The charge of the Irish Brigade against the Confederate position at Marye’s Heights outside Fredericksburg is the stuff of legend.
The legendary stature of these men and their deeds is largely due to the reminiscences of their opponents.
James Longstreet, whose troops occupied the stonewall position at Marye’s Heights remembered:
“The manner in which Meagher’s Irish Brigade breasted the death storm from Marie’s Heights of Fredericksburg, was the handsomest thing in the whole war. Six times in the face of a withering fire, before which whole ranks were mowed down as corn before the sickle, did the Irish Brigade run up that hill—rush to inevitable death.”
Robert E. Lee also praised the Irishmen:
“The gallant stand which his bold brigade made on the heights of Fredericksburg is well known. Never were men so brave. They enobled their race by their splendid gallantry on that occasion.”
