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Introduction
On my mother’s German side from
Western Pennsylvania, I had a great-grandfather and two of his
brothers who served in Pennsylvania volunteer regiments in the Civil
War. Even though the Irish on my father’s side had not yet arrived
in the United States and Ohio during the Civil War, I have been
interested more in the Irish-Americans who fought for the Union than
the German-Americans.
In this article, I will discuss the
role of the Irish in the Civil War focusing on some famous units,
primarily on the Northern side but also some in the South. I will
profile the three leading Irish-American military leaders of the war
– Thomas Francis Meagher of the Irish Brigade and “Little” Phil
Sheridan of the Union and Patrick Cleburne of the Confederacy. While
“Stonewall” Jackson was of Ulster Scots-Irish stock, I am not
including him. Seven Union and six Confederate generals were
Irish-born. And I will discuss the conflict between Irish
immigrants and Negroes which erupted in the New York City draft
riots of July, 1863.
The Pre-War Irish
By the beginning of the Civil War,
the United States had a considerable Irish population, mainly
centered in the cities. In 1860, a quarter of New York City’s
population (204,000) was Irish-born, with 22 percent (57,000)
Irish-born in Brooklyn, then an independent city. The two other
leading cities with large numbers of Irish-born immigrants were
Philadelphia (95,000-18%) and Boston (46,000-26%). The Midwestern
cities with the largest number of Irish-born immigrants were: St.
Louis (19%), Chicago (18%), Detroit (14%), and Cincinnati (12%). The
Southern Irish-born population was estimated to be between
85,000-175,000 in 1861. The Irish were about 25 percent of the
population of New Orleans (24,398) and Memphis (4,159).
The first Irish emigrant wave was
the Ulster Protestant (Presbyterian) Irish who left Northern Ireland
for the rural United States, motivated by economic and religious
reasons. Around 250,000 arrived in the eighteenth century. The next
wave was the Irish Catholics numbering almost a million who came to
North America – mostly the United States – between the end of the
Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the beginning of the great potato famine
in 1845. For them the reasons for emigrating were also to escape
economic hardship and religious persecution. This rising Irish
emigrant population triggered anti-Irish Nativist reactions,
including occasional violence in eastern cities and in the 1840’s
the birth of the Know Nothing party, dedicated to ridding the United
States of Papist-led Roman Catholics. It enjoyed its greatest
electoral successes in the mid-1850s in New England. Some of this
sentiment continued while approximately 1.5 million Irish, mostly
Catholic, came to the United States in a single decade (1845-1855)
to flee the famine. On the other hand, many Americans came to the
aid of the Irish suffering under British policies and from Irish
landowners clearing many of their desperate tenant farmers who were
unable to pay rent or sustain themselves due to the disease that
destroyed their potato crops.
Despite the discrimination and
poverty endured by these Irish immigrants, they began to gain
political power in those cities where their numbers were high. They
mostly joined the Democratic party. As the Abolitionist movement
grew in the North, the Irish were not attracted to it for a number
of reasons. Many distrusted its largely Protestant leadership and
with most Irish immigrants employed in low-paying, unskilled jobs,
they feared competition from freed slaves in the same economic
class.
In the election of 1860, in the
North, the Irish-born voters predictably supported the Democratic
Party. However, after the South fired on Fort Sumter, many of these
Irish Democrats volunteered to fight for the Union. It is estimated
that about 145,000 Irish-Americans served in the Union’s armed
forces. Of this number, more than 8,000 were from Ohio. In addition
to patriotism, many joined for the pay (and later bounties paid to
recruits). Others saw this as an opportunity to prepare for a future
opportunity to fight to liberate the Irish homeland from British
rule. What they were not fighting for was ending slavery.
It was estimated that about 40,000
Irish-Americans fought for the Confederacy. On the Southern side,
Irish-Americans, including their Catholic bishops and priests,
sympathized with the defense of the South against Northern
aggression, although they also generally supported the institution
of slavery. They also identified with the Democratic Party but
experienced less discrimination than their Northern immigrant
counterparts. Interestingly, “The Bonnie Blue Flag” was written by
Irish-American minstrel Harry McCarthy, later a prisoner of war held
at Johnson’s Island, Ohio. “Dixie” was written by Irish-American
entertainer Daniel Decatur Emmett, born in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
Leading Irish nationalist John Mitchel, the Young Ireland leader and
escaped exile, moved to the South and became a noted defender of the
Confederacy (breaking with his follower, Meagher). Two of his sons
who served in the Confederate army were killed (one at the Bloody
Angle in Pickett’s Charge) and the third was badly wounded.
Irish-American Units and Battles
The most famous Irish-American unit
in the Union armies was the Irish Brigade of the Army of the
Potomac. More detail about its most famous commander – Thomas
Francis Meagher – follows below. Its genesis was the 69th New York
State Militia regiment, commanded by Irish exile Michael Corcoran, a
Fenian (the Irish Republican Brotherhood founded in Dublin in 1858).
Corcoran gained renown in October, 1860 when he refused to include
the regiment in a parade in New York City to honor the visiting
Prince of Wales. For this, he was court-martialed and jailed. He was
defended by Meagher, a fellow Irish exile and rebel and a captain in the
regiment. After the attack on Fort Sumter, the 69th voted to answer
Lincoln’s call for volunteers. The governor of New York then quashed
Corcoran’s court-martial. Soon after, the 1,000 strong 69th left New
York for Washington, D.C. amidst great fanfare, marching under their
green silk regimental banner and the slogan “Remember Fontenoy” (the
battle in which the exiled “Wild Geese” of the Irish Brigade of the
French Army turned the tide against the British in 1745). The 69th
was assigned to the brigade commanded by Ohioan William Tecumseh
Sherman.
