Excelsior Brigade The Excelsior Brigade was a military unit in the Union Army during the American Civil War . Mainly composed of infantry regiments raised in the state of New York primarily by former U . S . Congressman Daniel Sickles , the brigade served in several of the Army of the Potomac ' s most important battles in the Eastern Theater , including Chancellorsville and Gettysburg . Organization and early battles . At the outbreak of the Civil War , the controversial Sickles desired to repair his public image , which had been marred by the shooting death of his wife ' s paramour , Philip Barton Key . Sickles was active in raising thousands of recruits from around New York City for service in the United States volunteers in May 1861 under the authority of the War Department . The first of Sickles ' regiments mustered into service on June 20 , 1861 . Subsequently , he was appointed as the colonel of one of the four full regiments he organized . Later , Sickles was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers in September 1861 , taking command of the brigade . The four regiments raised by Sickles that comprised the first Excelsior Brigade were the 70th , 72nd , 73rd , and 74th New York Infantry . In October 1861 , the 71st New York , along with the 70th through the 74th Regiments and 10 Companies of the 3rd Indiana Cavalry , formed the Second Excelsior Brigade under General Sickles . The brigade was placed under the overall divisional command of Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker in October . Its initial tasks included assisting in the building of defenses around Washington and stopping resupply of the Confederates from Southern Maryland . In March 1862 , Sickles was forced to relinquish command when Congress refused to confirm his commission , but he worked diligently to lobby among his Washington political contacts and reclaimed both his rank and his command on May 24 , 1862 , in time to rejoin the Army in the Peninsula Campaign . Because of this interruption , he missed his brigade ' s significant actions at the Battle of Williamsburg . Sickles was back in charge in time for the Battle of Seven Pines and the Seven Days Battles . On the morning of June 25 at the Battle of Oak Grove , Sickles ' s New Yorkers encountered difficulties moving through their abatis , then through the upper portions of an impeding swamp , and finally met stiff Confederate resistance , all of which threw the Federal line out of alignment . Sickles was again absent for the Second Battle of Bull Run , having used his political influences to obtain leave to go to New York City to recruit new troops . Col . Nelson Taylor instead led the brigade . The Excelsior Brigade , still under Colonel Taylor as Sickles had been promoted to divisional command , missed the Battle of Antietam in September because the III Corps was stationed on the lower Potomac River , protecting the capital . The brigade ' s strength had been augmented by the addition of the 120th New York . In the Battle of Fredericksburg , the Excelsiors were led by Col . George B . Hall . Brig . Gen . Joseph W . Revere commanded the Excelsior Brigade during the Battle of Chancellorsville in early May 1863 . With the rest of Hooker ' s old division , it was held in reserve in some woods near the Chancellor House , guarding a road that led to the important United States ford over the Rappahannock River . The Gettysburg Campaign . Following the Battle of Chancellorsville , Col . William R . Brewster of the 73rd New York assumed command of the Excelsior Brigade , which was then in the division of Brig . Gen Andrew A . Humphreys . Brewster led the brigade during the Gettysburg Campaign in June and July 1863 . On July 2 , the brigade was advanced to an area near the Peach Orchard . It was flanked out of that position by the Confederate division of Maj . Gen . Lafayette McLaws . The remains of the brigade took part in a counterattack late in the afternoon that recaptured some abandoned Union guns . Brewster reported that the brigade lost 778 of 1 , 837 engaged . Brewster fell ill after the battle , and Brig . Gen . Francis Barretto Spinola assumed command during the pursuit of the Confederate army into Virginia . Spinola ' s brigade led the Union troops on July 23 at the Battle of Wapping Heights near Warrenton , Virginia , suffering 18 men killed , including two officers . Spinola was badly wounded in the fighting , along with dozens of his men . Col . J . Egbert Farnum of the 70th New York then commanded the brigade until Brewster returned to active duty for the autumn campaigns of 1863 . Brewster inspired his men by rising from his “ sick bed ” to lead the Excelsiors in the Mine Run Campaign . 1864 and the end of the brigade . When the Army of the Potomac was reorganized in the spring of 1864 for the Overland Campaign of Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant , Brewster retained brigade command . The Excelsior Brigade , augmented with two additional regiments , served in the Battle of the Wilderness in the Fourth Division , II Corps under Brig . Gen . Gershom Mott . When the remnants of the division became part of the Third Division of Maj . Gen . David B . Birney during the Battle of Spotsylvania , Brewster ’ s brigade became the division ’ s Fourth Brigade . He led these men at the Battle of Cold Harbor and in the initial operations of the Siege of Petersburg . Then the brigade was abolished . Most of the Excelsiors were moved to the First Brigade , Third Division . The individual regiments mustered out of the army during the summer of 1864 , and the men returned home to New York .