Irish in the American Civil War

My Life in the Irish Brigade: The Civil War Memoirs of Private William McCarter, 116th Pennsylvania Infantry

Kevin E. O'Brien, ed. (Cambridge: Da Capo Press,1996)

     Civil War memoirs are far from scarce, yet this book is one of the rare few written entirely by an enlisted soldier. William McCarter's story is one of simultaneous fear and courage. His time in combat was brief due to injury yet his story is a primary account of the events that unfolded on the battlefield in Fredericksburg, Virginia on December 13, 1862. The Private skims very lightly on the political aspects of the battle, and the war as a whole, but rather focuses only on the sensory information he received. His accounts of daily camp life and the ordeals he and his comrades faced in the Virginia winter are vivid and at times incredulous. McCarter takes pride in his Irish heritage and American service and vividly recounts the horrors of war. Overall, this is an engrossing read and important story to be told. 

Other Suggestions:

The Green and the Gray: The Irish in the Confederate States of America, David T. Gleeson (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013).

      A meticulously researched and expertly written text, this book recognizes the identity shifts of not only the Irish, but the Confederacy itself. As the societal identity of Irish residents transformed, so too did the identity of the region. When such prominent Irish southerners as Bishop Patrick Lynch and Irish hero John Mitchel aired their strong support of the Confederate cause, namely the South’s “peculiar institution,” they became beloved heroes of the southern people.

            Gleeson’s excellent scholarship also offers insight into the hypocrisy of the Irish in avoiding conscription. Many of these men availed themselves of their British citizenship in order to avoid the horrors of battle. The Green and Gray provides objective and pertinent information that will undoubtedly become part of the discourse for a number of disciplines. Southern Irish immigrants during this period are often overshadowed by their northern counterparts thus making Gleeson’s work all the more relevant to a comprehensive study of ethnic and personal identity during the Civil War period. 

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Conyngham, D.P. The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns. Edited by Lawrence Frederick Kohl.

            New York: Fordham University Press, 1994.

Corby, William. Memoirs of Chaplain Life: Three Years with the Irish Brigade in the Army of

            the Potomac. Edited by Lawrence Frederick Kohl. New York: Fordham University

            Press, 1992.

McCarthy, Cal. Green, Blue and Gray: The Irish in the American Civil War. Cork, Ireland:

            Collins Press, 2009.

Tucker, Phillip Thomas. Irish Confederates: The Civil War’s Forgotten Soldiers. Abilene, TX:

            McWhitney Foundation Press, 2006.