John Dooley’s Civil War

Richmond native John Dooley served in the First Virginia Infantry Regiment between 1862 and 1865. The Dooleys were one of the South’s most prominent Irish-American families, and counted figures such as John Mitchel amongst their family friends. Both during and after the conflict John Dooley recorded his experiences in the Confederate army, offering an insight into not only Irish service in the Army of Northern Virginia but also Southern Irish advocacy of the Lost Cause. Robert Emmett Curran has compiled a new edition of Dooley’s writings, published as part of Peter S. Carmichael’s Voices of the Civil War series with The University of Tennessee Press.

John Dooley’s father John Senior had emigrated to the United States from Co. Limerick in 1832. He eventually became the owner of an extremely successful hat-making business, the Great Southern Hat and Cap Manufactory, based in Richmond. A pre-war Captain of the ‘Montgomery Guards’, John Senior served at First Manassas with the Irish militia unit, which by now formed part of Company C, 1st Virginia Infantry. John was forced to resign due to advancing years in April 1862; his eldest son James received a dangerous wound at the Battle of Williamsburg a month later which would also eventually force his departure from the 1st Virginia. John junior joined the regiment in August 1862 at the age of 20, thus maintaining the family’s connection with the unit.

Some of John Dooley’s writings about the American Civil War have been previously published by Joseph T. Durkin, in his 1945 John Dooley, Confederate Soldier: His War Journal. However much of this was abridged and large parts of Dooley’s original writings omitted, principally as a result of the confused nature of the archive. Dooley did not write a straightforward narrative account of his time in Confederate service; instead his diary is formed from a number of different manuscripts written at different periods of his wartime and post-bellum life. Initially serving as a Private in Company D of the 1st Virginia, Dooley was present at battles such as Second Manassas, Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg. He had risen to become a Lieutenant in Company C by the time of the Gettysburg Campaign, where he was wounded and taken prisoner during Pickett’s Charge. He spent the following years as a prisoner of war, before being paroled in February 1865 during the Confederacy’s dying days. A devout Catholic, John Dooley decided to become a Jesuit after the war’s conclusion. He died at an early age in 1873 as a result of TB, perhaps brought on by his prolonged time in the field and in prison.

There are many interesting details to be found in John Dooley’s writings about the Civil War. He communicates the often monotonous life of soldiers on campaign (and later in prison), and the tedium and repetition that such an existence involved. His description of being a part of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg is a fascinating insight into the experiences of one the participants in that most famous of Confederate assaults. Dooley reserves his most vivid descriptions of the battlefield and it’s aftermath for his time as a wounded soldier awaiting treatment on the field at Gettysburg, when he encountered a horrifying array of wounded and disabled men during his long wait at a field hospital. Amongst the other common themes in Dooley’s writings are his family’s close relationship with the Irish patriot John Mitchel. John Mitchel’s son Willie served with Dooley, and the two were friends-Willie was among those killed during Pickett’s assault at Gettysburg. Dooley provides an interesting account of his and fellow Confederate parolee’s efforts to keep up with the ever shrinking Confederacy after Appomattox in 1865, as they journey from town to town in Virginia and North Carolina seeking to keep up with the fleeing administration and searching out Confederate forces.

One of the more interesting aspects of John Dooley’s service is that he held the unique position in the 1st Virginia Infantry of being the only non-commissioned soldier to be accompanied by his own slave, Ned Haines, presumably one of the 10 listed as belonging to the Dooley family in 1860. Ned joined Dooley on campaign in 1862 and was with the Irish-American as far as Gettysburg, helping to forage and construct shelters for him and his messmates throughout the Eastern Theater. We learn nothing of Ned’s fate following Dooley’s capture in the summer of 1863.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Dooley’s writings are how he clearly reworked certain passages of text to have it form a document that was unstinting in its support for the Lost Cause. Curran in his introduction describes the Lost Cause as those seeking to portray the Confederacy as ‘a decent, honorable community seeking independence to preserve its way of life; God-like military leaders and their courageous, fallen soldiers, defeated only by superior numbers and industrial might; a collective identity as victims who ironically survive; and the hope that God in His providence will someday bring their cause to fruition.’ Time and again Dooley returns to discuss the waves of foreign hirelings (including Irish) that are duped into Union service to fight against the Confederacy. After his capture at Gettysburg Dooley describes how he chastises an Irish Union soldier who had fought with John Mitchel in 1848: ‘how could he consistently turn his back on his principles, and for the pitiful hire of a few dollars do all in his power to crush a brave people asserting their rights of self government; and now that he was engaged in the cause of tyranny, fighting against honesty, justice, and right, and moreover against those very gallant young men he was seeking to hear of [the Mitchel family], what, we asked, would Mr. Mitchel think of him? The poor fellow’s eyes filled with tears.’ (1)

