Excerpt from General Thomas Meagher's Official Report written following the Battle of Antietam:
HDQRS.(IRISH BRIG.) 2D BRIG.,
SUMNER'S CORPS, HANCOCK'S DIVISION, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
In Camp on Bolivar Heights, Va., September 30, 1862.
Captain HANCOCK,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Division Headquarters.
CAPTAIN: I have the honor to submit the following statement of the part which the brigade under my command performed in the battle of the Antietam:
..........
For what occurred subsequently to my being carried away from the field I refer you, with proud confidence, not alone to my regimental officers, who remained on the field, but also to many eye-witnesses of superior rank who noticed the opportune action of the Irish Brigade on that day. But I cannot close this communication without specially mentioning the names of Capt. Felix Duffy, of the Sixty-ninth; Captains Clooney and Joyce, of the Eighty-eighth, who, after distinguishing themselves by unremitting assiduity in the discharge of their duties in their commands throughout a very long and very exhausting campaign, fell with their feet to the rebels, with a glow of loyalty and true soldiership upon their dying features.
I have the honor to be, captain, yours truly and respectfully,
THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER,
Brigadier-General, Commanding the Irish Brigade.