I recently happened upon your forum and would congratulate you all on the standard and nature of the debate.
I am an officer of The Royal Irish Regiment with 22 years under my belt. Naturally I have an abiding interest in military history and given that I serve in an Irish regiment of the British Army this interest is focussed sharply on internicine strife.
I became interested in the ACW while serving as the UK Exchange Officer at the Canadian Infantry School in New Brunswick some years ago. To be honest, I was surfing the net looking for details of the 38th (Irish) Brigade during WWII, but happened upon Meagher's boys. With interest kindled, I read McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom and was hooked!
My principal interests lie in the Irish on both sides and in moments of extreme self-delusion I would say that I am involved in a long term research project that will one day produce a book. But where do these people find the time? I am currently reading George Stewart's Pickett's Charge - a cracking read. Nothing yet has quite had the same effect as Battle Cry, but I am a real fan of Sears. Pfanz and the Catton and Foote trilogies. The Westerners will have to bear with me - I have yet to dig much below the surface of those magnificent, decisive campaigns beyond Virginia.
I have been most fortunate to visit many of the battlefields - highlights must be running around the Gettysburg park on my own at 1st light on a July morning and walking up the Roulette field with 12 of my soldiers just after it was purchased by the Antietam BP. We must have been one of the largest groups of Irishmen to walk the field since the Irish Brigade did it in 1862. As well as all of the principal battlefields in the Eastern theatre, I have been to Chickamauga, Chatanooga and Shilo and, perhaps strangest of all, Olustee in Fla!
Currently serving in my home town of Belfast, but will deploy to West Africa in the summer.
May I have the honor to welcome you to our board? It is indeed a pleasure to invite an officer of such a Regiment with a distinguished background and record.
I do hope you will dive right in and actively participate in our debates and discussions. I for one would love to hear your thoughts and your own views on the late war.
Again, welcome.
Sincerely,
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
Sergeant, welcome to the board. It's a great place to learn and debate, whatever you feel like. I've been to Ireland, and to your town, Belfast. Beautiful city it is, for sure. When you're ready to start reading about the western theatre, you might want to pick up "Confederacy's Last Hurrah", by Wiley Sword. It's about the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, and the roles played there by men on both sides, most notably the heroic Irish General Patrick Cleburne, of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, and his commander General John B. Hood. And Nathan Bedford Forrest,of course. There are other good books concerning that engagement as well.
Anyway, good to have you with us.
Terry
__________________ "In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." Abraham Lincoln - August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment
Thanks Terry, I have a copy of Sword's book, but it is someway down the queue. I may have to bump it up.
I have visited Franklin and stood in the fast-food outlet where Pat Cleburne was killed. I understand that someone with a sense of history has now bought the site and flattened the place to make way for a more fitting memorial.
Yep, Sarge, that was the infamous "Pizza Hut" that was demolished, finally, after an eternity. I guess there was a lot of legal wrangling or something to get that done. But it's done. I've never been there, to Franklin, or Pat Cleburne's final resting place, but I will go someday. And, yes for sure, read Sword's book when you get a chance. He details things pretty well. There's also a book on the battle out by Eric Jacobson, "For Cause and Country" that I hear is pretty good.
__________________ "In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." Abraham Lincoln - August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment
Believe our paths crossed a while ago, Goose. You've bit off a big chaw if you're going to explore the Irish contribution to the development of America, let alone the USCW. It would be difficult, at best, to speculate on what America today would be without the Irish. I'd prefer to believe that the Scandinavians were the most influential set in our collective development, but that would make me ignorant. Up the Irish!
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Sergeant, welcome to the board. It's a great place to learn and debate, whatever you feel like. I've been to Ireland, and to your town, Belfast. Beautiful city it is, for sure. When you're ready to start reading about the western theatre, you might want to pick up "Confederacy's Last Hurrah", by Wiley Sword. It's about the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, and the roles played there by men on both sides, most notably the heroic Irish General Patrick Cleburne, of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, and his commander General John B. Hood. And Nathan Bedford Forrest,of course. There are other good books concerning that engagement as well.
Anyway, good to have you with us.
Terry
Terry -- and Wildgoose:
The Pizza Hut was ceremoniously demolished on the Novermber 30th anniversary of the battle, in 2006. Franklin is unique in that the NPS has not yet pitched in. The notable remaining sites are maintained by the city of Franklin.
By the way, Cleburne rests in Arkansas. Where he fell was close to where the Pizza Hut stood. The city has also acquired the golf course over which the Confederate right advanced -- just next door to Carnton. And, I understand that the city has managed to acquire the Carter garden: a point at which some of the fiercest fighting occured. And that the Carter house VC and museum has new quarters. Seems that Franklin is looking at tourist dollars. Perhaps rightly so.