Its first battle experience came at
First Bull Run. It twice assaulted Confederates holding Henry Hill,
fighting fellow Irish-Americans, many of them dock workers, serving
with the Louisiana Zouaves under Roberdeau Wheat from New Orleans. In
the midst of the Federal retreat, Michael Corcoran was captured, as
well as the regiment’s flags. It lost 192 men killed, wounded, and
missing. Afterwards, Sherman criticized the 69th for their near
mutinous behavior, partly resulting from their feeling that there
was anti-Irish bias against them. This included disagreement over
exactly when their 90-day enlistment ended. The 69th’s initial
enlistment ended amidst acrimony.
Meagher returned to New York to
recruit an Irish Brigade, of which he became commander, replacing
Corcoran in December, 1861. Tiffany and Company made a replacement
flag featuring an Irish harp. Returning to the Army of the Potomac,
the 69th was joined by two other largely Irish New York regiments –
the 63rd and 88th. Father William Corby, a Jesuit priest from Notre
Dame University, became the chaplain of the Irish Brigade. The
brigade was assigned to Israel Richardson’s division.
The Irish Brigade was next bloodied in George McClellan’s Peninsula
campaign. It fought in the battle of Fair Oaks on June 1-2, 1862 and
then in several of the battles against Robert E. Lee’s attacking
Army of Northern Virginia.
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Regimental
colors of the 69th New York Volunteers of the Irish Brigade
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On July 1, it went up against the
Confederate Irish-Americans of Roberdeau Wheat’s Louisiana Tigers.
Wheat had been killed a few days earlier at Gaine’s Mill and the
Tigers were disbanded soon after. The three regiments of the Irish
Brigade suffered almost 500 killed, wounded and missing out of about
4,000 during the Peninsula campaign. A few weeks later, it was
reinforced by the 29th Massachusetts, a New England Yankee regiment.
This did not sit well with the Irish or the Yankees. The all-Irish
28th Massachusetts replaced the 29th following the battle of
Antietam. Meagher returned to New York to recruit replacements,
which he found to be more difficult, even with the lure of bounties. In
August, 1862, Corcoran was exchanged but did not return to command
of the 69th. Instead, he recruited an Irish Legion unit.
The next test for Meagher’s Irish
Brigade was the slaughterhouse known as the battle of Antietam at
Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17, 1862. The Irish Brigade under
Richardson launched an attack against the Confederates in the Sunken
Road. Previously, the Irish-American 69th Pennsylvania of Howard’s
Philadelphia Brigade was decimated in the fighting in the West
Woods. After absolution by Father Corby, the Irish Brigade charged
the Sunken Road (Bloody Lane) defended by D.H. Hill’s division. In
the savage fighting that followed, the Irish Brigade suffered over
500 casualties but could not break through the Confederate defense.
Many protested Lincoln’s decision
to again relieve McClellan of command of the Army of the Potomac for
his failure to pursue Lee following Antietam, and his replacing of
McClellan with Ambrose Burnside.
Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation also did not sit
well with many of the Irish-American volunteers in the army, as well
as their civilian relatives. Lincoln’s action exacerbated previous
opposition to the draft passed by Congress in the summer of 1862.
Many felt that it favored the rich who could afford to buy their way
out of the draft, versus poor immigrants who could not.
Burnside then led his army to
Fredricksburg and another terrible battle which would reinforce the
fighting reputation of the Irish Brigade. In addition to the 28th
Massachusetts, the Irish Brigade now also included the 116th
Pennsylvania from Philadelphia. Although the latter was not
all-Irish, its commander and his second in command were both
Irish-born, as were many of its soldiers.
On December 13, 1862, the
Irish Brigade marched through the town to join the assault on Longstreet’s troops on Marye’s Heights entrenched in another sunken
road behind a stone wall. Before their assault, soldiers of the
Irish Brigade put sprigs of green boxwood in their caps to make
their Irish heritage known. Their valiant but futile charge gained
the admiration of Longstreet’s troops, which included the
Irish-Americans of the Georgia brigade. After the death of its
brigade commander Thomas Cobb, the Georgia defenders were led by
Robert McMillan, colonel of the 24th Georgia and born in Antrim,
Ireland. The Irish Brigade suffered 45 percent casualties, including
55 officers killed and wounded. Father Corby called it a
“slaughter-pen”. This disaster fueled Northern Irish-American
disenchantment with the war. On January 16, 1863, St. Patrick’s
Cathedral in New York City was the site of a requiem mass for the
dead heroes of the Irish Brigade with Meagher attending.
Upon his return to the army in
February, Meagher attempted to obtain home leaves for the New York
regiments in the Irish Brigade shortly after he met with President
Lincoln but his request was denied by War Secretary Edwin Stanton. A
few months later, the Irish Brigade found itself caught up in the
rout of General Joseph Hooker’s right wing by Stonewall Jackson on
May 2 at Chancellorsville. Frustrated by the brigade’s losses and
the denial of his requests for leaves, Meagher resigned from the
army on May 8.
As the Army of the Potomac, now
under the command of George Meade, marched to a momentous rendezvous
with Lee’s army at Gettysburg, the battle-hardened Irish Brigade now
numbered only 530 men, commanded by Colonel Patrick Kelly of the
88th New York. Small as it had become in numbers, the Irish Brigade
still made a memorable contribution to the Union victory. The
brigade was among others of Winfield Hancock’s Second Corps ordered
to support Dan Sickles’ beleaguered Third Corps in the Wheatfield on
the second day of the battle. Again first receiving absolution from
Father Corby, it plunged into the maelstrom. Before it retreated
back to Cemetery Ridge, the brigade lost 202 men.
