31292 - Federal Iron Brigade Kneeling Defending No.2

Union Iron Brigade Kneeling Defending, No.2

On the regulation Army Hat of 1858 is the insignia of the First Division. This man is of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, I Corps; The Iron Brigade. The Brigade took great pride in this designation which it received shortly after the Battle of Fredericksburg. On 1 July 1863, the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, they repulsed a Confederate advance through Herbst’s Woods, charged through an unfinished railroad cut north and west of the town where they captured the flag of the 2nd Mississippi, and took hundreds of Rebel prisoners. On 2-3 July, they defended the north slope of Culp’s Hill where the 6th Wisconsin made a night counterattack to restore Union positions previously lost to Confederate troops.