This extensive publication draws to a close with an 1870 poem written by Dooley which brings forth his post-war views about what defeat had thus far meant for the South. Here the unfettered capitalism of the North has been unleashed on the Southern States, leading to widespread corruption and the stripping of the region’s identity and way of life. Interestingly his view on aspects such as slavery remained unchanged, as he was convinced that former slaves had been forced to give up what he saw as a relatively secure and benevolent way of life for one where they would have to fend for themselves on the lowest rung of a cruel and uncaring society: ‘When in the South did ever the humblest slave, Like beast uncared, sink in the Potter’s grave. When have the hardest working slaves been known To be in want of bread or greasy bone? When worked so hard beneath the master’s whip As northern matrons pinched by hunger’s grip; Pale, wretched by the weary candle’s light They pass away like shadows in the night.’ (2)

Robert Emmett Curran has done an excellent job of editing these important writings, which provide a window into the war and post-war views of some of the more affluent members of the Southern Irish-American community. Copious notes present valuable additional detail which compliment Dooley’s narrative, particularly with regard to later ‘Lost Cause’ additions. For anyone seeking to understand the viewpoints of many of those Irish and Irish-Americans who fought with and staunchly supported the Confederacy, John Dooley’s Civil War is an essential addition to your bookshelf.

(1) Curran (ed.) 2012: xxv, 174; (2) Ibid: 412

References

Curran, Robert Emmett (ed.) 2012. John Dooley’s Civil War: An Irish American’s Journey in the First Virginia Infantry Regiment. 516pp.

*I am grateful to The University of Tennessee Press for providing a review copy of this book

Grant's Final Victory

Ulysses S. Grant is best remembered as the Union commander who finally defeated Robert E. Lee, and as a two-term President of the United States. His Personal Memoirs has become one of the most famous and widely read of military texts, and is a staple of anyone interested in the American Civil War. In Grant’s Final Victory, author Charles Bracelen Flood describes how personal tragedy and financial ruin shaped the creation of the Memoirs, as a dying man sought to provide for the future of his family.

The post-bellum period is rightly receiving increasing attention from scholars, as efforts are made to try and understand the impact the conflict had on the later lives of those who lived through it. There was perhaps no veteran better known than Ulysses S. Grant. Flood, the author of books such as Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that Won the Civil War and Lee: The Last Years begins his narrative in 1884, when the world of Ulysses S. Grant began to unravel. Having failed to win a third Republican nomination for President in 1879, Grant had embarked on a World Tour (which included a visit to Ireland) before returning to the U.S. and becoming involved in an investment banking firm named Grant & Ward. The future seemed bright as the business grew and money seemingly flowed in. Financial worries for the General and his family seemed a thing of the past.

Although not particularly savvy when it came to financial markets, Grant placed his trust in James Fish and Ferdinand Ward who were experts in the industry. Everything collapsed for Grant when it was revealed that the operations of the firm had been a financial swindle by these two men, leaving Grant, and much of his extended family who had also invested, penniless. To compound the situation Grant learned soon afterwards that he was suffering from throat cancer, with only slim prospects for survival. Despite the good-will of the thousands of veterans who had served under him, the spectre of his family being left without financial security following his death haunted Grant.

