Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'

Subject: Lyrics to 'Fighting 69th' Needed
From: feral
Date: 23 Mar 99 - 03:01 AM

I really need to get the lyrics to "The Fighting 69th" my friend wanted them sung at his funeral but nobody knows the words....Someone help me please!!!

Subject: RE: Lyrics to 'Fighting 69th' Needed
From: Ferrara
Date: 23 Mar 99 - 11:26 AM

Was the song written for the movie of the same title? Maybe you could check it out of blockbuster. I entered fighting 69th in my search engine and got > 200 sites. I forget how many. I stopped after checking about 20 of them, but maybe someone would check them for you? I also e-mailed the guy who maintains one of the sites. Will let you know if there's an answer. Good luck.

Subject: RE: Lyrics to 'Fighting 69th' Needed
From: Gene
Date: 23 Mar 99 - 11:30 AM

You can find the [FIGHTING 69TH] website with:

http://www.excite.com

Somebody there should know them

and you might find sheet music/lyrics via

The LEVY SHEET MUSIC site in the LINKS section.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FIGHTIN' 69TH
From: O'Boyle
Date: 24 Mar 99 - 12:58 AM

Feral, Here are the words. The tune is the same as "The Star of the County Down". Sorry to hear about your friend.

Rick

The Fightin' 69th

Come all you gallant heroes,
And along with me combined
I'll sing a song, it won't take long
Of the Fighting Sixty Ninth
They're a band of men brave, stout and bold
From Ireland they came
And they have a leader to the fold
And Cocoran was his name

It was in the month of April
When the boys they sailed away
And they made a sight so glorious
As they marched along Broadway
They marched right down Broadway, me boys,
Until they reached the shore
And from there they went to Washington,
And straight unto the war

So we gave them a hearty cheer, me boys
It was greeted with a smile
Singing here's to the boys who feared no noise
We're the Fighting Sixty Ninth

And when the war is said and done
May heaven spare our lives
For its only then we can return
To our loved ones and our wives
We'll take them in our arms, me boys
For a long night and a day
And we'll hope that war will come no more
To sweet Amerikay

So we gave them a hearty cheer, me boys
It was greeted with a smile
Singing here's to the boys who feared no noise
We're the Fighting Sixty Ninth

So farewell unto you dear New York
Will I e'er see you once more
For it fills my heart with sorrow
To leave your sylvan shore
But the country now it is calling us
And we must hasten fore
So here's to the stars and stripes, me boys
And to Ireland's lovely shore

And here's to Murphy and Devine
Of honour and renown
Who did escort our heroes
Unto the battle ground
And said unto our colonel
We must fight hand to hand
Until we plant the stars and stripes
Way down in Dixieland

Repeat chorus 2 times

Subject: RE: Lyrics to 'Fighting 69th' Needed
From: Brakn
Date: 24 Mar 99 - 12:00 PM

I think the song they sang in the film was Kilkenny For Me.
Mick Bracken

Subject: RE: Lyrics to 'Fighting 69th' Needed
From: feral
Date: 25 Mar 99 - 03:08 AM

thank you all for your help...it was greatly appreciated

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Messages from multiple threads combined. Messages below are from a new thread.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Fighting 69th
From: kai
Date: 14 Mar 01 - 04:21 AM

Hello all.

Looking for lyrics of Wolfe Tones' song "Fighting 69th". For more information, I understood only some words in it. In, AFAIR, last verse there are "So here's to stars and stripes me boys, and to Ireland's lovely shores" and in the chorus there are "And we gave them hearty cheers me boys" (?).

