Stonewall Looking for citation for "red legged devils" quote.

I found Foote's first volume of the Civil War trilogy on Google Books and did a search within the book for "hold on boys" and "red legged devils."

Nothing!!
I wasn't able to find it either. I thought it was in a video I'd watched with him in it actually but its still a no go.. Sorry rosefriend.
 
135th-07-jpeg.jpg


The 14th Brooklyn at the 135th anniversary of Gettysburg, July, 1998.
 
We have living in the Tri-Cities area of upper east Tennessee, an elderly gentleman originally from New York, who apparently reenacted in his younger days. He usually shows up at round table programs dressed as a member of the 14th Brooklyn. We're usually privileged to have Ed Bearss speak once a year. Soon after he arrives for the program, you can hear in that growling voice of his "where's my red-legged devil ?" He really gets a kick out of seeing him every year ! I believe the 14th played a big part in the Battle of Knoxville and a number of them are buried there ?
 
It reminds me of what the men of the 1st South Carolina said when they were issued red pants with their uniforms. "The rebels see us, miles away."

According to something I just read, Jeb Stuart mistook the Fire Zouaves he smashed with his 1st Virginia Cavalry for the South Carolinians and rode too near them to deploy, so he just rode right over them in column once he realized his mistake; he lost a number of his men, maybe a dozen, but sent the Fire Zouaves fleeing for their lives!
 
We have living in the Tri-Cities area of upper east Tennessee, an elderly gentleman originally from New York, who apparently reenacted in his younger days. He usually shows up at round table programs dressed as a member of the 14th Brooklyn. We're usually privileged to have Ed Bearss speak once a year. Soon after he arrives for the program, you can hear in that growling voice of his "where's my red-legged devil ?" He really gets a kick out of seeing him every year ! I believe the 14th played a big part in the Battle of Knoxville and a number of them are buried there ?

You may be thinking of the 79th New York who were a Scottish regiment. The 14th Brooklyn served exclusively in the Eastern Theater.

R
 
The earliest I find for the title "Red Legged Devils" is June 1861 in a newspaper article where a member of the regiment states that the nickname was given by rebels and that they "aver" the unit more that several sister units. Later that year the name appears in several newspaper articles and in Harpers by September. There is a poem using the nickname by October. In 1862 the nickname is also used in newspapers to describe a Pennsylvania unit, Zouaves d'Afrique.

The earliest use of the quote I found was 2008 where historian Craig Swain attributes it to Jackson. He is online if you want to quiz him....

markerhunter.wordpress.com
 
The earliest I find for the title "Red Legged Devils" is June 1861 in a newspaper article where a member of the regiment states that the nickname was given by rebels and that they "aver" the unit more that several sister units. Later that year the name appears in several newspaper articles and in Harpers by September. There is a poem using the nickname by October. In 1862 the nickname is also used in newspapers to describe a Pennsylvania unit, Zouaves d'Afrique.

The earliest use of the quote I found was 2008 where historian Craig Swain attributes it to Jackson. He is online if you want to quiz him....

markerhunter.wordpress.com

Nice! Can you point me to where he used the quote? It's entirely possible that new letters, stories about General Jackson have come to light recently -- I just want to know where the quote came from so I can cite it (or not).
 
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5654

It's a site called the historical marker data base and for a photo of the monument to the 84th/14th New York at Bull Run we find this:

2. The Brooklyn Chasseurs. The 84th started as the 14th Regiment, New York State Militia. Prior to the war, the unit adopted a modified French Chasseur uniform, with red trousers. Called "The Red Leg Devils," by none other than "Stonewall" Jackson, the regiment saw service in all the war's major campaigns up to it's mustering out in May 1864. (Submitted on February 23, 2008, by Craig Swain of Leesburg, Virginia.)
 
It seems we can discount Jackson a the originator of the term. The earliest record I've found comes from a report on troops at Fortress Monroe in the New York Commercial Advertiser, of 7 June 1861. An officer of the Zouaves is quoted as saying: "The Secessionists aver that they are not afraid of the Troy, Albany, Colonel Allen's or the Vermont Regiment, but they would rather keep clear of the 'red legged devils,' as they call Duryea's Zouaves."

Just how said officer knew what "the Secessionists aver" in this regard is unclear. It sounds very much like what the Zouaves themselves wanted to be called.

Did Jackson use it? Seems doubtful.

jno
However, to note, this is not referring to the 14th Brooklyn, but to the 5th New York "Duryee's Zouaves", raised and commanded by Col. Abram Duryee. The 14th Brooklyn were actually not Zouaves but Chasseurs. Their uniforms were modeled off the European Chasseurs-a-Pied.
 
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