The "Irish Brigade" In The Civil War: How The Emerald Green Helped Save The Red, White, And Blue

The afternoon of July 2, 1863 was hot even by Pennsylvania’s sweltering mid-summer standards. Perhaps nowhere more so than in the town of Gettysburg where the second day of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, and indeed greatest battle ever fought in North America, was underway. The previous day, Robert E. Lee’s Confederates had driven the Union Army from the town and onto a rise of ground called Cemetery Ridge. Now, Lee strove to dislodge them from their stronghold, destroy his Northern adversary and pave the way for a Southern victory and ultimate independence. Unit after unit had been fed into the meat grinder of the intense fighting that had begun in the late afternoon and as the Confederate attacks were gaining momentum, it was up to fresh Union reserves to beat them back. 

One of these units called into action was the famed Irish Brigade under the command of Galway-born Col. Patrick Kelly. A unit of 530 staunch Irish Catholic immigrants from New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, they awaited the order to advance. Before going into battle, the brigade presented one of the most striking scenes ever witnessed on an American battlefield. The men all took a knee, with caps in hand and heads bowed. Their chaplain, Father William Corby, stood upon a boulder and, shouting above the din of battle swirling all around them, lead a prayer granting the men absolution as their emerald green battle flag snapped in the warm summer breeze overhead. Then they formed up and pitched into the fight, charging headlong under intense fire through a wheatfield strewn with the wreckage of war—dead and wounded men and horses and overturned wagons—and into a tangled woodlot filled with Rebels in a desperate action to break up Lee’s attack on this sector of the line. They would emerge from the fierce engagement minus forty percent of the men who’d just been granted absolution a mere hour before…but with all their battle flags and honor intact.

Other regiments made up of predominantly Irish immigrants fought throughout the battle and indeed the war with equal élan (they were Irish after all!). And some wore Confederate grey as well as Union blue. But there is something about the image of Father Corby leading his solemn prayer amidst the whiz of bullets and the concussion of artillery before going into battle that July 2nd at Gettysburg that rings particularly “Irish” to me. It also reminds us how much the Irish contributed to the saving of this nation—one to which many had only recently emigrated—and forging our country’s destiny and national character. The tale of the Irish Brigade itself, a story written in blood, toil and astonishing bravery, perfectly illustrates this point. Of all the Union army brigades, only the 1st Vermont Brigade and the famous Iron Brigade suffered more combat dead than did the Irish Brigade during America’s Civil War.

Formed in 1861 they originally consisted of 63rd, 69th and 88th New York and 29th Massachusetts Infantry regiments. Although the 29th were not Irish and could, in fact, trace their roots back to the Mayflower, the units actually fought side-by-side quite well and routinely praised each other’s gallantry. But the Boston Protestant Yankees did object to being in an outfit that was by the fall of 1862 labeled the “Irish Brigade.” Nor were they fond of being soldered with the New York “Fenians” (Irish revolutionaries) so after Antietam they were replaced by the decidedly more Irish 28th Massachusetts. 

The brigade was commanded by General Thomas Francis Meagher (pronounced “Mar”) who was as colorful as the men he led. An agitator in Ireland who participated in the Rebellion of 1848, Meagher had escaped banishment in Tasmania and made his way to San Francisco and then New York where he became a lawyer then soldier. When war broke out he actively lobbied to form an all Irish Army brigade.

Meagher’s brigade was an exception to the War Department’s policy that discouraged ethnic units as it undermined the concept of union, but the benefits in this case won out. At the war’s outset, many Irish were divided in their support for the Union…though it gave them rights denied them at home, they still faced discrimination (“Irish need not apply”) and the prospects of a flood of freed slaves heading north to compete for their low wage jobs was troublesome. An all-Irish unit would solidify Union support from America’s largest Catholic minority while also offering Great Britain the prospect of an agitated Irish population should they intervene on the side of the Confederacy as many of the brigade’s officers were well-known Irish revolutionaries.   

The Irish Brigade at its zenith consisted of five regiments (the final addition being the 116th Pennsylvania from Philadelphia) numbering some 2,500 soldiers, officers and other ranks. They would fight in such violent battles as Fair Oaks, Gaines Mill, Savage’s Station, and Malvern Hill. The unit would especially distinguish itself at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862 where they charged through murderous sheets of lead coming at them from determined Confederates hunkered down in a sunken farm road that would be so thickly matted with the dead that it was nick-named “Bloody Lane.”  They would suffer 540 casualties. But worse was to come. 

