IRON BRIGADE GUARD  BIBLIOGRAPHY

As you can see, there is a vast amount of literature on our beloved Iron Brigade, a veritable mini-industry unto itself. There is available material on each of the five Iron Brigade regiments, and also related stuff in books on specific battles. Better yet, several of these books are actually quite good. Most of these books are or were available (and for cheap) on the internet at buybooks.com, scholarsbookshelf.com or bibliofind.com. Other options include Clayton Thompson (CivilWarMall.com) or Morningside Books (1-800-648-9710).

Iron Brigade General History as of May, 2003:

Brave Men's Tears: The Iron Brigade at Brawner Farm, Alan T. Gaff,
1991. The brigade's first battle in which they held their own against the Stonewall Division. This is a thin, but spellbinding, book. According to Gen. Gibbon, this was the worst musketry of the war and he was at Antietam and Gettysburg. Besides The Hat, this is why you joined the unit.

Brotherhood Of Valor, Jeffrey D. Wert, 1998. This one parallels the careers of the common soldiers of Iron Brigade and their frequent adversaries, the Stonewall Brigade. We not only dressed better, but we won the war.

Echoes of the Marches of the Famous Iron Brigade, 1988. No author
cited this is a small 68-page pamphlet filled with anecdotes. Even better - it only costs five bucks.

Giants In Their Tall Black Hats: Essays On The Iron Brigade, Alan Nolan
and Sharon Vipond, 1998. This one features short essays on various aspects of the Black Hat experience, including Antietam, South Mountain, the amphibious assault by the 6th Wisconsin and 24th Michigan at Fitzhugh's Crossing and lots more. The first essay by Alan Nolan is interesting as John Brawner (a reb to the max) sued the U.S. government after the war due to the damage inflicted on his farm and livestock in August, 1862. Brawner, who was in his house during the battle, lost his case as he was unable to prove he was sympathetic to the Union cause.

Flags of the Iron Brigade, Howard Madaus & Richard Zeitlin, 1986. Everything you ever wanted to know (and more) about the flags carried by the Black Hats. Exact specifications are given, plus there's a couple of full color plates of the flags we still can't afford. This is before spellcheck as Gainesville is misspelled on several flags as ``Gainsville.'' The last half of this thin volume deals with the relation of the battle flags to post-war politics, ``waving the bloody shirt'' as it were.

The Iron Brigade, Alan T. Nolan, 1961. This is the bible of our unit. Everyone should own this book and know what's in it. You'll be tested later. Besides giving a readable overview of the unit up to the battle of Gettysburg, there's a useful section on the Iron Brigade uniform, which is why we fight. The only problem is that Nolan stops after Gettysburg, even though the Iron Brigade fought until the end of the war. Also, Nolan is responsible for changing the name of Gainesville (that's what's on the unit flags) to the more geographically correct ``Brawner Farm.'' Then again, the real Black Hats thought they fought at Gainesville, and who are we to argue with them?

The Men Stood Like Iron: How The Iron Brigade Got Its Name, Lance Herdegen, 1997. Taken from the perspective of the 6th Wisconsin, this is the story of a really bad three week period during which the Black Hats fought four major battles in 1862 - at Gainesville (Brawner Farm), Second Bull Run, South Mountain and Antietam and suffered over 50% casualties.

General Gibbon.

Iron Brigade General John Gibbon: A Rebel In Blue, Dennis Lavery & Mark
Jordan, 1994. A brand new full length study of everyone's favorite general and nobody's sweetheart.

Personal Recollections of the Civil War, John Gibbon, 1928. A readable account of the adventures of the Iron Brigade's most famous commander. Iron Brigade veterans paid for a spiffy tombstone when the general died in 1896.

Battery B, 4th U.S. Artillery.

The Cannoneer, Augustus Buell, 1890. This one is the story of Battery B, 4th U.S. Artillery, a unit long associated with the Brigade, which in fact, had many Iron Brigade men serve as cannoneers. There is some question as to whether Buell was actually present at all of these adventures but if he wasn't, at least he interviewed comrades who were there. Harrowing battle scenes, particularly Antietam and Gettysburg. A classic.

Second Wisconsin Volunteers.

As If It Were Glory, Robert Beecham, 1998. Beecham was an enlisted man in the 2nd Wisconsin, Company H, who survived some gnarly battles but was captured at Gettysburg. After he was exchanged, Beecham  became an officer in the 23rd U.S. Colored Infantry, and recounts his adventures including the Battle of the Crater where he was captured again only to escape eight months later. Originally published in 1911, too much of this one is a rehash of the battle of Gettysburg, which has been done much better by many others, and anyway, Beecham was only a private and didn't see much beyond McPherson's Woods where he was captured.

