I brought my own 1842 musket tonight because of the association of the smooth bore musket with the Irish Brigade and Neil also brought his and he also brought something that I don't have which is an original buck and ball cartridge and we will get into that down the road.

First, a little about the Irish brigade. There were a number of famous units in the Civil War and the Confederate Army, of course we have the Stonewall Brigade and in the Federal Army, the Potomac, the Iron Brigade, the 20th Maine which became famous in the 1950's. The Irish Brigade was perhaps one of the most well known organizations in the Army of Potomac and in the Union Army. Some people said that it was the best brigade in the Army of the Potomac, others the best brigade in the Union Army and some the best infantry brigade that ever was when it was in it's prime - especially in the years of 1862-1863.

It was fathered by the 69th New York State Militia. When the war broke out in 1861, the 69th Militia offered its services to Colonel Corchran who we will see on the slides later on, offered the services of the regiment to the Union. It was an Irish American Militia regiment. It had had its troubles in the 1850's. If any of you are familiar with the pre-war history - the No Nothing Movement, Anti Catholicism of the 1840's and 50's and a lot of ethnic and religious rioting in the cities. The 69th Militia was essentially formed to be an Irish Catholic unit in New York City to balance some of the militia units that were native born American outfits. It was consolidated from several Irish regiments into the 69th.

In 1860, the Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria's son, came to America and Colonel Corchran refused to parade the regiment. The state of New York proceeded against him with court marshall papers and they were going to thow him out of the militia. Then the Civil War happened on the scene and all was quickly forgotten. The 69th was accepted into the army. At that point in the war the Union was particularly interested in recruiting as many ethnic units as possible to get the loyalty of the large immigrant population in the north. There were a number of German units and a fair number of Irish regiments.

The 69th went to Bull Run and was one of the best militia regiments on the field. They covered the Federal retreat from Bull Run under the command of General Sherman, who by the way, they didn't like. In the covering the rear guard, they were overrun and Corchran was captured and was held a prisoner by the Confederate for over a year.

When the unit got back to New York, Thomas Francis Meagher who perhaps the best known Irishmen of his day in America. He was a former Irish rebel, a newspaper editor, and a charismatic speaker. He decided he would form an Irish brigade. This meant something very significant - more than just the fact that a brigade in the Federal Army was four regiments of infantry sometimes three. This was very symbolic because the term Irish brigade had been used since the early 1700's when the first Irish exiles when to France in 1689 and formed a brigade in the French army which was called the Irish brigade.

The Irish brigade lasted in the French army up until the time of the French Revolution. In one famous battle in 1745 in Northern France, the Battle of Fontenoy, the Irish brigade in the French Army found itself up against the Guard's brigade of the British Army. In those days war was a fairly gentlemanly thing. They would approach each other and you fire first, no you fire first, they would often salute each other. Well the Irish swept the British from the field. So, that became a rallying cry for Irish rebels over the years. A man named Thomas Davis, who was actually a welch man living in Ireland, wrote a poem called Remember Fontenoy which became and still is a fairly famous poem. It's rather dated today, but it's still a rather vigorous piece of poetry.

At Bull Run when the 69th was in the middle of the fight, Thomas Francis Meagher waved his sword in the air and shouted "Remember Fontenoy" Fontenoy, Ireland to rally the troops. When he founded the brigade, he had in mind creating a brigade similar to that which had been in the French army. There was also an Irish brigade in the Spanish army and that lasted until 1818. Interestingly enough most of these brigades got recruits from Ireland all during the period of existence. The French-Irish brigade, for example, needed a thousand men a year for replacements, for people who died or retired or went elsewhere. Of those, about 200 were from Irish people living in France and about 800 came directly from Ireland to France. Sometimes the British turned the other eye and let these guys go because they figured there would be trouble at home. Other times they arrested the recruiters and hanged them.

There was a steady stream. It was also a job for Irishmen who wanted a military career because they couldn't go into the British army because if you were catholic it was forbidden to be an enlistee in the British army, especially as an officer up until the 1780's. So they went to France. Interestingly enough, once the British army dropped its prescription against catholic officers enlistments in the British army, French-Irish brigade declined dramaticly.

