RFI

[proud texan]

I believe that at the time of the civil war, the Irish were treated as second class citizens. If so, were they treated differently in the army? I don't remember reading anything on this before.

 

[Barrycdog]

Southern Confederacy, Jan. 17, 1863 -- page 3

Letter from John Martin, The Great Irish Reformer

KILBRONEY,ROSTREVOR, NOV 5, 1862

To the Editor if the Nation:

Dear Sir: My name has been mentioned in your paper of last Saturday as that of a sympathizer with the Southern States, in the war which is at present raging in America. I am a sympathizer with the South. And since that fact is now publically stated, I desire, with your kind permission; to say a few words by way of explaining and defining my sympathy.

Both parties are our kindred, our friends, oru benefactors. Ireland has no quarrel with either, but is bound to both with the strongest ties of affection and of interest. The Irish race has contibuted largely to the people of the Southern as well as of the Northern States; and the Irish in America, like all other American citizens, have to take part in this war with the States of which they happen to be residents. The most honored and trusted of our political exiles are upon opposite sides, mitchell is with the SOuth, Meagher with the North. Williams and Doheny have died since the war broke out, the one soldier of the South, the other leaving his sons in arms for the North. THe noble Irish hearts, now cold in American graves, surely both of them burned with the most intense love for Ireland!

In short, it is a war between States and populations who are all allied to us by blood, who are all entitled to our eternal gratitude by the munificent charity with whioch they strove to feed our people when starving under the English rule, who hae onstantly afforded a freindly refuge to our people when driven from our native country by the curse of that rule, who have shown pity for our sufferings under a foreign yoke, and given sympathy and encouragement to our aspirations after independence. To a mere Irish patriot, the honor and prosperity of the North and of South contending against each other as the deadliest of enemies! If he feels that his own voice can have no influence over the combatants, he may well be silent, while, like the O'Donoghue, he gazes upon the fratricidal conflict "with steaming eye."

Butthough much consideration as those have hitherto withheld me from any public declaration as to the right and wrong in this unhappy war, they have not prevented me from the free expression of my sentiments among my friends, and in conversation. And latterly I have begun to doubt the propriety of keeping silence while strenuous efforts are bing made by several person to represent all true Nationaists of Ireland as partisans of the North, and prove that the hopes of our national cause depend upon the success of the North in this war.

It is therefore, with a feeling of relief that I read your articles of last Saturday and the letter of your correspondent who signs himself "An Irish-American." At all events let the truth be known. All true Irish Nationalists are not partisans of the North in this war. I do not believe that a majority of them are partisans of the North. Certainly, I am not,. I desire and hope that the North may ever succeed in its attempt to subjugate the South. I sympathize with my whole heart with the people of the South defending thier homes and liberties against the invading armies of those who were lately thier fellow citizens, to whom they have done no wrong, and of whom they desire nothing but to be allowed to depart in peace from the political partnership which they dislike. Resisting hostile invasion, fighting to save themselves form the yoke of a conquerer, the people of the South are defending against tremendous odds with such gallantry, endurance, devoted patriotism, heroic virtues, as have never been surpassed in the whole history of wars of independence. A most noble people has there to take its place amo9ng the nations, and , springing to arms in defense of its rights, has at once presented before the world a national array so ggod and beautiful that the proudest of empires might emulate it. In statesmanship and military genius, in courage and discipline that make up for the inferiority of numbers in arms, in the devotedness of the women, in the lofty spirit of national honor than animates a unanimous population, the South posesses defenses that entitle her to the victory. But the victory is not alwqys the best and bravest. It may be that the greatly superior resources of the Northern States will enable them in time to exterminate the defenders of the South, and to subjugate the country. I hope not. But victors of vanquished, my sympathies are wholly with the people of the South.

I find that I have enlarged so much in the mere expression of my individual feelings concerning the war betweent eh North and SOuth, that I must not attempt in this letter to argue the question between them, nor to discuss the bearings of war upon our Irish national policy, Indeed, it may suffice to say, that I agree in everything with your leading articles, and also with the letter of "An Irish American."
I am, dear sir, sincerely yours,
JOHN MARTIN

 

[tmh10]

There is perhaps no other ethnic group so closely identified with the Civil War years and the immediate aftermath of the war as Irish Americans.

Of those Irish who came over much later than the founding generations, fully' 150,000 of them joined the Union army. Unfortunately, statistics for the Confederacy are sketchy at best; still, one has but to listen to the Southern accent, and listen to the sorts of tunes Southern soldiers loved to sing, to realize that a great deal of the South was settled by Irish immigrants. But because the white population of the Confederate states was more native-born than immigrant during the Civil War years, there did not seem as much of a drive in the Southern army to recognize heritage in the names and uniforms of regiments as there was in the Union forces.

In the Federal army there was the fabled Meagher's Irish brigade, led by the flamboyant Thomas Meagher; they went into battle with an emerald green flag with a large golden harp in its center, celebrating their heritage even in the midst of death.

In the North, centers of Irish settlement were Boston and New York, both of which had sizeable Irish neighborhoods. There were major immigration periods in the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s; the numbers steadily increased until, according to the 1860 census, well over one and a half million Americans claimed to have been born in Ireland. The majority of these lived in the North. There were periods of severe economic difficulties both before and after the war when the immigrant Irish were singled out for the distrust and hatred of their fellow Americans; "No Irish Need Apply" was a frequently seen placard sign above the doors of factories, shops, warehouses, and farms.

The Irish were chiefly distrusted because they were Catholic, and there was much opposition in the United States to the Church of Rome. The frustration this prejudice caused led indirectly to the boil-over of tempers in July 1863, when the first official draft was held; a mob of mostly immigrant laborers gathered at the site of the draft lottery, and as names were called and those not wealthy enough to purchase a substitute were required to join up, the mob's temper flared. The situation escalated into full-scale rioting; for three days, cities like New York and Boston were caught up in a rampage of looting, burning, and destruction. Many of the rioters were frustrated Irish laborers who could not get jobs, and their targets were draft officials, as well as free blacks living in the North, who seemed able to get jobs that the Irish were denied. it took the return of armed troops from the fighting at Gettysburg to bring the cities back to peace and quiet.

Such events did little to help the image of the Irish in America, until many years after the war. Despite their wartime heroics, many Irish veterans came home to find the same ugly bias they faced before going off to fight for the Union. Many of them chose to go into the post war army. Still others followed Thomas Meagher into Canada, where they joined up in an attempt to free Canada from British domination. Many simply chose to remain in the Eastern cities, hoping matters would improve as time went by. Eventually things did get better for the Irish, but it was many long years before ugly anti-Irish prejudice faded.

Source: The Civil War Society's "Encyclopedia of the Civil War."