Stand firm and fire low: the Civil War writings of Colonel Edward E. Cross.

Americana cesf (Civil War – Irish Brigade, Meagher, Thomas Francis, 1823-1867). Cross, Edward Ephraim, 1832-1865. Stand firm and fire low: the Civil War writings of Colonel Edward E. Cross. Edited by Walter Holden, William E. Ross, and Elizabeth Slomba; with a foreword by Mike Pride and Mark Travis. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 2002, xix, 166p, bib, index, [8] p. of plates: maps. Very good in dust jacket. $15.00 Box 8080

Cross was with the 5th New Hampshire Infantry Regiment. There are a number of references to the Irish Brigade in Cross's writings. His opinion of Meagher, shared by others as well, is: "Gen Hancock, accompanied by Gen Meagher rode along the ranks of the Irish Brigade & the latter addressed his troops one of those frothy, meaningless speeches peculiar to the man. And here let me record the opinion formed after more than one year's observation in the field -that there is not in the United States, certainly not in the Army of the Potomac, another such a consummate humbug, charlatan, imposters, pretending to be a soldier as Thos Francis Meagher. Nor do I believe him to be a brave man, since in every battle field he has been drunk and not with his Brigade. …I venture the prediction that the drunkenness & incompetence of Gen Meagher will sooner or later be exposed."