Background
Henry Birge was born on August 25, 1825, at Hartford, Connecticut, United States, where the Birge family had been established as early as 1640.
Henry Birge was born on August 25, 1825, at Hartford, Connecticut, United States, where the Birge family had been established as early as 1640.
At the outbreak of the Civil War Birge was a merchant in Norwich, Connecticut. Appointed major of the 4th Connecticut Infantry, May 23, 1861, he served with it in Maryland, without contact with the enemy, until November 13, 1861, when he resigned in order to take command of a new regiment being organized in his state. On February 18, 1862, he reentered the service as colonel of the 13th Connecticut. The regiment was at once assigned to the expedition which was being organized to take New Orleans, arrived at Ship Island on April 13, and entered the city when it was occupied by Gen. Butler a few days later. For the next few months it was engaged in minor operations in Louisiana. Upon the reorganization of Gen. Banks's command, in preparation for the Port Hudson campaign, Birge was assigned to the command of the 3rd Brigade, 4th Division, to which his own regiment belonged. The investment of Port Hudson was completed on May 26, 1863. An assault the next day being repulsed with heavy loss, regular siege operations were begun.
A second assault on June 14 also failing disastrously, the besieging army suffering terribly with sickness and heat, and a Confederate army threatening New Orleans in the rear, it became evident that the city must be taken quickly if at all. The siege works were pressed vigorously forward, and meanwhile an "élite storming party" was organized, in order to penetrate the defense at all costs. Birge was selected to command. The party was made up of carefully chosen volunteers, mostly from the 13th Connecticut, organized into two battalions of eight companies each, and daily trained for its undertaking. On June 28, Birge reported 67 officers and 826 enlisted men present for duty. On July 7, all preparations were made for springing two mines, to precede the assault, when word was received of the surrender of Vicksburg, which put an end to the garrison's hopes of holding out at Port Hudson. Articles of capitulation were signed on July 8, Birge being one of the commissioners on behalf of Gen. Banks.
Birge was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers on September 19, 1863. He commanded a brigade, and at times a division, in the Red River campaign in the spring of 1864. Gen. Banks, in his report of the campaign, wrote that "Gen. Birge, as in all actions in which he has been engaged, deserved and received the highest commendation. " Soon after, a part of the 19th Army Corps, including his brigade, was moved to Virginia, arriving on the James River late in July. Immediately afterward, it was moved to Savannah. There it remained in garrison until March, when it became a division of the 10th Army Corps, with Birge as its commander, and joined Schofield's army in North Carolina. On the surrender of the Confederate forces, Birge was assigned to the command of the district of Savannah. He resigned on October 18, 1865, and returned to civil life. After the war he engaged in cotton planting and in the lumber business in Georgia, and later engaged in various enterprises in Texas and the West. His last years were spent in New York City, where he died.
Henry Birge was married to Eliza Meech.