The Irish standard., 1886-06-19
MEACHER'S IRISH BRIGADE.
In the Work of Recruiting the Brigade Arch
bishop Hughes and Thomas Francis
Meagher Were Especially Useful.
ROBERT NUGENT AND PAT KELLY.

General Sumner Presumed He Gould Whi1
Lees Army With the Irish Bri-
gade and Pettit's Battery.
An intensely interesting account OF
the Irish Brigade's exploits in the war
for the Union has been prepared by
Captain Edward Field, of the 4th AT
tillery. His personal acquaintance
with the brigade dated from the last of
March, 1862. He was then lieuten-
ant in Captain Hazards battery. ga
and c. Fourth U. S. artillery, serving
with the First division Of the Second
corps. General T.. Y. Sumner. lie de-
scribed IN an entertaining way where
he first saw the Brigade and his i'm
preston of its officers. AS everybody
knows, the brigade grew out OF the
Sixty-ninth regiment New York Vol
unteers, which had been organized and
maintained as an Irish regiment.
S'ln the work Of recruiting the bri-
gade,'' says Captain Field, 'stwo men
were especially usefnl-Archbishop
Hughes and General Thomas Francis
Meagher. The first was the highest
type that we have seen in America Of
the clerical statesman. the embodiment
Of the intellectual subtlety, the pro-
found knowledge Of mankind, and the
wise adoption Of means to ends which
have perfected in the Catholic Church
the ablest organization that the world
has seen. He was thoroughly and
widely patriotic, and his eloquence, his
wise councils, and his personal intin-
ence were all given freely to the cause
of national organization. General
Meagher was at that time the most
popular and representative Irishman i'll
America.
The following closing passage from
Captain Fields paper we copy verba-
tim:
An interesting episode in the history
of the brigade was the encounter at
Malvern Hill, in the dusk Of the eve
ming, between the Eighty-eigth regi~
ment, and the we'll known louisiana
Tigers, as battalion from New Or
leans, commanded by the famous Colo
mel Wheat was called. They were. the
desperadoes of. the southern service,
and, meeting the Irishmen unexpected
ly at close quarters, fought with their
knives and pistols. The Irishmen, ig-
noring their bayonets which they had
not time to fix, dubbed their muskets,
true Donnybrook fair style, land 80 III the
dark and thick timber the savage grap-
pie went on. In the thickest Of the
meele, a gigantic member Of the Eighty
eight espied q mounted officer cheering
on the Tigers. Striding up to him, he
grasped him by the throat with his en-
ormous hand, and with the exclama-
ton, ssCome out of that, ye spallpeen!"
fairly dragged him from his horse and
captured him.
1t was in this battle that very
young ma: by the name of Donovan,
afterward captain of the Forty-second
Veteran Reserve Infantry, was
wounded in such a manner as toinvolye
the loss of an eye, and captured, He
was brought before the Confederate
general, D. III. Hill, who, finding that
he was an Irishman, reproached him
for being there at all. "What busi-
ness,'' said he, "have you got down
here fighting against us? It's no quar-
rel of yours, and boy like you had
much better be at home. If you'd
stayed there you would have both Of
your eyes, instead of being manned for
life!''
.'Well, General said the youngster,
s'I'll so the other eye on it, and when
that's gone, then I II 90 il blind.''
The brigade had now been highly tried
and was already famous. Their
dashing charge at Fair Oaks, the stead
mess with which they met the retreat
Of Porter's corps at Gaines Mills, and
passing unmoved through all the dis
heartening sights OF a beaten force, op-
posed an immovable front to Jackson's
victorious advance, their soldierly con-
duct in the trying retreat to the James
river, all gave them prestige, helped,
of course. by their gallant nationality,
and by the dashing and conspicuous
characters among them. They were
splendidly led. Robert Nugent and
Pat Kelly, colonels of the Sixty ninth
and Eighty-sixth, were, in their ways,
typical soldiers. Nugent might have
been painted as the incarnation Of the
military air. OF good height and gal
liant bearing, his face was simply ideal;
strong, aquiline features, with an in
expressible air of command, clear gray
eyes, tawny moustache which fell in
sweeping waves over thin, resolute lips,
and an imperial which came down to
the centre.of his breast. ! was never
tired Of locking at him, and when on
grand occasions he appeared with his