General Douglas MacArthur once said, “By God it takes the Irish when you want a hard thing done.” Liam Nolan tells the history of the gallant band that traditionally leads the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in New York. Meet …

 

The Fighting 69th

 

New York’s first Saint Patrick’s Day parade took place in 1762, fully 14 years before the founding of the United States, in 1776. Because of fears of anti-immigrant attacks against the traditional Irish Catholic parade, the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, New York, was asked to lead the parade to fend off attackers.

The New York St Patrick’s Day Parade has been traditionally led by the honour guard of the New York State National Guard ever since — the legendary “Fighting 69th”.
Two years ago the then commander of the 69th, Lieutenant-Colonel Shawn Tabankin, said, “I believe it’s even more important to adhere to our traditions and lineage while deployed than when we’re back stateside.
“It keeps us rooted to our legacy, sends a message about overcoming adversity by accomplishing something that others might think couldn’t or shouldn’t be accomplished and, quite simply, it’s good for the morale and esprit de corps of our deployed soldiers in arduous conditions.”

Anyone who has seen Martin Scorsese’s 2002 historical epic movie The Gangs of New York, which roared with sound and fury, will probably recall the powerful way it depicted the turbulent and appalling conditions under which immigrant groups like the Irish were forced to live. Nativists groups hated the waves of immigrants, and the city teemed with thieves, prostitutes, hustlers, tavern keepers and street corner musicians.

It was in this 1850’s milieu of opposition and bigotry that Irish-Americans decided it was time to defend their interests.

When the Civil War arrived the Irish Brigade, reorganised as the 69th Regiment, volunteered to fight the Union cause.
“When anything absurd, forlorn or desperate was to be attempted,” one war correspondent wrote, “the Irish Brigade was called upon.”
The Brigade’s courage wasn’t just courage – it was audacious courage.

It was said those men entered immortality with their astounding charge up Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg.
The Confederate officers and troops actually cheered them for their bravery in the attack. The Irish also fought courageously at Antietam and Gettysburg, and the Confederate General Robert E. Lee coined the description “The Fighting 69th”.

“Never were men so brave,” Lee wrote. “They ennobled their race by their gallantry on that desperate occasion. Though totally routed, they reaped harvests of glory. Their brilliant though hopeless assaults on our lines excited the hearty applause of our officers and men.”

And General George Pickett was moved to write, “Your soldier’s heart almost stood still as he watched these sons of Erin fearlessly rush to their death. The brilliant assault on Marye’s Heights of their Irish brigade was beyond description … We forgot they were fighting us, and cheer after cheer at their fearlessness went up all along our lines.”

And finally in this trio of tributes by high rank army generals, this from General Douglas MacArthur: “No greater fighting regiment has ever existed than the One Hundred and Sixty-fifth Infantry of the Rainbow Division, formed from the old Sixty-ninth Regiment of New York. I cannot tell you how real and how sincere a pleasure I feel tonight in once more addressing the members of that famous unit. You need no eulogy from me or from any other man.

“You have written your own history and written it in red on your enemies’ breast. But when I think of your patience under adversity, your courage under fire, and your modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot express. You have carved your own statue upon the hearts of your people, you have built your own monument in the memory of your compatriots.”
It was the same general who had said in the First World War, “By God it takes the Irish when you want a hard thing done.”
In 1917 the 69th, with the First World War in its third year, were sent to France as part of the American Expeditionary Force, and demonstrated outstanding heroism at places like Rouge Bouquet, Chateau-Thierry, Champagne, and Meuse Argonne. They suffered high casualty rates – 644 men killed; 2,900 wounded.

Their brigade commander was the aforementioned Douglas MacArthur, then a Brigadier General. He was so impressed by the 69th’s chaplain, Father Francis Duffy, that he seriously considered naming him regimental commander – an unheard of honour for a priest.

Continue reading in this year’s Saint Patrick’s Day Annual