Talk:Western Iron Brigade

Origins
Isn't there a lack of clarity on the origin of the name, with the story presented being the most likely? --Habap 20:22, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * What other versions of the story can you cite? Hal Jespersen 20:50, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)

When has the Iron Brigade (Black Hats) ever been referred to as "The Iron Brigade of the West?" Certainly not in Nolan, or any other principal history book I have read. Seems, like someone is being a bit revisionist, as the disambiguation page for Iron Brigade does not even link to this page and prominently features the "Iron Brigade of the East," also a new construction. --65.209.67.124 (talk) 16:47, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Well actually they were called the Iron Brigade of the West in many Written works, for instance look at the notes in the Journal of William Ray a member of the 7th Wisconsin Volunteers Co. F. In fact if you search the web there are plenty of references to the Iron Brigade of the west. To call me a revisionist is an insult. The Iron Brigade of the East, was in fact the First Iron Brigade under Hatch and Phelps much earlier in the war than Western Iron Brigade, or as they were known, Iron Brigade of the west.

There is a reference as well to the First Iron Brigade in the Diary of James Mero Matthews of the 2nd Us Sharpshooters Company D, where on Tues. December 30th 1862, they were transferred to Berdan's 1st Usss, and says "an we left this old Iron Brigade". Just because Officers such as Colonel Dawes was Politician and twisted facts and changed reports post war doesn't mean that in fact the Eastern and Western Iron Brigades went by these names.

And If You Require Some Online Links here are some... http://members.tripod.com/~g_cowardin/rcwrt/082000.htm http://www.civilwarhome.com/iron.htm http://www.geocities.com/heartland/prairie/2089/ironbrigade.html http://www.2ndwisconsincoh.com/HISTORY.htm

there are PLENTY more references to the Iron Brigade of the West, just look at the article on the Iron Brigade Page, would the real Iron Brigade please stand up! The reason the Western Iron Brigade shouldn't be labeled as Iron Brigade is because it was NOT the only Iron Brigade during the war, and I feel it being a disservice to my ancestors and all who fought under the Eastern Iron Brigade! The problem, is that who are people going to know about this newly re-discovered information pertaining to the Eastern and Western Iron Brigade if when you search in Wikipedia, you only see the Iron Brigade of the West!? This needs to be changed!

--Frank Ruiz

The question isn't whether there were more than one Iron Brigades in the war. There were many Iron Brigades in many services in many wars. The question is which one is most relevant to the search term. I may prefer the Baltimore Orioles over the actual bird, 'Oriole' but it is the latter that is the obvious main article. The former, like other Iron Brigades, should go in a disambiguation page. The Western troops are the only ones referred to in the Union OR as 'Iron Brigade.' Truth be known that Shelby's Raiders have a wider claim to the title than the troops in Phelps's brigade.

If you're taking it personally and believe your ancestors are being insulted, I don't think you should be editing the Wikipedia page. Pages should be objective and non-biased. If you believe there is a controversy, create a page to that effect and link to it. Regardless, creating a disambiguation page that only linked to the First Iron Brigade and not the Western one was a serious distortion.

I'm not disputing the Phelps's brigade was called by some the 'Iron Brigade.' Phelps did not apparently, and the only references are among a few of the brigade's members. Therefore, at best, it's an 'Iron Brigade' but certainly not 'The Iron Brigade.' 'The Iron Brigade' is applied almost universally in Civil War histories when referring to the brigade from the West. --65.209.67.124 (talk) 17:52, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

I understand where you are coming from, but this is not a biased view of the Original Iron Brigade. During the war, they were both the Iron Brigade, because the Western Iron Brigade is remembered now is because of revisionist historians post war. If you do the research like myself and a few other historians like myself you will see that the iron brigade of the west was not THE Iron Brigade as you have said above. And Phelps did call his brigade the Iron Brigade, he took command of the brigade from Hatch who took it from Augur. They all had medals issued to them Stating that they were the "First" Iron Brigade. Post war, all the veterans of the "First" Iron Brigade, always battled with the members of the "Second" Iron Brigade. The 24th New York Infantry, a member of the "Iron Brigade of East" had Iron Brigade on the their Battle Flag, and that flag is held in the Capital up in albany. Captain Austin W. Holden wrote a song and a poem about the Original Iron Brigade for Col. Phelps. Even in Phelp's Diaries and reports he calls his Brigade the Iron Brigade. Men outside of the Phelp's Brigade called them the Iron Brigade, hence the reason they called them "Iron Brigade of the East" and "Iron Brigade of the West" to avoid confusion. During the War both were very Well Know and very well respected, the one Iron Brigade of the west should not be remembered now as the only Iron Brigade, or as you have put it, THE Iron Brigade.

According to a report from William Fox of the 107th NY he states that: (Who was not a member of the First Iron Brigade)

'''“The brigade that was composed of the 22nd New York, 24th New York, 30th New York, 14th Regiment [New York State Militia], and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters was the first to be called the “Iron Brigade” because of its brave fighting at South Mountain and Antietam”'Italic text''

I do this because I love History, and hate to see history changed or in the this case, forgotten. Just because most of the regiments were disbanded shouldn't take away from the fact that they were The First Iron Brigade, and were so until 1863. So if we think like the rest of historians we might as well not say that the entire Western Iron Brigade was from the west, because in 1864 they had a couple none Western Units placed in the brigade, even though for the majority they were all westerners. As for the page, I had information on Both of the Iron Brigades up there, two sections for the Eastern and Western Iron Brigades, and links on both of them to be directed to their main page. I don't see why you have such a problem with it. I thought Wikipedia was here to expand knowledge and help people learn!? My original page had both! I feel like someone else is making this personal about the Iron Brigade.. I'm just here to try and show people Forgotten history, because members of the "Second" Iron Brigade were politicians and distorted history to gain better political acclaim. Especially the totally historical inaccurate book Col. Dawes wrote after the war, were his reports all go against every report written by the other generals at the battle.

All I was Proposing was having it where when you Searched Iron Brigade, both come up. And again, yes my Iron Brigade page showed BOTH. It was in alphabetical order.

--Frank Ruiz —Preceding comment was added at 13:24, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Tom Clemens link
The Link to Tom's article is dead. Not sure if the webpage has been moved or is now defunct. Scott Mingus 16:28, 18 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Works OK for me as of now. Hal Jespersen 00:11, 19 August 2006 (UTC)