The stories behind them, what were some of the men thinking as they participate with this units, and we will end with what they do at gettysburg. With that, we will get started. All right. So, the irish brigade. One might question how do you get interested in this topic . Why would you choose the irish brigade . When i started here as an intern in 1998, the summer of my junior year in college, i was all about history. I wanted to delve more into some of my ancestry and all the stories that i had heard was that we are of irish descent. I was not a great genealogist at that point, but it is still interesting anyway. I had a chance, an opportunity, over the next couple summers as i worked at gettysburg, to really look at this part of the battle. And did a campd fire program on it, somewhat similar to the one you see now, but later on what i was able to do was get married and eventually take a honeymoon to ireland, so what a perfect chance to visit the mother country. We traveled all around, did a huge tour of the country. Sizeountry is actually the of mississippi, ironically, where i was living prior to getting married. We went all through the eastern and western parts of ireland, through the ring of kerry, the waterford factory, of course almost, in dublin, and by the skin of our teeth, got the opportunity to see one of the irish brigade flags housed in one of the government buildings in dublin. The only problem was tony blair was there, former pm of england, so we cannot get in. Security was tight at that point. After that, i came home and really wanted to find out more about who i was, where i came from. I had a friend who offered her services to do genealogy. She was really into it, and i thought wow, that is quite awesome. So she goes through ancestry. Com through all the records, comes back with this binder of materials. Stuff that i probably would have never found. Upon opening the binder, i quickly found out that my people were not irish. I had not a drop of irish blood in me. My people are dutch. In fact, they are not even german. They are french from the alsacelorraine region of france. So my husband was kind of upset we spent all that money going to ireland. Not even related to me, and 13 years later he still brings this up. Thetheless, i still find history of the irish brigade fascinating. I think that they are representative of so many aspects of the civil war. The fact that it is not cleancut, that it is not this or that answer. There was a myriad of reasons why these people joined, why they fight, and for the men who joined the early irish brigades, the reasons are probably not what you are going to expect. That is something that, again, we will look through this evening. Eire . Who are the men of arriving on the shores of american, and eventually getting embroiled in americas civil war. If you look at some of the city populations of some of the son of some of the largest cities in the United States at the time. Places like new york, philadelphia, boston, you can see a breakdown of the percentages of the irish born versus the city population. Some almost a quarter. In new york city, almost a quarter of that population was native born to ireland. So there is a significant presence here in the states of these individuals. You can imagine the information is flowing back to ireland. Things evolve through the 1850s with the election of lincoln, one of the larger questions is going, to be for some of these irishmen, who happened to be living in the United States, why fight for a war that is not your own . Why would you join up for this thing if you literally arrived here a few months ago, had no vested interest as far as you could tell you are not familiar with the politics, with some of the back story why would you join to fight in this war . That is what we will look at this evening. A couple things that are happening. On the political side of the spectrum. Side with the democrats. Keep in mind, Political Parties back then are different than they are now. The Democratic Party in the 19th century was antiabolition. They in no way, shape, or form wanted to flee the wanted to free the slaves living in chattel slavery in the south. Was veryratic party much against republicans, who encouraged abolition, the freeing of the slaves, but who also were not really concerned with the struggles of the poor irish. There was also a very Significant Movement throughout the country called the know nothing party. It was one of the main one of the main tenets was that it had a large degree of nativist thinking. We do not want anybody coming from the outside, ok . Put up the walls, keep your own within those. Anybody from the outside is dangerous or scary. There could be potential problems. The irish are facing that as well. Im sure many of you have heard, later on in history, that there would be signs on doors irish need not apply. This would have its roots in the 19th century. One of the bigger aspects of the concern that the irish have for abolition, and the one reason they will support the Democratic Party, antiabolition, is that, in the social structure, the social hierarchy, the irish are probably just above those living in trout living in chattel slavery. Not thought highly of, not given a lot of opportunities, they are not going to be