Question of the Week: What’s your favorite unit nickname?
From the Iron Brigade to the Raccoon Roughs, there were hosts of unit nicknames in the Civil War. What’s your favorite nickname for a company, regiment, brigade, battery, or ship in the conflict?
Iron Brigade
Mobile Dragoons.
Butterflies — 3rd New Jersey Cavalry
19th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. “Swamp Hogs #19” or “Old Posey County.”
115th NYV..The Iron-Hearted Regiment.
Buck Tail Brigade
The Excelsior Brigade
Louisiana tigers
The Camel Regiment (43rd MS)
Garibaldi Guard (39th New York)
Stonewall brigade
“Wolverine Brigade”.
The Orange Blossoms – 124th NY Infantry Regiment.
154th New York Infantry “The Hardtack Regiment.” Doesn’t get much more common soldier than that!
Chicago Board of Trade Battery, Illinois Light Artillery.
A tie between the Iron Brigade or the Orange Blossoms!
Washington Artillery.
“The Harper’s Ferry Cowards,” a/k/a 126th New York Volunteer Infantry.
Not a nickname any unit wants, the slur became affixed to the regiment in 1862 after a portion broke and fled on the Maryland Heights overlooking Harper’s Ferry in its first action (part of Lee’s Maryland Campaign). The Harper’s Ferry garrison surrendered soon after the Heights were taken.
The 126th redeemed itself at Gettysburg. On July 2 the regiment, part of Col. George Willard’s brigade, took part in a counter-charge against Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade, helping to preserve the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. Some of its members reportedly shouted “Remember Harper’s Ferry” as they attacked. (Willard died in the attack. His monument, West of the PA Monument, is off the beaten track but worth visiting.) The regiment also performed well on July 3 during Longstreet’s Assault, and went on to good service thereafter. As a result, the regiment erased its earlier nickname. None of its members grieved the loss.
The Gibraltar Brigade of Nathan Kimball and Sam Carroll. The Army of the Potomac’s other all-Western brigade which earned its nickname in the 1862 Maryland Campaign.
I’ve always been partial to the Rockbridge Artillery battery with their 4 guns – Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John – “spreading the gospel!”
Henery Wise’s brigade came to be known as “The Life Insurance Brigade” as it did not see heavy combat for an extended period of time.
Wilders, Lightning Brigade!! Who wouldn’t want to ride a mule if you got a Spencer rifle to go with it!
I thought there was a Yellowhammer Regiment, but am finding that apparently the term “yellowhammer” applied to just about any Alabama unit – I wonder if it applied to the Union 1st AL Calvary. Something about that name yellowhammers that I like, it says they hit hard.
I am torn between the nicknames of two New York units.
The Orange Blossoms, an unduly flowery name for a hard-fighting unit, the 124th NYVI, was recruited in the summer of 1862 from Orange County. They received their unusual name from their colonel, Augustus van Home Ellis, who was killed at Gettysburg.
Ellsworth’s Avengers, the 44th NYVI, was recruited in 1861 primarily in Albany and Erie County. Its nickname describes its mission: to avenge the death of Elmer Ellsworth. It was sponsored by the Ellsworth Association of New York. While it did not meet the very elevated requirements of its recruitment proposal, the 44th were hard fighters. They suffered the casualties associated with that practice. Their most famous battles were Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. They were part of the four regiment command of Strong Vincent of Gettysburg fame. The “Castle” is their monument on Little Round Top.
I’m on the border on this one, literally: the Hardtack Regiment and the Bucktails. I come from the borderlands of the Twin Tiers, northwestern PA and southwestern NY. The Hardtack guys came from the NY side of that border and the Bucktails came from the PA side of that border.
The Mozart Regiment – 40th New York
The Mozart Regiment – 40th New York