In 1745, when they defeated the British at Fontenoy they were pretty much all Irishmen in the ranks. Irish were considered desirable soldiers because they were bigger, stronger and healthier, even in the British army. The shortest Irish musketeer that went to France in 1789 was 5'6" and that was a fairly tall army in those days. It was the same in the British army which was 30% Irish in 1830. They found that the recruits from Ireland were generally healthier up until the time of the famine in the 1840's.

William Fox who was a veteran who probably knew the Civil War units perhaps better than anyone wrote that the Irish brigade was probably the best known of any brigade organization having made an usual reputation for dash and gallantry. Frances Walker, who was a historian of the 2nd Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac wrote that the Irish brigade was one of the most picturesque features of the 2nd Corps whether in fight, on the march or in camp. Much of this was due to the theatricality of Thomas Francis Meagher too.

On the whole there were about 160,000 Irish soldiers in the Union army. They were slightly under-represented as to population of immigrants. The Germans slightly over-represented. There were other Irish units, the 9th Massachusetts; the 37th New York; Irish rifles; the 23rd Illinois, called the Irish brigade of the west.

In Confederate outfits, Irish were more spread out. There were some in with the Tennessee Infantry, that was called the sons of Aaron. But none of these ever made as distinguished a combat record as the Irish brigade. The Irish Brigade as it was founded was the 69th New York Volunteers. As opposed to the 69th Militia which stayed in the city. Many of the soldiers that fought at Bull Run with the Militia joined the 69th Volunteers. But the 69th Militia maintained a separate identity throughout the war.

Then there was the 88th New York. The 88th New York was officered largely by people from Captain Meagher's company from the old 69th - people like Patrick Clooney who came over from Waterford when the war broke out, which is where Meagher was from. Other volunteers that came over to fight with Thomas Francis Meagher who had become a famous man.

He was a revolutionary in the young Ireland movement. In 1848 when revolution swept Europe, the young Ireland movement turned out to be a fiasco. The only battle in it was a skirmish in the cabbage patch of a woman named Mrs. McCormack in Valengary. Meagher was captured after that, sentenced to death, exiled to Tasmania. When he reached Tasmania, he reached an agreement with the Governor of Tasmania that he could have free run of the place if he didn't try to escape. So he lived quite well, he had a cottage on the lake and did quite well for himself. Then, one day he decided he was bored, I guess, and he went to the governor said, by the way, I'm breaking my parole - I'm going to escape. The governor said fine, and he escaped shortly thereafter and came to the United States.

Here is a guy, who everywhere he went and every person he met, he was one of the most masterful politicians around. Everyone liked him. In this country he was able to bridge the gap between the rural immigrants that came from Ireland and the American community at large. He was a not too practical a businessman, most of the businesses he got into failed but he had the convenience of having married a woman whose father was very wealthy and that helped him along. He was probably looking on a career in American politics. The general belief was that all of the people who joined the Irish brigade joined so that they could get military training and then go back after the war and make a rebellion in Ireland against the British. Some did, most did not. Meagher's feelings on this we will never know. He became the governor of Montana after the war and that is where he died in 1867. I think he was looking more towards being a senator for Montana than he was leading rebellion in Ireland.

The rebellion that occurred right after the war in Ireland failed. Most of American officers who went back, when they got off the boat, they were identified immediately because of their American clothes, particularly their shoes. I have read the police reports in the Irish National Archives and they particularly note the clothing of people and if it was American style clothing and American style shoes they immediately started tailing them. This was the case during the war too. When recruiters came over and tried to get men to come to this country and join the army. Sometimes the men didn't know they were coming to join the army, they thought they were coming to work on the railroad. They were following this one recruiter all around and the police reports always give physical descriptions which always included American style clothes. Something that they were trained to look out for.

The Irish brigade first entered battle on the Peninsula at the Battle of Fair Oaks. They performed well. One of the reason they performed well was that most of them were veterans of other people's armies. Captain Clooney who came from Waterford had served in the Pope's army. The Pope had an army in the 1860's and one of the units in was the St. Patrick's Battalion which was composed of Irishmen. Many of course, had served in the British army which was probably still about 30% Irish at the time of the Civil War. General Patrick Clayburn who was a Confederate officer probably the best division commander in the Confederate army and perhaps in either army had served as a private in the British army. He was probably the only officer who understood how firearms should be used.