//kai [e-mail]

Subject: Lyr Add: FIGHTING 69TH
From: Wolfgang
Date: 14 Mar 01 - 07:42 AM

from a websearch, maybe what you are looking for, maybe not:

FIGHTING 69TH

- Music: traditional Lyrics: traditional -

Come all you gallant heroes, And along with me combined
I'll sing a song, it won't take long, Of the Fighting Sixty Ninth
They're a band of men brave, stout and bold, From Ireland they came
And they have a leader to the fold, And Cocoran was his name

It was in the month of April, When the boys they sailed away
And they made a sight so glorious, As they marched along Broadway
They marched right down Broadway, me boys, Until they reached the shore
And from there they went to Washington, And straight unto the war

Chorus: So we gave them a hearty cheer, me boys, It was greeted with a smile
Singing here's to the boys who feared no noise, We're the Fighting Sixty Ninth

And when the war is said and done, May heaven spare our lives
For its only then we can return, To our loved ones and our wives
We'll take them in our arms, me boys, For a long night and a day
And we'll hope that war will come no more, To sweet Amerikay

Chorus:

So farewell unto you dear New York, Will I e'er see you once more
For it fills my heart with sorrow, To leave your sylvan shore
But the country now it is calling us, And we must hasten fore
So here's to the stars and stripes, me boys, And to Ireland's lovely shore

And here's to Murphy and Devine, Of honour and renown
Who did escort our heroes, Unto the battle ground
And said unto our colonel, We must fight hand to hand
Until we plant the stars and stripes, Way down in Dixieland
Chorus:

Wolfgang

---

Messages from multiple threads combined. Messages below are from a new thread.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: Killjoy
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 11:51 PM

Greetings to all, and apologies if this subject was covered somewhere that I neglected to look for it.
I checked the previous forum entries, but there was no answer to my specific question.

I'm wondering about a phrase used in the chorus of The Fighting 69th...

The second line goes:
"Singing 'Here's to the boys who fear(ed) no noise,
They're the Fighting 69th'"

Does this business about the "noise" refer to anything?
It seems an odd turn of a phrase...

I wondered if there were something related to the Civil War,
or the time period in general which might be behind it.

Thanks in advance to all who reply!

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 12:29 AM

Several Civil War songs about the 69th at American Memory, but none help with that line of the "Fighting 69th" chorus.

Probably used because it rhymes with boys- and certainly the noise of the cannon, etc. strikes fear in the average soldier.
One song seldom heard is the "Gallant 69th," in the Levy Collection.

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 03:26 PM

Where is the song, "The Fighting 69th," first known to have appeared?
There are several Civil War era songs about the 69th (see American Memory), but I can't find an early copy of this one. Is it later??

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: Killjoy
Date: 19 Nov 03 - 11:25 PM

I was thinking that the reference was either to the din of battle, or if the song originated later in the war, to the "rebel yell" battle cry...
Just wondered if there was any confirmation or disproval of that redily at hand.

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Nov 03 - 11:48 PM

Still would like to know where this song came from- can't find any information on its origin.

Subject: ADD: Irish 69th
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 12:26 AM

I didn't find the "Fighting 69th" from anything that looked like an authoritative source. It seems the lyrics on the Web come from a place called www.plyrics.com, a punk lyrics site - the song was recorded by a Boston punk band named "Dropkick Murphy's" that do punk versions of traditional Irish songs. It was also recorded by the Wolfe Tones, and by a group called the Fenians.
Note that there are two songs in the Digital Tradition that speak of the "boys who feared no noise," Fare You Well Old Ireland and Sons of Liberty. Is there a connection? I did find "The Irish 69th" in Traditional American Folk Songs from the Anne & Frank Warner Collection. Not related, but interesting.

THE IRISH SIXTY-NINTH

Ye Erin sons of hill and plain,
Come listen to my feeble strain
Perhaps you'll think it all a dream
Though every line is true
I'll sing to you of our long campaign
Through summer sun and winter's rain
To Richmond's gates and back again
I will relate to you

It was in August, sixty-one,
When Colonel Owens took command,
And brought us into Maryland
Where let it rain or shine.
He drilled us—every day we rose
To learn us how to thrash our foes,
And more than once they felt the blows
Of the Irish Sixty-ninth.

In February, sixty-two,
While passing in a grand review,
We were told our foes we would pursue
And Richmond overthrow.
To Washington we went straight way,
And sailed in steamers down the bay
Until we were forced next day
To land at Fort Monroe.

