Irish Involvement in the American Civil War

[J70]

On the US Civil War, how any Irishman (fleeing oppression at home) could have found cause with the south and the evil it represented is beyond me. And the New York draft riots is definitely one of the more shameful episodes in the history of the Irish people.

Hmmm I could hazard a guess and say that the South's whole idea of secession from the Union and the independence and autonomy it could give, would have stuck a cord with thousands of Irish leaving these shores seeking freedom from British oppression!

The American Civil War was certainly not all about the noble cause of slavery!!

Maybe not, but it was mostly about slavery, or at least slavery was the main, ultimate cause. How anyone could equate the secession of the south over "states rights" (a nice euphemism for the feds not being allowed to dictate policy with regards slavery) with the plight of the Irish under British rule is beyond me.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

On the US Civil War, how any Irishman (fleeing oppression at home) could have found cause with the south and the evil it represented is beyond me. And the New York draft riots is definitely one of the more shameful episodes in the history of the Irish people.

Hmmm I could hazard a guess and say that the South's whole idea of secession from the Union and the independence and autonomy it could give, would have stuck a cord with thousands of Irish leaving these shores seeking freedom from British oppression!

The American Civil War was certainly not all about the noble cause of slavery!!

Maybe not, but it was mostly about slavery, or at least slavery was the main, ultimate cause. How anyone could equate the secession of the south over "states rights" (a nice euphemism for the feds not being allowed to dictate policy with regards slavery) with the plight of the Irish under British rule is beyond me.

Yeah, what are you talking about Celt Man?

[Celt_Man]

On the US Civil War, how any Irishman (fleeing oppression at home) could have found cause with the south and the evil it represented is beyond me. And the New York draft riots is definitely one of the more shameful episodes in the history of the Irish people.

Hmmm I could hazard a guess and say that the South's whole idea of secession from the Union and the independence and autonomy it could give, would have stuck a cord with thousands of Irish leaving these shores seeking freedom from British oppression!

The American Civil War was certainly not all about the noble cause of slavery!!

Maybe not, but it was mostly about slavery, or at least slavery was the main, ultimate cause. How anyone could equate the secession of the south over "states rights" (a nice euphemism for the feds not being allowed to dictate policy with regards slavery) with the plight of the Irish under British rule is beyond me.

Yeah, what are you talking about Celt Man?

What I am saying is that whole scession arguement could have found favour with the Irish fighting witht he South. 

J70 said he couldn't believe how any Irish fought with the South and I offered an theory how they could have.   

That's all!!

[J70]

On the US Civil War, how any Irishman (fleeing oppression at home) could have found cause with the south and the evil it represented is beyond me. And the New York draft riots is definitely one of the more shameful episodes in the history of the Irish people.

Hmmm I could hazard a guess and say that the South's whole idea of secession from the Union and the independence and autonomy it could give, would have stuck a cord with thousands of Irish leaving these shores seeking freedom from British oppression!

The American Civil War was certainly not all about the noble cause of slavery!!

Maybe not, but it was mostly about slavery, or at least slavery was the main, ultimate cause. How anyone could equate the secession of the south over "states rights" (a nice euphemism for the feds not being allowed to dictate policy with regards slavery) with the plight of the Irish under British rule is beyond me.

Yeah, what are you talking about Celt Man?

What I am saying is that whole scession arguement could have found favour with the Irish fighting witht he South. 

J70 said he couldn't believe how any Irish fought with the South and I offered an theory how they could have.   

That's all!!

Fair enough, but the best you can say about them in that case is that they were horribly misinformed or misguided!

[Celt_Man]

On the US Civil War, how any Irishman (fleeing oppression at home) could have found cause with the south and the evil it represented is beyond me. And the New York draft riots is definitely one of the more shameful episodes in the history of the Irish people.

Hmmm I could hazard a guess and say that the South's whole idea of secession from the Union and the independence and autonomy it could give, would have stuck a cord with thousands of Irish leaving these shores seeking freedom from British oppression!

The American Civil War was certainly not all about the noble cause of slavery!!

Maybe not, but it was mostly about slavery, or at least slavery was the main, ultimate cause. How anyone could equate the secession of the south over "states rights" (a nice euphemism for the feds not being allowed to dictate policy with regards slavery) with the plight of the Irish under British rule is beyond me.

Yeah, what are you talking about Celt Man?

What I am saying is that whole scession arguement could have found favour with the Irish fighting witht he South. 

J70 said he couldn't believe how any Irish fought with the South and I offered an theory how they could have.   

That's all!!

Fair enough, but the best you can say about them in that case is that they were horribly misinformed or misguided!

Yep no arguement there!!

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

I think John Mitchel's son or sons fought on the Confederate side. Mitchel himself was a strong advocate of slavery.  A bit of an embarassment that there's so many GAA clubs named after him actually..

Castlebar Mitchels 

[delboy]

That documentary wasn't up to much. One interesting point - there were more in the Alamo, iconic symbol of freedom that it is, than the famous 180 who died.

At one point it casually mentioned that when Santa Ana finally took it he let go the women, children and slaves.

I seem to recall that texas was part of mexico and that when mexico abolished slavery in texas in 1830 (they did it a year earlier in the rest of mexico, had to look the date up) the white american populace revolted against mexico in order to retain slavery, when you look at the facts it puts the so called fight for freedom at the alamo into perspective.
These same texans then went on to cede from the union in order again to fight to retain the right to enslave people.

[Zapatista]

Whay the Irish survivors did post civil war seems like a very interesting topic too. If not more interesting.

[IolarCoisCuain]

The civil war wasn't about slavery. If it was, it wouldn't have taken the USA 150 years to elect a black president.

The names of the sides tell you what the war was about - how closely or loosely the individual states should be allied to form the United States. The Union favoured full control of a central Government, while the Confederates favoured a looser alliance.

The Union is what exists now in the USA while the Confederacy, if it had won, would have been more like the EU today. Common interests, common markets, common currency but individual statehood recognised and respected. In theory, anyway.

[Mario]

I think John Mitchel's son or sons fought on the Confederate side. Mitchel himself was a strong advocate of slavery.  A bit of an embarassment that there's so many GAA clubs named after him actually..

Ballerin man getting a dig at Glenullin, some things never change

[FarneyMan]

General Joseph Finegan, who commanded the Confederate Army to victory at the 1864 Battle of Olustee in Florida during the American Civil War, was born at Clones, Co. Monaghan on November 17, 1814.

[JimStynes]

Interesting topic, once i finish reading about world war I and II i think i will start reading about the american civil war.

Is there any good DVDs out about the Civil War?

[moysider]

Yeah. The History Channel did a series on the civil war a few months ago that was very good. The box set should be available to buy.

[Lecale2]

Maybe not, but it was mostly about slavery, or at least slavery was the main, ultimate cause.

Most historians agree that slavery was a side issue - a bit like WMDs in Iraqi.

Like most wars it was about economics and political control. The southern states had controlled the USA economically and politically since independence. They were losing their economic control due to industrialisation and political control due to the expandsion of the country westwards.

Ending slavery was never mentioned by Lincoln during the first 2 years of the war. Some Union states had slavery. He abolished slavery during the war in order to undermine the CSA economically. It was a tactic rather than a war aim.

[Banana Man]

I remember a documentary on TG4 one night about Irishmen conscripted to the US Army to fight the Mexicans. It said that many never settled in the 'Protestant' American army and one evening encamped on a river near the Mexican border the angelus bell rang out and the lure proved to strong for a lot of the disillusioned Irish men and 37 or so swam across the river, deserting the US Army and settled in Mexico