Following the Peninsula Campaign, the Irish brigade came to Antietam. That is probably one of the better known fights that with Fredericksburg. At Antietam, they attacked the Confederate center at the Sunken Road. They marched up to within 30-40 yards to the Confederates and then shot it out with them. They used these guns here.

This is a U.S. Model 1842 Musket. The bore is smooth, it's like a shot gun. It is not a rifle. During the Civil War and especially in the first two years, the advantage that the Rifle Musket had in range, despite what some historians who have never shot one of these things have alleged was very seldom ever taken advantage of. If you read all of the accounts of the battle, most of the time they say fire when you see the whites of their eyes business and so the advantage of the rifle was that you can hit somebody at several hundred yards is negated when you hold your fire until you're within 50 yards you might as well have one of these. The buck and ball cartridge has a round ball and three buck shot in it. It's backed by a 110 grains of powder.

The objective at Fontenoy, when the Irish brigade went against the British what they did was fire several volleys and then charge with the bayonet. This is what Meagher believed. Meagher was a romantic. He was not too good a tactician as even he would admit. He felt that the smooth bore gave his men an advantage at close range. Now after you fire the volleys and your objective is to close with the bayonet.

I have heard statistics that less than 1,000 bayonet wounds were actually inflicted during the Civil War. That may be true and then again it may not be. If you get stuck with one of these things in the stomach and it puts 50,000 holes in your intestines as it goes through, you're not going to live very long. The major thing is that bayonet charges are not designed necessarily to bayonet people. They're designed to get those people to leave and go elsewhere. When you get within 50 yards and you see a 1,000 men with these bayonets and they are coming at you, you don't want to get stuck and so you leave. Most successful bayonet charges, the last one being by the U.S. Army in the Korean War when a platoon of soldiers ran out of ammunition and charged up to the Chinese with the bayonets and the Chinese all ran away. That was the last successful bayonet charge. No one wants to get stuck with one of these things.

So that's what they did at Antietam, of course they never got into the Rebels with the bayonets because the fire was too intense. Most of the Confederates in the lane were probably using the same kind of guns - smooth bores with buck and ball. They got within 30 yards but imagine to have people standing and firing on each other from 30 yards distance with this stuff is murderous. The 69th New York lost half their men. The 88th's casualties were comparable. Half of the 63rd Militia men went down in a heap when they were firing off in the flank. The only regiment that really escaped a lot of casualties at Antietam was the 29th Massachusetts which was a Yankee regiment which had been added to the brigade for a several month period. Because they were in a little swale and they were armed with Enfield Rifles too but most of the fire went over their heads.

If you go to Antietam today and you look at the road, the 69th and 29th were parallel with the road as we see it. The 88th and 63rd were off a little to the right from where that tower is, there is a hill out in front of it. I went there when I was a kid, I would look at that and say, "It doesn't make any sense to me that they would stand in this road and wait for these guys to come that crest, then they were in the high ground shooting down into you." Well, they didn't. If you read it closely the Confederates took the crest and the accounts of most of the survivors of the 88th New York were that the Confederates were on the hill and they may have never seen the Sunken Lane until the battle was over. Morale interestingly enough was still pretty high after the Battle of Antietam because they won the battle.

The next conflict, Fredericksburg was another story. At Fredericksburg, the brigade was still at about a little over 1,000 men. By this time the 29th Massachusetts had been replaced by the 28th and the 28th was as Irish a regiment as there was. In 1861 when Meagher was founding the brigade his ideas was to make it a multi state unit. He would have the two New York regiments and he would have a regiment from Pennsylvania and a regiment from Massachusetts.

The governors of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts got nervous because they thought their troops might be credited to New York so they held them back. Those two regiments became the 28th Massachusetts and the 69th Pennsylvania. The 69th Pennsylvania never fought with the brigade although they were in the same army corps. The 28th was finally attached to the brigade after Antietam. There was also plans for a cavalry squadron and an artillery battalion that never materialized. The 63rd regiment, by the way, was a later edition. It was a regiment they were raising at the time and it turned out that everybody was Irish so they put them in the Irish brigade. They were not raised for the regiment.

