The Irish Experience in the Civil War (continued)
ehind
the their surprisingly strong pro-Union sentiment, the Irish were motivated
to enlist by four key factors:
- Obligation
to Their Adopted Land. Many Irish leaders, even though they had
opposed Lincoln and his party before the war, felt compelled to defend
the constitutional integrity of the country that had provided them
asylum from tyranny and persecution at home. The New York Irish-American
called on its readers "by the sacred memories of the past, by
your remembrance of the succor extended to your suffering brethren,
by the future hope of your native land here
taking root... to be true to the land of your adoption in this crisis."
The Boston Pilot, well aware of prejudice against the Irish
and staunchly anti-Republican in the 1850s, nonetheless urged its
Irish-Catholic readers in 1861 to "Stand by the Union; fight
for the Union; die by the Union." Whatever hardships they had
enountered in America, the Irish felt they had a debt to repay and
their allegiance to the government in its hour of need was one way
to make good on it.
- Acceptance
in American Society. Many Irish felt that participation in the
war offered an opportunity to overcome nativist suspicions. They might
prove that "although the Celts be hyphenated Americans in name,
they were one hundred percent Americans in deed." The Boston
Pilot looked toward the day when future generations of Irish could
proudly say that "we too are Americans, and our fathers bled
and died to establish this country." They may have been overly
optimistic when they believed that Irish valor on the battlefield
would erase generations of ingrained prejudice, but in 1861, as the
government sought to rally every group in society around the flag,
anything seemed possible.
- The
Promise of a Free Ireland.
Perceived
British support for the Confederacy naturally increased Irish support
for the North, many believing that the break-up of the United States
would only enhance England as a world power. Many of the Irish were
also convinced that if a war for the liberation of Ireland were ever
to be launched, America would be its logical base of operations and
the Civil War could provide valuable military experience for the men
who would obtain their homeland's freedom. Wrote one Irish-American
poet: "When concord and peace to this land are restored, and
the union's established forever, brave sons of Hibernia, oh, sheathe
not the sword, you will then have union to sever."
- Escape
from Poverty. Economic dislocation caused by the secession crisis
hit the working classes hardest. Unemployed Irish laborers and domestic
servants often found enlistment in the Union army to be the only alternative
to starvation. These economic pressures would ease as the war went
on, but financial incentives to serve in the military, later enhanced
by the government with large enlistment bonuses, would always have
their greatest impact on impoverished Northerners like the Irish.
Eventual
Disillusionment with the War
While
the Irish had many reasons to support the Union cause, their enthusiasm
did not last. With the war entering its second year in 1863, it became
very difficult for ethnic Irish units to attract new recruits, and most
Irish community leaders had turned against the war.
By
then, Washington's purposes had come to include emancipation of slaves,
a goal that Irish-Americans could not support with the same zeal they
had mustered in defense of the Union. Nor did it appear that the
war would enhance opportunities for the liberation of Ireland, since
so many Irishmen would have fought for that cause had spilled their
blood in an American war instead.
The
Boston Pilot lamented in 1863: "We did not cause this war,
[but] vast numbers of ourpeople have perished in it." The newspaper
declared that "the Irish spirit for the war is dead!... Our fighters
are dead." The New York draft riots of the same year brought to
a boil the simmering Irish resentment at sacrificing life and limb to
help free black slaves. While some Irish-Americans would continue to
enlist for service in the Union army, neither their numbers nor their
spirit would match the early days of the war.
There
was nothing intrinsic about Irish support for the Northern cause. Those
who settled in the South had no trouble accepting the Confederacy's
rationale for war. In many ways, in fact, it was probably more natural
for them. As a mostly rural people, the Irish could readily defend the
Southern way of life. They also saw secession from the Union as analogous
to Ireland's longing for freedom from British rule. It didn't hurt that
in the Confederacy, a cult of white supremacy and continued black slavery
would keep the Irish from slipping to the lowest rung on the social
ladder.
Nor
did the Irish who remained in the old country show any strong allegiance
to the Northern cause. Public opinion in Ireland was overwhelmingly
against Lincoln's attempt to preserve the Union by force. The Irish
back home abhorred the bloodshed, were hostile toward Protestant abolitionists,
resented Northern recruiting efforts in Ireland, and were horrorified
at the idea of Irishmen fighting Irishmen on American battlefields.
All of these factors conspired to turn most inhabitants of Ireland against
the war in general, and the Union cause in particular.
One
of the few exceptions to this rule was the sympathy some of the more
extreme Irish nationalists felt for the Union, although they were clearly
more interested in the fate of Ireland than in the young republic across
the ocean. They thrilled to the exploits of Irish soldiers in the American
Civil War, believing that the reputation of all Irishmen benefited from
the courage demonstrated by such units as the Irish Brigade.
"It
has restored the somewhat tarnished military prestige of our race,"
declared a Fenian-published newspaper, The Irish People. "It
has restored the Irish people's weakened confidence in the courage of
their hearts and the might of their arms."
The
nationalists also had hopes that in tangible ways, the war in America
might ultimately lead to the liberation of Ireland. A victorious North
could supply arms and experienced Irish warriors to throw off the British
yoke. Like their countrymen in America, however, the nationalists' hope
faded as they watched their best fighters die on American rather than
Irish battlefields.
Adapted
in part from Lawrence F. Kohl's introduction to The
Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns by D.P. Conyngham, originally
published in 1867 and now reprinted in a fascimile edition by Fordham
University Press.