Throughout most of his post-war career Grant had refused to write memoirs or provide personal accounts of his service. His changed circumstances altered that, and Grant set to work at a feverish pace to produce the book that would provide for his family when he was gone. Flood’s narrative of the great man’s final year of life is filled with a sequence of events and cast of characters that make this book difficult to put down. They include Grant’s loving wife Julia, who supported her ‘Ulyss’ to the end, Mark Twain, who published the Memoirs and befriended the General, and William H. Vanderbildt, one of the wealthiest men in America who showed great kindness to the family following their financial disaster.

Grant at Mount McGregor working on his Memoirs. At this point he had a large tumor on the side of his neck (Library of Congress)

The author has successfully mined personal and print media accounts which allow the reader to follow Grant through these final months. The conqueror of Lee spent his last weeks in a house on Mt. McGregor in upstate New York, taking advantage of the clearer air to complete his work (interestingly, among the small group of family and staff that accompanied him was a maid who’s discretion with the press regarding Grant’s illness earned her the title of  ’the tight-mouthed daughter of the Emerald Isle’). Flood documents the dying man’s final, incredible efforts to finish the Memoirs, as his health continued to fail. He completed his 291,000 word, two volume book on 20th July, less than a year after he started writing. Only days later, on 23rd July 1885, the 63 year old died- having accomplished what he set out to do.

Grant’s Final Victory presents a different side of Ulysses S. Grant to the one we witness in books that chart his Civil War exploits. Here is a man stoically facing his own mortality, trying to deal with the betrayal that financially exposed him and his family. His response was to produce one of the finest pieces of literature of his day, and one which achieved its goal of providing for those closest to him. Charles Bracelen Flood brings this story to life, and opens up for us a new perspective on Ulysses S. Grant.

*I am grateful to Da Capo Press for providing a review copy of this book

References & Further Reading

Flood, Charles Bracelen 2011. Grant’s Final Victory: Ulysses S. Grant’s Heroic Last Year. 288pp.

Ulysses S. Grant Cottage

This book is an excellent addition to the available literature on Peter Tait and the uniforms he produced for the South. A significant amount of research has been undertaken not only into the Tait contracts with the Confederacy and State of Alabama, but also on his rise to prominence. The authors outline how the Scotsman revolutionised his industry by creating production lines using steam-powered sewing machines. Whereas many uniform manufacturers relied on home seamstresses to make their suits, Tait’s method was capable of producing vast quantities of clothing, and gave him a considerable edge in the market.

The background to the signing of the contracts with the South and the important role of Peter’s older brother James is outlined, as is the company’s business relationship with Alexander Collie. The author’s describe the latter as ‘something of a scoundrel’ and indeed their research into the man would seem to bear this out. Barry and Burt provide new detail on Tait’s use of blockade runners, and are able to put some long-held misconceptions to rest with regard to the extent of the Tait fleet. Contrary to what has been written elsewhere, the only ship in which he owned a share was the Evelyn, and they demonstrate that two others with which he is often connected, the Kelpie and Elwy, were never contracted by the Limerick company.

As would be expected the book explores the surviving Tait uniforms in detail, including a fascinating section on where the business sourced its wool. A compelling argument is put forward that suggests that a number of the Tait style Confederate jackets were not in fact produced by Tait at all. The story does not end with the conclusion of the Civil War; the attempt by the United States Government to sue the company is described, as is the sad story of Tait’s ultimate decline and fall, a process which seems to have begun following his decision to embark upon a political career.

There is no significant overlap between this book and Imported Confederate Uniforms of Peter Tait & Co., Limerick, Ireland, which focuses more on the uniform particulars of the Tait clothing. Indeed both compliment each other well, and together they provide the two most significant publications on Tait’s relationship with the Confederacy yet produced.

Supplier to the Confederacy, Peter Tait & Co, Limerick contains no fewer than 16 appendices, providing additional detail on everything from blockade runners to dyestuffs to Tait’s obituary. At 131 pages including the appendices it is a short and enjoyable volume, albeit one which is absolutely packed with detail. The authors’ impressive research has helped to bring many facets of the Tait story to light, and the result is a must-read for anyone interested in Confederate uniforms or indeed the Confederacy’s trade with Europe. It is also an important addition to the literature available on the Irish experience of the Civil War.