The only two regiments really raised for the regiment was the 69th and the 88th. The 88th, by the way, bears the same number in the British lines of the Knaut Rangers, a famous Irish regiment in the British army. Also the American 88th called itself the Knaut Rangers. They also called themselves Mrs. Barr's own because she presented the regiment with its colors. Interestingly enough, when they abolished the Irish brigade after the French Revolution in the French army, one of the regiments came out as the 88th regiment.

At Fredericksburg, we all know Burnside's error. No one can rationalize that, no matter how they can argue it. The 2nd Army Corps was dashed to pieces. The Confederates say that the Irish brigade got the closest to the wall. The story that day is that the Green colors that they had carried since 1861 had been shot up pretty badly. The citizens of New York, non-irish citizens of New York, had taken up a collection to show their appreciation for the Irish brigade and they had bought some flags, silk embroidered flags. These would be the second colors in the Irish brigade. They were supposed to present them the day of the Battle of Fredericksburg occurred. In the meantime, the original colors had been sent back to New York. So when they went up the hill at Fredericksburg, the regiment with a green flag was the 28th Massachusetts. They also had been joined by the 116th Pennsylvania which never carried a green flag. A good many of the 116th were not Irish but were associated with the brigade.

So Meagher told his men, we handed out pieces of green boxwood, and any green shrubs they could find in December and they put them in their hats. Confederates say that some of the closest dead men to the Confederate line had the green boxwood in their hats. I think Major Corrigan, the 88th fell within 20 yards of the Confederate line. Most of that comes from Confederate testimony.

The brigade never lost a color with the exception of Fredericksburg they lost a camp color or a guide on. They never lost one of their flags in the whole course of the war.

Casualties at Fredericksburg, the 69th lost all of its 16 present commission officers and 112 out of the 173 men they went up the hill with. The colonel of the 63rd in the immediate aftermath of the battle could only find nine of his men. The 88th lost 127 of the 252 men. The 63rd lost 44 of the 162. The 28th Massachusetts lost 158 of 416 and the 116th Pennsylvania lost 88 of 247 men. Demoralization set in shortly thereafter. Meagher had asked for permission to bring the regiments back to New York in the Spring 1863 to recruit them up to strength and he was denied. One of the reasons was that the Lincoln administration was no longer as eager to court the ethnic vote and they felt that it was better to split up the foreign born soldiers in other people's regiments. That it was politically expedient to cater to the ethnic regiments. Meagher subsequently resigned.

Colonel Patrick Kelly led the brigade to Gettysburg where all of the three New York regiments mustered less than 100 men each. At Gettysburg all three of the New York regiments were brigaded together sort of as one. Two companies with each regiment and they went in as one regiment along with the 28th Massachusetts. The whole brigade was less 700 men. They fought in the Wheatfield and at the Stony Hill in the northwest corner of the Wheatfield. They swept up the hill and ran into the 2nd and 7th South Carolina which they blasted away with a volley of buck and ball and then within a short period of time found themselves almost surrounded and high tailed it out of there along with the rest of General Caldwell's division.

The brigade continued to exist for the rest of the war and was recruited up largely to strength over the winter 1863-1864 fought in the Wilderness, Spotsylvania. They didn't get the press they used to because Meagher was gone but they kept the regiments up to the strength and they finally dissolved the brigade in the summer of 1864. After they dissolved it a savior appeared in the form of Colonel Nugent who had been the commander of the 69th and had been wounded, had been provo marshall of New York and funneled recruits into the old regiments and came back to assume command of the brigade in the last months of the war.

The Irish brigade first fought at Fair Oaks. If you count the 69th Militia at Bull Run and fought through till Appomattox. It retained its reputation and is still one of the few Civil War units that still has a surviving regiment. The 69th New York in New York which carries the battle honors of the militia and the 69th Volunteers. Most of other Civil War regiments simply went off into history and stayed there in the haze. The 69th still exists. We'll look at some slides of some of the more interesting characters in the 69th.

