page_title: 29th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
section_title: Removal from the Irish Brigade
hierarchical_section_title: 29th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment / Fredericksburg Campaign / Removal from the Irish Brigade
caption_attribution_description: English: Regimental Color, 28th Massachusetts, presented by Brig. Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher of the Irish Brigade.
context_page_description: The 29th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army of the United States during the American Civil War. The regiment was organized in December 1861 when three new companies were attached to a battalion of seven Massachusetts companies that had been in active service since May 1861. These seven companies had been recruited to fill out the 3rd Massachusetts and 4th Massachusetts regiments and had signed on for three years of service. When the 3rd and 4th Massachusetts were mustered out in July 1861, the seven companies that had signed on for three years were grouped together to form a battalion known as the Massachusetts Battalion. Finally, in December 1861, three more companies were added to their roster to form a full regiment and the unit was designated the 29th Massachusetts.
  The regiment took part in 29 battles and four sieges in a variety of theaters of the war. After their early service at Fortress Monroe in Virginia, the 29th was attached, in the spring of 1862, to the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsular Campaign as part of the famed Irish Brigade.
context_section_description: While in camp in Falmouth in late November, the officers of the 29th learned that Meagher had arranged for a green Irish Brigade flag to be presented to the regiment, recognizing their role as "honorary Irishmen" and their bravery during the Battle of Antietam.  Barnes declined the gift, however.  According to the regimental historian, "While the Colonel would have been proud to receive the flag for the regiment as a token of the respect of their Irish comrades, yet he objected to the flag being carried by the regiment, on the ground that it was not an Irish regiment."  Irish Brigade historians, including Joseph Bilby, have observed that there may have been some controversy surrounding the issue.  According to Bilby, Barnes refused to accept the flag because they believed it "would brand them as Fenians," or Irish revolutionaries.
  As a result of this incident, on November 30, 1862, the 29th was transferred out of the Irish Brigade and into Brig. Gen. Benjamin C. Christ's brigade in the IX Army Corps.  It was replaced in the Irish Brigade by the 28th Massachusetts, an Irish regiment.
  The transfer spared the 29th from the Battle of Fredericksburg in which their new brigade played almost no role.  Their former comrades in the Irish Brigade, however, made a harrowing charge during the battle and suffered severe casualties.
caption: The flag of the Irish Brigade which the 29th Massachusetts declined to carry.
exif: {}