References & Further Reading

Barry, Craig L. & Burt, David C. 2011. Supplier to the Confederacy: Peter Tait & Co, Limerick. 131pp.

Burt and Barry Suppliers to the Confederacy Publications Facebook Page

Seven different scholars have provided papers for the book, with each focusing on a different aspect of the experience of one of these ‘outside groups’. It is edited and introduced by Susannah J. Ural, Associate Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi and a Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of War and Society. Professor Ural has previously authored The Harp and the Eagle: Irish-American Volunteers and the Union Army, 1861- 1865, an excellent study of the motivations and experiences of the Irish community in the North during the Civil War.

The first two chapters concentrate on the German experience of the war, North and South. Even though more Germans fought in the American Civil War than any other immigrant group, there is surprisingly little written about their involvement, and it is informative to compare their war with that of the Irish. Stephen D. Engle explains how German communities in the North often grouped together in ‘Kleindeutschlands’ (Little Germanies), and formed organisations such as the German American Turnvereine; these ‘Turners’ were some of the first to mobilize for the war. Despite their commitment to service, German troops often endured extreme prejudice from comrades, a problem which became particularly prevalent following the rout of the largely German 11th Corps at the Battle of Chancellorsville. The Germans in the South often had markedly different experiences of the war dependent on where they lived, as Andrea Mehrländer discusses. While many Germans in Charleston were in a position to establish themselves in Southern society through business activities such as blockade running, those in Richmond struggled with being branded traitors and collaborators due to their close ties with German communities in the nearby North and the compassion they demonstrated towards wounded and captured German Federals.

Chapters 3 and 4 focus on the Irish experience. From a Northern perspective, Susannah Ural examines the motivations behind Irish enlistment in Union armies and concludes that many exhibited a dual loyalty to both Ireland and the United States. For example, some were Fenians who joined up to gain military experience for a future attempt to free Ireland, while others sought to preserve the United States as a refuge for Irish immigrants. The Irish in the North remained staunch supporters of the Democratic Party throughout the course of the conflict, and often distrusted Republicans and Abolitionists who they associated with the Know Nothing movement. Terrible casualties during the battles of 1862, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the Draft combined to cause a dramatic reduction in Irish support for the war, which manifested itself in outbreaks of violence such as the 1863 New York City Draft Riot. This opposition to the Republican Party and the Lincoln administration was remembered following the war, and was exacerbated by Lincoln’s assassination. David T. Gleeson, the author of the landmark work The Irish in the South, 1815- 1877, discusses the Irish presence in the Confederate military and the contribution of notable units and individuals during the war, including members of religious orders. The Irish did not perform uniformly well for the Confederacy, however. Information suggests that Irish formations suffered from high desertion rates and that when captured they often chose to take the Oath of Allegiance rather than be exchanged. After the war, many Irish resented the added competition in the labour market caused by recently freed slaves, and some became actively involved in the ‘Lost Cause’ movement; Gleeson argues that it was this as much as their service during the war that aided Irish integration in the post-Civil war South.

The final three papers discuss the Jewish, Native American and African American experience of the Civil War. Robert N. Rosen discusses how Jews in the South generally integrated well in pre-war society. Although they tended not to form themselves into distinct ethnic units, many did see their service as a necessary act to show that those of the Jewish faith were loyal and willing to fight. William McKee Evans uses three case studies to examine the Native American experience of war. These are the Western Cherokees, the Eastern Cherokees and the Lumbees. No matter who these tribal groups supported, Union or Confederacy, they were destined to end up as losers, and none of the groups fared particularly well after the conflict. The African American experience in the North is related by Joseph P. Reidy in the book’s final paper.  It examines the pre-war views of the African-American community and the run up to the Emancipation Proclamation, before focusing on the struggle for equal pay and equal citizenship rights to which African American soldiers felt entitled having taking up arms to fight for the Union.

