Graphics courtesy of Historical Art Prints
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'Undaunted Courage': The Irish at Fredericksburg
In 1862, the second year of America's Civil War, Meagher's Irish Brigade
made two of the most gallant charges in American history, crashing bloodily against
a Confederate strongpoint at Antietam's "Bloody Lane" and, 87 days later,
attacking Confederates, many Irish, behind Fredericksburg's "Stone Wall." WGT is proud to
present the story of the Irish at Fredericksburg in a three-part series.
Part 3: 'I Am Wounded All Over'
by Joseph E. Gannon
"I thought as I saw the Federals come again and again to their death that they deserved success, if courage and daring could entitle soldiers to victory."
-- Lieutenant General James Longstreet, C.S.A.
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| A map of the Marye's Heights portion of the Fredericksburg battlefield drawn at the time of the battle. |
What must have been going through the minds of the men of the Irish Brigade as they stepped off up the inclining slope of Marye's Heights? Already,
they had seen French's Division of the 2nd Corps and Zook's Brigade of
their own division fail in their assaults of the Confederates nearly
invulnerable position.
The three New York regiments must have noted how reminiscent this was of
the position they had assaulted with such appalling casualties at Antietam
three months earlier. But the Confederate position here, anchored by the
looming stone wall, was more heavily manned, with better artillery support.
Most must have held at least some small glimmer of hope. But they must have
all known how incredibly long the odds were as they bent their heads down
as if into a lead rain storm and started up the rising ground.
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Historical Art Prints
The 28th Massachusetts during the attack on Marye's Heights, as painted by artist Don Troiani. For a larger view, click here. |
The venerable 69th New York, the heart and soul of the Irish Brigade, was
on the right of the Brigade. To its left was the 88th New York, the second
original regiment of the Brigade, the one called "Mrs. Meagher's Own" since
she had presented them with their colors.
In the middle, with the only
green flag carried by the Brigade that day, was the newly assigned 28th
Massachusetts. Though the Irish regiment was new to the Brigade, having
recently replaced the non-Irish 29th Massachusetts, its men were veterans
of 2nd Bull Run and Antietam. To its left was the 63rd New York, the third
of the original regiments, which included two companies of men from Boston.
On the left of the brigade was the 116th Pennsylvania, which had started
the day untested, and was about to endure what as severe a baptism of fire
as any Civil War regiment ever suffered. That test began as soon as the
regiment started from town, when a shell burst in the ranks, killing
several men, including Sergeant John Marly, who was decapitated, and
wounding several more, including its Colonel Dennis Heenan. At the canal
bridge, Lieutenant Robert Montgomery, of Co. I, tumbled into the water
mortally wounded. The battle had barely commenced, and it was about to get
much worse.
As chaos and sudden death whirled around them, Lieutenant Colonel St. Clair
Mulholland, echoing an epiphany common to soldiers in combat, reflected:
"How different is the real battle from that which one's imagination had
pictured."
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Historical Art Prints
The famous Washington Artillery, Army of Northern Virginia, as painted in action at Antietam by artist Don Troiani. |
After giving the order to advance up the muddy slope, and following a short
way, General Meagher, who was still suffering from an ulcerated knee
injured at the Battle of Antietam, was forced to return to town on his
horse as the Brigade went to the double quick.
The Washington Artillery, on top of Marye's Heights, had the ground the
Irish were about to march over well ranged from firing at previous
brigades. As the soldiers of the Irish Brigade started up the incline, the
hailstorm from those guns ripped and tore at their lines, whittling them
away as they advanced closer to the wall.
Imagine the scene in front of them as they advanced. Smoke and fire belched
out at them from Marye's Heights. The sky-blue greatcoats of the dead and
dying soldiers who preceded them speckled the plain leading toward the
stone wall. The survivors of those attacks now lay on the ground, as well;
higher up, toward the wall, flattened against it, attempting to escape the
impenetrable volley after volley fired by the men commanded by Irishman
Robert McMillan, standing four deep behind the wall on Telegraph Road.
 Osprey's "Campaign Series" book on Fredericksburg is a great reference on the battle, great maps, pictures and information on the participants. Buy it here: Fredericksburg 1862: 'Clear the Way' by Carl Smith
(A portion of your purchase price will help support "The Wild Geese Today.")
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Soldiers in blue used dead comrades as cover in a desperate attempt to
escape the devastating fire. Many of them cried out to the Irish marching
over them to stop, and pulled on their pants legs as if to physically stop
this futile advance, but the line moved forward.
As the brigade advanced, Rebel guns slashed huge gaps in their lines. Those
still moving dressed the lines ever forward and then to the colors,
replacing the dead and wounded and maintaining their solid front facing the
enemy.
Captain John O'Neill, commanding the 116th's Company K, took a ball through
the lung, and four more wounds before the day was out. Later, when asked
where he was hit, he replied, "I'm wounded all over," but he would survive.
Thirty five years later, during an assault on another high ground, his son
William "Buckey" O'Neill would not be as lucky, falling with Teddy
Roosevelt's famous "Rough Riders."
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United States Army Military History Institute
Captain John O'Neill, who was "wounded all over" at Fredericksburg, but survived to father a legend of the American west. |
About 100 yards from the Confederates, the Brigade encounter a plank fence.
Behind the stone wall on Telegraph road, McMillan decided the enemy was
close enough. If the men of the brigade could have heard him shout "Give it
to them now boys!" it would have been the last thing many of them ever heard.
From the wall came an eruption of sound and flame, filling the air around
the Brigade with deadly slugs. The brigade crumpled under the force of the
blow as the bullets struck flesh, and finding means of survival quickly supplanted any
notion that the brigade could possibly take the wall. Still, the brigade advanced a bit further, perhaps carried by the momentum of their charge, despite huge gaps
in their lines, and no men left to close them.
They had done all that men could do, so they lay down where they were, and
began to fire buck and ball from their smoothbore muskets in the direction
of the well-protected Confederates. Some would find a way down the hill
while it was still light, others would remain on the slopes into the night.
There has been controversy ever since over what unit got closest to the
wall. It may have been members of the Irish Brigade, but in truth it
matters little. More than 540 of the approximately 1,200 men of the Irish
Brigade were dead or wounded.
The next day, incredibly, with every officer of the 69th either killed or
wounded, and the other regiments scarcely in better shape, the brigade
"celebrated" the arrival of their new colors from New York. The banquet was
held in a Fredericksburg concert hall. Many high-ranking Federal officers
were invited. The Confederates, without invitation, lobbed a few shells
into the town in the middle of what was later recalled as the brigade's
"Death Feast."
Said General Winfield Scott Hancock, "Only Irishmen could enjoy themselves thus."
Like John O'Neill, the brigade was "wounded all over," but would survive --
as a battalion.
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