[3] While the Fourteenth Regiment's purpose was to protect the city of Brooklyn and surrounding areas, in its early history it was more of a social club, where men of venerable lineage could train in military tactics and spend the weekends with other militiamen.

[1] On 4 June 1854, a portion of the 14th Regiment, under the command of Colonel Jesse C. Smith, was called to help suppress a riot caused by an anti-Catholic street preacher referring to himself as "the Angel Gabriel."

[5] In 1860, the United States Zouave Cadets[6] traveling drill team of Chicago, under the command of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, came through Brooklyn.

Colonel A.M. Wood telegraphed Washington that his regiment was prepared, but New York Governor Edwin D. Morgan refused to send them (apparently for political motives).

Colonel Wood then went to Washington and along with Congressman Moses F. Odell explained the situation and as a result, President Lincoln directly ordered the regiment into action.

President Lincoln gave a speech to them when the regiment mustered out in 1864, thanking them for their fine and honorable service to the United States.

It was officially mustered into United States service by General Irvin McDowell on 23 May 1861 and initially served at and near Washington.

At the First Battle of Bull Run the 14th were issued havelocks, a white material that fitted over the kepis and had a long piece of cloth that hung down below over the neck.

The tunics worn by the 14th Brooklyn were a beautiful combination of red and dark blue adorned with small gold buttons running up and the center of the chest.

Earlier recruits also were issued "Shoulder-Knots" composed of thick red fabric that were attached with thread on one end and a gold button on the other.

Little did the officers of that board dream that the uniform that they then adopted would become historic, sung of in poets' lays and transferred to the artist's canvas as that of the "red-legged devils," the Brooklyn Fourteenth.

"[2] At the First Battle of Bull Run, the 14th Brooklyn was assigned to the First Brigade (commanded by Col. Andrew Porter) in Col. David Hunter's Second Division in General Irwin McDowell's Army of Northeastern Virginia.

These regiments had been ordered to support two batteries of cannon under the command of Captains Charles Griffin and James B. Ricketts on the Union right flank.

Before the arrival of the 14th Brooklyn at Henry House Hill, the 11th New York had withdrawn to the Manassas-Sudley Road under heavy assault and then fought off a flank attack from Confederate Colonel J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry.

Dressed in scarlet caps and trousers, blue jackets with quantities of gold buttons, and white gaiters, with a fringe of bayonets swaying above them as they moved, their appearance was indeed magnificent.

"[8] The 14th Brooklyn, 11th New York, and 1st Minnesota were placed into position by Major William Farquhar Barry, McDowell's chief of artillery, at the crest of Henry House Hill.

In hand-to-hand combat the New Yorkers were driven back to the Manassas-Sudley Road and Ricketts' battery and Griffin's two guns captured.

[citation needed] While the 14th Brooklyn and 11th New York Volunteer Infantry were briefly in control of the two guns, the Louisiana Tigers advanced up the hill.

Though both the 14th Brooklyn and the Tigers, who had left their rifles at the bottom of the hill, were poorly trained and lacked real wartime experience, a savage hand-to-hand fight began between the two units.

They had been startled by the fierce, brutal fighting that the Confederates had brought, it being completely unlike the riot quelling they had performed in the past.

It is local legend that the 14th Brooklyn refused to flee with such blind abandon as the rest of the Union army, but rather were ordered off the field, but this has not been corroborated by any contemporary records.

At Antietam, the 1st Division commanded by Brigadier General Abner Doubleday of the 1st Corps began their attack on the morning of 17 September 1862 from the North Woods.

Once the Western Iron Brigade was online, Colonel E.B Fowler saw Confederate forces taking cover in an unfinished railroad cut to his right.

One 14th Brooklyn soldier said of the Confederate defense of the railroad cut "they fought with the ferocity of wildcats" and the fight became a brawl of hand-to-hand combat.

James McQuire of company I, responded and disappeared into the woods or, as one 14th Brooklyn member recounts "in the teeth of flank fire", to find out who was there.

He also recounted the casualties taken with the trenches were light but that the colors, which rose above the works, were riddled with bullets, and the staff of the state flag was shot through.

[2] Captain-Brevet Major Isaiah Uffendill Since the regiment's return from the battlefields of the American Civil War, the 14th was twice involved in service, first during the quarantine disturbances at Fire Island in September 1892, and throughout the Brooklyn motormen's strike in January 1895.

All of the 14th's officers and men were anxious to be involved the real fighting on the front lines, but this movement was deemed unnecessary by the government after considerable thought.

On 5 September, the 14th Infantry received orders to muster out on corner of Eighth Avenue and Fifteenth Street, Brooklyn at the armory.

[13] Following the conclusion of the war, members of the 14th Regiment New York Veterans Association continued to hold monthly meetings.