Massachusetts
Given Boston's large Irish immigrant population, it is not surprising that several Irish volunteer militia companies were active there during the 1850s. These included the Bay State Artillery, the Sarsfield Guards, and the mainlv-Irish Columbian Artillery - uniformed in dark blue coatees and pants with red trim and black bearskin caps, and with a lineage as old as the American republic. A wave of anti-Irish, anti-Catholic prejudice erupted with the nativist Know-Nothing political movement in...
Mississippi
There were Irish immigrant communities in river towns such as Natchez, Vicksburg and Port Gibson, and in railroad centers like Holly Springs in the northern part of the state. In the 9th Mississippi Infantry Regiment enlisted March 1861, reorganized March 1862 , some 60 or so Irish names - probably workers on the Mississippi Central Railroad - could be found on the rolls of CaptJohn P. Holalian's Co B tile Home Gtiards from Holly Springs , with smaller numbers in x gt s D and E. The 9th...
The Confederate Irish
1st Lt William L. Fagan, Co K, 8th Alabama Infantry. Fagan la shown in a typical Confederate officer's gray frock coat and 1st Lt William L. Fagan, Co K, 8th Alabama Infantry. Fagan la shown in a typical Confederate officer's gray frock coat and Irish immigrants also settled in large numbers in the antebellum South. New Orleans, third largest city in the United States, had the largest Irish population in the Deep South, followed by Memphis. Tennessee there were also sizeable Irish communities...
Arkansas
Irish neighborhoods in Mississippi river towns like Helena, Memphis and Vtcksburg furnished manpower to a number of Arkansas commands in 1861. Captain Thomas J. Key's Helena Battery, a hard-hitting little company recruited in Helena and Memphis, boasted more than 50 Irish names, as did Co B. 2nd Arkansas Infantry Hindman's, Goran's from Helena. Company A of the 13th Arkansas listed about 40 Irish names from Memphis. Two Irish companies from Vicksburg, the Shamrock Guards and Swamp Rangers,...
Missouri 1
Irish-American companies in St Louis formed part of the 1st Regiment, Missouri Volunteer Militia. The Washington Blues formed 1857 sported bearskin caps, dark blue coatees trimmed with sky-blue, dark blue pants with light blue stripes, and white crossbelts. The Washington Guards wore shakos with a gilt eagle surmounted by a gilt harp entwined with shamrocks. The St Louis Grays formed 1832 wore black shakos with white pompons, gray frock coats with sky-blue facings, and gray pants. The Emmet...
Georgia
Savannah was a major Atlantic port with a large Irish immigrant population, and this heritage was reflected in several militia companies raised there. Formed in 1842, and named for Revolutionary War hero William Jasper who was killed in the 1779 siege of Savannah , Capijolin Folev's Irish Jasper Greens was one of Savannah's dominant volunteer militia companies, and the only one from Savannah to be accepted for service in the Mexican War. At the start of the Civil War the Irish Jaspers tried...
Virginia
The Confederate capital at Richmond was home to the Montgomery Guard Co C, 1st Regiment of Virginia Volunteers , organized from the city's Irish immigrant population in 1850. In July 1859 the Montgomery Guard set aside its traditional green dress and adopted the 1st Virginia's new regimental uniform black dress caps, gray frock coats with black trim, gray pants, white belts and Capt George Horner, 1st Vir Infantry Battalion Irish Battalion , wears a gray overcoat and a forage cap gray...
Tennessee
Memphis, the second largest center of Irish population in the Deep South after New Orleans, was home to a number of Irish units. Ladies of the city made up uniforms in the spring of 1861 for Col Knox Walker's 2nd Tennessee Infantry Regiment Irish Regiment . An image probably made in May or June 1861 shows Pvt John Rulle of Co K wearing a dark-colored kepi with light trim, a dark eight-button frock coat with plain standing collar, light-colored pants, and a black waist belt with oval brass...
Connecticut
Cities such as New Haven, Bridgeport and Waterbury became homes to sizeable Irish immigrant populations in the earlv part of the I9th century. I-arge numbers of Irishmen enlisted in the 9th Connecticut Infantry Regiment Irish Regiment , organized at New Haven in September 1861. By the end of that fall the regiment had been transported to the Gulf coast, and by the following spring to New Orleans. During the hottest part of summer 1862 the 9th Connecticut was assigned to the Williams -anal...
Alabama
By the outbreak of the Civil War the port of Mobile was a cosmopolitan center rivaling New Orleans on the Gulf coast, and boasting a large immigrant population. Several solidly Irish working-class volunteer companies were organized in 1861, but they served in different Alabama regiments. Men of the Alabama Rifles -Co D, 1st Alabama Infantry -manning a mortar battery at Pensacola, April 1861. These men are mostly in civilian clothe , although the officer In the center foreground wears a Jeff...
Ohio
The Buckeye State contributed several Irish-American units. Ir volunteer militia companies - the Montgomery Guards Co D Dayton, and the Hibernian Volunteers Co F from Cleveland -joined Col Alexander M. McCook's 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, recruited for 90 days in April 1861 and sent by rail to Washington. They were present at First Bull Run in July, but were only lighdy engaged. In August 1861 the regiment was reorganized for three years' service, under Col Benjamin F. Smith. The 1st...
Wisconsin
Volunteer companies formed by Irish-American communities in the Badger State - the Mulligan Guards from Kenosha, the Emmet Guards from Dodge, and the Peep O'Day Boys from Racine - went into the 17th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment Wisconsin Irish Brigade , organized in Madison in March 1862 under Col John L. Doran of Milwaukee. The 17th Wisconsin served in the Western theater during Grant's defensive operations in fall 1862 it spearheaded a furious bayonet charge at Corinth on October 3, shouting...
Irish Immigration
In search of economic opportunities and - on both sides of the religious divide - freedom from discrimination, sons and daughters of the Emerald Isle thronged to America in two major waves of immigration. In the 18th century, Ulster Presbyterians migrated into the Appalachian Mountains, the first western frontier in America, where they came to be known as the Scotch-Irish. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars the British Isles suffered extremes of rural poverty and unemployment, and in Ireland...
New York before 1861
New York City's large community of Irish immigrants organized volunteer militia companies such as Brooklyn's Napper Tandy Light Artillery, described in the New York Times of March 18, 1854, in their shakos, green jackets trimmed with yellow braid, and sky-blue pants with scarlet stripes. Until 1859 the dress uniform of the 9th Regiment, New York State Militia 1st Irish Regiment - reorganized as the 83rd New York Volunteer Infantry in 1861 was a black felt shako with white pompon white plume for...
Illinois
The growing Midwestern rail and industrial center of Chicago became home to a large Irish immigrant population, and as in other major cities these communities formed volunteer miliua companies. Organized in 1854, .apt James Quirk's Shields Guards, made up mostly of mechanics, was the first Chicago military company to offer its services to the Federal government in January 1861. The 23rd Illinois Infantry Regiment 1st Irish Regiment, or Irish Brigade of the West was organized in Chicago in June...
The Union Irish
Some 150,000 Irish immigrants served in the Union army during the Civil War. In the North, Irish immigrants genuinely saw military service as a way to demonstrate their loyalty to their new homeland, but many were also faced with the unattractive choice between military service and poor civilian employment opportunities. Irish Americans fought to preserve the Union, but many also saw the war as a training ground for another armed struggle to come a war of Irish liberation from Britain. New York...