Other Irish-Americans distinguished
themselves as well at Gettysburg. Irish-born and West Point graduate
Colonel Paddy O’Rourke led his 140th New York regiment in a
desperate race to Little Round Top to stop a Confederate charge up
its slopes. Leading his troops, O’Rourke fell dead but his men and
others of the Fifth Corps successfully defended Little Round Top,
along with the more celebrated 20th Maine under Joshua Chamberlain.
The next afternoon it was the turn of the 69th Pennsylvania still
under Colonel Dennis O’Kane from County Kerry but reduced since
Antietam to only 258 men. In the 2nd brigade of the 2nd division of
the Hancock’s Second Corps, they awaited the approach of the
Pickett-Pettigrew charge at the Angle. Despite O’Kane’s wounding
(and later death) and casualties of 50 percent, the 69th
Pennsylvania played a critical role in defeating the Confederate
attack at its high-water mark.
In December, 1863, Michael Corcoran
died in an accident in the company of Meagher and his loss was much
lamented. The Irish Brigade, back to a strength of about 3,000
despite the re-assignment of the 28th Massachusetts and the 116th
Pennsylvania, would participate in Grant’s 1864 Overland Campaign,
suffering losses of one-third of its men and officers, including two
commanders killed in succession at Cold Harbor and Petersburg and
then their successor captured at Ream’s Station. Nevertheless, the
brigade survived as a re-organized unit and was commanded until the
end of the war by Robert Nugent, an original member of the 69th New
York. They were there for the final defeat and surrender of the Army
of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House in April, 1865. In
his 1963 address to the Irish Parliament, President John F. Kennedy
presented to the Irish people a battle flag of the Irish Brigade.
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William
Lytle
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In the West from Ohio, the most
notable unit was the 10th Ohio, known as the “Bloody Tinth”. It was
comprised mainly of Irish immigrants from Cincinnati. It gained fame
because of its first commander, William Lytle. He came from a
distinguished family and was a prominent lawyer and Mexican war
veteran. He was also nationally known as a poet, especially for
“Antony and Cleopatra”. Lytle was wounded in 1862 at the battles of
Carnifex Ferry, West Virginia and Perryville. Promoted to command of
a brigade in Sheridan’s division of Rosecrans’ Army of the
Cumberland, Lytle’s brigade stood in the way of Longstreet’s
breakthrough on September 20, 1863 at Chickamauga. He led them in a
desperate charge to stem the tide and died from four wounds. His
body accompanied by an honor guard from the Bloody Tinth was
returned to Cincinnati for a public funeral.
These are, of course, only a few
examples of the heroism of the many Irish-Americans who fought and
died for the Union. Due largely to the fact that there were not
similar large concentrations of Irish-Americans in Southern cities
and the segregation of Southern units by state, there was no
Confederate equivalent to the Northern Irish Brigade. Instead, there
were a number of predominately Irish-American smaller Confederate
units, mostly at the battalion and company levels. Several of these
served under Stonewall Jackson and Richard Taylor in Jackson’s 1862
campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. Some were prominent in the defeat
of Irish-born general James Shields at Port Republic.
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Battle
flag of the 6th Louisiana “Tigers” from New Orleans
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At the regimental level, the 6th
Louisiana “Tigers” from New Orleans was perhaps the best known in
the Army of Northern Virginia. It served with Jackson and Taylor in
the 1862 Valley campaign and in Early’s 1864 Valley campaign. It was
devastated defending against Union attacks on the West Woods at
Antietam, losing its Irish-born commander Henry Strong and eleven
other officers. Its brigade of Louisianans under Harry Hays suffered
60 percent casualties. It fought in every major battle of Lee’s
army, a total of 25 major battles. At the surrender under John
Gordon at Appomattox, the 6th Louisiana numbered only 52 out of a
total of 1,146 during the war. Thirty had originally enlisted in
1861. Approximately 60 percent of this regiment were Irish born or
of Irish ancestry. The 6th Louisiana lost 219 killed in battle and a
total of 330 died (including one executed for desertion).
An outstanding family example of
Lee’s Irish-Americans was the Dooley family of Richmond. John Dooley
emigrated from Limerick in 1832. From clerking to becoming a
prosperous clothing manufacturer, Dooley helped to organize the
Montgomery Guard militia. He served in the 1st Virginia regiment and
later commanded the Richmond Ambulance Corps. His oldest son was
wounded at Williamsburg in 1862 and then served in the Confederate
Ordinance Department. His younger son, a captain in the Montgomery
Guard in the 1st Virginia, was in the forefront of Pickett’s Charge
at Gettysburg, was shot through both thighs, but survived to serve
21 months as a prisoner at Johnson’s Island. Of the 90 in the
Montgomery Guard who began the war, only 11 were left at Appomattox.
In the Army of Tennessee, two regimental units are especially worth
mentioning. The 5th Confederate Infantry was a combination of two
largely Irish-American units from Memphis and served in Cleburne’s
division. After the destruction of Cleburne’s command at Franklin,
only 21 survived. At the surrender in North Carolina in April, 1865,
there were only 10 left. The 10th Tennessee, known as the “Sons of
Erin”, was led by the mayor of Nashville, killed at Raymond,
Mississippi in the defense of Vicksburg. It too fought with
Cleburne. Three of its officers were captured at Bentonville,
leaving a single survivor at Johnston’s surrender.
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Regimental
Colors of the 'Sons of Erin', the 10th Tennessee Infantry,
CSA
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Two incidents also deserve mention.
On June 26, 1863, after Grant’s army besieging Vicksburg, exploded a
mine tunneled under the city’s defenses, it was Irish-Americans in
the 5th and 6th Missouri who rushed to fill the gap against their
fellow Irish-Americans of the Federal 7th Missouri, mostly
Irish-Americans from St. Louis.
