*Virginia infantry includes troops from Alexandria, Va.
The Bloody Shamrock
-The commander of the artillery battery that opened
fire on Fort Sumter was Capt. John Mitchel, who had escaped from Van Dieman’s
Land with his father, Irish patriot John Mitchel. After the surrender of
the fort, Mitchel allowed defending Major Anderson a cannon-salute to their
flag in tribute to a courageous defense. However, with fire and sparks
all around the cannon, a flake of fire entered the muzzle of one of the guns
and when the cartridge was rammed down it exploded, killing Private Daniel
Hough and wounding five men. Private Hough, who became the first casualty
in the American Civil War, was a recent immigrant from Ireland.
In April, 1861, Lincoln called for volunteers and Col.
Corcoran’s pending Court Martial was dropped so he could lead the 69th
to protect the nation’s capitol. One Hundred and Fifty years ago, on July
21, Confederate forces marched north and Union forces were sent to Manassas, VA
to meet them at a creek called Bull Run. The largely untrained Union
forces were buttressed by Corcoran’s 69th
while on the Confederate side Brigadier General Thomas Jackson commanded a
brigade of Virginians. Jackson, whose great-grandfather hailed from
Coleraine, Co. Derry, held firm in the face of furious assaults against his
lines earning him the nickname Stonewall,
and launching a legend in military history.
In Jackson's command was the 1st Virginia Infantry,
whose Company C, Montgomery Guards, was almost
totally Irish, led by another Irish patriot, John Dooley. There were also
Irishmen from Alexandria, Va. in the Emmett Guards
and O'Connell Guards, which were
incorporated into the 17th
Virginia Infantry. There were other Irish in the Confederate forces as
well, like the rough and tumble Irish longshoremen from New Orleans, fighting
with Roberdeau Wheat's 1st
Louisiana Special Battalion, known as the Louisiana Tiger
Rifles.
The Irish in the Union and Confederate forces met at
Bull Run where the Confederates built up enough troops on the Union right side
to overrun their flank leading to a disorderly retreat to the North. This
was the first major engagement of the War and the Federal army was routed, but
the 69th regiment had charged
bravely and stubbornly held its ground. Even after its commander, Col.
Corcoran, was wounded and captured, the 69th
retreated in order, protecting the rear while panicked Union soldiers swarmed
around them headed for Washington. After the battle, Union commander
General McDowell personally thanked them for their gallantry.
Shortly after the battle, the regiment was re-enlisted
and re-formed as the 69th
New York State Volunteers. Capt. Thomas Francis Meagher was commissioned
colonel, and the War Department authorized him raise four more regiments to
form a brigade. Col. Meagher formed the Irish Brigade
– a name chosen not merely to describe the nationality of its men, but also in
honor and remembrance of the men who had gained a reputation for valor during
the preceding century in the French Army where names like Fontenoy and other
great European battle-fields flew among their battle-ribbons. The original
Irish Brigade was dissolved in 1791 by the revolution. In 1792, Count de
Provence (later Louie XVIII) presented them with a ‘farewell banner’
embroidered with an Irish Harp, shamrocks and fluer-de-lis. The future
King said, We acknowledge the inappreciable services that France
has received from the Irish Brigade in the course of the last 100 years;
receive this Standard as a pledge of our remembrance, a monument of our
admiration, and our respect; and in future, generous Irishmen, this shall be
the motto of your spotless flag: Semper et ubique Fidelis (Always and
Everywhere Faithful) – a motto not unfamiliar
to U.S. Marines!
Meagher intended the brigade to be made up of two New
York, one Boston, and one Philadelphia infantry regiments, with artillery forming
the fifth regiment. Initially made up of the 63rd
69th and 88th
NY regiments and four small artillery companies of the 2nd
NY Light Artillery Battalion, they began training at Fort Schuyler, NY, the
first Headquarters of the Irish Brigade. In the fall of 1862, the 2nd New
York Light Artillery was reassigned and the 28th Massachusetts and the 116th
Pennsylvania were added. Meagher ordered 69-caliber smoothbore muskets,
which many considered obsolete, but were very effective at close range which
was the style of fighting he had in mind for the Irish Brigade. Close fighting
had won the day at Fontenoy, and he intended to follow this tradition. These
tactics would make the Irish Brigade famous on both the Union and Confederate
sides, but would also produce heavy casualties within its ranks since they had
to get up close before being effective.
The Irish Brigade fought in every campaign of the Army
of the Potomac, from the Peninsular Campaign in the early half of 1862 to the
surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox on April 9th, 1865. At various points
throughout these campaigns the brigade's ranks became so depleted that its very
existence was threatened and they were actually reorganized in February 1863.
After First Bull Run, when Gen. McClellan was put in
command of the Army of the Potomac, he placed the Irish Brigade in the 1st
division of the II Corps. The emblem of II Corps was the Club (playing
card suit) and 1st,
2nd and 3rd
Division colors were Red, White and Blue; thus as part of the 1st
Division of the II Corps, the emblem of the Irish Brigade was a Red Club.
Out of a total enlistment of 7,000 men during the war,
the Brigade returned to New York in 1865 with just 1,000; one company was
actually down to seven men. The 69th
NY suffered 75 per cent casualties among enlisted men; compare that to the
famed Light Brigade which rode into the ‘Valley of Death’ at Balaklava and lost
only 36.7 per cent of its men. Is it any wonder that the men of the Irish
Brigade referred to McClellan’s Red Club emblem as the ‘Bloody Shamrock’!
*More on Alexsndria Volunteers.
"The Virginia Infantry battalion went
on active duty soon after the Ordinance of Secession was passed on May 23,
1861. Two companies of Irish citizens of Alexandria were added to the battalion
on April 25, 1861--an artillery company, the Irish Volunteers, and a light
infantry company, the Emmett Guards. "