Civil War Citizens is a revealing and informative work. The term ‘outside group’ coined by the editor to describe these communities is an apt one; each had to deal with particular prejudices and discrimination as they sought to increase their citizenship rights through participation in the war. Their own situation did not prevent them from displaying prejudice and discrimination towards other ‘outside groups’, and within each community there were a complex set of circumstances which dictated how they viewed themselves and others. Bringing these papers together in one volume allows the reader to compare how these communities dealt with the war, and explore the similarities between what each ultimately hoped to achieve. Not only does it provide the reader with two excellent papers on the Irish experience of the Civil War, it also places the Irish community in its wider context with recourse to other racial and ethnic groups. Civil War Citizens is compulsory reading for anyone who wants to move beyond the battlefield and campaigns and learn what motivated these communities to make the decisions they did during America’s bloodiest conflict.

For those who would like to find out more about the book they can read an interview on the Bull Runnings blog with editor Professor Susannah Ural here. A previous post on this site provided a link to a lecture on Irish volunteers in the Union Army given by Professor Ural at The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center which can be accessed and viewed here.

References

Ural, Susannah (ed.) 2010. Civil War Citizens: Race, Ethnicity and Identity in America’s Bloodiest Conflict. 236pp.

Sir Peter Tait’s Clothing Factory in Limerick has been the topic of a number of posts on this site. Tait was a regular producer of uniforms for the British Army, but in 1864 entered into a contract which was somewhat unusual. This saw the factory make large numbers of uniforms for the Confederacy, with these garments then being shipped through the Union blockade to the South. These Irish Confederate uniforms are the subject of a book by Frederick R. Adolphus entitled Imported Confederate Uniforms of Peter Tait & Co., Limerick, Ireland, Volume 1 of the Civil War Sesquicentennial Uniform Series.

It is interesting to note that not all of the ‘Tait’ uniforms were necessarily manufactured by the Peter Tait Company. In fact three separate companies provided uniforms to the specifications of the Tait jacket, namely Peter Tait & Company Limerick, Hebbert & Company London and Alexander Collie & Company Manchester & London. This book outlines the history behind the Tait contracts with both the Confederacy and the State of Alabama and also estimates the number of uniforms supplied in total, based on the amount of clothing bales brought in on the Blockade Runners. It also examines their distribution around the South and where the uniforms were employed.

Of the thousands of Tait jackets imported into the Confederacy only eleven are known to survive today, with a twelfth example made from an unfinished Tait set also known. The main portion of the book explores each of them and examines the different variants in detail: the ‘Plain’ Jacket, the ‘Collar Trim’ Jacket, the ‘Full Trim’ Jacket, the ‘Welt Trim’ Jacket and the Alabama Contract uniforms. The book also discusses the possibility that the trousers accompanying some of the surviving jackets may be of Tait manufacture, though as the author points out this is difficult to ascertain with certainty. Frederick Adolphus is an expert on his topic and the book is filled with detail on all aspects of the jackets, from the buttons through to the trim. The appendices contain information on the scale of sizes for uniform tunics and trousers in a British infantry regiment for 1858, the percentage of different uniform sizes made for a regiment of 800 men in the British Army (the majority being aimed at an ‘average’ height of 5’7”), the size stamps on existing Tait jackets and the characteristics of Tait uniform buttons. Perhaps the most attractive aspect of the publication is the lavish number of photographs that grace the pages, no fewer than 134, with the majority of them colour.

The primary audience for Imported Confederate Uniforms of Peter Tait & Co., Limerick will undoubtedly be those with a specialist interest in the manufacture and technical specifications of American Civil War uniforms, and the book is exceptionally comprehensive in this regard. It is not intended as a history of either the Tait company or a detailed examination of Tait’s relationship with the Confederacy. Rather it is an examination of the specific product which this relationship created. For the non uniform specialist the book remains of interest, not least as it documents through colour photographs every known surviving example of a Tait uniform. The work was clearly a labour of love for the author, and is a fine addition to our knowledge of the Tait uniform in the Confederacy.

References & Further Reading

Adolphus, Frederick R. 2010. Imported Confederate Uniforms of Peter Tait & Co., Limerick, Ireland. 71pp.