On September 8, 1863, a band of 43
Irish-American artillerymen defended the Sabine Pass on the
Texas-Louisiana coast against a Federal expedition comprised of four
gunboats and 5,000 troops on 22 transports. The vastly outnumbered
Confederates were led by Dick Dowling, who emigrated from County
Galway to Houston. Without the loss of a man, they disabled two of
the gunboats. A third ran aground before the Federals gave up their
attempt to invade East Texas.
Three Leading Irish-American Heroes
Thomas Francis Meagher
Thomas Francis Meagher was born in
1823 near Waterford, Ireland. His mother died when he was three and
half years old. He also lost an older brother and two sisters in
infancy. After schooling in England, the Catholic Meagher dedicated
to Irish nationalism returned to Ireland in 1843. He became a lawyer
in Dublin and in contrast to Daniel O’Connell’s home rule movement
joined the group that became known as Young Irelanders, which
promoted independence from England. In 1846, Meagher gave a speech
supporting violence if necessary, earning him the nickname “Meagher
of the Sword”. In 1848 in the midst of the Great Potato Famine,
Meagher was tried for his views under the Treason Felony Act but was
acquitted by a jury. However, later that year (a year of failed
revolutions throughout Europe) he was re-arrested and convicted
along with three associates of fomenting an abortive rebellion.
Sentenced to death, following public protests, Meagher and the
others were instead sentenced to life in the Tasmania penal colony
in Australia. After three years there in exile, he escaped to New
York City by way of Brazil. Meagher was greeted as a hero by
Irish-Americans.
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Thomas Francis Meagher
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Meagher became a well-known
Irish-American, a lecturer and publisher of the Irish News.
President Franklin Pierce invited him to his home and then to his
inauguration in 1853. As a lawyer, he was recruited to the defense
of New York City Congressman Dan Sickles (and future general in the
Army of the Potomac) for the murder of U.S. Attorney Phillip Barton
Key (grandson of Francis Scott Key), killed when Sickles discovered
his affair with his wife. Sickles was acquitted on the basis of the
first successful use of the temporary insanity defense. As war
loomed, Meagher was sympathetic to the South. However, after the
attack on Fort Sumter, Meagher supported the Union cause. He joined
the 69th New York Militia regiment, enroute to the defense of
Washington, D.C.
In the 69th’s baptism under fire at
First Bull Run, Meagher was accused by some of cowardice and
drunkenness after he was toppled from his horse. This accusation was
fueled by the pro-Southern correspondent of the London Times. With
the capture of the regiment’s commander, Meagher succeeded him. When
the regiment returned to New York City, Meagher started to recruit
an Irish Brigade. With the prospect of Meagher being able to recruit
Irish immigrants, President Lincoln made him a brigadier general and
he was appointed commander of the Irish Brigade. He led it through
McClellan’s Peninsula campaign and then returned to New York City to
recruit replacements to make up for its losses. He returned in time
to join the reinstated McClellan to face Lee’s first invasion of the
North. On September 17, 1862, Meagher led the Irish Brigade in its
heroic attempt to dislodge the Confederates from the Sunken Road. In
the midst of the fighting, Meagher fell from his horse. Later, some
charged that this was because he was drunk, a story repeated by
Whitelaw Reid of the Cincinnati Gazette. However, he was lauded for
his bravery by others, including his corps commander Edwin Sumner.
Nevertheless, the charge followed him later.
At Fredericksburg, Meagher
struggled on foot with his men against Longstreet’s Confederates on
Marye’s Heights. However, he was again accused by some of failing to
lead his troops in their valiant but hopeless charges. He soon
returned to New York City as an invalid on medical leave. When he
returned to the brigade in February, 1863, only 600 of the 2,250 men
were left of the original three New York City regiments that made up
the brigade. After the battle of Chancellorsville, a discouraged
Meagher resigned. He left still having the support of the officers
and men of the brigade. His subsequent efforts to recruit the Irish,
including new immigrants, were crippled by the New York City draft
riots of July, 1863, which Meagher condemned and blamed on the
Copperheads (Peace Democrats).
In the election of 1864, Meagher
supported Lincoln against McClellan, along with New York City’s
influential Catholic Archbishop John Hughes. It wasn’t until Spring,
1864, that Meagher rejoined the Army of the Potomac but without a
command. After a drinking bout in August, he returned to New York
City. In September he was sent West to Nashville but not given any
responsibility until November, when he was told to organize
convalescents into a provisional division. It was to proceed East to
be shipped to the Carolinas to join Sherman. However, it met with
mishaps and delays, for which Meagher was blamed by Army Chief of
Staff Henry Halleck and Commander-in-Chief Grant. Combined with
renewed charges of drunkenness, Meagher was relieved of his command
on February 20, 1865. Again without a command, Meagher spent St.
Patrick’s Day, 1865 with the remnant of the Irish Brigade near
Petersburg..
After the war, Meagher headed west.
He became the territorial secretary (acting governor) of Montana.
Amidst political disputes, conflicts with General Sherman (his
nemesis after First Bull Run) over Indian policy, and financial
problems, he drank heavily. On July 1, 1867, the 44-year old Meagher
died when he fell overboard from a docked steamboat on the Missouri
River and drowned. The most likely cause was drunkenness, although
the circumstances remain mysterious. This was an ignominious end for
the dedicated Irish nationalist and Irish-American patriot.
Nevertheless, he was remembered by his admirers. Statues in his
memory were erected in Butte, Montana in 1905 (mostly paid for by
Irish miners) and later in his birthplace of Waterford, Ireland.
Phil Sheridan
Phil Sheridan was a short,
colorful, and combative Union commander, only behind Grant and
Sherman in its pantheon of heroes. He fought in many of the key
battles of the war. He also fought with many of his fellow officers.
