Cemetery Hill. This placed Caldwell's Division, of which the Irish Brigade was part, on the left center of the Union front. Shortly thereafter, Gen. Dan Sickles' 3rd Corps left its position on the left of the 2nd Corps and advanced towards the Peach Orchard, thus exposing both of his flanks and leaving a sizeable gap between the right of his corps and Hancock's left. Confederate Gen. Longstreet' s afternoon attack came down hard on Sickles' Corps, and Hancock ordered Caldwell to ready his division to advance to their aid. Caldwell's Division had four brigades: Zook, Kelly, Cross and Brooke. Caldwell's men moved forward at 4:30, advancing past the Trostle House and bore to their left so that their left rested near the northern base of Little Round Top. On the way, a staff officer rode up and took Zook's Brigade to reinforce a critical part of the line. The Irish Brigade collided into a lot of Confederates near the base of Little Round Top, at the top of a rise about fifteen yards away. The Irish Brigade fired deadly volleys of buck and ball from their smoothbore muskets and soon drove the Rebels from their front. But now it was discovered that Confederate forces had moved past the brigade on both flanks and were pouring deadly fire into their ranks, so the men turned and retreated hastily and in a most unorderly fashion through a wheatfield, and it was here that they incurred their greatest casualties of the battle. Caldwell's Division lost some 1400 men in just thirty minutes, and the Irish Brigade's casualties amounted to 27 killed, 109 wounded, and 62 missing. Thus the brigade's involvement in the Battle of Gettysburg came to a close on a sour note. In December, the 63rd, 69th, and 88th learned that they had fulfilled the goal that three—fourths of the veterans re—enlist, therefore entitling these entire regiments to be allowed to go home for rest and additional recruiting. The men were saddened to learn that Michael Corcoran had died when his horse fell on him on December 22, 1863, in a freak non—combat related accident. Another of their heroes had fallen. In early February of 1864 the three N.Y. regiments returned to the 2nd Corps for active duty. In the desperate fighting that soon followed at Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, the 2nd Corps was consistently used as assault troops and as one would expect, all involved units suffered heavy losses. At Cold Harbor, Col. Richard Byrnes, the current commander of the brigade, was mortally wounded. Petersburg During the siege of Petersburg on June 16, 1864, the Irish Brigade attacked over rough and broken ground and stormed the Rebel defenses. They shared with other units the capture of three redans with their guns and connected works. Col. Patrick Kelly, the leader of the Irish Brigade, was killed in the assault. On August 25, 1864, the Battle of Reams's Station was a disaster for Hancock's 2nd Corps as A. P. Hill's Confederates attacked their positions and broke through. Federal losses were 2,742 men (over 2,000 of these were captured) along with nine guns and twelve regimental colors. Shortly after the disaster at Reams's Station, the 116th Pennsylvania was transferred out of the brigade and orders were issued to consolidate the remaining regiments of the Irish Brigade into a single regiment under Captain Richard Moroney, which would then be transferred into Carroll's Brigade of 2nd Division. Carroll's Brigade was largely Irish—American and currently led by Tom Smyth, a popular Irishman who was much liked by the soldiers of the Irish Brigade. But the soldiers balked at the idea of losing their distinctive green regimental flags and decided that they would under no circumstances give them up. Luckily, Col. Robert Nugent was now in charge of enforcing the draft in the State of New York, and he assured the proper authorities that the brigade's strength would be increased as soon as possible and asked that the consolidation order be cancelled on this basis. Because of Nugent's noble efforts, the Irish Brigade was able to survive as a fighting unit. Robert Nugent went on to lead the Irish Brigade in the last portion of the war. At the Battle of Skinner's Farm on March 25th, 1865, the brigade suffered heavy casualties participating in a counterattack which followed the Confederate capture of Fort Stedman. On May 29th, the Irish Brigade was involved in the start of the Union flanking movement that ultimately led to a major engagement at Five Forks, where Lee suffered a disastrous defeat. Lee now had to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond and would soon be forced to surrender to Grant at Appomattox. Grant's first letter asking Lee to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia went through the lines in the Irish Brigade's sector via their commander, Robert Nugent, on April 7th. The brigade was saddened to learn of the death of Thomas Smyth earlier in the day at the Battle of Farmville. Lee surrendered on April 9th. The Irish Brigade travelled to Washington and participated in the great victory parade at the end of May. The regiments disbanded and returned to their homes in late June and early July. Surely no—one could deny the contribution that these and other Irishmen made to the Union cause. They had fought with incredible courage and a determination that could not be matched, and the price they paid with their blood was great indeed. They fought as though they were trying to prove something to America, to prove that they were worthy of being citizens of this country. They displayed on many battlefields the metal of which they were made, and they will forever be remembered for their accomplishments. SOURCES THE IRISH BRIGADE by Paul Jones THE IRISH BRIGADE AND ITS CAMPAIGNS by D.P. Conyngham IRISH GREEN AND UNION BLUE (Letters of Peter Welsh) Back to The Zouave Vol V No. 3 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 The American Civil War Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com