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.
Read more about this topic: Excelsior Brigade
Famous quotes containing the words the and/or brigade:
“There surely is in human nature an inherent propensity to extract all the good out of all the evil.”
—Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846)
“[John] Brough’s majority is “glorious to behold.” It is worth a big victory in the field. It is decisive as to the disposition of the people to prosecute the war to the end. My regiment and brigade were both unanimous for Brough [the Union party candidate for governor of Ohio].”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)