But I ramble. Welcome again Serj.
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Ole, thanks for the heads-up on Gen. Cleburne's grave.
Terry
__________________ "In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." Abraham Lincoln - August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment
Welcome Sergeant Wild Goose of the Royal Irish Regiment.
Here's some tidbits on the Irish in the war.
Quote:
MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL [ATLANTA, GA], October 24, 1863, p. 2, c. 6
The color-bearer of the 10th Tennessee, (Irish), having been shot down in the battle of Chickamauga, the Colonel ordered one of the privates to take the colors. Pat, who was loading at the time, replied: "By the holy St. Patrick, Colonel, there's so much good shooting here I haven't a minute's time to waste fooling with that thing."--Rebel.
Quote:
Yesterday evening I head two Irishmen quarrel until they got up to the fighting pitch, but they were afraid to fight then, for fear it would round up in the guardhouse or end in doing double duty, consequently they made an appointment to meet at midnight and go through with the gratifying exercise of hammering each other without hindrance or foreign intervention until subjugation proclaimed peace and honor fully vindicated and satisfied. According to the arrangement the combatants stepped into the arena at midnight, close to our lodging place; I was awake and a witness to the conflict. When they met I heard one of them say, "Faith and be Hivin, now we will knock it out!" and they commenced vigorous operations without skirmishing. They fought in the dark, so I did not see them, but I heard the heavy blows fall thick and fast for some little time, then all was still; the engagement was over, and I heard no more. The men that fought belonged to a Massachusetts regiment of infantry.
The following account is given by a Civil War chaplain:
Quote:
The doctors mounted and I did the same. They were gallant young surgeons. One rode on either side of me and several men were mounted and followed after us. To an excited lieutenant who had charge of the ambulance I looked very much like a general. Riding up in front of our calvacade and tipping his hat to me, he said: "General, where shall I direct the ambulances?" I did not undeceive him but replied, in a tone of authority: "Have them driven to Fairfax!" I knew that so far the command was correct, and the lieutenant did as I told him. We marched the night through, having had nothing to eat all day except parched corn. At four o'clock next morning, having passed over a small river, the Occoquon, I think, and finding ourselves safely out of the trap, we halted, tied our horses to some small trees, and, though it was raining gently, slept on the ground until seven. Then started again, and, coming to a small log cabin, entered and asked for something to eat. The poor people seemed to be alarmed and said they had nothing. "Oh," we said, "we do not wish to deprive you, and we are willing to pay." Then, they took courage and gave us some fat pork, corn bread, and a kind of coffee, made, I think, out of burned peas. But it was warm. There were three of us, the two doctors and myself. We gave our hosts five dollars, and they were delighted, and so were we. Hunger made that breakfast the most delicious we had in six months. We continued our journey, and when we reached Fairfax, again near to our troops, we saw a tent where a sutler was selling cakes and canned meats. One of my companions went in to make our pruchases while I stayed outside with the other. After marching all night and sleeping in the rain, I had been mistaken on the evening previous. While standing outside the sutler's tent, covered with mud, horse-hair, and oak-leaves, my hair and beard, unkempt and uncombed for three days, flying in the wind, a man on horseback dashed up to the same tent, dismounted and with considerable nonchalance, and with scarcely a glance at me, peremptorily ordered me to hold his horse. Suiting his actions to his words, he extended his bridle-rein toward me. It was customary in those days to hand a boy or an idle loafer ten or twenty-five cents for holding an officer's horse for a short time. The occurence was somewhat stunning. "How hath my greatness fallen in one night!" I soliloquized. "Last night I was taken for a general; this morning I am taken for a loafer waiting to earn ten or twenty-five cents." The man who commanded me to hold his horse was not an officer, as far as I could ascertain. He looked like one who was earnest in his duty. Just as he was extending the bridle-rein to me, the doctor, who had been making the purchases in the tent, came out, and, lifting his right hand to his hat very politely, by way of salute, said: "General (keeping up the joke), I have a good supply for to-day." The stranger who owned the horse looked sharply at me, with terror in his face, and quickly darted out of sight. He seemed confounded at the thought of having asked a general to hold his horse.
The Chaplain in question is Father William Corby of the Irish Brigade. He is best known for offering absolution to the Irish Brigade before they plunged into the maelstrom known as Gettysburg. So touching was the moment that even General Winfield Hancock doffed his hat while he watched from a distance. If you visit Gettysburg today, you will find a statute of Father Corby there.
Fatherly advice from an olde soldier...
