The spring and summer of 1861 were an exuberant time in New York City as men rushed to enlist to fight in the Civil War. Many of the regiments at the time were centered around ethnic or class divisions. For instance, the 7th Regiment of New York was said to be "blue bloods." The 69th Regiment was an Irish regiment, and would be placed in the US Army's Irish Brigade.
When the 69th Regiment boarded a troop ship in New York harbor to sail to Virginia it was a scene of great celebration, as portrayed in this magazine illustration.
The Irish Brigade would go on to perform heroically in the Peninsula Campaign in the summer of 1862; at Antietam in September 1862; and at Fredericksburg in late December 1862.
By early 1863 the heavy casualties from Antietam and Fredericksburg had nearly destroyed the Irish Brigade as a fighting force. It was reassembled at reduced strength, however, and managed to fight heroically at Gettysburg in early July 1863.