Civil War anniversary sparks new interest in Irish Brigade in Ireland
Posted on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 05:29 AM
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The American Civil War is in the news lately thanks to the fact it is 150 years since the war started April 12, 1861. Between now and April 15, 2015 we will reaching milestone anniversaries for all the major battles right up to the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. From what Americans have been able to enjoy many television documentaries and newspaper articles marking events 150 years ago. People want to learn more about the Civil War just as the bi-centennial celebrations in the 70s sparked a renewed interest in the Revolutionary period.
I hope that some of that will find its way 'across the pond' and that Irish people will find a new interest in the American Civil War, especially the huge Irish involvement. My own sense is that most people here have a vague idea that many Irish men fought in the war, but have little idea as to how many, what motivated them, etc.
So far I've been pleasantly surprised by the number of articles in the newspapers and the radio discussions. An article from the Ulster News Letter is especially good as it's a conglomeration of the coverage the paper provided at the time the war began. Another recent article in the Irish Times told me something about the Civil War that I'd never suspected before: the two armies, especially the Union Army, sent agents to Ireland (& Britain too, I believe) to entice (or con) men to enlist. RTE's premier radio news program did a short item on the Irish in the Civil War this week (audio here).
The best, by far, however, was a TG4 two-part docu-drama Fág an Bealach on the Irish Brigade. {Fág an Bealach was written as Faugh a Ballagh during the Civil War and is a battle-cry - Clear the Way!} You can watch the two episodes here:
Episode 1 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Episode 2 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
The Irish paid a big price during their adopted country's Civil War. It was, however, the making of them as Americans, proved their commitment and loyalty. It would be great to believe that this part of the Irish-American experience at least will become better known in Ireland.
Read more:
- The Irish in the American Civil War , 150,000 in Union Army, 25,000 in Confederate
- Honoring the Irishmen who died serving the CSA
- First casualty of the U.S. Civil War was an Irish soldier
- At Fredericksburg the Irish proved they could be Americans
- The Catholic Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln
15 comments
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PhoenixZouave | Jul 02, 2011, 09:17 AM EDT
It always pays to have good publicity. Tomorrow at about 4:30 PM marks the anniversary of the repulse of Pickett's Charge at the battle of Gettysburg. The 69th Pennsylvania, the Irish Volunteers of Philadelphia, aka "Paddy Owen's Irish Regulars" repelled the Virginians at the Bloody Angle of Gettysburg. Commanded by Colonel Dennis O'Kane, and composed from members of the Irish Volunteers, Hibernia Greens, Meagher Guards, Jackson Guards, Patterson Light Guards, and Shields Guards Irish militia companies from the 2nd Regiment, Philadelphia militia, the 69th would clog the middle--each man armed with at least three muskets. Incredible heroism by O'Kane, Tschudy, Major James Duffy, Private Hugh Bradley from Tyrone, Lt. Johnny Devlin from Tyrone, Captain Patrick Tinen, Lt. Ned Thomson from Waterford, Color Sergeant Michael Brady from Cavan,Corporal David, Kinary from county Cork, Lt. Charles McAnally from Derry, Lt. Michael Fay,Captain William Davis from Cork, and many others will continue to be ignored by the Irish-American media---but the 69th Pennsylvania was truly the best Irish-American regiment in the army of the Potomac. Outisde of New York City, Philadelphia had the largest Irish community--numbering 100, 000 in the 1860 census. See Earl Hess' book "Pickett's Charge, the last battle of Gettysbutg,"
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mamaginnty | Apr 23, 2011, 05:52 PM EDT
Jasus GoergieD at it again, " might make the irish shut up about 1914-18. You are the only eejit who has mentioned 1914 in comments, you seem to thrive on your own opinions. You actually sound quite jealous that CitizenWhy had a relation fighting in the Civil War, He did not say anything wrong about Catholics, but truth about the pope. Mr know all and the Smithsonian.Net. get a life GoergieD. You would like people to think you know so much about Ireland, but you know sweet f..k all about us. You are just a twisted bigot in any of your comments. you need a break. Go take a holiday with us in Ireland as you seem to have done so many times, I'll be waiting for ya.
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mamaginnty | Apr 17, 2011, 01:32 PM EDT
LOL, now George is correcting the family history of others! Get down off your high horse you ignorant arse.
