Fighting 69th

The “Fighting 69th” is a New York National Guard regiment famous for its Irish Catholic ethnicity, its fighting qualities, and its alumni who often became powerful civilians.

The 69th New York regiment was founded specifically for New York City's Irish Catholic immigrants in 1851; the Tammany Hall political machine, which dominated New York politics from the mid-19th century into the mid-20th century, played a large role in creating the regiment. Anti-Catholicism and hatred of Irish immigrants flourished in 1850s America, contributing to the rise of the Know-Nothing Party. The Democrats of Tammany wanted to prove that Irish Catholic immigrants could be as patriotic, soldierly, and courageous as native-born Protestant Americans; they also wanted to protect Irish Catholics with their own militia unit. The 69th has served as the military escort of New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade since 1851.

The 69th was one of the first Union militia units to mobilize after Fort Sumter, in South Carolina, came under attack by Confederate forces on April 12, 1861. It first saw action at the battle of First Bull Run at Manassas Junction, Virginia, in 1861. The regiment was under the command of [Page 275]Col. Michael Corcoran, an Irish Catholic opponent of British rule over Ireland. Corcoran was captured in the battle, so the regiment's command devolved to former Irish revolutionary Thomas Meagher, an even more colorful and legendary character than Corcoran.

Meagher was skilled at oratory and public presentation as well as at soldiering. He persuaded the War Department to let him create an all-Irish brigade under his command for the Union Army of the Potomac. The Irish Brigade usually comprised the 69th, 63rd, and 88th New York, the 28th Massachusetts, and the 116th Pennsylvania Infantry volunteer regiments. The Fighting 69th and its Irish Brigade parent were furnished with distinctive emerald green battle flags with harp and sunburst insignias. One of Brig. Gen. Meagher's motives in creating the brigade was to assemble a unit that could train and inspire native Irishmen to overthrow British rule in Ireland. Unfortunately for Meagher's dream, the Brigade's very valor caused it such high casualties throughout the Civil War that it was unable to serve as a vehicle of Irish national liberation once the war was over.

Photograph of members of the Fighting 69th New York Regiment gathering around a seacoast cannon in the first days of the Civil War. Commander Col. Michael Corcoran is standing off to the left. (Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

The bravery of the Fighting 69th was widely praised; it had received its admiring nickname from Gen. Robert E. Lee himself. When facing them, Gen. Stonewall Jackson also lamented the regiment's fighting qualities. After First Bull Run, the 69th fought battles in the Peninsular Campaign, at Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania Courthouse, Cold Harbor, the Petersburg Campaign, and Appomattox. Pres. Abraham Lincoln kissed the regiment's colors in June 1862, saying, “God bless the Irish Flag” (Demeter, 86). At Fredericksburg, the regiment and its parent Irish Brigade's suicidal charges at Marye's Heights inspired Lee to say: “Never were men so brave” (Demeter, 111).

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