This is the 69th Militia in the 1850's. They wore a green uniform which offended a lot of native Americans so they made a deal, a political deal. You guys drop the green uniform and we'll make you Harvard Advance Artillery which was a classy type of militia in those days. So, they dropped this green uniform and adopted the regular blue uniform, New York militia blue uniform and they were made essentially heavy artillery. When they fought at Bull Run they had red facings and that was because their job at time of war as militia men was to man the forts of New York harbor.

This is the New York Militia uniforms of the 69th Militia around 1860-1861. It has the New York crest. This is the full breast uniform, the cross belts and the ephilets.

This is Colonel Corchran. Corchran was the gentlemen who refused to parade the regiment for Queen Victoria's son. If you note, here he's got on his hat, artillery cross cannons so this would date the picture to 1860 or 61 at the latest.

This is a group of the 69th Militia officers before Bull Run down in Virginia. This is Corchran in the middle and I think this is Acting Lieutenant Colonel Haggerty who at Bull Run chased one Confederate soldier on horseback swinging his sword after him yelling to him to surrender. Well, he didn't surrender, he turned around and shot Haggerty out of the saddle and killed him. He was the first casualty. Haggerty was on the field at Bull Run and subsequently they went back and dug him up in the Spring of 1862 and brought the body back to New York for a proper funeral. For some reason his widow wanted the coffin opened. I'm sure it was not a real pretty affair.

This is a scene from Fort Corchran. If you go down in Washington near Georgetown University you'd be over here. If you cross the river and you go up on Rollington Heights which is now big modern hotels and cappucino shops, you would be here. The 69th built Fort Corchran and it was named after the colonel and it stayed Fort Corchran through the rest of the wars, part of the defenses of Washington. What you see here which is of interest from the uniform point of view, these are guys from the 69th apparently on some work project down there and they have haver locks on as you see in the early part of the war. Those white neck protectors that go over the forge cap.

This is chaplin Father Thomas Mooney. We can date this to the exact day it was taken because the Irish American Newspaper in New York has a letter that states that an employee of Brady Photographer was in camp on June the 1st, 1861 and took a picture of Mooney and several other pictures. What you see here is Colonel Corchran and Father Mooney. Father Mooney got in trouble shortly after this. They dedicated Fort Corchran, Mooney got carried away and he baptized the cannon. It got in the newspaper and the bishop heard about it and had him relieved and shipped him back to New York.

This is himself, Thomas Francis Meagher. Meagher was a man of many uniforms and most of them self designed. This is his uniform as captain of Company K, 69th New York Militia Zouave.

Most of them as officers in the 88th New York and some got in the 69th as officers. It was not unlike the Irish brigade in France in the 1700's in which the regiments were almost proprietary of the regiment of Dillion. By the way, many of these Irish people stayed - you heard of Hennessey Cognac. But the regiment of Dillion would recruit family members and cousins and they would come over and get commissions in the regiments and Meagher was much the same way.

This is the flag carried at Bull Run, the actual flag. It says presented to the 69th New York Militia in commemoration of the 11th October 1860. That was the day that Corchran refused to parade the regiment for Prince of Whales. This flag is currently in the possession of the 69th New York.

This picture is labeled, and it comes from a stereo card from Anthony's who is a New York Photography dealer. It is labeled the Return of the 69th New York National Guard. It probably dates from 1863 or so. During the war, this is a bit of esoteric, the 69th New York Militia became the 69th New York National Guard. They went on active duty several times during the war while the other 69th was still at the front during the Gettysburg crisis and they went down to Baltimore manned the fort or something. It's probably what this is, but it is a Civil War picture from New York and it is the 69th of that I have no doubt.

This is another picture from around the same period, we can date this to within a month or so. This is broadway and I was told by someone that some of these buildings are still there. From Broom Street, looking up, it probably dates to the late summer of 1862 because it was at that time that Colonel Corchran was finally exchanged by the Confederates. He came back to New York, he was a little miffed that they planted the Irish brigade and gone off to war without him. Of course, they didn't have much choice in the matter. He was a little tee-off at Meagher, but they had a discussion and got it settled. Corchran set off at raising a new brigade which became the Corchran legion. Shortly thereafter, he died in a routing accident. But if you look on this banner that's hanging across the street, there's a picture of Corchran. It's probably a recruiting poster or recruiting banner for the Corchran Legion which would put it in the late summer, early fall of 1862.

