Battle of Fair Oaks

The Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks, took place from May 31–June 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign. It was the culmination of an offensive up the Virginia Peninsula by Union Major General George B. McClellan.

The battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines is important to the history of the 2nd brigade as it is the first battle it fought in the Civil War. It would begin with the 2nd brigade having over 4,000 men, and fewer than 100 returning home at the end of the civil war.

The 2nd brigade was led by an Irishman General Thomas Francis Meagher who was born in 1823 at County Waterford, Ireland. He would be exiled to Tasmania in 1849 for opposing British rule. He would flee to New York in 1852 where he was active in an Irish independence movement called Fenianism, and through appealing to this movement he gained many Irish volunteers for the Union Army and the 2nd Irish Brigade.

"I regard the conduct of the Eighty-eighth, under the circumstances I have mentioned and in the position I have described, as being especially effective and entitled to distinctive commendation. Had the Eighty-eighth winced from this position; had they faltered or been thrown into confusion when proceeding to the railroad; had the two companies of this regiment, which were for some minutes isolated, not sustained the fire of the enemy, I believe the issue of the day adversely to the Army of the Potomac would have been materially influenced." 

Casualty List for the Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines

The 63rd batallion- did not see combat.

The 69 battalion-1 killed, 7 severely wounded, 5 slightly wounded, and 1 missing.

The 88 battalion- 1 Commissioned officers killed, 1 wounded, 5 non-commissioned officers and privates killed, 18 wounded.