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-
THE FIGHTING 69TH AT 150
"The Fighting 69th" : Still Going Strong at 152
Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth H. Powers, Regimental Historian
69th 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 69th Regiment of New York. March 17, 2004, will be the 243th 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 69th ; the Regiment will be in attendance at Mass in Saint Patrick's Cathedral. 2001 marked the sesquecentennial of the 69th 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 69th Regiment; this is particularly appropriate given the fact that most of the citizen-soldiers throughout the history of the 69th (like the citizen-soldiers of the Irish Citizen Army in 1916) are working men.
The 69th 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 69th were Michael Doheny of Tipperary and Michael Corcoran of Sligo. The regiment itself was formed from companies of the old Irish 9th 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 69th 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 69th 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 69th 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 69th to war, all charges against him were dropped, and the 69th 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 69th 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 69th Regiment Armory in New York City today.
AN IRISH BRIGADE
When the 69th New York State Militia returned to New York, veterans of the Bull Run campaign sought to form a new 69th 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 69th, 63rd, and 88th New York Volunteer Infantry regiments, and later adding the 28th Massachusetts and the 116th Pennsylvania). The 69th and the 88th 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 69th Pennsylvania in the movie "Gettysburg").]
The 69th 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 69th, and for the Irish Brigade, a military reputation which equaled, or eclipsed, the reputations of previous Irish Brigades. The rescue of the Irish 9th 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 69th New York State Militia, formed yet another 69th 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 "69th" Regiments and their lineages were consolidated into the one 69th Regiment of New York.
THE FIGHTING SIXTY-NINTH
It was Confederate General Robert E. Lee who gave the 69th the colorful nickname it has carried so proudly. Learning, at Fredericksburg, that the 69th 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-19th 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 69th volunteered to a man, to serve anyplace in the world where its services might be required. The quick cessation of hostilities found the 69th 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 69th Regiment was temporarily redesignated as the 165th 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 69th 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 69th. 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 69th 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 69th and of its Veteran Corps.
Veterans of the Regiment, including Jeremiah O'Leary (also of Clan na Gael), Alexander Anderson (later 13th Colonel of the 69th 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 69th 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 69th 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 27th ("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 69th again resumed its place as a unit of the New York National Guard. Its headquarters are in the old Armory at 26th Street and Lexington Avenue, its home since 1906. Officially resuming its designation as the 69th Regiment of New York, the 69th 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 69th Regiment of New York, part of the 42nd ("Rainbow") Infantry Division of the New York Army National Guard, together with Commander Harry Brady and the Veteran Corps, 69th 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 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry (Mechanized), accompanied by Pipe Major Joe Brady, Regimental Piper of the Fighting 69th.
"GARRYOWEN!"
LTC Kenneth H. Powers
Also see this page (click) for information on the 69th.