This is my friend Bud Scully from my skirmish group, with the 69th New York with a smooth bore. He has a conversion musket which were also used. He's wearing the New York State coat which was issued to New York State soldiers in '61 and '62. It's a short jacket with buttons and has a smooth bore musket. It's also got white weightings and may or may not have been issued in the Irish brigade and we know they were issued to the 28th Massachusetts. Whether or not the 69th got them, we don't know.

This is Colonel Nuggent, Robert Nuggent of the 69th New York and he was the colonel of the regiment until he was wounded and then returned to command the Irish brigade at the end of the war. During the interim he was the provo marshall of New York City which meant that he was in charge of enforcing the draft. As you know, in July of 1863 following the Battle of Gettysburg, there were huge drafts riots in New York and most of the participants were Irish. They didn't want to get drafted. Nuggent's house was wrecked and burned and they found this sword in the mud two weeks later had the jewels all pried out of the helth. At the time, someone said to Meagher who was out of the army and living in West Orange at his father-in-law's summer house. If you were there, you could have stopped that riot, Meagher said "those days, if I was there they would have strung me up to the nearest lamppost". He had no delusions about that.

This is Meagher and Nuggent together. Meagher yet another uniform. I think this is the one he wore at Antietam. We have the description of Captain William O'Grady who was another interesting character. O'Grady was a lieutenant, unfortunately we don't have a picture of him. A lieutenant in the Royal Marines. A lot of Irish officers, Irish catholic officers in the Royal Marine Corps from the 1780's on for some reason. He resigned his commission in the British army, came to this country and started out as a private in the 88th New York and he rose to the rank of Captain.

He wrote the section of the 88th New York in New York at Gettysburg and he wrote about Antietam. He said that Meagher had gotten up very finely that morning with a gold sash across his chest. This is what he appears to have here. He also has a sword. That sword is a British Grenadier Guard Officer's Sword. Now, some years back in the 1980's there was a little clip in the newspaper that someone had a wood lot in Vermont and found a sword and on the scabbard it had said "General Thomas F. Meagher". It turns out that it's that sword. How it got there, we don't know. The farmer who found it had calls from people immediately many of them claiming to be descendants of Meagher, since he had no children it was kind of unusual, that they were the correct depository of the sword. It was not in great condition, needless to say. There had been a shed there on that farm for many years and apparently the shed had burned in the 1920's and trees had grown up in the area and probably the sword was in shed in the 20's when it burned.

Some one got in touch with the farmer who owned it and Colonel Powers, a historian from the 69th New York went up to see the sword and see the farmer and a local historian who would act as a go-between. Powers had talked to the farmer about Meagher's relationship with the 69th and the guy said you guys can have it. So the sword was brought to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where the corrosion was electronically removed and now it is in the 69th Armory in New York. But how it got to Vermont, we'll never know. The Irish invaded Canada through Vermont in 1866, but Meagher was not part of that. The Finney Movement Irish Republic of Brotherhood was behind seizing Canada, twisting the lions tale, they called it. Also having insurrection in Ireland. Meagher played again, as he always did, both sides in this issue. One Finney leader swore that Meagher was a Finney but nobody ever produced any evidence. The following year, the same guy is writing that Meagher will have nothing to do with us. So, Meagher was a politician and an excellent one at that.

This is a group of officers taken in 1862, not all officers. This gentlemen here is a priest from Notre Dame. This is Father Dillion, this is his brother. Father Dillion was the Chaplin of the 63rd New York which was an interesting character in his own right. He tried to make them all take the pledge for abstinence and in any army that is not a good thing to try to do, but he managed to succeed at least in getting them to take the pledge. What happened was, of course, the guys who took the pledge and took it seriously didn't drink so when they got a hold of something they gave it to the other guys who did which caused one of the few troubles at camp.

Next is Father Corby, who was the Chaplin of the 88th New York. Corby's father was Irish born, he was American and he was assigned to the 88th, teaching at Notre Dame, later became the President of Notre Dame. His statue is at the battlefield of Gettysburg where he came and gave that famous absolution. He really didn't give it in that spot, I found out a few weeks ago. He actually gave it about 200 yards further north. Corby thought these guys were nuts because they would have a St. Patrick's Day celebration every year in the brigade and when they did, they would have horse races and steeple chases. In 1865, the last St. Patrick's Day Party, a lieutenant who made it through the entire war without getting hit by a bullet, fell off his horse, cracked his skull and died.