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eiriamach | Apr 16, 2011, 06:11 PM EDT
It was the position of the Christian councils in the early centuries that slaves should be obedient to their masters (on old testament and some new testament sources). Later, Popes Innocent VIII and Urban VIII owned slaves and shared them with their bishops. By the 15th century, some popes opposed slavery, though they did not denounce it as the great moral evil that leading Protestants considered it by the 18th century. When Pope Gregory XVI condemned slavery in 1839 ("In Supremo Apostolatus"), he cited earlier opposition to slavery in the writings of Paul III, Clement I, Pius II, Paul III, Benedict XIV, Urban VIII and Pius VII. In the pre-Civil-War US, there was a good deal of quibbling about Gregory's encyclical, however: whether the Pope had condemned slavery per se, or only the slave trade. American slave owners and most of the Catholic bishops in the US refused to see the encyclical as condemning the enslavement of Africans outright. They preached that slavery was morally acceptable and argued their case in Washington DC. Pope Gregory's six-paragraph encyclical is on the Internet; you can read it and decide for yourself what it condemns, but it is documented history that the most influential American bishops favored the continuation of slavery and opposed the Abolition movement. Is it "prejudice" to tell history the way it happened?
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GeorgeDillon | Apr 16, 2011, 04:14 PM EDT
jamieLM: "How can anyone justify slavery?" You tell us.
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GeorgeDillon | Apr 16, 2011, 04:13 PM EDT
CitizenWhy: I don't believe your story about your grandpa or whatever he was leaving everything in Ireland in order to come over here and right wrongs. It's pure baloney. Public opinion in Ireland was pro-Confederate. And if your grandpa wanted to fight slavery, why didn't he stay at home? The Irish were enslaved to the English, and the genocidal Famine was scarcely a decade past. It might be possible that your guy was broke and unemployed and decided to enlist in the Union Army as a mercenary --lots of pauper Irish did that a half-century later in the case of WW1 & he British Army. But your cheap shot at the Pope makes me think you're just one more stupid bigot. And what's this nonsense about an oath of loyalty to the king? Britain had a QUEEN for 40 years after the War Between The States! Wise up and stop fantasizing about your long-dead relatives, real or imaginary. And get over your bigotry and hatred for the Catholic Church. Leave us Catholics alone, and keep your nasty prejudices to yourself and your KKK buddies.
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TheYank | Apr 16, 2011, 02:54 PM EDT
GeorgeDillon,
From what I understand the program was a joint production between TG4 and the Smithsonian Network (I never heard of it, so maybe I'm wrong). I thought much the same as you, but maybe those re-enactors work cheap? I don't know, but they make it worth watching as "docudrama."
From what I understand the program was a joint production between TG4 and the Smithsonian Network (I never heard of it, so maybe I'm wrong). I thought much the same as you, but maybe those re-enactors work cheap? I don't know, but they make it worth watching as "docudrama."
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peterson | Apr 16, 2011, 02:27 PM EDT
Very interesting !!
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jamieLM | Apr 16, 2011, 02:25 PM EDT
How can anyone justify slavery? It's hardly Christian to enslave people for any reason, especially to pick cotton to make the plantation owner rich. Good post, Citizen Why.
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WoundedKnee | Apr 16, 2011, 01:20 PM EDT
CitizenWhy--Stop using every post to insult Catholics, you bigoted creep. I'm sure the KKK has vacancies in your home town--why not get involved again?
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CitizenWhy | Apr 16, 2011, 12:52 PM EDT
The Irish Brigade was admired even by Lee as having the most valiant troops. I am proud to say that my father's great grandfather came from Ireland specifically to fight for the Union against slavery, which he, as an good Irish Catholic, loathed, despite the mawkish endorsement of the Pope for the Confederacy. He survived, but returned to ireland with US citizenship and so was entitled to refuse to take the oath of loyalty to the king. After that others in the family went to the US, got citizenship, returned to Ireland, and refused to take the oath.
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GeorgeDillon | Apr 16, 2011, 11:15 AM EDT
Yank: Did TG4 make that program? Looks quite costly, surely they wouldn't have the resources. As to your general point, I sure would welcome an Irish interest in the War Between The States, it might make the Irish shut up about the Irish who killed about 50000 Hungarians, Romanians, Turks, Germans, Austrians etc. between 1914-18. What idiot Irishman thought it was a good idea to go off to Turkey and try to kill folks he knew not the slightest thing about and with whom he had no conceivable quarrel? Murderous fools.
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PhlutiePhan | Apr 16, 2011, 10:56 AM EDT
The Irish came from a troubled land to input with their blood a "New Frontier". Strangely, African-Americans have been told to "stay away" from celebrations on this 150th anniversary. Americans with an Irish background are equal in number in America to that of the African-American. A strange set of reactions to the same event is growing.
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colkelley | Apr 16, 2011, 10:53 AM EDT
The Emerald Guard, Company H, 8th Alabama Infantry, who dressed in all-green uniforms and also had a green flag with gold harp emblazoned "Fuagh A Ballagh," stood toe-to-toe against the Irish Brigade at Frazier's Farm in 1862 and drove them from the field.
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Page 1 of 2 pages
Wish I'd seen this comment before I went to Gettysburg at the end of July. Oh well.
I won't argue with you regarding whether the 69th Pennsylvania was "truly the best Irish-American regiment in the army of the Potomac," but somehow I presume there are some who would. I don't know enough to engage in such an argument.
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