At Hampton then we camped around,
Until brave Little Mac came down
And ordered us up to Yorktown
Our strength there to combine.
And there we worked both night and day,
And drove the Rebel hordes away,
And marching through the town next day
Went the gallant Sixty-ninth.

From Yorktown then we sailed away,
And landed at West Point next day,
And gaily marched along the way,
And camped among the pines.
And there we stayed three weeks or more,
Until we heard the cannons roar
And musketry come like a shower
Along the Rebel lines.

Then double quick away we went,
Across the river we were sent
To drive the Rebels back we meant,
No man fell out of line.
Where Philadelphia's noble sons
Had nobly spotted Pickett's guns,
And when away the Rebels run,
Cheered the gallant Sixty-ninth.

Then on Antietam's field again
We boldly faced the iron rain.
Some of our boys upon the plain
They found a bloody grave,
Where our brave general, Little Mac
Made boastingly to clear the track
And to send the ragged Rebels back
Across the Potomac's waves.

At Fairoaks then long weeks we lay
Had picket fighting night and day
I've seen our brave boys borne away
And some in death grow pale.
And in that seven days' fight, going back
Over bloody fields we left our track
Where other regiments they fell back.
We stood as at Glendale.

Next day out on the battle field.
Old veterans they were forced to yield
For the Rebels had a stone wall shield
Protecting front and rear.
[They gave us constant] shot and shell
It was like the gaping jaws of hell.
And many's the brave man round us fell
We boldly did our share.

O'Keen, our colonel, nobly stood
Where the grass was turning red with blood
And growing to a crimson flood.
We still kept in our line.
And many got a bloody shroud.
Though Philadelphia's sons were proud
And sang of deeds in praises loud
Of the gallant Sixty-ninth.

---

Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:

Irish Sixty-Ninth, The

DESCRIPTION: A song telling the story of the 69th regiment, "The Irish Sixty-Ninth." The training of the regiment is described, then its long career in the Peninsula, at Antietam, Fair Oaks, Glendale, and perhaps Gettysburg
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Warner 14, "The Irish Sixty-Ninth" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 175-176, "The Gallant 69th" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7455
Notes: Determining which regiment this song is about takes some research. The very name "The Irish Sixty-Ninth" immediately brings to mind the 69th New York regiment, a famous unit of the equally famous "Irish Brigade" that saw service through the entire Civil War.
However, the unit in the song is said to have been commanded by "Colonel Owens," and the song refers several times to Philadelphia. Thus the 69th NY is not meant; we must look to the 69th Pennsylvania.
This regiment is not famous (and it certainly didn't suffer the extreme -- 90% -- casualties faced by the 69th NY), but it was mustered in in August 1861 (as in the song; the 69th NY mustered in in September) and its original commander was Col. (later Brig. Gen.) Joshua T. Owen. It is reported to have been mostly Irish. And it was a Philadelphia regiment -- in fact it was a member of what later came to be called the "Philadelphia Brigade."
The 69th PA fought in most of the battles in the east, starting with the 1861 fiasco at Ball's Bluff, and was one of the regiments that received Pickett's Charge at on July 3, 1863 at Gettysburg (possibly referred to in stanza 6, though this could refer to the Battle of Fair Oaks).
If there were only one version of this song, I might suggest that the name "Irish Sixty-Ninth" arose by confusion out of the World War I regiment with that nickname, in which Joyce Kilmer ("I think that I shall never see A poem as lovely as a tree") served and died. However, with multiple versions, all clearly Civil War, this does not seem possible.
Among the other references in the song:
"Little Mac": Gen. George McClellan, who commanded the Army of the Potomac for most of 1862 and directed the Peninsula Campaign.
Fort Monroe: The starting point of the Peninsular Campaign. Yorktown: besieged in the Peninsula Campaign (Apr. 5-May 4, 1862).
Pickett's guns: possibly a reference to Gettysburg, but this would be out of sequence; I think it more likely to refer to the Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines (first major battle of the Peninsula Campaign, May 31-June 1, 1862), where Pickett faced a heavy Union attack.
Antietam: battle fought in Maryland, Sept. 17, 1862.
Fair Oaks: an inexplicable reference. If it points to Fair Oaks/Seven Pines, mentioned above, it is out of sequence; if it refers to the Fair Oaks battle of October 1864, the 69th PA was not present and the results were in any case unfortunate for the Federals. Probably this is an errant reference to some part of the Peninsula campaign.
Glendale (also known as White Oak Swamp): one of the Seven Days' Battles, fought June 20, 1862 at the end of the Peninsula Campaign. The 69th PA had a prominent part in this battle.
Speath's song "The Gallant 69th," sung by Harrigan and Hart, has none of the historical references of the Warner song, and may be a separate piece (frankly, the two have nothing in common) -- but what are the odds of two Civil War songs about an Irish 69th regiment? Even if they are distinct, we might as well file them together. - RBW
File: Wa014

