from a color lithograph, 1887
from a color lithograph, 1887
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The
Flags of the Iron Brigade
By Howard Michael Madaus and Richard Zeitlin
Republished from Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. 69, No. 1, Autumn, 1985
A publication of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin
and with their gracious permission
It is available in a printed expanded version with full footnotes from the bookstore of
The Wisconsin Veterans Museum
(they can be reached through our links page and the booklet cost is quite
nominal)
PREFATORY NOTE
Nearly 3 million men served in the Union Army during
the Civil War, 1861-1865.
Of these, some 5,000 men filled the ranks of the Iron Brigade, which was made up of the
Second, Sixth, and Seventh Wisconsin, the Nineteenth Indiana, and the Twenty-Fourth
Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiments. As the only "all Western" unit in
President Abraham Lincoln's Army of the Potomac, the Iron Brigade compiled an unsurpassed
record of bravery and sacrifice. No brigade in the Union Army suffered a higher percentage
of combat fatalities, and the Second Wisconsin sustained the highest percentage of fatal
casualties among the 3,559 Union regiments in the war.
The training,
leadership, and morale of the officers and men of the Iron Brigade were conspicuous at
Gainesville, South Mountain, Antietam, Gettysburg, and a dozen other battles and
skirmishes. "At such places, and on more than one occasion," recalled one of
their commanders,
"brave men died to keep their flags aloft. "
Always the flags were
in the forefront of battle,
proudly displayed, tenaciously defended.
In a day when soldiers
entered battle to the sounds of fife and drum, the regimental colors came to represent, as
few tangible
objects could, the very ideal of the Union.
How the flags of the Iron Brigade came to be, and what purposes they served both during
and after the war, is the topic of this two-part article.
| PART I | PART II |
| Into the Fray: The Flags of the Iron Brigade, 1861-1865 |
Beyond the Battle: The Flags of the Iron Brigade, 1863-1918 |
| Wisconsin Regimental Flags
Today. Visit The Wisconsin Veterans Museum |
|