Adolphus Confederate Uniforms Website

Despite its Irish connections, Notre Dame was actually founded by a French member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, Father Edward Sorin CSC. In 1842 he was given permission to establish the college on the site of an abandoned missionary outpost in northwest Indiana. By the time war broke out in 1861 over 200 students were in attendance. The college was later joined in the area by St. Mary’s Academy, when the Sisters of the Holy Cross moved their girls school near to Notre Dame in 1855.

At the outbreak of war, many of the student body elected to take up arms. Schmidt tells us the stories of men such as Illinoisan William F. Lynch, who drilled the schools pre-war militia the ‘Continental Cadets’ and served in the ranks of James Mulligan’s 23rd Illinois- the ‘Irish Brigade’, before recruiting and becoming Colonel of the 58th Illinois. Another was Lieutenant Frank Baldwin of the 44th Indiana, who was killed at Stones River and whose father later commissioned a magnificent memorial to his son and all the veterans from Elkhart, Indiana. Past-pupil Lieutenant Orville T. Chamberlain of the 74th Indiana was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Chickamauga and wrote poignantly about the low prospects of him surviving the conflict later in the war.

From an Irish perspective perhaps the best known contribution of Notre Dame to the Civil War was her chaplains. Seven of her priest’s went to minister to the troops during the course of the conflict, and Notre Dame and the Civil War explores their contribution in detail. These included Father James Dillon who joined the 63rd New York, Irish Brigade, Roscommon native Father Peter Cooney who served with the 35th Indiana ’1st Irish’, and of course Father William Corby of the 88th New York, Irish Brigade, famed for his conditional absolution of the Irishmen at Gettysburg. Amongst the lesser known of the Notre Dame chaplains examined in the book is Father Paul E. Gillen from Co. Donegal. Father Gillen initially chose not to affiliate himself with a specific regiment, instead procuring a horse and buggy so he could travel amongst the Army of the Potomac offering mass as he went. When civilians and unauthorised vehicles were forbidden Father Gillen saw out the war as chaplain to the 170th New York, part of Corcoran’s Irish legion. The Sisters of the Holy Cross were also active in assisting the war effort, and the author examines their efforts to aid the sick and wounded, which included running hospital wards and providing the first three female nurses to be carried on a United States Navy hospital ship.

This book is far more than just a run through of those individuals from Notre Dame who served in the Union ranks. Many other aspects of the University’s war and post-war experience are provided, and the author’s research has even uncovered two of the student body who threw in their lot with the Confederacy. The school continued to accept students throughout the war, and perhaps surprisingly many were from the South. This inevitably led to tensions on campus between ‘Union’ and ‘Confederate’ pupils, ill feelings that lingered on into the post-war student body. Notre Dame also played host to the children of some of the famous men of war, including William and Robert Pinkerton, sons of the Union spy Allan Pinkerton. Also amongst this group were William, Maria and Thomas Sherman, children of General William Tecumseh Sherman who was to develop a close rapport with the University. A further section of the book examines life on the campus after the war, including the establishment in 1897 of the University of Notre Dame Grand Army of the Republic Post 569, which had Father Corby as its first commander.

This book is written in a logical and easily digestible style, and is well illustrated throughout. The author has carried out extensive research on all aspects of the University’s involvement and experience of the conflict, and has produced a fine record that goes beyond a simple narrative of its combat veterans. It successfully provides a sense of the effects of the war on the community of students, staff, past-pupils and families associated with the school in Indiana. Notre Dame and the Civil War is a book that should attract a wide readership, not least amongst those interested in the Irish experience of the American Civil War. To find out more about the book and the author, visit James Schmidt’s blog Notre Dame in the Civil War.

References

Schmidt James M. 2010. Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory. 142pp.

Andrew Byrne’s memoirs were published thanks to the efforts of his grandson, retired Irish army Colonel Seamus B. Condon. The manuscript and an image of Byrne in Civil War uniform were kept in the family, until in 2008 Condon succeeded in having them published. Andrew Byrne did not have the benefit of much formal education, and it takes some time to adapt to his writing style and lack of punctuation. However, this is more than compensated for by the content, and the editor Nicola Morris has rightly retained the integrity of Byrne’s original work. This includes a number of poems written by Byrne about his life during the period. Among the highlights of the book are the numerous coloured sketches that Andrew Byrne produced to accompany his recollections. Although some are based on images in contemporary newspapers, others have been created from memory.