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Subject: ADD: The Gallant 69th
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 01:18 AM

One more song about the Fighting 69th, this one from Sigmund Spaeth's Weep Some More, My Lady. Spaeth describes it as a "fine example of the pseudo-military songs of Harrigan and Hart." It was sung by Tony Hart, written by Ed Harrigan and Dave Braham.

THE GALLANT 69th
(Ed Harrigan & Dave Braham)

We are privates in the Sixty-Ninth, We follow up the fife and drum;
We can't forget our old comrades And their glory at Bull Run.
It was there with bayonets bristling, Where the shot and shell were whistling,
Our boys helped gain the day.

CHORUS
We march behind the band, true sons of Paddy's land
The Irish boys for style are excellent
The green above the red, with martial step we tread
In the gallant Sixty-Ninth Regiment

They admit we are the ladies' pride, When we're out for a grand review,
They shout huzza from near and far, At our Irish boys so true;
With columns solid as a wall, Bright uniforms neat and clean,
We are one and all sons of Erin, From the land of the Shamrock green.

Should America call on her soldier boys, To the front we'd boldly go;
For a righteous cause, our Nation's laws, Give battle to the foe.
We'll ne'er forget old Ireland, But keep our powder dry,
"Faugh a ballagh" our cry, clear the way, To conquer or to die.

(Copyright by Wm. A. Pond & Co. Used by permission.)

Words by Edward Harrigan. Music by Dave Braham, 1875

Sheet music is here (click) at Levy.

Subject: RE: Lyrics to 'Fighting 69th' Needed
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 01:30 AM

There are songs of the Civil War era in American Memory that deal with the Fighting 69th (Both NY and PA), but no "Fighting 69th." It is not in "Sound Off" or other military song compendia that I could find.
I am beginning to think that this is a late song, possibly part of the soundscript for some movie or TV episode.

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 02:40 AM

Here's a history of the regiment that will give some background information for the songs. I found it here (click). Wish I could get hold of a copy of Derek Warfield's Irish Songster of the American Civil War.
-Joe Offer-

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THE FIGHTING 69^TH AT 150

"The Fighting 69^th" : Still Going Strong at 152

Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth H. Powers, Regimental Historian

69^th Regiment of New York

On the signal of the New York Police Department, the military escort of the largest civilian parade in the world will step up Fifth Avenue in New York City to the tune of "Garryowen", the official march of the 69^th Regiment of New York. March 17, 2004, will be the 243^th consecutive New York Saint Patrick's Day Parade. Before the Parade, the Cardinal Archbishop of New York will celebrate a memorial Mass for the fallen of the 69^th ; the Regiment will be in attendance at Mass in Saint Patrick's Cathedral. 2001 marked the sesquecentennial of the 69^th Regiment. Originally the Second Regiment of Irish Volunteers, it was accepted as part of the New York State Militia and designated as the Sixty-Ninth Regiment on October 12, 1851. The dual-dedication of the Parade this year is shared by Labor and by the 69^th Regiment; this is particularly appropriate given the fact that most of the citizen-soldiers throughout the history of the 69^th (like the citizen-soldiers of the Irish Citizen Army in 1916) are working men.