This gentlemen here is the quarter master of the 63rd New York, he is not identified to date.

This is a picture of the Irish brigade at Antietam. When Proxinino did the book on Antietam, he said had no reason to disbelieve Gardner's tag for this particular picture - his caption. It probably is and you figure that Gardner was doing a lot of photography in the Sunken Road. This is the only picture of Union dead from Antietam. In those days, you had to pack up the camera and it was a big production to move to another location. It's quite likely once you got into location, took many pictures. It's quite likely that this was taken not too far from the Sunken Road. Upon 10 time magnification, it appears that one of these soldiers had SNY on his belt buckle. It may not be, it just looks that way. I have no reason to disbelieve that is soldiers from the Irish brigade.

This is a monument to Captain Patrick Clooney in Waterford, Ireland. This picture was taken September 17, 1962. The American soldiers there are National Guardsmen from the 69th New York who went over to Ireland and this memorial was raised in 1862, even though, Clooney was buried first on the battlefield and then removed to Cavalry Cemetery in New York. This memorial was erected in his memory in Ireland. He was well known in Waterford.

One of my favorites, Captain John Donovan. At the Battle of Melbourne Hill where they really had some heavy fighting and where the 88th New York went in and fought the 10th Louisiana with swinging musket butts. The next day, General came by and said why are all these muskets broken, men throwing them away. One of them said, no we like to get on them and get after them when they start clubbing them with the musket butts when they excited. He said "good job men". Donovan was shot through the eye. They left him for dead. He was taken prisoner by the Confederates, brought to Richmond, recovered, rejoined the regiment in time for Fredericksburg. Led his company up to the hill at Fredericksburg and a shell blew up next to him, through him up in the air and knocked him unconscious. He got up, rolled down the hill, didn't know where he was going, bleeding through his nose, finally found some guys from the 69th Pennsylvania who took in him and took care of him. After that he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps.

This is Colonel Richard Burnes, 28th Massachusetts. Burnes was a professional solider. He was born in Ireland. He came over here in the early 1850's, served in the U.S. Calvary, made Sergeant Major, was wounded by the Apaches in several Indian fights. Regular army man to the core. When the 28th Massachusetts had problems with their First Colonel, they relieved him and they put Burnes in charge. He knew Grant and knew all of these people, it was a small army before the war. He was a strict disciplinarian, but he was never overly popular with his men but he got the job done and he made the 28th into a fine regiment. He also commanded the brigade in the summer of 1864 and he was mortally wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor. He like many of the veterans of the Irish brigade are buried in Cavalry Church Yard in New York. He was only in his late twenties when he was killed.

This is Captain Garret Nagel, another interesting boy. You'll notice his hat badge, there's a wreath of shamrocks, it's a green background, there's a 69th up at the top and a 1 in the middle. What that means is the 69th New York is the First Regiment, Irish Brigade.

This is an end of the war picture, commanding officers of the Irish brigade regiment in 1865. Left to right are Major Steward Gould of the 4th New York Heavy Artillery, not an Irishman. The 4th New York Heavy Artillery was added to the brigade at the end of war to fill it out. Next is Lieutenant Colonel James Smith of the 69th standing. That is Major Twillerger of the 63rd, seated Colonel Dennis Burke of the 88th; Brigadier General Robert Nuggent, the brigade commander and Lieutenant Colonel James Flemington, 28th Massachusetts.

Burke was very popular with his men, by the way. They gave him a horse. He also was a very dedicated Finney and he went over to Ireland after the war, got into a little bit of trouble and got himself locked up and the U.S. Government got him out of jail and in consideration of services rendered during the war.