Just three months later, at Fredericksburg, on a frigid Sunday, December 13, 1862, the unit would be utterly annihilated as they were ordered into a series of fruitless, nearly suicidal charges against a heavily entrenched Confederate army perched high on a hill and behind a stone wall. Tragically, many of the men from 24th Georgia (commanded by Antrim-born Col. Robert McMillan, CSA) who shot them down were Irishmen too. By the end of the day’s fighting at Fredericksburg, the once mighty Irish Brigade could count just 256 survivors in its decimated ranks—out of 1,700 it took into battle that morning.

In May 1863, the unit suffered further losses at Chancellorsville. Leading up to Gettysburg the brigade recovered some of its strength when it was reinforced by recuperated wounded from Fredericksburg but at 530 men it was a mere shadow of what it was at peak strength just a year before. Meagher was so frustrated at the lack of discretion granted him in recruiting more than just replacements being sent to him that he resigned in protest, ceding the mantle of command to Col. Kelly. Kelly would lead them bravely at Gettysburg and their counter-attack temporarily blunted the Confederate advance. They suffered 202 casualties and only withdrew after it became clear they would be surrounded if they did not fall back which they did in good order.

In May 1864 Kelly handed over brigade command to the more senior Col. Richard Byrnes who had returned from a Massachusetts recruitment tour. Byrnes was killed at Cold Harbor just two weeks later, putting Kelly back in command once again. Although they would continue to serve with distinction throughout the heavy battles around Richmond, mounting losses—including the death of Kelly at Petersburg—effectively ended their days as an independent brigade. The survivors were absorbed by other units in the Union 1st Division, II Corps; they were mustered out of service at war’s in 1865, free to return to civilian pursuits in their new country.

Today the Irish Brigade’s lineage lives on in the “Fighting 69th” of the New York National Guard who fought in World War I, World War II (Pacific) and even Baghdad in 2004-2005. Ironically, or perhaps poignantly, the nickname “Fighting 69th” was given to them by Robert E. Lee at Fredericksburg who was moved by their bravery. Not a bad endorsement.

So as you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this week, remember the Irish who fought and strove and perished over the hallowed ground of our history. The emerald green banner has often been saturated with the blood of those who gave so much to insure that their newly adopted homeland should survive and prosper. And if perchance you should see some men and women in green parading through your streets this weekend singing songs and hoisting a pint in toast to their heritage, you best remember the Gaelic cry of the Irish Brigade who preceded these happy bands: “Faugh A Ballagh”, “Clear the Way.” Many an enemy on many a battlefield no doubt wished they’d heeded this call. 

Personally, I think I’ll join them for a pint and celebrate the day that honors one quarter of my family lineage. After all, partying with the Irish is a much more rewarding endeavor than trying to prevent them from taking a position…and a lot safer too! HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY! Some facts of the Irish Brigade (Courtesy Pearl River, NY Ancient Order of Hibernians website)

• None other than enemy commander Robert E. Lee bestowed the nickname “The Fighting 69th” on the 69th New York Regiment. Upon hearing that the 69th NY was moving into position to face his troops across the battlefield at Fredericksburg in December of 1862, Lee remarked, “Ah yes, that Fighting 69th.”
• During the Civil War the Irish Brigade suffered total casualties of over 4,000—more than the unit ever had at any one time.
• The Battle Cry of the Irish Brigade, and historically of other Irish Regiments that have served in armies around the world is the Gaelic “Faugh A Ballagh”, “Clear the Way” (the Irish are coming). It is still the official battle cry of the modern 69th.
• Eleven Members of the Irish Brigade were awarded the Medal of Honor. Three of the Irish Brigade’s Commanding Officers fell in battle.
• 150,000 Irish born soldiers fought for the Union, 40,000 for the Confederacy representing a significant portion of the soldiers enlisted in each Army. This does not include the many more that were American born and of Irish descent.
• Despite their significant contribution to achieving the Union Victory at Antietam and the fact that many other units had previously been recognized, it was not until 1997 that the Irish Brigade’s role was finally recognized by a monument on the Antietam battlefield thanks to the persistent efforts of the AOH.