Next Prev Next Enter Your Search Terms Below Putting your search in quotes will search on the entire phrase - like "15th New Jersey". Limit to the first 10 20 50All results. Fox's Regimental Losses REGIMENTAL LOSSES IN THE CIVIL WAR. IRISH BRIGADE. The Irish Brigade was, probably, the best known of any brigade organization, it having made an unusual reputation for dash and gallantry. The remarkable precision of its evolu tions under fire ;* its desperate attack on the impregnable wall at Marye's Heights ; its never failing promptness on every field ; and its long continuous service, made for it a name inseparable from the history of the war. It belonged to the First Division of the Second Corps, and was numbered as the Second Brigade. The regiments which properly belonged to the Irish Brigade, together with their losses, were : - Killed and Died of Wounds. 63d New York Infantry_ 156 69th New York Infantry,- 259 88th New York Infantry, 151 28th Massachusetts Infantry _ 250 116th Pennsylvania Infantry . 145 Total (during the war) 961 The Irish Brigade lost over 4,000 men in killed and wounded ; it being more men than ever belonged to the brigade at any one time. With the exception of the Twenty-eighth Massachusetts, the regiments were small. At the start they were not recruited to the maximum, but left New York with about 800 men each. The three New York regiments became so reduced in numbers that, at Gettysburg, they were consolidated into two com panies each ; the One Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania had been consolidated into four companies. The brigade, which was organized in 1861, consisted originally of three New York regi ments, which selected numbers corresponding to those of certain famous Irish regiments in the British Army. The One Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania and Twenty-eighth Massachusetts were added in the fall of 1862. Each of the five regiments carried green flags, in addition to the national colors. While on the Peninsular and Antietam campaigns, the Twenty-Ninth Massachusetts was attached to the brigade, but after Antietam it was detached and its place was taken by the Twenty-eighth Massachusetts. In September, 1864, the remnant of the Seventh New York Heavy Artillery was added ; but it was detached in February, 1865, and the Fourth New York Heavy Artillery took its place. In July, 1864, the One Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania was transferred to the Fourth Brigade. But the Irish Brigade was composed, substantially, as above ; and, each of the regiments having reenlisted, its service was continuous and unbroken. It was commanded, in turn, by General Thomas Francis Meagher, Colonel Patrick Kelly (killed), General Thos. A..Smyth f (killed), Colonel Richard Byrnes (killed), and General Robert Nugent. Mention should also be made of the following named brigades, and their losses :— "A severe and well-sustained musketry contest then ensued, continuing until the ammunition was nearly expended, after which this brigade (Meagher's Irish Brigade), having suffered severely, losing many valuable officers and men, was relieved by the brigade of General Caldwell, which until this time had remained in support. Caldwell's Brigade advanced to within a short distance of the rear of Meagher's Brigade. The latter then broke by companies to the rear, and the former by companies to the front, and in this manner passed their respective lines."—[Hancock's Official Report.—Antietam.] t Killed while in command of another brigade. _03423