The first part of the book deals with Andrew Byrne’s pre Civil War experiences. He arrived in New Orleans in 1849, and finding it difficult to procure work, he embarked on his first experience in Uncle Sam’s army. He deserted and returned to Ireland in 1853, but came back to America in 1856 and re-enlisted in New York. He confessed about his previous desertion, and was pardoned on condition that he return to his original unit in the West. During this period Byrne served at locations such as Fort Martin Scott in Texas, Fort Union in New Mexico and Fort Buchanan in Arizona. Along the way he encountered Comanches and marched across vast tracts of the south-western United States.

The Battle of Beaver Creek, 26th June 1862

When his term of service expired in 1860 Andrew returned to Ireland, but when the Civil War broke out he determined to travel back to the United States and serve the Union. He chose to join the 65th New York Volunteer Infantry, otherwise known as the 1st U.S. Chasseurs. He described the unit as ‘cosmopolitan in its composition’ with about half of the men being American, followed by Irish, German, English and Scottish. As a result of his previous military experience he quickly began to climb the non-commissioned ranks, soon becoming a First Sergeant. The regiment’s first experience of the war came during the Peninsular Campaign, and Byrne gives a vivid account of his first view of the dead on a battlefield. He provides descriptions of the confusion and intensity of the Seven Day’s Battles, including Malvern Hill on 1st July 1862, in which he was seriously wounded in the left arm. Unable to retreat with the army, he was captured by the Confederates and sent to the notorious Libby Prison, Richmond. The horrors of Libby clearly stayed with Byrne for the rest of his life, with the images of the dead and dying impressed on his memory. He describes one soldiers plight: ‘I came to a Cot near the front door of the Libby a young soldier was lying stretched on the bed with a light dirty covering over him. He was a bad cace his face and arms were covered with flyes. When he made a slight motion with his arm the horrable insects rose from him like a Swarm of Bees. The flesh of his arms and face was red and scallded looking the flies were actually eating him alive.’

Andrew Byrne being carried from the field at Malvern Hill, 1st July 1862

Byrne was fortunate enough to be exchanged, but the seriousness of his injury would prevent him from returning to his regiment until August 1863. He does not describe the 1864 Overland Campaign in the same detail with which he handled the 1862 battles, relying more on presenting an overview than describing his personal experiences. Given the intensity of the fighting the 65th endured at locations such as the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, one wonders if these were difficult for him relive. He does provide some vignettes, however, with one of the more gruesome and poignant being his description of the impact of a cannonball on his regiment’s advancing line during the Battle of Cold Harbor: ‘Two men of my Regiment the front and rear rank were knocked out of the ranks with as much ease as if they were two chickens and dashed against the ground where they lay flat and motionless killed by a cannon ball. One was a German and the other an Irishman named Bermingham from Dublin MacNamara an Irishman next the German was splashed with blood and got pale and nervous he came down to me I saw the man was weak. I told him to go to the rear and sit down awhile. I was sorry for Bermingham, he was the victim of a drunken wife in New York who ruined him and his business.’

The Battle of Cedar Creek, 19th October 1864

Byrne’s regiment was redeployed to the Shenandoah Valley to serve with Sheridan, and he gives a particularly interesting account of his and his unit’s participation at the Battle of Cedar Creek on 19th October 1864. By now a Second Lieutenant, Byrne was wounded for the second time during this fight, being hit in the left hip. He rejoined the 65th for the final time in February 1865 as a First Lieutenant. He describes the anxious wait as the Union troops waited to assault the works at Petersburg, and the final days leading up to Appomattox when he and his comrades heard of Lee’s surrender.

