The lineage of the Irish Brigade has been officially assigned to "Fighting 69th" of the New York National Guard, which is the only currently active military unit that formed part of it. The "Fighting 69th" fought in World War I as part of the Rainbow Division.

The 69th still retained its Irish symbolism and spirit, and every member since then has been designated an honorary Irishman. As Father Duffy described non-Irish who join the regiment, "They are Irish by adoption, Irish by association, or Irish by conviction".

Mar 13, 2023 · After the Battle of First Bull Run, the War Department authorized lawyer, orator, and Irish revolutionary Captain Thomas Francis Meagher (pronounced “mar”) of Company K, 69 th NY, to recruit more Irish immigrants and Irish-Americans, creating the Irish Brigade as part of Brigadier General Edwin Sumner’s II Corps. [3]

Tradition holds that the 69th Regiment of New York is the most highly decorated regiment in the United States. The 69th Regiment traces its lineage to 21 Dec 1849. After the failed “Young Ireland” revolt in Ireland in 1848, the locus of Irish revolutionary/republican activity moved to …

The 69th, the 1st regiment of the Irish brigade, was the outgrowth of the 69th militia (q. v.) and contained members from New York city, Chicago, Il1., Brooklyn and Buffalo. It was mustered into the U. S. service at New York city Sept. 7 to Nov. 17, 1861, for three years, and left for Washington on Nov. 18.

Jul 2, 2023 · In Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, of all the one-hundred seventy-five thousand or so men who had fought in the battle, it was the Pennsylvania Irish 69th, who would face the fire of Pickett's Charge...

69th New York Infantry. Captain Richard Moroney commanded the 69th until he was wounded on July 2. Lieutenant James J. Smith then took command. (See Captain Smith’s Official Report on the Battle of Gettysburg.) The 69th brought 75 men to the field in two companies (A and B) and lost 5 killed, 14 wounded and 6 missing.

When the Civil War broke out he raised Company K, Irish Zouaves, for the 69th New York State Militia Regiment which fought at First Bull Run under Colonel Michael Corcoran. Subsequently Meagher raised the Irish Brigade and commanded it from 3 February 1862 to 14 May 1863.

The Fighting 69 th was initially an Irish Heritage Unit, comprised of Irish immigrants, who had escaped from an Ireland of vicious hunger, disease, injustices and failed rebellions. People who had lived under the Penal Laws which denied them their rights to freedom in their homeland.

The Fighting 69th (The Irish Brigade) (1851) A legendary Regiment formed in New York City initially as a State Militia unit. It served with distinction in every major campaign of the Civil War.