The 69^th Regiment of New York is, at the same time, unique in history, and representative, not only of all of Irish America, but also of "Wild Geese" throughout the world. It was formed by Irish exiles in New York for the express purpose of gaining military training in the service of the United States in order that those skills so acquired might later be utilized in the future liberation of Ireland. Among the members of the Emmett Monument Association who founded the 69^th were Michael Doheny of Tipperary and Michael Corcoran of Sligo. The regiment itself was formed from companies of the old Irish 9^th Regiment of New York plus a number of independent companies, which had not previously been part of the New York State Militia (what we would today call the Army National Guard). Late Veteran Corps Commander Barney Kelly's Company "A" of the 69^th traces its lineage back through the War of 1812 to the force which assaulted Quebec, under General Richard Montgomery on December 31, 1775.

CORCORAN'S DEFIANCE

By 1860 the 69^th New York had become the premiere Irish regiment in America. In that year its new Colonel, Michael Corcoran, was called upon to parade the regiment in honor of the visiting, so-called "Prince of Wales," son of the English queen who had presided over An Gorta Mor, the great hunger, which had decimated the Irish population at home, and forced over a million to emigrate. The same conspirators who had formed the 69^th had also, in 1858, founded the Fenian Brotherhood in America to support the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland in the preparation for physical force revolution in Ireland whenever England's difficulty might become Ireland's opportunity for Liberty. Corcoran's refusal to parade was immensely popular among the Irish, but not among the

nativists, who demanded his court martial. It was during this court martial that Fort Sumpter was fired upon; the American Civil War had begun. Would the Irish fight for

the United States? that was the question. Michael Corcoran offered to lead the 69^th to war, all charges against him were dropped, and the 69^th New York State Militia departed for Washington under the Stars and Stripes and under their green flag with sunburst, presented by the ladies of New York to commemorate Corcoran's earlier refusal to parade. The 69^th responded to President Lincoln's personal appeal not to go home at the end of their enlistment in 1861, instead marching to battle at Bull Run, where they were one of the few Union units to be cited for maintaining good order and discipline throughout the day. Corcoran was captured and, refusing parole, remained in prison for a year until exchanged. That green flag, carried so honorably, hangs in the 69^th Regiment Armory in New York City today.

AN IRISH BRIGADE

When the 69^th New York State Militia returned to New York, veterans of the Bull Run campaign sought to form a new 69^th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment to return to the fighting front. There were so many volunteers that, inspired by the example of the Irish Brigade in the service of France (1692-1792), Thomas Francis Meagher decided to form an Irish Brigade (beginning with the 69^th, 63^rd, and 88^th New York Volunteer Infantry regiments, and later adding the 28^th Massachusetts and the 116^th Pennsylvania). The 69^th and the 88^th trained at Fort Schuyler, in the Bronx, before going off to war. [In recent years County Waterford, whose banner bears the image of Meagher, has been led up Fifth Avenue by an Irish Brigade Honor Guard made up of authentic Civil War re-enactors (many of whom portrayed the 69^th Pennsylvania in the movie "Gettysburg").]

The 69^th New York participated in twenty-three campaigns during the American Civil War, from Bull Run through Appomattox. Its dash and gallantry in the many battles of those campaigns earned for the 69^th, and for the Irish Brigade, a military reputation which equaled, or eclipsed, the reputations of previous Irish Brigades. The rescue of the Irish 9^th of Massachusetts at Gaines Mill (June 27, 1862), the assaults on the Bloody Lane at Antietam (September 17, 1862) and on Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg (December 13, 1862), and the fight in the Wheatfield at Gettysburg (July 2, 1863) have assumed legendary stature, right up there beside the assault of the Irish Brigade in the service of France to turn the tide of battle against the English at Fontenoy (May 11, 1745).

