The National tribune., 1895-11-28
NO REASON FOR DISPUTE.

1
NO REASON FOR DISPUTE.
| Iron Brigade" Title Belongs to Two Or
CARNATIONS.
| EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: The arti-
Gle of S. E. Chandler, in issue of Oct. II,
contains statement that is misleading rela-
tive to the manner in which brigade Of
Western men obtained the name of Iron
Brigade Gen. Augur's Brigade, of Kings
| Division, McDowelPs Corps, in the early
morning of April 49, 1862 made remarka-
BILE forced march to Falmouth, on the Rap
pahannock The following day Gen. Pat
rick arrived with his brigade, of which Mr..
Chandler writes:
| He was two DAYS on the road from Cat
| let's, and when informed that we Augur's
Brigade had made the distance in one day,
| remark ed that the men must be made OF
| iron to endure such marching. Thereupon
| Col. Frisbee, of the Both n. Y. gave us
the name of the Iron Brigade which name
weEarried till we were mustered out, in the
| Spring OF 1863 iClen the name rdS taken up
by the Wisconsin Brigade, and carried till
| the close of the war;"
/ have italicized the misleading part o!
his statement. The Wisconsin men earned
| and received the title of Iron Brigade, not
| by marching, but by fighting, eight months
before the other Iron Brigade was mustered
| out -
The fact is. there were two brigades in
| the Army of the Potomac bearing the Iron
| Brigade name, and both belonged to the
| same corps and division; which has caused
some confusion and unkind expressions as
the praises of the brfgades have been mar
rated. This should not be, as each brigade
earned and received its title independent of
the other.
The brigade first to receive that name
was known as Augur's Brigade, and consist
ed of the 18th, ODD, oath, and Both n. T.,
and the I'd u. S. Enthusiastically a
New York State Brigade. 1t was the origi-
nal Iron Brigade, receiving its christening
as such, April 10, 1862 for iron qualities
and endurance in forced march. 1t was
an excellent brigade and would have shown
up much larger casualty list had it not
been disbanded in the middle of the war,
because most of the men were two-year
enlstments.
The other brigade which bore the Iron
Brigade name was composed of the I'd, 9th,
and 18th Wis., the 10Th Ind, and latter Oct
9, 1862 the oath Micb.--all Western men.
1t was first known as Gibbons Brigade,
gade, in September, 1862, and was called
the Iron Brigade of the West" to distin-
gush it from the New York brigade.
Gibbons Brigade first received this title
from the enemy at the battle of Gainesville,
Aug. 90 1862. Kings Division. to which
both these brigades belonged had been sent
from Pope's army TO intercept the union of
Stonewall Jackson's troops. Gibbons Bril-
gade got TOO far in the advance, and met
whole division Of the enemy, and so stub
bornly resisted them that they were called
after that by the enemy the Iron Brigade"
of the Yankee army. Their uniform was
unlike the other Union troops They wore
tall, black hats and dark suits during the
war.
Two weeks later they were christened the
Iron Brigade" by Gen. Mcclellan, who
was probably at this time not aware that
another brigade bore the same title. Both
brigades had been with McDowelis Corps,
and did not come under McClellan's COM
mand till 10 days before this.
have letter from Gen. John B. Calls,
of Lancaster, Wis, from which quote:
Gen. Mcclellan told me at the CONT
mental Hotel in Philadelphia, when his
grand reception was given there, what he
knew of the cognomen Iron Brigade
Said he: During the battle of South
Mountain / could see every move of the
troops taking the gorge on the pike Ma
tional road With my glass | saw the men
lighting against great odds, when Gen.
Hooker came in great haste for orders. l
asked him what troops were those fighting
on the pike His answer was Gen. Glib
bOn's Brigade of Western men, / said:
They must be made of iron.' He replied:
Rv h1 of Of }bau boI
seen them at Second Bull Run you would
know them to be ron.' After the battle
saw Hooker at the Mountain House, near
where the brigade fought. He sang out:
General, what do you think of the Iron
Brgade?' Ever since that time l gave
them the cOgnomen of Iron Brigade"
And such they were called i'll official
orders and reports right along from that
time.
These facts should certainly silence all
charges that they assumed or borrowed the
name from the other troops. Fox, in his
book OF Regimental Losses, says:
In proportion to it's numbers this brigade
sustained the heaviest loss of any in the
war. Its aggregate Toss is exceeded in only
one instance" MOI
At Manassas il lost s94 men out of 1000
engaged. At Gettysburg it lost l ,153 men
out OF 1883. In this battle it lost the
greatest of all the brigades of the Union
army. and fought directly in front of Petit
CREWS Confederate brigade, which suffered
next to the heaviest loss of any of the
enemy's brigades engaged there.
Its record, as to when and where and how
it obtained its title of tIron Brigade" is as
honorable and solid as the name indicates,
as well as its fighting qualities, and history
will preserve these facts.
We hope publication Of these facts will
end the controversy, between those two bri-
gades and comradssNp prevail, each con-
ceding to the otheRshat properly belongs to
ito. b. CURTIS, Detroit, Mich.
a Punster Comrade.
ii. j. McGivern, Light Battery B, 4th u. |
5. Art, Wheeling, w. Va, sends commu-
nicatI0n in which he sets forth the reasons