Union 14th Brooklyn

Founded in 1847, the 14^th Regiment of the New York State Militia, also known as the Brooklyn Chasseurs, became one of the hardest-fighting units in the Civil War.  They never backed down from a fight or left the field in a disorderly fashion.

In 1860, the 14^th adopted its distinctive uniform consisting of baggy red pantaloons, short blue jackets, white gaiters, and blue forage hats. Distinguishing themselves at the Battle of First Manassas with their savage and repeated assaults on Henry Hill, their colorful attire and bravery caused Confederate General Stonewall Jackson to shout to his men, “Hold on boys!  Here come those red-legged devils again!”  Their valor at the battle also caused Union commander General Irwin McDowell to coin the phrase, “Baptized by Fire,” which became the Red Legged Devils’ motto.

The 14^th Brooklyn fought with distinction in almost all the battles in the eastern theater of the war—First and Second Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness and Spotsylvania.  They were the only unit to fight all three days at Gettysburg, where three monuments now stand in testimony to their tenaciousness.

Abraham Lincoln would always request the 14^th to serve as his personal bodyguards whenever the President visited the front, earning the regiment yet another nickname, “Lincoln’s Pups.”

Of the 825 men who departed Brooklyn for the front in May 1861, only 127 would return after their term of enlistment ended three years later.  Historian Thomas Townsend, writing in 1889, probably summarizes it best: “No regulars that ever served on any field won more imperishable honor than this regiment of militia from the City of Brooklyn.