The troops learn of the surrender of Lee, 9th April 1865

Andrew Byrne’s story did not end there, however. His first wife died in 1865, and Andrew once again returned to Ireland. He had by now became a Fenian and was one of a large number of ex Union officers in the movement. He was eventually arrested and forced to return to the United States, where he completed yet another stint in the military, serving as a non-commissioned officer in the 42nd Regiment U.S. Infantry from 1867 to 1869. He spent a number of years working in the building trade around New York and the mid-west, before eventually settling in Saratoga, New York. He met his second wife here and returned to Ireland with his new family for the final time in 1875.

This memoir is an extremely important addition to the body of writing on the Irish experience of the American Civil War. More than this, it offers an insight into the general Irish experience of emigration to the United States in the 19th century. Byrne never served in a distinctly Irish unit, but it is clear from his memoirs that no matter where you were in the U.S. army, you were never far from and Irish soldier. At one juncture he even ran into an old classmate of his from Dublin while serving in American south-west!

The impression one gets of Andrew Byrne in this book is of a highly intelligent, honest and conscientious man with a yearning for exploration and adventure. He did not see the Atlantic as a barrier never to be recrossed, and somewhat unusually made frequent trips between Ireland and his adopted home. After all his varied experiences it is perhaps of note that he eventually found the pull of Ireland too strong, and decided to live out his days in the city of his birth.

This book is highly recommended as a fine personal account of one Irishman’s experience of America in the 1800s. It deserves as wide a circulation as possible.

References

Byrne, Andrew J. (edited by Nicola Morris) 2008. Memoir of Andrew J. Byrne- Veteran of the American Civil War. Original Writing. 239pp.

Available to buy from Original Writing.

The 90th Illinois was raised in the latter part of 1862, at a time when enthusiasm for volunteering had long since passed. The book provides an honest and highly informative account of the early weeks of the embryonic Legion. Far from experiencing a rush to the colors, it was a long hard battle to get the Regiment off the ground at all- the unit struggled not only with attracting recruits but also with keeping them, with desertion commonplace while they remained encamped in Illinois. It was against this somewhat inauspicious backdrop that the Legion, still understrength, finally went to war. They were to spend the early portion of their service guarding the Memphis and Charleston Railroad; when they did eventually move towards Vicksburg they did not take a direct part in the siege, although they bore witness to it. They participated in the Siege of Jackson, but it was to be at Missionary Ridge in November 1863 that the Regiment’s true baptism of fire took place, having the misfortune of advancing into a hail of shot and shell at Tunnel Hill. From there they took part in the Atlanta Campaign before experiencing Sherman’s March to the Sea and through the Carolinas. At war’s end they were among the troops who marched as part of the Grand Review in Washington D.C., before their eventual return to Illinois.

The author describes the actions in which the 90th participated with skill and clarity, but the books greatest strength is in adroitly portraying the everyday life of soldiers in the West. To the fore in this are two of the activities that preoccupied the lives of most Civil War soldiers- marching and sickness. Surely few units in the war could have matched the incredible distances traversed by the Legion, mainly on foot, which Swan calculates to be a staggering 2,600 miles. Equally, it is apparent just how real a threat illness posed, as reflected both in the Regiment’s returns and in the fears of some of its members.

Swan has successfully mined the letters and correspondence of a number of the officers and men to create a narrative that reflects the reality of their experience. These include the attempts of one woman to join the Legion disguised as a man; the story of Captain Patrick Sarsfield Real, an officer in the 90th, whose brother had died at Shiloh serving the Confederacy, and of Captain Peter Casey, who discovered during the arduous campaigning that he wasn’t cut out for army life.

The 90th Illinois did not achieve the fame or glory of some other regiments on the field of battle, which is one of the reasons this book is so appealing. The absence of large-scale encounters for much of the history allows Swan to focus on the more mundane and everyday aspects of regimental life, often missing from other histories. We learn of the interaction between  members of the regiment (not always friendly), with the people of the South, and with the people of Illinois. James Swan’s book is more than simply a history of the battles in which the Irish Legion fought, it is a history of the war they experienced. I have no hesitation in recommending it for anyone interested in this aspect of the American Civil War.

Swan, James B. 2009.  Chicago’s Irish Legion: The 90th Illinois Volunteers in the Civil War. Southern Illinois University Press. 306pp.

Further Reading

Chicago’s Irish Legion Website