This is a company that we believe to be Company F of the 69th New York. I can't say with 100% certainty, it's another problem with photo interpretation. On the back of this picture when it was discovered, it said Captain Maroney's company. Now there was a Captain Maroney commanding Company F of the 69th earlier in the war not in 1865 when I think this picture was taken. Why I think it was then was because there was a photographer in the Irish brigade camp before the grand review. These guys all look spiffy clean, NCO swords here, white war tents, every body has a Springfield Rifle Musket instead of a smooth bore. They issued the rifle muskets in late summer, early fall of 1864. They kept smooth bore muskets longer than almost any outfit in the Union Army, certainly in the Army of the Potomac with the possible exception of the 12th New Jersey. The small leaves on the trees which means its spring or summer and there is only four 69th regiments. Here we see 42 smooth bores, these are the colors of the 63rd New York, that is the second colors, the one presented by the citizens of New York.

We took this down in Virginia, combination of skirmishers re-enactors, that's the first color. These two flags are hand embroidered silk. These are the flags that you see if you go to the St. Patrick's Day Parade and they have the re-enactors march. Underneath the heart, there's sunburst, there's a writing in Irish which says "They shall never retreat from the charge of lansing" which is a quote from an ancient arctic poem.

This is Father Corby at Gettysburg. In case you don't know, there is an identical statue at Notre Dame where he later became president of the University and the students call it fair catch Corby and you can see why. He's holding up the sign for a fair catch in football.

This is the second color of the 69th which is now in Ireland parliament it was given by the regiment through President Kennedy to the Irish people in 1963. I saw it two years ago and it's in good shape. This is the presentation of the flag in 1963 of Kennedy's visit to Ireland in the Irish Parliament.

This is the New York monument to the New York regiments of the Irish brigade which is one of the most unique monuments at Gettysburg or any other battlefield.

This is a statue of General Meagher, famous man at one in Ireland, famous man in the United States at one time in the Army of the Potomac, Civil War battles. Now where would you guess that his statue might be? Montana. After the war, General Meagher came back into active duty in late 1864 and it was a political thing. They sent him to Tennessee to speak to democrats and get them to vote for the Lincoln - Johnson ticket.

They also gave him a command and they called it Meagher's Provisional Division and there was a lot, what we used to call in the army "ash and trash". It was guys who were awol, guys who were replacement for Sherman's army and so Meagher was given this command and he was ordered to take this command to meet Sherman. They had to go up through Kentucky and into Ohio and Pennsylvania and down Annapolis, Maryland where they were aboard boats to meet Sherman down in the coastal south. It was like the pilgrimage of the damned. These guys were setting fires and starting fights. When they finally got to Baltimore and Meagher got into a big fight with a guy on how they were going put these guys on the boats, they were writing letters to Grant to get rid of him. He was a man who was many times known to have drink taken. That was his fault. That was the thing, I think that kept him away from true greatness because he had everything else. But at any rate, he got them down there eventually and then resigned from the army at the end of the war with all of the other guys who were volunteers.

A token of gratitude for what he had done, Johnson who was now president, Johnson made him Secretary of Montana Territory. He got to Montana, the guy who was governor said boy am I glad to see you, packed his bags and left. Meagher became acting governor. Montana was a horrible place in those days. All kinds of crazy people went there. They had the vigilante problem in the 1860's. Meagher was in the middle of this. Meagher looked around and he saw all of these people in Montana, a lot of them democrats, a lot of them were Confederate deserters who had gone up there. So he sided with the republicans. Then he switched to the democrats. So now he had made enemies on both sides of the line. There was some Indian troubles and he went down to pick up a load of rifles on the Missouri River and while he was waiting for them to arrive, he spent the night on a boat on the Missouri River and no one ever saw him again. He fell off some time during the night. There are several theories. One that he was murdered by some of the political enemies he made which there is some plausibility for him, he went to bed that night, he had two loaded revolvers with him. That was a man who was thinking that some one might be after him. Others say he just got drunk and fell off the boat. Given his background, that might be true. Other witnesses say, no. He was feverish and sick and had a glass of blackberry brandy and went to bed. The probable truth is the simplest. He got up in the middle night was disoriented by his fever and fell overboard and was never found again.

Around the turn of the century, the Irish American people of Montana collected money and put this statue up and it stands in front of the state capital at Helena. It's the only statue of General Meagher anywhere in the world.

This is one of the last veterans of the Irish brigade. I had Bill Staple excerpt this from those videos he has of all of the old veterans. You can see this has to be the 1930's. You can see that he has the green box wood on his hat.