Diary Of A Soldier, Frances Rowan, 1996. Found at a yard sale in Glendale in 1991, this is the diary of Jonathan White, a private in Co. H, 2nd Wisconsin who was wounded at Gainesville or Brawner Farm. The entries don't reveal much and the editing is clueless and there are frequent misspellings. In one entry, White mentions an inspection by Col. O'Connor, then in his four sentence rendition of the battle of Gainesville, notes that his Col. was killed. The editor admits she has no clue as to the identity of the Colonel.  This book is embarrassingly inept and basically useless. But a look at a Co. H’er none the less.

The Second Wisconsin Infantry, George Otis, 1984. Who is Number One? This regiment suffered a higher percentage of losses than any other Union regiment in the Civil War. Still, no definitive history on the 2nd as this is a number of disjointed essays.

If This Is War: History of the Campaign of Bull Run by the Wisconsin
Regiment Known as the Ragged Ass Second, Alan T. Gaff, 1992. This is a pre-
Iron Brigade book about those 2nd WVI boys dressed in gray (yup) at First Bull Run as members of Sherman's Brigade. It is an interesting insight on who these guys really were at the beginning of the war. The 2nd re-enactors get to buy two uniforms and a .54 Austrian Lorenz and a Belgian musket and a ’42 .69 smoothbore!

Drifting to an Unknown Future: The Civil War Letters of James E. Northrup and Samuel W. Northrup, Robert C. Steensma, 2000. Is essentially copies of correspondence to family and friends from James, a member of the 2d Company H, and his brother who gets it only 7 months after he enlists while a in the 23rd Wisconsin. Interesting as he refers to many civilians in the Lodi area of Columbia County.

Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers.

Haskell of Gettysburg, Frank Byrne & Andrew Weaver, 1989. Frank Atreus Haskell was the adjutant of the 6th Wisconsin through Fredericksburg, and later served on the staff of Gen. Gibbon with the II Corps at Gettysburg.  There's a couple of chapters of Iron Brigade stuff, then Haskell's famous essay on Gettysburg. At last getting a command he so desperately desired, Haskell was killed leading his regiment, the 36th Wisconsin at Cold Harbor in 1864.

In the Bloody Railroad Cut at Gettysburg, Lance Herdegen & William
Beaudot, 1990. This is the study of a small unit action by the 6th Wisconsin which helped to win this battle, if not the war, and in my humble opinion, the greatest civil war book of the 20th century. Without the heroics of the 6th, there would've been no heroics by the 1st Minnesota and 20th Maine on the second day of the battle, and the whole II Corps on the third day. In this action, the 6th Wisconsin and the Iron Brigade Guard kicked some serious butt on the 2nd Mississippi at the Railroad Cut, which is also the subject of a great Troiani painting which costs $1450 these days. This one also includes the origins of the various companies of “The Calico Sixth.” Also included is definitive data on our uniform. Did you know leggings were issued only once during the third week of May, 1962? Did you know that corps badges (ours a red disc) were 1 7/8 inches across and were made mandatory on March 23, 1863? You need this book as an Iron Brigade Guard reference… you were there!

Letters Home: Henry Matrau of the Iron Brigade, 1993. This one contains
63 previously unpublished letters by an enlisted man in the 6th Wisconsin.

Sauk County Riflemen, Co. A, 6th Wisconsin, Philip Cheek and Mair Pointon, 1909. A view of the war from the company level by a pair that survived.

Service With The Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers, Rufus R. Dawes, 1890. This
is one of the classic Civil War regimental histories by the commander of the
6th Wisconsin who miraculously survived the war without a scratch. His account of the Cornfield at Antietam, a good day to have called in sick, is memorable. Dawes' son went on to become Vice President of the United States.

An Irishman In the Iron Brigade, Herdegan & Beaudot, 1994. Mickey Sullivan, Co. K, 6th Wisconsin was one of the unit's all-time characters. Not only did he torture Col. Dawes with regularity, but he once threatened to shoot Gen. Burnside and once held off the entire rebel army at Second Manassas. This guy was funny.

Capture And Escape, John Kellogg, 1908. Kellogg was brevetted a Brig. Gen. for his service with the old 6th, but he had to work for it. Kellogg was slightly wounded and captured in the Wilderness and spent six months as a guest of the reb-necks. On his third escape attempt, Kellogg and four other prisoners jumped from a moving train, and made it though 300 miles of enemy territory before reaching his own lines. In the six months, Kellogg's weight dropped from 175 to 115 pounds and his curly hair turned white. Not much Iron Brigade stuff, but well written and riveting as he gains an undying respect for the black slaves. This book costs at least 50 bucks. You decide.

Seventh Wisconsin Volunteers.

Four Years With The Iron Brigade, William Ray, 2002. Editted by our pal
Lance Herdegen, this is one of the few books to deal with the 7th Wisconsin;
and basically it's Ray's day-to-day diary of camp life. Long on the drudgery
of camping out with guys that piss you off and short on battlefield action,
Way was pretty much disliked by his peers for being such a straight and
narrow lump, while his buds drank and gambled every spare moment. However, there’s a cool picture of Ray as a geezer holding his musket and wearing his traps,
still able to give The Look.

