I know this is subjective and has been talked about for ages, but I'm bored and thought it be an interesting discussion.
In your opinion what brigades/units are the best (or your favorite) brigades in the civil war and why?
My personal pics:
Union:
US Regulars.
True professional soldiers that were confident and steadfast in battle, of all the union units that served in the civil war none could hold a candle to the US Regulars imo. Their courage and professionalism during the war in pretty incredible imo, especially after hearing their account at Gettysburg.
One of my favorite quotes of the war was by some unknown soldier at Gettysburg who stated:
“For two years the U.S. Regulars taught us how to be soldiers. In the Wheatfield at Gettysburg, they taught us how to die like soldiers.”
CSA:
So many choices for the Confederacy but imo the two best units were Hoods Texans and Hays Louisiana Tigers, no units in Confederacy (in the ANV at least) are as famous as these two Brigades (except for maybe stonewall).
I wont say much about these two brigades since their reputation is well known but the heroism and fighting spirit of these two brigades pretty much define what I think of Confederate soldiers.
My favorite regiment of all time due to personal bias is the 20th Georgia of Bennings Brigade.
This was my 3rd Great Grandfathers regiment and the more I read about what they did the more I like them.
Their actions at antietam was nothing but heroic and a David vs Goliath type event. They held of Burnside long enough (for over 3-5 hours) for confederate reinforcement to arrive, only reason they retreated was due to running out of ammunition.
After Antietam they served with honor in battles such as Gettysburg fighting alongside Texans at triangular field/devils den and in the slaughter pen (my grandfather was wounded during the fighting at devils den). They also served honorably alongside the Texans again at Chickamauga and the Wilderness (where my ancestor lost his leg).
Overall the 20th Georgia is my favorite unit of the Civil War, this is mostly due to it being my direct ancestors regiment but also because of their actions in battles such as Antietam and Gettysburg.
My second favorite has to be 9th Louisiana from Hays Brigade followed by the 1st Texas.