(The following is a presentation I gave to my Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp on July 21, 2021. Those interested in the history of the War Between the States, and my books, may find it interesting.)
Good evening, and Dia Duit! (Jee-ah ghwitch) That is the Irish, or Gaelic, equivalent of ‘Hello’ and translates literally to ‘May God be with you’. Tonight, I thought I would speak on the Irish Americans, some on both sides, that served in the War Between the States; including probably the most famous one, Confederate Major General Patrick Cleburne.
There were people of Irish ancestry in America from the very beginning, particularly the Scots-Irish. And by the 1840’s and the terrible potato blight that struck Ireland, with the famine that followed, there were many more immigrants from Ireland. In fact, one million came to the United States in the late 1840s and early 1850s, 90 percent of those being Irish Catholics. Many settled in the North in New York and Boston. But, also, many came to the South and had significant populations in New Orleans, Savannah and Charleston. And, even at a grand plantation called Tara, owned by the O’Hara family near Jonesboro, Georgia…..just kidding on that one.
While there was much discrimination, and even violence, against the Irish in the cities of the North (I’m sure you’ve all seen the ‘Irish Need Not Apply’ and ‘Irish Not Wanted’ signs in history books), which lasted though most of the 1800s, that wasn’t the case as much in the South. Just as with the small Jewish population in the South, the Irish were more welcomed. Despite what modern revisionist ‘historians’ would have us believe, the South, in many ways, was a much more tolerant society than the North.
When War came in 1861, Irish-Americans in both the Union and Confederate States volunteered. In the North, there were the Irish brigades, including the famous ‘Fighting 69th’ Infantry of New York, and the 28th Massachusetts Regiment. And, later, when the combined events of an unpopular Draft, and anger over Lincoln’s changed stated war objectives, came to a boil, there were the horrific and deadly New York Draft Riots of 1863, in which many Irish were involved.
In the South, it is estimated that 40,000 Irishmen fought for the Confederacy. And while most were integrated into the various military units of where they lived, there was the 10th Tennessee Infantry Regiment of Volunteers, known as ‘The Bloody Tinth”. The troops were mainly Irish Catholic, with Ulster-Scot Protestants as the elected officers.
Their flag was Kelly green and gold, with a maroon trim; and it was decorated with the Irish golden harp, with their mottoes, ‘Sons of Erin’ and ‘Where glory awaits you’. ‘Erin’ is a poetic spelling of Ireland, in Gaelic.
The 10th was organized at Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, in May of ’61. By July their roster included 720 men. They fought at Fort Donelson in February of 1862, where the ones who weren’t killed were captured, and imprisoned for a time at the infamous Camp Douglas. Fortunately for them, they were later exchanged, and returned to action in October 1862. They were then deployed as sharpshooters at the campaigns in Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Atlanta. Their last action was at Bentonville, North Carolina in March of 1865. Very few surrendered to Sherman along with Johnston’s Army of the Tennessee at the end of April. “The Bloody Tinth” suffered tremendous losses during the War, only having a troop strength remaining of 100 men out of the original 720 at War’s end.
I should also definitely mention the that in the Confederate Brigade of Thomas Cobb, there served the 24th Georgia Infantry. It was commanded by Col. Robert McMillan of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and had many Irish troops. At the Stone Wall at Fredericksburg, they are said to have faced the New York Irishmen of the “Fighting 69th”, as was depicted in that terribly sad scene in the film ‘Gods and Generals’. Many left the strife of their old country only to be forced to fight each other on the battlefields of their new land.
In addition to these, there were also the Charleston Irish Volunteers, Kelly’s Irish Brigade of Missouri, The Louisiana Tigers contingent of Irishmen, The Davis Guard of Texas, and the famous Company E, Emerald guard, of the Stonewall Brigade. They are said to have made the first ‘Rebel Yell’ at First Manassas, when attacking the 14th New York guns on Henry Hill.
Undoubtedly, though, the most well-known of those who hailed from Ireland and served the Confederate Cause was Patrick Cleburne. Born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1828, his military career began in 1846 in a Welsh Regiment of the British Army, after failing to make it into Medical School. He immigrated to the United States in 1849 along with his siblings. He eventually settled in Helena, Arkansas where he was a respected Pharmacist, like someone we all know, and, later, a newspaper owner.
Following a political debate in 1856, he and his business partner were involved in a gunfight against members of the ‘Know-Nothing Party’. Cleburne was shot in the back, and though badly wounded, just before collapsing, he managed to turn around and return fire, killing his attacker.
By 1860, he had become an American Citizen, and a popular lawyer. When war came in 1861, he immediately sided with the Southern States, out of loyalty and love of the people who had welcomed him as an immigrant.
He joined the local militia as a private, and was soon Captain. By March of ’62, he was a Brigadier general in the Arkansas Infantry. Serving under generals Braxton Bragg and Edmund Kirby Smith in the Kentucky Campaign, he suffered a gunshot to the face, when a minie ball smashed through his cheek and exited his mouth, taking several teeth with it. Miraculously recovering in a short time, he rejoined the fight at The Battle of Perryville. He later saw battle at Murfreesboro, where his action of routing the Union right wing and driving it back to the Nashville Pike, earned his promotion to Major General. He went on to fight at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold Gap, and Tunnel Hill, Georgia. Cleburne and his men received an official recognition from the Confederate Congress after those campaigns. He even was called the ‘Stonewall of the West’ and was said by Robert E. Lee to be “a meteor shining from a clouded sky”.
During a meeting of the leadership of the Army of the Tennessee, he made the bold proposal to emancipate all Southern slaves though gradual, reasonable stages, to strengthen, and solidify, the loyalty of the black people of the South, and increase manpower in the Confederate Army by allowing black soldiers at an official level. His plan would also make moot Lincoln’s political posturing and maneuvering in making his War of conquest appear to be a fight for ‘freedom’.
To quote Cleburne:
“It is said that slavery is all we are fighting for, and if we give it up, we give up all. Even if this were true, which we deny, slavery is not all our enemies are fighting for. It is merely a pretense to establish sectional superiority and a more centralized form of government, and to deprive us of our rights and liberties.”
His proposal, while supported by some, was politically controversial, and met with anger by many. It is thought that Cleburne was never promoted further because of it. He was not the only one to propose the idea, and it later gained traction in the last months of the War, when it was too little, too late.
Robert E. Lee officially withheld his opinion on the issue until invited to express it in a January 1865 letter from a Virginia legislator. He removed any doubt by replying that it was a military necessity: “My own opinion is that we should (officially) employ (blacks into military service) without delay.”
Prior to the Franklin, Tennessee Campaign in the Fall of 1864, Cleburne had become engaged to marry Susan Tarleton of Mobile, Alabama. Sadly, their marriage never came to pass. General Cleburne was killed by enemy gunfire at the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864; when, after his horse was shot out from under him, he led an assault on foot against Union fortifications.
He was last seen just before his death with his sword raised against the enemy.
…Now, this is by no means a complete accounting of Irish contributions to the Cause of Confederate Independence, and there are many books and stories on the subject. In fact, my wife is descended from a Mary Murphy Mann of Wexford, Ireland, who came here as a child in the 1850s and later married a Confederate Soldier, Henry Mann, in Atlanta during the War. But that is a story for another time. Thank you, and Erin go Bragh.
C.G. Faulkner Books 