After Michael Corcoran's exchange, he was invited to dine with President Abraham Lincoln in the White House, at which time Lincoln asked Corcoran to recruit what would be, in effect, a second Irish brigade for the Army of the Potomac. Now General Corcoran, with the help of comrades of the 69^th New York State Militia, formed yet another 69^th Regiment, New York National Guard, which became the first regiment of Corcoran's Irish Legion, which served for the remainder of the war, suffering terrible losses at Cold Harbor (June 3, 1864).

In the American Civil War Medals of Honor were awarded to Timothy Donoghue, to Joseph Keefe and to Peter Rafferty. After the war the three "69^th" Regiments and their lineages were consolidated into the one 69^th Regiment of New York.

THE FIGHTING SIXTY-NINTH

It was Confederate General Robert E. Lee who gave the 69^th the colorful nickname it has carried so proudly. Learning, at Fredericksburg, that the 69^th New York was among the Army of the Potomac troops facing the Army of Northern Virginia that day, Lee nodded and commented, "Ah yes. That Fighting Sixty-Ninth."

The principal influence on mid-19^th century American music was Irish. Two recent CDs have captured much of the music and spirit of the Irish soldier of the period of the American Civil War, THE IRISH VOLUNTEER, by David Kincaid, and SONS OF ERIN, by Derek Warfield of The Wolfe Tones. Derek Warfield has also written an excellent companion book, IRISH SONGSTER OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR.

During the War with Spain in 1898, the Governor requested each Regimental Commander to submit a list of those who would volunteer for Active Service. Colonel Edward Duffy answered immediately that the 69^th volunteered to a man, to serve anyplace in the world where its services might be required. The quick cessation of hostilities found the 69^th at a port of embarkation in Florida.

THE WORLD WAR

Called into active service for the Mexican Border Campaign in 1916, and again in 1917, upon entry of the United States into the First World War, the 69^th Regiment was temporarily redesignated as the 165^th Infantry and chosen by then Colonel Douglas A. MacArthur to represent New York in a specially created shock division that was being formed from the cream of the National Guard, the famed Forty-Second (Rainbow) Division. As such, it saw some of the bitterest fighting – Lorraine, Champagne, Marne, Ainse-Marne, St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne. On the Ourcq River, the 69^th put up what has been called one of the greatest fights of that terrible war when it forced a crossing without artillery support and, fighting alone on the enemy's side of the river, with its flanks unsupported, engaged a Prussian Guards Division and forced it to retire.

It was an incredible feat of arms, but a mere incident in the chronicle of glory that is the saga of the Fighting 69^th. Medals of Honor from World War I were awarded to Michael A. Donaldson, to William J Donovan and to Richard W. O'Neill. Among the famous Americans who served with the 69^th in the First World War were Colonel "Wild Bill" Donovan (later head of the United States Army's Office of Strategic Services – the OSS - in World War II), Father Francis Patrick Duffy and the beloved poet Joyce Kilmer, whose poem "Rouge Bouquet" is still a part of the ritual of the 69^th and of its Veteran Corps.

Veterans of the Regiment, including Jeremiah O'Leary (also of Clan na Gael), Alexander Anderson (later 13^th Colonel of the 69^th and a Major General in World War II, who is reputed to have secured the first Thompson sub-machine guns for the Irish Republican Army – the IRA) and John Prout (later a Major General in the Irish Army, whose son served with the 69^th in the Pacific) would play significant roles in the cause of Irish freedom, particularly during the Irish War for Independence (1919-1921).

WAR IN THE PACIFIC

In 1940, the 69^th was again called for service to the nation and, during the four years that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor, saw action on Makin Island, on Saipan and on Okinawa with the 27^th ("Yankee") Division in the Pacific. It was during the last of these campaigns that Company "F" was presented with the Distinguished Unit Citation, and the Regiment's seventh Medal of Honor was awarded to Sergeant Alejandro R. Ruiz of Company "A" for gallantry in action. It was during World War II that both a Regimental Commander and a Regimental Chaplain were killed in action: Colonel Gardiner Conroy on Makin and Father Lawrence Lynch on Okinawa.

