During the American Civil War (1861-1865) some 170,000 Irish-born soldiers fought for both the Union and the Confederacy. In this video I’ll explore the stories of Irish-Americans who fought in the American Civil War.
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Sunday Dub – Kevin MacLeod
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"As between the loss of independence and the loss of slavery, we assume that every patriot will freely give up the latter"
Clearly, Cleburn assumed wrong in regard to the Southern elites. The majority of of the planter class in the deep "cotton" South was willing to sacrifice almost everything, just to keep their slaves and the economic privileges that came along with it (in the "upper" South like Virginia too, but to a lesser extent).
Answer: Become a fledgling mistreated minority.
I'm from the US, and tbh I didn't know at all the Irish were in the Civil War but honestly it makes sense, since a lot of people from Ireland left during the Irish famine to other countries especially the US, I can see how a lot of the soldiers in the Civil War were Irish.
Thanks for another great and very informative video, I knew only some of the information and benefited greatly from it. I knew about the Irish brigade because of the flag preserved in the State House in Boston. From being 2nd class citizens to being politically important was a trajectory followed by my Irish forebears in Massachusetts, firstly and even today being very prominent in the police, fire and EMS here in Massachusetts, and eventually replacing the Anglo Americans at the top of the political sphere. Not being particularly saintly, the Irish had their own rather infamous mafia. It should be noted that the Irish and Scots Irish didn't get along with each other particularly well, though better here than in Northern Ireland. The Fenians actually launched raids against Canada, and the Canadian government allowed Confederate support, and did not punish the raiders from Canadian soil against St. Albans, VT, Oct. 19, 1864.
The present amity between the US, Canada, UK and Ireland was hard to come by, and some Irish Americans continued to support IRA activities until Sen. Edward Kennedy took a principled stand against it. Of course, as the Irish have blended in to the larger society, my ancestry includes Anglo American people who fought to expel the redcoats in the 1770's as well as German and Eastern European immigrants.
You are right that even in America, many Irish descendents have only some knowledge of Irish participation in the Civil War, though they may eat Irish soda bread, drink beer or whisky and celebrate St. Patrick's Day, they are only dimly aware of being Irish, for the most part. The assimilation is almost complete now, whereas in my parents' generation wearing orange was still an offense and some neighborhoods were known to break stoplights unless the Green was above the red and orange.
My great grandfather and great uncle both Irish born were in that conflict and my great uncle would have a political carrier
General Meagher designed an early version of the modern Irish flag! I lived in Ireland a few years back and it’ll always be my second home to me.
I was aware, we did this in school under modern history (1850 – 1950) – it was modern history at that time 🙂
While I didn't know about the actual numbers, I was very aware of Irish history here in the US as I am from there and have a great deal of Irish ancestors. You might want to look at the Irish involvement in the Mexican-american war. There was an atrocity the US did against the Irish during the conflict.
Currently, reading a book called "When the Irish invaded Canada." The true story of when Civil War veterans fought for Irish freedom. Invaded Canada to hold it for ransom against England. It's an exciting read. It was written by Christopher Klein.
I'd be one of 20'00 😳
My great great grandfather, Robert Black, who was from County Derry, was a corporal in the 33rd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. His mother was Scots-Irish and his father was Scottish. He was most likely raised Protestant, but converted to Catholicism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1jT7yWj8LM
Please do one about Germans in the civil war. I have a relative who fought in the second German rifles
Never knew about Irish fighting in the American Civil War and I'm Irish. Thanks for the great information, really good video.
Quick question. What is a native Irishman. Isn’t that Viking/pict. Like we say Anglo. And will someone please explain to me why the island of Ireland isn’t classed as a British isle. Sorry for sounding stupid I’m not trying to upset anyone.
name of the intro music?
One of my Ancestors was one of these Irish born Union soldiers. I believe he served in the 29th Connecticut volunteer regiment. Fought in 2 battles before being a POW, but was freed in an exchange program.
A tangent perhaps, but what surprised was that anyone could find the clip of Kennedy presenting the flag. They tended to reuse tape back then.
Now, the point here is, there were Scotch-Irish in America. These people adopted that title to differenciate themselves from the actual Irish. They may have been born in Ireland but they would never, in a million years, describe themselves as Irish. As Wellington may have said, when reminded that he was born in Ireland…"…just because you are born in a stable, that does not make you a donkey" The biggest problem for any modern "historian", no offense Hibert, is to come to terms with the racism that different white groups faced in America. Be they Irish, Italian, Polish or Jewish.