in a number of highranking positions depending on where they are living. So if you fritos slaves, that is you fritos so if slaves, that is going to be competition for those low paying wage jobs. Those being freed from slavery will have little education, so you now have two classes butting heads, looking for the same employment. That is one thing that the irish do fear. They fear competition for lower paying jobs. So what is going to happen . That is going to be one reason why the irish will join up. It seems kind of ironic that they would join the union army, but there is a deeper reason to that, and probably a more important reason to the irish, as we will discuss. This gentleman is Michael Corcoran. T arrives in the United States in 1849. He will grow up in ireland, joinience the famine, and a group that will reign terror ,hroughout the country preventing irish families from sustaining themselves, just as in gettysburg most of these civilians were subsistence farmers, much of the irish were subsistence farmers as well. He would like to avenge persecution felt by the irish catholics. By being embroiled in a lot of this conflict, he will eventually, to avoid punishment, moved to the United States. He arrives in 1849. He joins the finney and brotherhood and becomes involved in the Irish Nationalist Movement and democratic politics. Eventually, he will organize a small unit of men known as the 69th new york statement initial, a unit out of the state of new is going to be prepared in the sense for prepared to fight in the American Civil War. But sometimes the irish were caught leaning both ways. They wanted the unit the union to remain together, but they could sympathize with the southerners want to secede. Was under attack or pressure from outside entities as well. Men are going to look at the opportunity of the American Civil War as a means to gain military experience to later fight for irelands freedom. The training ground. They probably do not have a vested interest on who wins or loses, but this is a prime opportunity for them to join and to get the skills, learn the weaponry, maybe move up in command, and then possibly take those skills back to ireland. Once there is a firing on fort sumter, the 69th new york state militia was called for service. A small crowd gathered to send them off. Flags and banners streamed from the windows as the ladies waved their handkerchiefs from balconies. One of the people, along with coran, involved in recruiting for the irish brigade is going to be this gentleman. He is a native of ireland. He has some of his own issues. He was involved in some of the plots in ireland. He was eventually exiled and will arrive in the United States , but he is charismatic. He is going to be one that can rally people with speeches, through his voice. Themhing he will bring to is this it is a moral certainty that many of our countrymen who enlist in this structure will in this struggle for the maintenance of the union will fall in the contest. But, even so, i hold that even if only one in 10 of us comes back when this war is over, the military experience gained by in thee will be more service of the fight for irelands freedom than the 10 as they are now. He is looking at this thertunity to train men on american dime and take what they , take take some officers them back to ireland and overall win overall irelands freedom. Begins with the firing on fort sumter. What are these men to do . Keep in mind, in the United States there was no standing army. Professionalpaid army you went into as a career or job. It was very small. That is something that most people dead. Did. Now we have all these volunteers, all these men willingly enlisting [no audio] [no audio], lincoln. Ent you have time taking on. Just because you are in the army does not mean you are going out to fight right away. Lincoln gets concerned as june goes by that nothing is happening. There has been no battles. So what are these guys doing . He starts to push some of the Army Commanders to get involved, get this thing going. Because what was the union belief . Back in maybe a month. The civil war was not going to be a big deal. And many otheren men were following threemonth papers. Once the firing of fort sumter starts, what is three months after that . July. Once those three months are done, youre are good to go home, right . All you did is enlist for 90 days. And lincoln knows this, which is why he starts to push this idea of battle. Drill, their time, they march, but also build fortifications on Arlington Heights down near arlington, virginia. To build some of these fortifications, engineers figured it would require 3000 men and three weeks. Corcoran accomplish the task in one week. The men were green. One of the visitors writing around one of these camps said he was impressed with the layout of the camps. However, when he came upon some soldiers, his enthusiasm waned. To atnessed men running up soldier about to enter a hut. These men were shouting to their friend to gain his attention and rescue him from his oblivion before he entered the powder magazine with his lit pipe. Will come for these men. They will not stain camps all this time. Eventually, they move on towards battle. Thefirst land battle being first battle of manassas or bull run. As they are