To Arms, Men of Ireland!

The Irish Brigade is again being recreated as it was at Fredericksburg this past December when all five regiments of the Brigade were depicted as we portrayed the Irish Brigade's assault of the Sunken Road and did so right on Marye's Heights, just yards from where the Irish Brigade attacked.

The 145th Anniversary Gettysburg "At High Tide" event, sponsored by the Western Maryland Heritage Foundation (September Storm, McDowell, etc.), scheduled for June 27-29, 2008, will offer another unique opportunity: to recreate the Irish Brigade as it fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. The Brigade had been so reduced by July 1863 that it only fielded approximately 530 soldiers. The three NY regiments served in their own battalion.

The "At High Tide" event will see the possibility of fielding the Irish Brigade at its full Gettysburg strength. We had 300 at Fredericksburg and most everyone who participated there have plans to do so again for Gettysburg! All of our members who were at Fredericksburg had a great time - one of those rare and few events which stand out above all others.

Early registration is $30 until April 26, after which it goes to $35. While they allow walk-ons, they reserve the right to limit walk-on registration and may need to close it off completely if the pre-registered numbers reach the max limit.

The recreated Irish Brigade will be commanded by Scott Buffington (portraying Col. Patrick Kelly) of the 3rd Battalion USV (the campaigner battalion to which Co. B, 28th Mass belongs). They are a quality group and will form the core group of the Irish Brigade for the event. We of course, will form the core group for the 69th NYSV which went into the battle with 75 officers and men.

This will be a great opportunity and THE EVENT not to miss this year!

The registration form is on the WMHF's website for the event: http://www.wmhf.org/athightide/registration.html

When registering, members of the 69th NYSV should list unit affiliation as "69th NYSV, Irish Brigade" and organization affiliation as "independent". Those individuals in other units who wish to fall in with us, should list their home unit for "unit affliation" followed by "Please assign me with the 69th NYSV, Irish Brigade"

Please let me know if you plan on going as soon as you can and when you send in your registration.

Thanks,

Andy Megill
69th NYSV Event Coordinator