This began with his suspension for a year from West Point for
attacking William Terrill, who would be killed at the battle of
Perryville. He returned to graduate with his fellow Ohioans and
close friends-Joshua Sill (killed at Stones River) and George Crook.
Fellow Ohioan James Birdseye McPherson (killed at Atlanta) was first
in his class. During the Civil War, Sheridan would not only clash
with Crook but also William Hazen, William Averill, Gouverneur
Warren, and George Meade, among others.
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Phil Sheridan
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Phil Sheridan, according to his
mother, was either born in 1831 in Ireland, enroute to America,
Canada or Albany, New York. His farmer parents emigrated from County
Cavan, Northern Ireland to Somerset, Ohio (where Sheridan assumed he
was born). His father was a laborer on roads and canals, then a
contractor, who went bankrupt. After graduating from West Point,
Sheridan served in the frontier army in the Southwest and Northwest,
fighting against various Indian tribes.
At the outbreak of the Civil War,
he was posted to St. Louis, where he served under Henry Halleck,
first as an auditor and then as a quartermaster. He, of course,
lobbied for combat duty and was finally named colonel of the Second
Michigan Cavalry in 1862, missing Shiloh but participating in
Halleck’s plodding advance on Corinth. As a result of his
skirmishing with rebel cavalry, Sheridan was appointed brigadier
general commanding an infantry brigade. He had named his horse
“Rienzi” after a cavalry skirmish in this Mississippi town. Rienzi
would later become as almost as famous as Sheridan.
Sheridan’s first major battle
experience came at Perryville, where Buell’s army stopped the
Confederate invasion of Kentucky. Sheridan advanced in disobedience
of orders but his aggressive action gained attention. He next served
under another Ohioan William Rosecrans, who replaced Buell and
eventually moved out of Nashville against Bragg’s army at
Murfreesboro.
Sheridan gained renown at the
resulting battle of Stone’s River (December 31, 1862-January 2,
1863). Amidst the rout of McCook’s corps on the right of Rosecrans’
army on the morning of the first day, Sheridan’s division stood firm
and retreated resolutely. He is credited, along with Hazen, of
preventing the Confederates, including Cleburne’s division, from
destroying the Army of the Cumberland. In doing so, Sheridan lost
1,600 casualties (40 percent) and had three brigade commanders
(including his classmate Sill) killed. For his stalwart defense,
Sheridan was appointed major general.
At Chickamauga, Sheridan was again
in the midst of a Confederate breakthrough against Rosencrans’ army.
This time, it was Longstreet’s assault through the gap created on
September 20. Sheridan managed to save most of his troops and ended
that bloody day helping to cover the retreat to Chattanooga of the
left wing rallied by Thomas on Snodgrass Hill. It was there on
November 25, after Pat Cleburne beat back Sherman’s attacks on
Tunnel Hill, that the Army of the Cumberland charged Missionary
Ridge. Instead of stopping at its base, they chased the retreating
rebels up the ridge, causing Grant to demand from Thomas who ordered
this. Thomas replied that he did not.
Sheridan led his division atop
Rienzi. Sheridan swore that he would take the rebel guns that fired
at him when he toasted them before his ascent. At the top, astride
one of the captured Confederate guns, Sheridan directed his troops
to pursue the fleeing Confederates. Fighting on into the darkness,
Sheridan was the only commander to actively pursue Bragg’s defeated
army. At the same time, he and Hazen disputed who was entitled to
claim some of the captured guns. In this battle, Sheridan lost over
1,300 men, half of the casualties of Thomas’ army that memorable
day. Sheridan caught the attention of U.S. Grant, now in command of
all Union armies. First, he headed under Sherman and Gordon Granger
to the relief of Burnside in Knoxville.
Soon, he was ordered to Washington,
where Grant named him Commander of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of
the Potomac. It was in the East in 1864-1865 that Sheridan would
embellish his reputation, although not without more controversy.
With Grant’s approval and over
Meade’s objections, Sheridan changed the role of the cavalry corps
to one primarily of attack. In May, 1864, he took his three
divisions south to Richmond to fight the legendary Jeb Stuart. Two
days later, in a desperate defense of the Confederate capital,
Stuart was killed at Yellow Tavern. Returning to the Army of the
Potomac’s Overland campaign, Sheridan’s troopers fought at Haw’s
Shop and Cold Harbor before they were sent by Grant in June to sever
the Central Virginia Railroad all the way to Charlottesville. This
led to the battle of Trevilian Station, where Wade Hampton, Stuart’s
successor, blocked Sheridan’s path. Returning from this expedition,
Sheridan was given a new assignment.
Grant sent Sheridan to the
Shenandoah Valley to deal with Jubal Early, whose small army had
threatened Washington, D.C. David Hunter’s forces were augmented by
Horatio Wright’s Sixth Corps from the Army of the Potomac, William
Emory’s Nineteenth Corps from Louisiana, and George Crook’s Army of
West Virginia. Sheridan also had cavalry under Alfred Torbert. With
this reinforced Army of the Shenandoah, Sheridan confronted the
greatly outnumbered Early and defeated him at the battles of
Winchester and Fisher’s Hill in September. In their aftermath, he
and his friend and West Point classmate Crook argued over who should
get credit for Crook’s flanking movements that defeated Early. Crook
would soon have other concerns when John Gordon’s troops crushed his
encamped corps in a surprise attack in the fog on the morning of
October 19 at Cedar Creek. With Sheridan away at Winchester for a
military planning meeting, his army reeled (except for the Sixth
Corps) in defeat.
Undaunted when informed of the battle, Sheridan
made his famous ride on Rienzi to his dispirited troops. He rallied
the army, promising them that they would retake their camps this
day. That they did in a sweeping counterattack that devastated
Early’s temporarily victorious army and helped Lincoln to
re-election that Fall. Sheridan’s ride was memorialized in the poem
“Sheridan’s Ride” and Sheridan renamed Rienzi “Winchester”.