marching towards that, at this general, William Tecumseh sherman, is going to be there brigade commander. There brigade commander. He is not impressed. The one man shot himself in foot, sherman did not blink twice. That will not endear the irish to this gentleman at all. But they will arrive for the battle of first bull run in july of 1861 and engage that afternoon. They will be advancing past the stone bridge when they come upon louisiana troops. Again, early in the war, things were not always figured out and clearcut. Unfortunately, some of the new york state troops were wearing gray uniforms. Louisiana troops did not fire and allow the new york men very near to their line. They were greatly surprised when in fact they did. The 69th will also prepared for an assault on henry hill. And will see union elements the charge will be pushed back. The 69th will remove their jackets and charge the hill. A writer for harpers weekly ote that the irish head tripped themselves and dashed into the enemy with the utmost. Fury. It appeared that the 69th held for a short time, but was not able to push the confederate troops back. As they attempted to retreat, they were attacked by the confederate cavalry. Flags,ors, which are the and about 30 members of the 69th were all captured. One soldier, after winning this battle witnessing this battle, would say it was a training field. There are two realities now hitting some of these irishmen. One, that this war will won. Be easily number two, you are going to need more men to start with. Also, their papers are up. These 90 days have taken place, so it is time for these men to go home. What happens now . What happens now to the desire to get the irish to fight for irelands freedom . They are no longer enlisted in the union army. That is where general mehra comes in. The 69th will muster out on august, 1861. He will be charged with forming the irish brigade. Most of the 69th men did not want to reup, so he had to reorganize a new 69th from all new volunteers. He eventually became its captain. He spent the month of september and october focused on recruiting. Now, though, this new 69th new york infantry was to reenlist for three years, much longer did the original 60 nights the 60 nights did. Did. Th eventually he would incorporate the 29th massachusetts, several from new york, and one regiment from pennsylvania. One Common Thread he used during his recruiting speeches was he said for my part, i asked no irishmen to do what i myself am not prepared to do. I mentioned earlier about this nativist thinking, this idea we dont want anyone else in the country during this time. That will come directly into plate with this man and his recruiting efforts. What starts to happen is people in washington are starting to get jittery at this idea of an all irish brigade. Why do we want this many irishmen altogether in one place . That is not good. Not what we are looking for. As a result, they will pick an american. They said it, you can have the brigade. However, it will not be led by irishmen. It will be led by an american. The folks down in washington, d. C. Will select james shields. He served in the mexican war. He was a Brigadier General and a senator from two states. The only problem, though, is that he was not anywhere in the United States when this decision was handed down. Shields was in mexico attending to a mining operation. To thewas so important powerhouses in d. C. That he be pulled into the irish brigade that he was retrieved from mexico and brought back to nana did states and brought back to the United States. Rumors that anr american would eventually fill the role. This will provide even more fuel to the fire. There was a fear that the Irish Community for be lost in lesson irishmen led the. The fuel was how are we going to rally these troops to fight in ireland if in irishmen is not leading them . Is going to end up in some discussions with to homas. Shields will come up with this statement. To say a few words relative to myself in the recruit endeavoring to my shattered health, when i received disappointments. I wasarrival in new york, sorry to find there was a misunderstanding relative to the general and myself. I know the general well. Himdid right in selecting to command your brigade. He is much more qualified for that position than three fourths of the men appointed to similar commands. I hope to have the irish at some future day. Basically, he is said, you can give him your brigade. Of roughly 1400 guys. I will take a promotion and become commander of the division that will hold the irish brigade. While pacifying him, he promotes himself. That is going to realize the american irish have loyalties to the home country. He needs to stress englands abandonment of ireland and the threat of confederacy, linking england with the confederacy. The 20th of massachusetts was not filling the ranks. Just because you ask for volunteers does not mean you will get them. Some leaders are going to feel that organizing strictly irish units did more harm than good. They felt that the irish needed to assimilate into protestant units. And if they kept to their own, it would appear that they were rejecting american traditions. You see how that nativism is coming into play. He needs 2000 men to fill the ranks. He wants to