Irish Americans in the Confederate Army

By Sean Michael O'Brien
Illustrated, preface, epilogue, selected bibliography, appendices, endnotes, index, 256 pp., 2007. McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers, Box 611, Jefferson, NC28640, $55 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Richard J. Blumberg
Richard J. Blumberg has a master's degree with honors in Civil War studies. He is past president of the Houston Civil War Round Table and is a speaker for that group and the Society of Women in the Civil War. He also reviews books for the Blue and Gray Education Society.

Review:
A quick look through America's history shows that Irish immigrants made significant contributions to this great nation. Many Civil War readers are familiar with the famed Irish Brigade that so ably served the Union Army. However, few of the stories of Emerald Isle immigrants who served in the Confederacy have been told.

Freelance writer and retired educator Sean Michael O'Brien attempts to remedy that problem with his study, Irish Americans in the Confederate Army. Not only does O'Brien solve the problem, he tells a wonderful story that relates the hardships, depravity, courage and unity experienced by these young men and their families.

Starting with the immigration patterns from Ireland to the various Southern ports along the Atlantic seaboard and Gulf Coast, he traces the path many Irish took in settling the major Southern cities that still have a rich Irish culture today. Places like New Orleans, Mobile and Charleston played very prominently in the lives of Southern Irish.

Looking for a new and better life in America, these Irish immigrants fully embraced and became an active part of Southern culture and ideology. Ironically, however, the Irish always seemed to settle in the poorest and roughest parts of each of these major cities.

Irish settlers not only brought their language and cultures with them, but also their strong military skills and leadership traits.

O'Brien does a wonderful job discussing Irish Confederates who served at all levels in the Army of Northern Virginia, the Army of Tennessee, and those who served in the Mississippi and Trans-Mississippi campaigns. From private to general, Irish Confederates served in virtually every major engagement of the Civil War.

Among the most famous battles with a large Southern Irish contingency were: First and Second Manassas (Bull Run), Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness Campaign, Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, the Atlanta Campaign and Franklin.

The battles mentioned above indicate that Southern Irish not only fought in every major battle, but in both the Eastern and Western theaters. From Virginia to Texas, throughout the lower Mississippi River valley and everywhere in between, companies and regiments composed of Irish immigrants could be found.

O'Brien notes that one dream that was never realized for Southern Irish was a purely Irish brigade, like the one that served in the Union Army of the Potomac. Instead, many companies or regiments had large concentrations of Irish soldiers and were scattered throughout the Confederacy.

Irish Confederates, like their Union counterparts, fought bravely and admirably wherever they served. Perhaps the most famous Irish Confederate was Gen. Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, who was killed at the battle of Franklin.

In order to give the reader a better perspective of all Irish Confederates, O'Brien compiled several appendices from his research to chronicle various companies and regiments with Irish soldiers, by state.

The book is an easy read, filled with helpful battle maps and illustrations. The bibliography is extensive and the chapter endnotes are organized nicely. At $55, the price may initially seem a bit high, but the extensive research done more than offsets the price.

The book is a treasure trove of Irish factoids and personal stories of Irish Americans and how they lived during the American Civil War. It is an excellent resource on Irish soldiers and provides insight into some of the more Celtic military tactics used during the Civil War.