O'Connell Street
Cover Story
Gone but not forgotten An Irish-American unit turned the tide at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Next year, they may finally get their due. by Frank Lewis

Young soldiers carrying the blue flag of Virginia led the pack when General George Pickett's division charged across the field at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. After the fierce battle, Union soldiers dashed out onto the field and picked up these flags because in those days, capturing an enemy unit's colors usually was good for a Congressional Medal of Honor.

Many such medals were awarded for that battle perhaps more than in any other single military event in American history. But none went to the 69th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, the unit that bore the brunt of Pickett's Charge. With more than half their fellow soliders killed, wounded or captured in about 10 minutes, the 69th's survivors had more pressing things on their minds than scouring the battlefield for flags.

Today, the 69th Pennsylvania is all but forgotten; the unit was mustered out (disbanded) in 1865, and the soldiers most from Philadelphia, and all but a few Irish immigrants or children of Irish immigrants returned home. But plans are in the works to honor them, and all Irish-American Civil War veterans, with the first Philadelphia Medal of Honor to be awarded in more than 30 years.

"There was a sense after doing some research that the 69th had never really gotten its due," says Russ Wylie, a healthcare consultant from Newtown who is helping to organize a parade and other events to coincide with the medal ceremony, tentatively scheduled for next year. Wylie learned of the unit's long-overlooked role at Gettysburg through his involvement in the 69th Pennsylavania Volunteer Infantry re-enactment group.

The night before the battle, the 69th's commander, Col. Dennis Kane, ordered his men to gather up the weapons of fallen soldiers, load them and keep them handy. The Union Army assumed an attack was coming, but didn't know when or from which direction.

The decision proved wise. One of many units spread out along Cemetery Ridge, the 69th was positioned behind a clump of trees. But the 5,000 or so men of Pickett's division were told to use the trees as a focal point as they charged across the field.

"The unit to [the 69th's] right held probably the most difficult position on the whole ridge, called the Angle," says D. Scott Hartwig, author and supervisory park historian at Gettysberg National Military Park. But that unit had no support on its right, and quickly fell back when the Confederate soldiers reached the wall.

The Confederates swarmed over the wall and flanked the 69th, nearly surrounding it.

"It was the only place where the fighting got to hand-to-hand," says Frank Boyle of Norwood, Pa., a descendent of 69th veterans and author of A Party of Mad Fellows: The Story of the Irish Regiments in the Army of the Potomac (Morningside Press, 1997). Soldiers on both sides fought with bayonets, knives, rocks, even their fists.

The 69th, however, not only held its position, but eventually killed, wounded or captured every Confederate solider to come over the wall. Pickett's men were repulsed, and the Union Army held Cemetery Ridge. But the unit paid for its heroism: 32 of the 69th's 260 men were killed including Col. Kane. 102 were wounded, and 18 were captured.

"If the 69th had taken off and run away [like the unit to its right], the next unit might have done the same," says Hartwig. The Confederates then might have taken enough of the ridge to secure their position, at least for a while. Hartwig believes the Confederates still would havebeen defeated that day, "but the Union Army would have had to spill a lot more blood to do it."

"It was a critical moment in the battle, and [the 69th] changed the tide in that area," he adds.

But the unit's role went largely unnoticed for many years partly because some may have tried to cover it up. In a letter to his son, Gen. Alexander Webb, commander of the division to which the 69th was assigned, admitted that the 69th had "saved his ass that day," as Wylie puts it. But Webb also indicated that his son should keep that to himself.

And in 1892, the 72nd Pennsylvania sued over the placement of its monument on the Gettysburg battlefield. The surviving members of the 72nd, which was the 69th's back-up unit that day, wanted their monument placed at the wall where the 69th had pushed the Confederates back; the men of the 69th, understandably, believed the 72nd's monument belonged elsewhere. According to Boyle, transcripts of the testimony show how reluctant some were to admit that the 69th arguably had saved the day.

"But everybody now admits that if they had given way," says Boyle, "the Confederates might have won the battle."

Today, however, a Congressional Medal of Honor seems out of the question; they are "jealously guarded" by the military, according to Wylie. Another option, the Meritorious Unit Citation, also seems like a longshot.

But the Philadelphia Medal of Honor is a real possibility.

Established in 1954, the Philadelphia Medal of Honor was awarded only twice, Wylie learned in 1960 and 1965. The medal is be bestowed by a committee that includes, among others, the mayor, a City Council member, and a local priest, minister and rabbi.

But Wylie's vision goes way beyond the medal. The 69th Pennsylvania re-enactment group is proposing a massive event to honor not just the 69th, but all Irish-American units that served in the Civil War. The proposal calls for a parade that would include many re-enactment groups, as well as Irish-American organizations and American and Irish dignitaries; a medal ceremony at Independence Hall, at which Mayor Rendell would present the Philadelphia Medal of Honor; and a historically accurate Civil War-era ball that evening.

City Representative Kathleen Sullivan says Rendell has given the go-ahead to pursue the idea. The biggest obstacle now, she says, is funding. She, Wylie and other organizers must find corporate sponsors willing to pick up the tab, which she estimates at "maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars." And until sponsors are found, Sullivan adds, it's too early to discuss details. (Wylie has suggested October 1999, but no date has been set.)

Boyle, for one, is looking forward to the event. And some, he adds, were members of the republican Fenian Brotherhood, and fought with the intention of gaining enough experience to return to Ireland and organize a force to drive out the British.

Whatever their intention, Irish-Americans served with distinction in the Civil War, Boyle says. Notre Dame University's football nickname, the Fighting Irish, was inspired by the seven chaplains who left to serve in the war. One later became president of the university, and amassed a fantastic collection weapons, flags and such from the Irish-American units.

"It's very exciting," Wylie says of the chance of seeing his and his fellow re-enactors' dream come to life. "I don't know of anything else that embraced recognition of the Irish soldier in the Civil War, and it's very exciting to be a part of that."

Photographs borrowed from the 69th Pennsylvania's web site.

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