Letters From The Iron Brigade, G.W. Partridge, 1995. Partridge was a member of The Huckleberry 7th who was killed on July 1 at Gettysburg. So far, no definitive 7th Wisconsin history has been published, so if you have a lot of spare time on your hands…

Nineteenth Indiana Volunteers.

Hoosier's Honor, William Thomas Venner, 1998. This one follows a number of Hoosiers through the war - some survived, most did not. The 1864 battles are particularly harrowing, not to mention stupid as these Black Hats were constantly ordered to make suicidal frontal assaults on entrenched rebneck positions.

Hoosier's Honor Roster, Tom Venner, 1998. This is a biographical record of every soldier in Venner's favorite regiment, the Swamp Hogs of the 19th Indiana. Venner used to be a member of Co. B, 19th Indiana right here in SoCal! Hey, that used to be us!

Iron Men, Iron Will: The 19th Indiana Regiment of the Iron Brigade, Craig T. Dunn, 1995. This is the regimental history of the 19th Indiana, the sloppiest unit in the Iron Brigade. The Swamp Hogs used to go foraging, take off the ``1'' off their Black Hats, then invert the ``9'' an blame their excesses on the 6th Wisconsin. Sloppy ain't stupid.

On Many A Bloody Field: Four Years in The Iron Brigade, Alan D. Gaff, 1996. Hoosier Gaff has written a history of the old 19th with his usual commendable skill. Read about the leggings mutiny when Gibbon threatened to have Battery B blast the Hoosiers out of their own camp.

The 19th Indiana Infantry At Gettysburg, William T. Venner, 1998. Venner, basically takes excerpts from his other books to give a brief history of his favorite regiment then gives an almost bullet-by-bullet account of that bad July 1 day in McPherson's Woods. The table in the back is truly frightening when you realize all these gunshot wounds occurred on just one day. Imagine Private Ryan with a .58 caliber and no SS coming to town, but rather a sea of rebs. Five or so years ago, there were no books on the 19th - now there's five or six, more than any other regiment as the cottage industry that is Iron
Brigade scholarship continues to grow.

Swamp Hogs: The Civil War Journals of Johnny Brendel, Tom Venner, 1993. Brendel was a private in the ol' 19th. These are his journals.

Twenty-Fourth Michigan Volunteers.

The 24th Michigan, Donald L. Smith, 1962. Essentially a rehash of the Curtis book which was long out of print until revived by Morningside.

History of the 24th Michigan of the Iron Brigade, O.B. Curtis, 1891. Lots of anecdotes of camp life and plenty about that bad day on July 1 when the regiment took 80% casualties while destroying the 26th North Carolina.  Curtis was a veteran of the 24th who lost an arm at Fredericksburg.

Dear Sarah: Letter From A Soldier In The Iron Brigade, John Pardington,
1999. Pardington was a corporal in the 24th Michigan who was killed on July 1 at Gettysburg when the unit suffered 80% casualties while erasing the 26th North Carolina. The diary begins in September, and since the writer died ten months later, this would probably account for the shortness of this book. Sad, sad, sad - particularly when you know he is going to die at the end. Sarah married one of Pardington's buddies. There are no good ones.

General Reading.

*You need this one. Trust me this time.*

Note: Best Civil War book ever? While not an Iron Brigade book, check out
``Hard Marching Everyday'' by Wilbur Fisk, edited by Emil & Ruth Rosenblatt. Here's how it begins: ``By way of preface I ought to say that my rank here is that of private, and privates are expected to know just enough
to obey orders. Many of us have yet to learn even this. As for the plans our superiors are laying out for us to execute, we know as little as a horse knows of the plans of his driver...''

Also for the Reenactor and student of the average Joe (or John as the case is here) in the Union Army… Hardtack and Coffee, John Billings, 1887. While an Artillerist, Billings makes a good sketch of daily life in the Army at the time. He talks about rations, hospitals, details and just about every other aspect of the war that is important to understand. Battles are cake, but what about the other 360 days a year? It is a fascinating insight to a Federal Soldiers life.

How about Morning at Willoughby Run, Richard Shue, 1998. While not Iron Brigade specific, it graphically describes the opening fight on the morning of July 1st. This was the most defining moment of the Iron Brigade and Shue spends much time devoted to the movements of the Iron Brigade Units and the role that they played in the opening engagement. It is literally edge of your seat reading, even though we know how the story ends. It is fresh and exhilarating and edge of your seat reading, even though you know how the story ends!  If you are going to Gettysburg, you need to read this book!

Looks like summers reading is on the boards. Have fun and we’ll see you in the field.