Sheridan’s army, while harassed by Mosby’s guerillas, then burnt
much of the Valley in accordance with Grant’s orders and he and his
cavalry finished off the remnants of Early’s army at Waynesboro as
Sheridan made his way back to Grant’s army besieging Lee at
Petersburg.
Sheridan would play a pivotal role
in ending the siege and forcing Lee to surrender the Army of
Northern Virginia in April, 1865. In late March, Grant sent Sheridan
in command of his cavalry (including those commanded by the
flamboyant George Armstrong Custer, Wesley Merritt and George Crook,
recently released from captivity after his kidnapping that winter)
along with the Second and Fifth Corps, commanded respectively by
Andrew Humphreys and Warren (a hero of Gettysburg) to cut the
Southside and Danville railroads and possibly to go on to link up
with Sherman advancing against Joe Johnston in North Carolina,
thereby preventing Lee’s army from joining Johnston. This led to
Sheridan’s decisive victory over Pickett’s troops at Five Forks on
April 1, where 5,000 Confederates surrendered. Pickett’s defeat,
combined with his previous failed attack at Fort Stedman, forced
Lee’s evacuation of Richmond as Grant mounted an all-out attack on
Petersburg. In the midst of his victory over Pickett, Sheridan
dismissed Warren for dereliction as commander of the Fifth Corps for
his unit’s initial confusion in direction in making its flank
attack. Sheridan dismissed Warren’s plea for reconsideration by
saying: “Reconsider, hell! I don’t reconsider my decisions.”
With that, Sheridan headed for
Lee’s retreating army. On April 6, Sheridan’s troops destroyed
Ewell’s corps at Saylor’s Creek, capturing him, six other generals
(including Lee’s son), and 10,000 exhausted soldiers. With Custer in
the lead, Sheridan finally blocked the path of Lee’s rapidly
disintegrating army at Appomattox Court House, where Lee surrendered
on April 9. After the surrender ceremony, Sheridan bought the desk
upon which Grant signed the surrender document, giving it to Custer
the next day.
Grant then ordered Sheridan to take
command of Union forces west of the Mississippi to force the
surrender of Kirby Smith’s army. Sheridan failed to win a respite in
order to participate in the grand review of the Union armies in
Washington in late May. Sheridan spent 1865-1867 in the
trans-Mississippi, first in Texas to offset any threat from the
Emperor Maximilian and former Confederates in Mexico, and then
dealing with the difficult Reconstruction issues in Texas and
Louisiana. Once again embroiled in disputes with fellow officers, he
dismissed generals Edward R.S. Canby, Gordon Granger and Horatio
Wright. He also contravened the policies of President Andrew Johnson
and the Congress, leading to his re-assignment by Johnson and Grant
to head the Department of the Missouri in the western plains,
replacing Winfield Scott Hancock.
Once again, over the next 16 years,
Sheridan would be embroiled in numerous controversies as the army
was assigned the duty of protecting settlers and dealing with
hostile Indian tribes that resisted white encroachment on their
ancestral lands. While Sheridan denied ever saying that the only
good Indian was a dead Indian (more a sentiment attributed to
Sherman), nevertheless, under his leadership the tribes were
eventually defeated and restricted to reservations (with Nelson
Miles and Ranald MacKenzie earning the most credit after Crook’s and
Custer’s defeats in Montana in 1876). In 1875, Sheridan had married
but his honeymoon was cut short by concern over Sioux resistance to
ceding the Black Hills where gold had been discovered by Custer the
previous year. In 1883, Sheridan took President Chester Arthur
(successor to the assassinated James Garfield) on an expedition to
the Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872 with support from
Sheridan, who protected it against miners and developers.
In 1884, Sheridan succeeded Sherman
as commander of the U.S. Army. In August, 1885, along with Sherman,
he accompanied the vast procession in New York City for the funeral
of his patron, Ulysses S. Grant. The following year, he parted ways
with his old classmate and fellow Civil War general George Crook,
who resigned in protest against criticism of his treatment of
Geronimo in Arizona, whom he had persuaded to surrender. Sheridan
died in 1888 of heart disease at age 57, having lived just long
enough to write his memoirs and be appointed to the same four-star
rank as Grant and Sherman before him. His coffin was accompanied by
his battle flag from the battle of Cedar Creek. He was buried in
Arlington Cemetery close to Robert E. Lee’s former home. Sheridan’s
statue in Washington, D.C. was dedicated in 1908.
Patrick Cleburne
Patrick Cleburne was called the
“Stonewall of the West” by Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Robert E. Lee called Cleburne like “a meteor shining from a clouded
sky”. Like Meagher and so many other Civil War soldiers, Cleburne
was Irish-born. Unlike many other Irish-Americans, however, Cleburne
was neither poor nor Catholic. He was born in 1828 and grew up near
Cork as a member of the Protestant gentry. His father was a doctor.
Unfortunately, his mother died at 37 when he was only 1, leaving his
father a widower with 4 children. Then, his father died at 51 when
Patrick was only 15, leaving him an orphan. Six years later, without
notifying his stepmother, Cleburne enlisted in the British army but
served only 3 years before departing Ireland for America. Having
failed to pass exams to become a pharmacist in Ireland, he made his
way to Cincinnati, where he clerked in a drugstore. He quickly moved
on to Helena, Arkansas to work in a drugstore, of which he later
became an owner. After selling it, he became a lawyer. He worked
with fellow lawyer and future Civil War comrade Thomas Hindman to
combat the Know-Nothing party’s campaign against Irish immigrants.
As the 1860 election loomed, Cleburne helped to organize a militia
company (the “Yell Rifles”) in Helena.
