ampaigns of the 146th Regiment New York State Volunteers by Mary Genevie Green Brainard. 695 pp., hc, dj. 155 photos added. Rep. of 1915 ed.

Campaigns of the 146th Regiment New York State Volunteers by Mary Genevie Green Brainard

No Northern state provided more men for the Union war effort than New York. In the early autumn of 1862, with the federal armies hard-pressed by a determined foe, and ranks depleted by battle and disease, the Empire State answered the call for volunteers. The ìFifth-Oneidaî Regiment -the 146th New York Volunteer Infantry -was conceived with a sense of patriotic obligation. War was a grim business, casualty lists from the recent bloodbath at Antietam attested to that. With the unfamiliar heft or knapsack and musket, the blue clad men of the 146th departed for the front as so many thousands had before them. They were fortunate to learn the profession of arms under the stern tutelage of a veteran West Pointer, Colonel Kenner Garrard. He expected his volunteers to live up to the standards of the "Old Army," and the men from Oneida were proud to call themselves "Garrardís Tigers." These fledgling soldiers had much to prove. Their determination to acquit themselves with honor was given added impetus by their regimentís assignment to General Sykesís Division of the Army of the Potomac, a division largely comprised of U.S. Regulars. Colonel Garrardís 146th was attached to the divisonís lone volunteer brigade led by Colonel Gouverneur Warren -joining the 5th and 140th New York. The 5th, or Duryeeís Zouaves, considered one of the armyís finest regiments, were garbed in the exotic red and blue uniform of the French Zouaves. As the two-year term of service for the 5th expired in May 1863, more than 300 three-year recruits were transferred into the 146th. In the first week of June 1863, "Garrardís Tigers" received Zouave attire, and for the remainder of the war, fought and died wearing a light blue, yellow-trimmed Zouave uniform based on that worn by the French, "Turcos." The 146th New York took part in the defense of Gettysburg's Little Round Top -their dress made them conspicuous on that strategic, boulder-strewn summit.