keep the irish brigade alive to further the irish cause. He wants to demonstrate to america that the irish were dedicated to the fight. He wants to provide a home here in the states for the future irish immigrants. The reality during this recruiting trip is that only 250 answer the call. State in 1862 during a recruiting trip to new york, talking about him being charismatic, being able to rally a crowd. He said it should be the vehemence of liars the vehemence and intense ambition of irishmen to have one chord within him that vibrates to that old lyric and marshall land of attic of the verdure. Its soil a paraphrase is rally around the flag and fight for what it represents. This. Unterpoint is the letters that are coming home. The letters that are coming home are not talking about rallying around the flag. The letters coming home are saying this. Anyaptain turner idea you may have of joining the army, give it up at once. The amount of vulgarity, profanity, and utter tierney that exists. He basically said do not bother. Unless youre going to be enlisting substance, in this order is not easy, not fun, and not enjoyable. The work progresses. Still there is no victor. There is no winner decided. Is atietam in 1862, there number of confederate issues facing the army. One is should the Confederate Army continue on a western approach toward the capital of washington dc . Should they move up the Cumberland Valley to the north on the way to harrisburg . Or is there another opportunity for them to draw the troops out of washington in a way that left the door open for an assault . These two armies will eventually clash near sharpsburg, maryland. General George Mcclelland is now general of the army of the potomac. Believing he is outnumbered, mcclelland is wondering if he should attack lee. Mcclelland, though, is loved by the irish brigade. The reason he is loved by the irish brigade is because he is slow and deliberate. For a soldier on the ground, it means that there is no rash decisions. There is no point where he is just throwing men into battle to see what happens. You can imagine that those guys probably appreciate that. However, he will move slowly, be indecisive, and eventually not walk away i major victor at antietam. So where are the irish in this conflict . They attackached toward the sunken road, which is held by the confederates. The sunken road is going to be the area in black. The irish brigade circling green mahara. As they crested the ridge north of the sunken road, they are assailed by confederate infantry, which stops them in their tracks. Casualtieseavy and most of the survivors will begin to fall to the ground for protection. He was thrown from his horse. The animal was killed. Of the three regiments, the new york regiments that had been recruited, one of them is going to be the 88th new york, led by a gentleman you see in the painting names captain clooney. They are poised to attack the sunken road which is heavily fortified by the confederates and held 600 yards away from that position. One of the reasons that the irish needed to get close to the fighting was that they were not fighting with rifles, muskets, rifle muskets allowed that bullet to spin as it trajected out the barrel, but they are fighting with 69 caliber smooth bore muskets. Smooth inside like a bouncing ball exiting out the mouth of the barrel. Basically, smooth inside, much like a bouncing ball exiting the muzzle of the barrel. So it really requires closerange fighting. As they advance to the hail of gunfire, turner of the 88th says this, the shot and shell of the enemy poured over our heads and crashed into the hollow to the rear. The bullets are whirring about. The occasional man is falling down, but we have not yet been commenced to fire. They are walking through a hail storm but cant fire because they arent close enough, but the enemy has fully opened fire on them. The acting major of the 69th felt dead, and color bearers for the 88th new york fell. Captain clooney will grab the 88th colors and advance with a shot through the knee. His courage comes to an end when he is hit in the head and chest, and they advance to within 30 feet of the sunken road, but cant break through. Here is the sunken road after the battle. It appears the irish put up heavy fire on the confederate, and when the confederates abandoned the position, the irish remained on the road above. One mississippi soldier would write that the irish stood online in a rage with plainview and three flags of colors, one stars stripes, one state flag in the green flag with the heart of er the harp of erin. Several times the deadly fire of our rifles rope the ranks of those men and they fell behind the ridge but reformed each time and appeared with shorter lines, still defiant. One Union Soldier heading into battle would write that, as we passed the 69th new york, or what is left, about 100 men with colors in tatters cheered, and we returned it. So what is the cost of the fighting . The bloody cost of the bloody lane will be significant for these men. The 63rd will lose 60 , the 69th 51 of the 88th will lose 38 of its fighting force. Antietam is known as the Bloodiest Day in the civil war, 23 casualties in one day, killed, wounded, missing and captured. With casualties from irish regiments, that