The 28th Massachusetts Infantry regiment was the second primarily Irish American volunteer infantry regiment recruited in Massachusetts for service in the American Civil War. The regiment's motto (or cry) was Faugh a Ballagh (Clear the Way!)
By April 1862 the 28th was at Daufuskie Island in South Carolina. A number of companies were sent to Tybee Island, Georgia to set artillery positions. Twenty-two died of malaria and other illness. The regiment came under heavy musket and artillery fire during the Second Battle of Bull Run.[2]
Upon completion of their original three-year term of service, many of the 28th's veteran soldiers elected to return to Massachusetts. But a sufficient number re-enlisted by January 1, 1864, to justify the continuation of the regiment as a five-company battalion of "veteran volunteers" until the end of the war.
During the Second Battle of Bull Run, Lt. Col. George W. Cartwright was severely wounded, placing Captain Andrew P. Caraher, commander of Company A, in command of the regiment during the Maryland Campaign. Following the Battle of Antietam, however, command of the 28th Massachusetts was given on October 18 to Col. Richard Byrnes, who although himself Irish, had been a regular officer and a 1st lieutenant in the 5th U.S. Cavalry. Although resented and protested by the other officers of the regiment, Byrnes served with distinction and was wounded on June 3, 1864, while leading the Irish Brigade at the Battle of Cold Harbor. He died nine days later.
At Fredericksburg, the regiment was put in the middle of the Irish Brigade and led the charge, as they were the only regiment of the brigade that had the distinctive green flag, and since their commander wanted to make it clear to the confederates that they were facing the Irish Brigade, the 28th was planted in the middle.
Among all Union regiments, the 28th Massachusetts ranked seventh in total losses. Roughly one-quarter of the 1,746 men who served in the unit were killed, died of wounds or disease, taken prisoner, or reported missing.
The surviving veterans of the regiment marched in Washington, D.C., during the Grand Review of the Armies that celebrated the war's conclusion, then traveled home to Massachusetts, where they were paid and discharged from the service at Readville in June 1865.
Herbermann, Charles George; Pace, Edward Aloysius; Pallen, Condé Bénoist (1910). Herbermann, Charles George (ed.). Gregory-Infallibility. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church. Vol. VII. New York: The Universal Knowledge Foundation. p. 875. OCLC571877236. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