A GREEN FLAG

On April 10, 1947, the 69^th again resumed its place as a unit of the New York National Guard. Its headquarters are in the old Armory at 26^th Street and Lexington Avenue, its home since 1906. Officially resuming its designation as the 69^th Regiment of New York, the 69^th sent its Second Color green flag from the American Civil War as a gift to the people of Ireland, in recognition of its Irish roots; the flag was presented by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, on behalf of the Regiment, in 1963, and now hangs in Leinster House, the parliament building in Dublin.

"Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked," like their Irish wolfhound mascots, the 69^th Regiment of New York, part of the 42^nd ("Rainbow") Infantry Division of the New York Army National Guard, together with Commander Harry Brady and the Veteran Corps, 69^th Regiment, and with our Honorary Colonel, Major General Joseph A. Healey, continue to provide the military escort to the Irish societies which constitute the New York Saint Patrick's Day Parade. Leading the way will be Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Slack, Commanding Officer of the 1^st Battalion, 69^th Infantry (Mechanized), accompanied by Pipe Major Joe Brady, Regimental Piper of the Fighting 69^th.

"GARRYOWEN!"

LTC Kenneth H. Powers

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Also see this page (click) for information on the 69th.

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 07:51 AM

The Warners also recorded this stanza from one of their outstanding informants, Yankee John Galusha of New York State. He was a Civil War veteran.

This day will be remembered by America's noble sons.
If it hadn't been for Irishmen, what would our Union have done?
'Twas hand to hand we fought 'em, all in the broiling sun,
When, stripped to the pants, we did advance at the Battle of Bull Run.

The words may well be about the 69th. Nobody has discovered any further verses. Or have they?

In the late 60s I heard Oscar Brand sing some additional words he had made up to fill out the song. Something about "MacDowell was our commander," etc. (opting for the *First* Battle of Bull Run). Can anyoner supply Brand's lyrics?

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 20 Nov 03 - 11:22 AM

Joe

I can probably get you a copy of Warfield's book. Drop me a PM to remind me! I can't reset my cookie correctly on this machine, for some reason.

Regards

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From:
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 07:27 PM

MY COMPLEMENTS TO LTC KENNETH H.POWERS.FROM FORMER FIST SGT CO.B 165TH INF.I WAS ALSO WITH THE REGT.ON OKINAWA IN 1945 AND JOINED UP AGAIN JUN 25 1950.MY QUESTION IS DOES HE KNOW THE DATE THE REGT.FLEW FROM OKINAWA TO ATZUGI AIRPORT AS THE FIRST INFRANTRY TROOPS TO LAND IN JAPAN. AND THE DATE WE MOVED UP TO NIIAGATA,JAPAN AND MARCHED DOWN THE MAIN ST.TO A JAPANESE ARMY CAMP WHERE WE REMAINED UNTIL THE 27TH DIV WAS DISBANED ON DEC.1 1945

GEORGE J BEHRENS
STILL ALIVE AND KICKING.

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: Tansy
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 07:42 PM

Incidentally, I'm related to the Corcorcan referred to in that song! Michael Corcoran..who died shortly after the Civil War was the brother of one of My Forebears. My Father's mom was a Corcoran....Lillian.

As a result, we have always had a big interest in his life and role in The Civil War.

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: GUEST,Michael
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 09:45 AM

Anybody have chords for this song? I'm trying to work it up for a presentation on Irish in the American Civil War tomorrow. I know that's a lot to ask, but this is a resourceful lot. Any information helps.

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Origins: Question On 'Fighting 69th'
From: GUEST,Michael
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 09:48 AM

Should have read the thread more closely. I'm looking for the chords to "The Irish Sixty-Ninth" as sung by David Kincaid, which is the one found in Traditional American Folk Songs from the Anne & Frank Warner Collection.

Thanks again.