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Patrick Cleburne
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After Arkansas voted to secede from
the Union, the Yell Rifles became part of the 1st Arkansas Volunteer
Infantry. Cleburne got off to a rocky start, deposing his state
commander for incompetence, leading to a charge of mutiny against
Cleburne. However, his scheduled court martial was dismissed by
Gideon Pillow, commander of the new Army of Tennessee. Cleburne and
his troops then voted to join the Confederate army under General
William Hardee, who became Cleburne’s friend and patron. Cleburne
would serve as best man at Hardee’s wedding and Hardee would offer
the eulogy at Cleburne’s burial.
Cleburne and his Arkansas troops
were first bloodied at Shiloh in April, 1862. Cleburne had become a
brigade commander in Hardee’s division of Albert Sidney Johnston’s
Army of Tennessee. Cleburne’s brigade attacked Ohio regiments in
Sherman’s division, driving them back on the first day of the
battle. Cleburne and Sherman would meet again in Tennessee and
Georgia. The second day Cleburne’s command was devastated as U.S.
Grant’s reinforced army drove the Confederates under Beauregard from
the field. Cleburne’s 2,700 man brigade suffered over 1,000 killed,
wounded and missing. The commander of his former regiment and the
captain of the Yell Rifles were both killed in this murderous
battle.
Following the Confederate retreat
from Corinth, Cleburne and his brigade participated in the invasion
of Kentucky by Braxton Bragg and Kirby Smith later in 1862. On
August 27, while inquiring about the wounding of his friend Lucius
Polk from the Yell Rifles (and nephew of the bishop-general Leonidas
Polk of the Army of Tennessee), Cleburne was wounded himself
(although only slightly) at the defeat of Don Carlos Buell’s forces
at Richmond. Then on October 8 at Perryville Cleburne was again
wounded, hit by an artillery shell. Nevertheless, his troops
distinguished themselves against a much larger Federal force, which
included Phil Sheridan.
After Bragg’s retreat to
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Cleburne was promoted to major general and
command of a division under Hardee. Cleburne played a prominent role
in the battle of Stones River. His division spearheaded the surprise
attack by Hardee against Alexander McCook’s corps of William
Rosecran’s Army of the Cumberland on the morning of December 31.
Initially successful, they eventually ran up against the diehard
resistance of troops which included Sheridan’s. In the wake of
Bragg’s retreat after his repulse on January 2, 1863, Cleburne was
caught up in the conflict among the officers of the army who were
asked by Bragg for a vote of confidence. Along with Hardee and
others, Cleburne responded that a new commander of the Army of
Tennessee was needed. However, Jefferson Davis, supported by Joseph
Johnston, refused to remove Bragg. Thereafter, Bragg held this
against Hardee and Cleburne. Nevertheless, the fighting quality of
Cleburne and his division were recognized.
This proved true in September at
Chickamauga. Cleburne fought hard on the Confederate right under
Polk, going up against George Thomas. Of his 5,000 man division,
one-third were killed or wounded in the fierce fighting. After the
battle, Bragg accused Polk, his worst critic in the army, and D.H.
Hill for failures to attack effectively. A visit from Davis again
failed to solve this continuing conflict. As the Army of Tennessee
conducted a siege of Rosecran’s army in Chattanooga, Bragg remained
in command.
With Rosecran’s removal by Lincoln,
the appointment of Thomas, and the arrival of Grant and Sherman to
lift the siege, the situation was about to change. Bragg rid himself
of Longstreet, sending him off at his request to attack Burnside in
Knoxville. Beginning with Hooker’s successful attack on Lookout
Mountain on November 24, the Army of the Cumberland was about to
redeem itself for its defeat in September. On November 25, Sheridan
would lead the unordered charge up Missionary Ridge that would
result in the rout of Bragg’s army. However, Grant’s plan of attack
was for Sherman to deliver the main blow. Sherman attacked the north
end of Missionary Ridge. Defending against Sherman at the
Chattanooga and Cleveland Railroad tunnel was Cleburne’s division.
Outnumbered four to one, Cleburne’s force beat back several attacks
that day by Sherman’s 30,000 strong army. With the collapse of
Bragg’s center and left, Cleburne’s embattled division served as the
rear guard of the retreating army. He and his heavily outnumbered
troops prevented further disaster and saved the army’s wagon train
by holding off the pursuing Federals at Ringgold Gap.
While in winter camp and after
Bragg’s replacement finally by Johnston, Cleburne came to the most
controversial decision of his military career. On January 2, 1864,
before the assembled (fractious) high command of the Army of
Tennessee, the naïve Cleburne read his proposal to overcome the
North’s numerical military superiority (including its Negro
regiments) by arming slaves with a guarantee of freedom for fighting
for the South. Cleburne argued that Southern independence was more
important than the preservation of slavery. For this, he was
denounced by many of his fellow officers, some of whom considered
this to be treason. Despite being sworn to secrecy by Johnston,
Cleburne’s proposal was leaked by a fellow officer to Davis, who
suppressed it for fear that it would destroy his government. This
setback was offset by Cleburne’s pursuit and engagement with Sue
Tarleton, the maid of honor at Hardee’s wedding in Mobile later that
January.
That spring and summer found
Cleburne and his troops playing an important role in Johnston (and
then Hood)’s attempt to prevent Sherman’s much larger army from
capturing Atlanta. At the end of May, Cleburne is credited with
saving the army’s right wing from destruction at Pickett’s Mill. On
June 27, Cleburne’s entrenched division again stopped an assault by
Sherman. Versus 8,000 attackers who lost 800 killed and wounded at
the battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Cleburne’s losses were only 2
killed and 9 wounded.
