Remember Fontenoy; The 69th New York and the Irish Brigade in the Civil War. by Joseph Bilby. 269 pp., Notes, Biblio, Index, 12 Maps, over 107 Illus.

Remember Fontenoy: The 69th New York and the Irish Brigade in the Civil War

By Joseph G. Bilby

It was, many said, the best brigade in the Army of the Potomac. Some said it was the best brigade in the whole Union army and perhaps the best brigade on either side in the American Civil War. Others, with the perspective of history, have come to believe it may have been the best infantry brigade that ever was.

It was Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher's Irish Brigade ñ the Second Brigade of the First Division of the II Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac. The II Corpsí First Division lost more men killed in action than any other Federal division, and the Irish Brigade lost more men than any other brigade in that division.

The unit which fathered the Irish Brigade, the 69th New York State Militia, established a reputation as a fine fighting outfit in a losing cause at Bull Run. Following the 69thís return from active duty the regiment provided a veteran cadre from which General Meagher built his brigade. The splendid organization created around his nucleus first met the enemy in the spring of 1862 at Fair Oaks, the II Corps` first fight, and served with the corps through to Appomattox Court House, it's last.

William F. Fox, who knew the American Civil Warís units perhaps better than anyone, wrote that the "Irish Brigade was, probably, the best known of any brigade organization, it having made an unusual reputation for dash and gallantry." The II Corps` historian, Francis A. Walker, pronounced the Irish Brigade "one of the most picturesque features of the Second Corps, whether in fight, on the march, or in camp." In its four year history, the brigade lost over 4,000 men, more than were ever in it at any one time, killed and wounded. The Irish Brigadeís loss of 961 soldiers killed or mortally wounded in action was exceeded by only two other brigades in the Union Army.

Although the 29th Massachusetts Infantry and the 4th and 7th New York Heavy Artillery regiments were attached to the Irish Brigade at various intervals during its history, the brigadeís core units were the 63rd, 69th and 88th New York Infantry, and, later, the 28th Massachusetts Infantry and the 116th Pennsylvania Infantry.

Strangely, except in the Fordham University Press` fine series of reprints, the details of the brigade's sterling record have been largely over looked in the recent resurgence in and new publications on the Civil War. It is my hope that this book will convey at least a small part of the agony and the glory of the brigade's Irish American Iliad.

Through their bravery and steadfastness, the soldiers of the Irish Brigade did much to dispel the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant phobias current in 1860s America. While prejudice would linger for several more generations, no one would accuse Thomas Francis Meagher's Irish American soldiers of a lack of loyalty to their adopted country. They had, in a way, fought and won two wars at once.