is all the fuel a lot of people need to grow discontent within the American Civil War. On top of that, president Abraham Lincoln will issue the emancipation proclamation, which will stir the ire that much more. So for the soldiers, many of them are caught with their commander, general George Mcclellan. The rank and file soldier didnt care much for the new commander, but the irish left him, and many cried as George Mcclellan would be removed shortly after antietam and replaced. Lincoln will visit him near antietam, they have discussions, you can only imagine what was said, but mcclellan will no longer be in command of the union army, and the war is not decided. It will continue. It will continue to fredericksburg, virginia, and december 1862. Mcclellan is replaced by ambrose burnside. And the men of the irish brigade are still nursing wounds. Flags they will carry were elaborate, gold threads, silk flags, but they are in such tatters after antietam that they are unusable. They will be sent to new york for replacement. A new regiment joined the ranks of the 28th massachusetts, will now replace the 29th, they will be one of the only regiments that has an Emerald Green flag in the battle of fredericksburg. Flags are what you rally around. Flags are what you follow into battle, because you cant hear your commander to tell you to move left or right, so if you dont have these, what are you going to do . A story out of the irish brigade says that, without their flags, without an object to rally around, what would they follow . Assume many men began putting sprigs of green boxwood in their caps, to indicate the green of ireland, and stand in place of those beautiful flags that had gone back to new york. This is fredericksburg. The union army would eventually build a pontoon bridge across the river and attack the town. By december 11, they received orders to prepare for battle around fredericksburg, which opens up december 13. The men crossed the pontoon bridge, walkthrough open fields attacking the heights of fredericksburg, attacking over an open plane toward a fortified open plain toward a fortified position. One wrote this, the hills reigned with fire and mend advanced with heads bowed as though advancing through a hailstorm. The thinning lines pressed on. The plain was spotted with dad in twos and threes end groups. Regiments and companies at their third and fourth mentor, and colors were born by the third or fourth gallon soul that raised them gallant soul that raised them. The men are walking up and inclined toward a confederate fortified position, and behind the position was cobbs georgians, behind the stone wall. For these men, the civil war no became blood against lot, brother against brother. Mulholland would write, bone of their bone, flesh of their flesh, the soldiers of cobbs brigade were irish like ourselves. There were southern irish, but irish nonetheless. In total, as the union army would assault the stone wall the confederates were behind, there would be 13 assaults. This 69 would get the 69th would get 50 yards to the stone wall but not be able to take it. One of the chaplains for the irish brigade set the place was simply that said the place was simply a slaughter pen. Here is the wall at the heights in fredericksburg after the battle. Mulholland will mass about 300 men left of the irish brigade as he searches for stragglers after the attack. Many would write the irish were closest to the stone wall. Even confederate soldiers mentioned their courage. They said, our fire was murderous and no troops on earth could stand the assault we were giving them. And we distinguished the green flag with the gold harp of old ireland and we knew to be the irish brigade. Gallantry of the enemy pushed on, and left their dead within five and 20 paces of the sunken road. The army would fall into winter camp, fighting now over. Soldiers would build log huts in winter camp, but there is a bigger problem than just winter. He has very low morale in some troops and needs to find a way to revive that energy. Remember the overall plan, why are these men fighting . To again experience to take back and fight for irish freedom. And while he is losing almost nine of 10, he is hoping the experience that one gained will be enough to carry over to irelands freedom. But he has to balance reality with the need of these soldiers. In march 1863, they put on st. Patricks day activities. These are drawings of some of the events that took. Place my heart the events that took place. Mahar will instigate a party of ralph early a party of revelry and keep their interest in not only fighting the civil war but eventually for irelands freedom. Many contests were held, different contests for enlisted men and officers. Enlisted men would have weight throwing, irish dancing, wheelbarrow races, sack voices, and one of my favorites, someone oiled a pig and the prize went to someone who caught it. For some officers, you see this here in the drawing, there was be there would be horseback competitions and steeplechase competitions per general maha steeplechase competitions. General mahar entered his horse into the competition, the general did not enter, an aide entered the contest and it is surprising the aide made it at all because he was drinking whiskey punch the night before. There was chicken, turkey, duck and various game animals. Those of you that might be interested, the whiskey punch recipe that has been used. 10 gallons of rum. Eight magnums of champagne. 22 gallons of whiskey. Needless to say, celebration was in full swing. The men needed that that you could even translate that to todays modern army. In the midst of battle, when there is a lull, everyone tries to find some sort of relief. In the case of mahars men, that fell around st. Patricks day. Eventually the winter camp ends, Spring Season begins in fighting will commence again. I wanted to bring us up to gettysburg. They fought through a number of battles thus far, losing men left and right, significant casualties, and by the time they get to gettysburg, pennsylvania, the irish brigade is a brigade in name only, not in numbers. A handful of companies barely held together at gettysburg this is a map of gettysburg, the union army will lose first day of the battle and end up retreating to cemetery hill. I have outlined eight horseshoe shape on cobbs hill and cemetery hill. By july 2, the goal is to spend the union line down Cemetery Ridge and eventually hold the high ground, Little Round Top. General george meade has taken over from general burnside and general hooker, who we skipped over, is now the fourth commander these guys have had. General meade takes over due 28, 1863. He sees the precarious union position. He wants this high ground hell held to the south and gives the order to dan sickles, also out of new york city but not a west point graduate. He is a politician and decides he did he prefers a different position, much to the front of the union line. What this does is, it forces a need for reinforcement at Little Round Top because now there is a very large gap that general meade had not planned for. And general meade definitely had not planned for this bump on a log in front of the main union line. Numerous reinforcements will be called. Multiple waves will head into battle. One of those will be members of the irish brigade. Members of the irish brigade, now including the 1 16 pennsylvania, 63rd, 69th and 88th new york, 20th massachusetts, before they head into battle, will receive their final absolution. Their numbers dwindled significantly from when they first enlisted, and this was such a moving moment prior to entering the battle that even a number of protestant men who witnessed this final moment for many of these soldiers, doffed their hats out of respect. The men lined up on what is now hancock avenue. In fact, the gentleman here, father william corby, we have a monument to him on hancock avenue in roughly the area where these men received absolution. Then they would head to the wheat field the area of stony hill, where they would clash with confederates and be repulsed july 2, 1863. The reality for these irishmen is that they were the irish brigade in name only. The reality for these officers like mike like Michael Corcoran and Thomas Francis meagher is that there was no larger planned to go back to ireland for that fight. They were losing so many men, so much strength, they were down to the last few members of the irish grade irish brigade. It was quickly becoming a reality that they were embroiled now in the American Civil War, and not so much the irish civil war. With that we will conclude. I would like to thank everyone for coming. If you have questions, come on down, im happy to chat. Again, thank you for coming out and i hope you enjoy your stay at gettysburg. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspanhistory. Vice pres. Pence my admiration for eisenhower grew every year. Very capable world leader. He was an extremely capable general and that his primary job was to hold together this ofctious allied coalition , whathan 50 countries Franklin Roosevelt called the United Nations fighting with the United States. Began Holding Together that coalition against all of these centripetal forces that held together that coalition. , he showeds morals himself to be a capable allied commander and that big smile of least of his was worth at and army corps in morale terms. This memorial day weekend on American History tv on cspan at 4 p. M. Eastern on reel the film discover america, promoting tourism. Until we find the ancient stones of old castillo san marco, the spanish forces. Long where positive leon pushed on seeking the fountain of youth. Africa town int mobile, alabama. Said, listen, we want to get back home. We need you to go and negotiate, whatever it takes to get us out of here. Every friday when it came when it came time to get paid that money went for food, clothing, and shelter. They never had any discretionary money. So they came to the resolve they were just have to stay in this community. They did not understand the language, the customs, but they or no way out of no way way. This memorial day weekend on cspan3. The National WorldWar Ii Museum hosts an online discussion with historian Michael Neiberg about the crises World Leaders faced at the end of world wars i and ii. In a conversation with the museums jason dawsey, mr. Neiberg talked about the visions and strategies debated by leaders as they tried to decide how to deal with destroyed economies, failed empires, and competing political ideologies