The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, organized in the Northern states during the Civil War. Authorized by the Emancipation Proclamation, the regiment consisted of African-American enlisted men commanded by white officers.
The Irish Brigade was an infantry brigade, consisting predominantly of Irish Americans, who served in the Union Army in the American Civil War. The designation of the first regiment in the brigade, the 69th New York Infantry, or the "Fighting 69th", continued in later wars. The Irish Brigade was known in part for its famous war cry, the "Faugh a Ballaugh", which is an anglicization of the Irish phrase, fág an bealach, meaning "clear the way" and used in various Irish-majority military units founded due to the Irish diaspora. According to Fox's Regimental Losses, of all Union army brigades, only the 1st Vermont Brigade and Iron Brigade suffered more combat dead than the Irish Brigade during America's Civil War.
Faugh a ballagh is a battle cry of Irish origin, meaning "clear the way". The spelling is an 18th-century anglicization of the Irish language phrase Fág an bealach, also written Fág a' bealach. Its first recorded use as a regimental motto was by the 87th Regiment of Foot in 1798. It remains the motto of the Royal Irish Regiment today.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts played a significant role in national events prior to and during the American Civil War (1861–1865). Massachusetts dominated the early antislavery movement during the 1830s, motivating activists across the nation. This, in turn, increased sectionalism in the North and South, one of the factors that led to the war. Politicians from Massachusetts, echoing the views of social activists, further increased national tensions. The state was dominated by the Republican Party and was also home to many Radical Republican leaders who promoted harsh treatment of slave owners and, later, the former civilian leaders of the Confederate States of America and the military officers in the Confederate States Army.
John Milton Deane was an American Civil War Medal of Honor recipient and a major in the United States Army.
The 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, also known as the "Harvard Regiment", was a regiment of infantry in the American Civil War. The regiment was so nicknamed because the officers of the 20th were young Harvard graduates. In addition, some, but not all, of the private soldiers had attended Harvard. The 20th was organized at Camp Meigs in Readville, August 29 to September 4, 1861. After training they left Massachusetts for Washington, D. C., September 4. They would fight until the war's conclusion being mustered out on July 16 and discharged July 28, 1865. Interestingly, Fogel et al's Union Army Data urban sample suggests perhaps as many as two-thirds of the regiment's enlisted were immigrants with Irish immigrants making up half of the regiment's total.
The 9th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a military unit from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, part of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. It is also known as "The Fighting Ninth". It existed from 1861 to 1864 and participated in several key battles during the war. The unit is an Irish heritage unit, with many volunteers having been born in Ireland.
The 61st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment raised for one year's service in the Union Army during the American Civil War from 1864 to 1865.
The 41st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a three-year infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was recruited as part of Governors Banks' and Andrew's recruitment drives to supply the union with a military force to hold and expand Union control of the lower Mississippi. In the late winter/early spring of 1863, it was converted to mounted infantry and later to cavalry. On its conversion in June 1863 at Port Hudson, it was disestablished and re-established as the 3rd Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry.
The 51st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of infantry that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was assigned to Major General John G. Foster's Department of North Carolina, later designated as the XVIII Corps. While based in New Bern, North Carolina, the 51st Massachusetts took part in several expeditions involving numerous units from Foster's command and were engaged in the Battle of Kinston, the Battle of White Hall and the Battle of Goldsboro Bridge, among other engagements.
The 32nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. The nucleus of the regiment was a battalion of six companies raised in September 1861 to garrison Fort Warren, the largest fortification in Boston harbor. The battalion was originally known as the 1st Battalion Massachusetts Infantry or the Fort Warren Battalion.
The 7th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. It was formed on June 15, 1861, in Taunton. Its original commander was Colonel Darius N. Couch who would eventually be promoted to command the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac and, after that, the Department of the Susquehanna.
The 29th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army of the United States during the American Civil War. The regiment was organized in December 1861 when three new companies were attached to a battalion of seven Massachusetts companies that had been in active service since May 1861. These seven companies had been recruited to fill out the 3rd Massachusetts and 4th Massachusetts regiments and had signed on for three years of service. When the 3rd and 4th Massachusetts were mustered out in July 1861, the seven companies that had signed on for three years were grouped together to form a battalion known as the Massachusetts Battalion. Finally, in December 1861, three more companies were added to their roster to form a full regiment and the unit was designated the 29th Massachusetts.
The 1st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. It was the first regiment to leave Massachusetts for a three-year term in response to President Abraham Lincoln's May 3, 1861, call for three-year regiments. It was also the first three-year regiment from any state to reach Washington, D.C., for federal service. The core of the regiment was five companies from the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, a peace-time unit which was formed in 1858, replacing an earlier, disbanded unit of the same designation. Five companies of new recruits were added to the regiment and the unit was mustered in by companies beginning May 23, 1861, at Camp Cameron in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Marcus M. Haskell was an American soldier who fought in the American Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor, the highest military award, for rescuing a wounded man while under fire at Antietam, on 17 September 1862, in spite of his own wound.
The 39th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
45th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. The regiment trained at Camp Meigs in Readville, Massachusetts before traveling to North Carolina, where they fought in the Battle of Kinston in December 1862, and in skirmishes in and around New Bern, North Carolina in the spring of 1863. They suffered heavy casualties in battle and due to fever. In June they returned to Boston, where they patrolled the streets to quell any draft riots, and were discharged on July 21. They were commanded by Colonel Charles R. Codman (1829-1918).
The 40th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a three-year infantry regiment of the Union Army that served in the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, the Army of the Potomac, and the Department of the South during the American Civil War.
The 43rd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of infantry that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was first formed in September 1862 in response to President Abraham Lincoln's call for 300,000 men to serve for nine months. The nucleus of the regiment was the Second Battalion Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, a unit dating to 1798 known as the Boston Light Infantry and nicknamed the "Tigers." The 43rd Massachusetts therefore became known as the "Tiger Regiment."
The 56th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of infantry that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was one of the four "Veteran Regiments" raised in the winter of 1863–64. Recruits of these regiments were required to have served at least nine months in a prior unit. The regiment was attached to the IX Corps of the Army of the Potomac and took part in Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864. They were in extremely heavy combat during the campaign, suffering great casualties during engagements which included the Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, and the Battle of the Crater. They were involved in several assaults during the Siege of Petersburg in 1864 and participated in the spring 1865 battles which finally drove General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army from their entrenchments in Petersburg, leading to the end of the war at Appomattox Courthouse.
United States of America 
