Baptized by Fire: The 14th New York State Militia in the American Civil War Vol. 1

Click HERE to read the introduction!

This first in a trilogy is a full-color, limited-number edition and will NOT be available for sale in the book trade or at a discount. No Amazon. No wholesalers. We are your sole-source provider. And trust me, it is special.

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About the Book

The 14th New York State Militia in the Civil War: Volume 1: "Baptized by Fire": From Bull Run to Bull Run, April 1861 - August 1862 chronicles the near-daily exploits of the 14th New York State Militia, a regiment recruited from Brooklyn, New York. Known as chasseurs or Red Legs for their distinctive uniforms, the men of the 14th N.Y.S.M. endured grueling marches, brutal weather, and fierce battles from April 1861 to August 1862. This is the first installment in what will be a trilogy on this storied regiment.

Over these first 15 months of war, the regiment earned praise from both allies and adversaries. In January 1862, a Union soldier encamped near the chasseurs wrote to his hometown newspaper that the “Brooklyn Boys” were “respected for their courage and prowess at the Battle of Bull Run,” adding that the Red Legs were also admired for their “mischief and practical jokes.” Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard acknowledged that the 14th N.Y.S.M. “did more harm and caused greater trouble” to his forces than any other unit.

In August 1862, the 14th N.Y.S.M. faced a grueling campaign marked by night marches, scant rations, and relentless skirmishes, culminating in three harrowing days of combat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, where the regiment served with distinction.

Jim McLean’s first volume of the regiment’s history draws on his decades of research, including nearly 200 visits to the National Archives, the examination of documents at the New York State Archives, and the exploration of collections at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Letters, diaries, and images shared by descendants and collectors further enrich this study.

The 14th N.Y.S.M. did not fight in isolation, so records of allied and opposing regiments provide critical insights into the Brooklyn soldiers and their experiences. The result is a vivid examination of the regiment’s initial 15 months of service through the eyes of the common soldiers: their reasons for enlisting, their reactions to the challenges of military life, the evolution of their attitudes toward combat, and the lasting impact of wounds and illnesses into the postwar years.

After the war, the 14th N.Y.S.M. faded into obscurity. Only three battle reports by its officers appear in the Official Records, two of which describe minor engagements. Unlike many regiments, the chasseurs did not contribute to the postwar proliferation of Civil War literature, and their honorable record gradually dimmed. This volume seeks to restore the reputation of a regiment too often overlooked by modern historians and students alike.

ADVANCE PRAISE

It’s unlikely anyone knows an individual Civil War regiment better than Jim McLean knows the 14^th New York State Militia (“14^th Brooklyn”). The product of decades of research and writing, this book might be the first part of the most rigorous regimental history ever written—a nearly forensic recounting of the marches, moods, characters, trials, and triumphs of this regiment from Brooklyn. The 14^th’s journey from Bull Run 1 to Bull Run 2 brought them in close contact not just with their new-found enemies, but with Southern civilians swept up in an intensifying war and enslaved people seeking freedom. Jim McLean narrates the story in clear, vivid prose, through the eyes of the men who made the 14^th N.Y.S.M. one of the most famous regiments in the history of the Army of the Potomac.

-- John Hennessy, retired National Park Service historian and author of Return to Bull Run

Based on impeccable research and marked by fine writing, “Baptized by Fire” is one of the finest modern regimental histories that I have read. Jim McLean’s book is nearly unmatched in its detail and its comprehensiveness about an outstanding Union regiment. This book is Civil War history at its best.

-- Jeffry D. Wert, author of The Heart of Hell: The Soldiers’ Struggle for Spotsylvania’s Bloody Angle 

Jim McLean’s “Baptized by Fire” is destined to be the standard by which all future regimental histories are measured. Jim follows the Brooklyn men in camp, on the march, and in combat. We struggle with them as they deal with food shortages, bad weather, terrible roads, and a lifetime of pain brought on by wounds and years of living in the elements. By the time the men reach the near-daily combat of late-August 1862, the reader has developed a close connection with them, resulting in a deeply affecting narrative account of the 2^nd Bull Run Campaign. Jim succeeds in bringing us not only a magnificent regimental study but also a new Life of Billy Yank or Hardtack and Coffee for the 21^st Century.

-- Robert F. O’Neill, author of Small but Important Riots, The Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville