Iron Brigade

Noted for its excellent discipline, ferocity in battle, and extraordinarily strong morale, the Iron Brigade suffered 1,131 men killed out of 7,257 total enlistments: the highest percentage of loss suffered by any brigade in the United States Army during the war.

The Iron Brigade initially consisted of the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiments, the 19th Indiana, Battery B of the 4th U.S. Light Artillery, and was later joined by the 24th Michigan.

This particular composition of men, from the three Western states, led it to be sometimes referred to as the "Iron Brigade of the West".

The all-Western brigade, composed of Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana troops, earned their famous nickname, while under the command of Brig.

On August 28, 1862, during the preliminary phases of the Second Battle of Bull Run, it stood up against attacks from a superior force under Maj. Gen Thomas J.

As the Western men advanced up the National Road, forcing the Confederate line back to the gap, McClellan asked, "What troops are those fighting in the Pike?"

There are a few stories related to the origin, but the men immediately adopted the name, which was quickly used in print after South Mountain.

[1] The unit that eventually became known as the Iron Brigade was activated on October 1, 1861, upon the arrival in Washington, D.C., of the 7th Wisconsin.

Now under the command of John Gibbon, a regular Army officer from North Carolina who chose to stay with the Union,[4] King's brigade was reflagged the 4th Brigade, 1st Division, III Corps, and it saw its first combat in the Northern Virginia Campaign, fighting at Brawner's Farm, August 28, 1862, where they received their deadly baptism of fire.

The 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment joined the brigade on October 8, 1862, prior to the Battle of Fredericksburg in December.

The 6th Wisconsin and the 24th Michigan took part in the attacks at Fitzhugh's Crossing, April 29, 1863, losing a combined total casualty list of 58.

The 6th Wisconsin, along with 100 men of the brigade guard, are remembered for their famous charge on an unfinished railroad cut north and west of the town, where they captured the flag of the 2nd Mississippi and took hundreds of Confederate prisoners.

The Brigade survivors defended the north slope of Culp's Hill on July 2,3, where the 6th Wisconsin made a night counterattack to restore Union positions previously lost to Confederate troops.

The 1st Minnesota suffered the highest casualty percentage of any Union regiment in a single Civil War engagement during the battle of Gettysburg, losing 216 out of 262 men (82%).

The brigade fought in the bloody Overland campaign of 1864, and took part in the siege of Petersburg for the rest of the war.

The last surviving member of the Iron Brigade, Josiah E. Cass of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, died on 2 December 1947, from a fractured hip suffered in a fall.

Gen. Edward S. Bragg (6th Wisconsin): June 7, 1864 – February 10, 1865 Col. John A. Kellogg (6th Wisconsin): February 28, 1865 – April 27, 1865 Col. (BVT BG) Henry A. Morrow (24th Michigan): April 27, 1865 – June 5, 1865 The Iron Brigade was noted for consistently wearing the dress uniform of the US Army.

A brass eagle badge on the side used to hold the brim up in a slouch, and finally an ostrich feather plume.

The Springfield Model 1861 rifled musket, firing the .58 caliber projectile, was issued to the 6th Wisconsin, 19th Indiana, and 24th Michigan regiments.

This single-shot, muzzle loading, percussion cap rifle weighed nine pounds with a barrel length of forty inches.

Its unit crest is similar to the medals issued to veterans of both the Western and the Eastern Iron Brigades of the Army of the Potomac.

Located at Camp Casey, South Korea, the brigade has a critical role of military deterrence on the Korean Peninsula.

The shoulder sleeve insignia currently worn is a red line shot through with a red arrow, giving them the nickname Red Arrow Brigade, which was earned in World War I where the 32d Division was fighting the Germans alongside the French, who noted the unit's tenacity by punching through the German lines, like an arrow and calling the unit Les Terribles, meaning The Terrors.

The name "Iron Brigade" has also been used to describe the offensive line of the University of Wisconsin Badger Football Team.

The Badgers play in Camp Randall Stadium, a site used to train Wisconsin volunteers during the Civil War.

Soldiers in the 7th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment , Company I, of the Iron Brigade, in Virginia , 1862
Rufus King , the founder and original commander of the Wisconsin Iron Brigade
John Gibbon , the commander of the combined three-state Western Iron Brigade
The black wool hardee hat was most famously worn and easily identified as the hat worn by the Union Army 's "Iron Brigade of the West", which became their trademark. They were popularly known by the nickname "The Black Hats".
Union Army soldiers, from the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment , Company C, of the Iron Brigade, wearing a mix of blue and gray uniforms and the distinctive hardee hats . The state militia uniforms were eventually replaced to avoid being mistaken as Confederate soldiers. From a rare, degraded, tintype photograph, circa 1861.