1864 and The End of The Brigade
When the Army of the Potomac was reorganized in the spring of 1864 for the Overland Campaign of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Brewster retained brigade command. The Excelsior Brigade, augmented with two additional regiments, served in the Battle of the Wilderness in the Fourth Division, II Corps under Brig. Gen. Gershom Mott. When the remnants of the division became part of the Third Division of Maj. Gen. David B. Birney during the Battle of Spotsylvania, Brewster’s brigade became the division’s Fourth Brigade. He led these men at the Battle of Cold Harbor and in the initial operations of the Siege of Petersburg. Then the brigade was abolished. Most of the Excelsiors were moved to the First Brigade, Third Division.
The individual regiments mustered out of the army during the summer of 1864, and the men returned home to New York.
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