Quote:
"A woodsman who was noted as a ‘crack shot’ among his hunting companions felt sure he was going to win fame as a select rifleman in the army; for he said that in killing a squirrel he always put the bullet through the head, though the squirrel might be perched at the time on the topmost limb of the tallest tree. An Irishman who had seen service in the Mexican War, and was attentively listening to this young hunter’s boast, fixed his twinkling eye upon the aspiring rifleman and said to him: ‘Yes; but Dan, me boy, ye must ricollict that the squirrel had no gon in his hand to shoot back at ye.’ The young huntsman had not thought about that; but he doubtless found later on, as the marksmen of both armies did, that it made a vast difference in the accuracy of aim when those in front not only had ‘gons’ in their hands but were firing them with distracting rapidity. This rude Irish philosopher had explained in a sentence one cause of the wild and aimless firing which wasted more tons of lead in a battle than all its dead victims would weigh.”
Sherman's Army v. The Army of the Potomac's Irish Brigade
Quote:
"Sherman's men entered the encampment of this old brigade, and with their usual coolness and audacity, began to stir things up. The brave Irishmen were perfectly at home in that kind of work, and a fierce struggle was soon raging. It was a square stand-up and knock-down affair, with the success all upon the side of the Irishmen. For once the gallant men from the Southwest had found their match; for a time they fought desperately, but were at last obliged to retreat to their own camp, with bloody faces and in wild disorder, while the wild cheers of the victors would have done credit to 'Donnybrook Fair.' From that time Sherman's men had more respect for the Army of the Potomac, so that when any of them came to our regiment, and began to boast in an offensive manner of their prowess, we had only to ask them if they had ever heard of the old Irish Brigade, and Sherman stock would depreciate a hundred per cent at the bare mention of that name."
Here's one on The Great Escape.
Quote:
"Another incident occured which, under the circumstances, was amusing, and goes far towards displaying the comic side of the Irish character. At a time when the rebel riflemen were annoying the artillerist from their concealed shelter behind the large boulders, etc., Michael Broderick, detailed from the 11th Massachusetts Vounteers, and placed as a driver on the Battery wagon, left his team which was out of danger and came forward to the crest where things were a little lively, and picking up a must which had been dropped by one of the infantry, he was soon engaged with a foe who was evidently behind one of the boulders in the front. Mike was oblivious to the bulets flying carelessly about; he simply had an eye on his man, and to even up the chances, he too sought the friendly protection of a large rock. His strange antics first attracted my notice, and when I took him to task for leaving his team, his reply was, 'Let me stay here, Captain, sure there are plenty back there to look after the horses.' I said no more and Mike again commenced to dance, first on one side of the rock and then on the other, challenging his man to come out and face him; then he woudl dodge behind the rock to avoid, I presume, the privilege of stopping a bullet, then he would jump again shooting, 'Come on now, if you dare, bad luck to you.' He was thus engaged when I last noticed him. At night Mike was reported missing, but early on the morning of the 4d, he reported, with a rebel musket and cartridge belt, stating that he had been taken prisoner and placed in a belt of timber with other Federal soldiers. Watching his chance, he noticed the guards were few and far between, and when the opportunity offered he quickly found a belt and musket and commenced to march up an down like the Confederate guards (his slouch hat and old blouse together with his general make-up aroused no suspicion, as many rebels were dressed similarly). When night came on he marched into the Federal lines, and reported as stated."
Irish pluck.
Quote:
"Captain Jones, who, by following the more southerly route, where the Hagerstown road forks, had been able to keep his company in column, relates that in hurrying through the town he received a peremptory order to halt from a rebel field-officer riding at the head of a regiment which was rapidly approaching on an intersecting street, when Private Terence O'Connor, of his company, by a well-aimed shot, brought the officer to the ground, O'Connor coolly remarking, 'We take no orders from the likes of you!"
I've saved the best for the last. You've read from the academians why men fought. Well, here's one reason skipped by the historians.
Quote:
A reb PoW was asked a question. Here's his account.
"What are you Rebels fighting for, anyway?"
The question struck me there and then as supremely ludicrous. Here were we Virginians standing on our own soil, fighting on our native heath against an invading army, defending what every man holds dear - his home and fireside. As well asked a game-coc k why he crows and bares his spurs on his own dung-hill. So I replied:
"We are fighting to protect our mint-beds."
There was an Irishman on the staff, and he nearly fell off his saddle; he spurred his horse forward and slapped me on the shoulder and said:
"True for ye, me boy, there's not a lad in ould Ireland that wouldn't do the same for his poteen."
Even the brigadier smiled, and said that he had heard often of a Virginia julep but never tasted one, and the group clattered away, laughing.
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