The Jersey Brigade's First Fight

Today in New Jersey history:

June 27, 1862: The First New Jersey Brigade, composed of the First, Second, Third and Fourth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry Regiments, fought its first major engagement of the Civil War at Gaines Mill, Virginia. The brigade arrived on the field in the late afternoon to reinforce the hard pressed Union forces. Of the 2,300 men the brigade brought to the battle, 1,072 were killed, wounded or captured. The captured included most of the men of the Fourth New Jersey, surrounded as the units to their left and right withdrew.