Great video, I cover the topic of the Irish diaspora post-famine in my video: "What if the Irish Potato Famine Had Never Happened?" Check it out and let me know your thoughts!
THEY KILLED EACH OTHER OF COURSE BECAUSE THE ANGLO-AMERICANS WANTED THEM TOO.
Been interested in my country men's involvement in the civil war since I heard the fighting 69. Always find it funny how for a country that's remained neutral we always seem to have an involvement in so many wars lol
Then there was the uprisings in Australia like the eureka stockade and the rum rebellion that mainly Irish.
All Americans except native are from across the sea, I would have a look at the 1863 New York draft riots to see how noble is Irish really are
The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin has a wing devoted to Irishmen who fought abroad, including the American Civil War.
Tfw you're an Irish Union minor officer leading a battalion of Hawaiians against a Confederate troop made up of Latino and Native Americans led by a Thai officer. Meanwhile, the rest of the union soldiers are waiting for their supplies which are late because the Greek captain from Chicago got caught up fighting the Greek privateers who had a stake in the port of New Orleans. Because of this, you look at your fellow Jewish officer to see what you can do about the intelligence situation and he says that while the situation is not favorable, recent victories in the war have nabbed one of the personal physicians of the Confederate high command, who also happens to be Jewish.
And while this standoff is indeed fictional, each and every group referenced here is very real.
I first heard about the Irish involved in the American civil war through such songs like "The fighting 69th" by The wolfe tones and "The Irish volunteer" by David Kincaid, Kincaid actually has many songs about the Irish during the civil war and i highly recommend giving him a listen
If your parents went to America and then had you, you are not Irish. Waste of time watching this, because you clearly are talking about Americans fighting Americans wow.
" Biddy" was a nickname for any Irish woman of the working classes – so there could indeed be multiple "Biddies"
There is an famous Irish Song 🎵 by the Wolfe Tones called
"The Fighting 69th " and what a song it is 🇮🇪☘ 🇺🇸
The answer is die
History Channel, at the surrender of the southern Irish, said the North won because they had more Irishmen than they did. Yes, people in Irland need to know this.
Starving (see what I did there? 2 jokes in one!)
As an Irishman I was only partly aware of the influence the Irish made on the civil war due to me obviously knowing about the Irish famine immigrants but I was not aware of the extreme extent of soldiers who fought on both sides on the American civil war who were Irish. Hilbert thank you for informing me about this I'm glad there is someone on the Youtube who is talking about these obscure moments in Irish history and to other lesser known western European histories like the basque or the Catalonias. I know you have done a video on the Spanish civil war and you briefly mentioned volunteers from other nations but you could possibly mention in maybe a new video of the prominence of Irish on both sides with the blue shirts of Ireland siding with the Spanish facists
Hilbert i also suggest some of the lesser known Celtic diasporas in the Americas like Welsh Patagonia, Nova Scotia or Newfoundland
I would like to learn about the Russian contribution to the war and yes they were involved.
I have known about the Irish in the Amerikan Civil War for many years. Just as I have known about the Germans and the German-Amerikaner who fought on both sides of that conflict. This is due to my love of History my Irish Father and my Mother of Wuppertal- Vohwinkel near Venlo. Both who agreed on perhaps only upon their mutual loathing of the bloody "Khakis" aka the Englisch.
let us not forget the union "colored" troops who numbered some 250,000. ever watch the movie…glory..I am proud to have the friendship of yvonne whose great grandfather was the color bearer in that unit. the "colored" troops made all the difference in the civil war victory by the union
Irish Biddy reminded me of The Morrigan rather than a Valykrie,
It would be interesting to see an in depth video on the role of Germans in the American civil war they made up the largest ethnic group of soldiers but are seldom given the credit
Please talk about the the irish battalion
My great, great grandfather came over from Galway to Richmond, VA i think in 1858 or 1859. He was in the 1st VA infantry, but was discharged in 1862 to repair muskets in Richmond. One he was working on exploded and he lost his arm as a result. However, if he had stayed with his regiment he would have participated in Pickett's charge.
There were literally multiple Irish immigrants generals in the Confederacy. See: Patrick Cleburne
Gilbert, this is an excellent video about the American Civil War, it was meticulously researched and you took your time to learn the name of places where the battles took place. The history of Irish in America is the history of America.
But if you ask the Irish they'll probably tell you that they were mostly drunk.
Many Irish were already in the Army and had fought in the Mexican War prior to choosing to side with the CSA.