Davis’ choice of Hood over Hardee
to replace Johnston as Sherman approached Atlanta after repeatedly
flanking Johnston was very disappointing to Cleburne. As was no
doubt Hood passing over him in appointing Frank Cheatham instead to
command Hood’s corps. Cleburne and his division were in the thick of
the fighting triggered by Hood’s offensive attacks on Sherman from
July through September in his defense of Atlanta. On July 22 at Bald
Hill, Cleburne’s troops killed Ohioan James Birdseye McPherson, the
only Union army commander killed in battle. On August 31 and
September 1, in his only opportunity to command a corps (Hardee’s),
Cleburne failed to defeat the Federals under Thomas and Logan at
Jonesboro. Hood blamed Hardee for this defeat. The next day Hood
evacuated Atlanta, sealing Lincoln’s victory in the Fall election.
Cleburne and his troops and their
comrades were dispirited by these defeats and Sherman’s capture of
Atlanta. They blamed Hood, who nevertheless remained in command. He
failed to prevent Sherman from mounting his March to the Sea. Hood
then began his doomed campaign to invade Tennessee and capture
Nashville. Instead, he would largely destroy what remained of the
Army of Tennessee, the finale being George Thomas’ victory at
Nashville in December.
Cleburne nevertheless did his duty.
However, he once again was caught up in one of the many setbacks of
the Army of Tennessee. On November 29 at Spring Hill, Tennessee, due
to confusing orders, Frank Cheatham’s corps, including Cleburne’s
division, allowed John Schofield’s fleeing Federals to retreat that
night almost directly through the sleeping Confederates, whom Hood
had ordered to block their retreat. The next day, a furious Hood
denounced his generals and then ordered a hurried attack on
Schofield, now entrenched in Franklin enroute to Nashville. Instead
of following Nathan Bedford Forrest’s advice to flank the Federals,
Hood ordered an assault by his 20,000 troops even before the
artillery arrived to support them. Surpassing the Pickett-Pettigrew
assault at Gettysburg in both bravery and futility, the Army of
Tennessee lost over 6,000 in this desperate attack. A despondent
Cleburne before the attack responded to one of his fellow Arkansan
commander’s foreboding that many of them would not get back to
Arkansas by saying “If we are to die, let us die like men”. His last
words to Hood were reported as: “I will take the enemy’s works or
fall in the attempt”. Twice unhorsed leading his men, Cleburne died
from a shot through his heart 50 yards from the Federal breastworks.
He was one of several Southern generals killed in this disastrous,
ill-advised attack. Enroute to Franklin, he had admired the chapel
at Lucious Polk’s estate, saying: “It is almost worth dying to rest
in so sweet a spot”. Polk had Cleburne buried there, although he was
re-interred and buried in Helena in 1870. Hardee said this about his
protégé Pat Cleburne:
“[He was] an Irishman by birth, a Southerner by adoption and
residence, a lawyer by profession, a soldier in the British army by
accident, and a soldier in the Southern armies from patriotism and
conviction of duty in his manhood”.
The New York City Draft Riots
For five days beginning July 13,
1863, the Irish of New York City went on a rampage against both the
military draft enacted March 1, 1863 (an extension of the 1862
draft) and also Negroes. For the mostly impoverished population,
much less enthusiastic after two years of war and fearful of the
impact on their economic future after Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation, the draft was especially galling. Anyone who could
afford it could pay $300 or pay a substitute that amount to evade
the draft. Poor Irish-American immigrants could not afford the
former and would be many of the substitutes hired to serve in the
Union armies. The law also ended the earlier draft exemption of the
city’s voluntary fire department.
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The New
York City Draft Riots as depicted in Harpers Weekly,
August 1, 1863
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The prior hostility of the Irish to
abolition and emancipation was aggravated in New York City in June,
1863 when 3,000 striking mostly Irish stevedores on the city’s docks
were replaced by Negroes, protected by the police. As the draftees’
names became known, mobs of rioters attacked the draft offices, as
well as police stations. The police superintendent barely survived
but the head of the local militia was hung. Ironically, the head of
the draft was Colonel Robert Nugent, formerly of the Irish 69th
regiment, whose house was burned. Wounded at Fredericksburg, Nugent
would be the last commander of the Irish Brigade. Across the city,
Negroes became targets of the angry mobs. The rioting ended with the
return of New York troops sent to Gettysburg earlier that month. The
exact number of dead is unknown but it is likely that the number
well exceeded 100 and was estimated to be as high as a thousand.
Following the restoration of order,
the conscription law was temporarily suspended. After its
reinstatement, the city governments of New York City and Brooklyn
agreed to buy exemptions for those wishing them but unable to afford
the cost, helping to deflate continuing opposition to the draft. The
New York City draft riots were the largest anti-war outburst of its
kind, in contrast to the opposition of many “Copperheads” (Peace
Democrats) to Lincoln’s war policies.
Conclusion
Despite their lowly economic and
social status, their political affiliation with the Democratic party
(as opposed to Lincoln’s party in the North), and discrimination
against them, Irish-Americans distinguished themselves in the Civil
War. They enlisted (and re-enlisted) in great numbers and served
with distinction on many battlefields on both sides, suffering heavy
casualties in some of the bloodiest engagements. Seventy
Irish-American Union soldiers received the Medal of Honor. They
produced some of the outstanding generals, most notably Sheridan for
the North and Cleburne for the South.
In the North, the major blot of the
war was the opposition of many Irish-Americans to abolition and the
1863 New York City anti-draft and anti-Negro riots. The hope of many
Irish-Americans that service in the both armies would then lead to
participation in a post-war military uprising to liberate Ireland
from British Unionist rule was not realized. The Fenians, who
attempted post-war invasions of Canada, were eclipsed by the Home
Rule movement in Ireland until the Rising of 1916 amidst World War I
and the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922.
References
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