The “Louisiana Tigers”, who fought so
valiantly at Gettysburg on the Southern side, included
many Irish. The Georgia brigade, that held the
Confederate line atop of Marye’s Heights at
Fredericksburg, up which the Irish brigade so heroically
charged, had whole companies of Irish. There were
scores of Irish in many of the regiments that made
Pickett’s memorable charge at Gettysburg.
All through the Confederate armies were valiant descendants
of the earlier Irish immigration that settled the uplands
of the Carolinas and Virginia and the blue grass region
of Kentucky. Most famous, most glorious of these
was “Stonewall” Jackson—Lieutenant-General
Thomas Jonathan Jackson—next to Robert
E. Lee the greatest soldier on the southern side.
No more splendid soldier-figure rises out of the contest.
Educated at West Point, serving in Mexico, then a
professor of philosophy—and artillery—next
a volunteer with his State when Virginia took arms
against the Union, his long and brilliant service included
a large share in the victories at Bull Run, Gaines
Mill, Malvern Hill, Cedar Mountain, Harper’s
Ferry, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville,
where he was accidentally wounded by his own men.
He was once defeated by General Shields, as has been
noted. The piety and purity of his life belie
the supposed necessity for the coarser traits that
are thought to go with the terrible trade. General
Patrick R. Cleburne was born in 1828, near Cork, Ireland.
He was in the English army three years, and, coming
to the United States, became a lawyer at Helena, Ark.
He enlisted in the Confederate army as a private,
rose rapidly to the command of a brigade, and made
a great name at Shiloh. As major-general he led
divisions at Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, and was
thanked by the Confederate Congress. He fell
at the battle of Franklin—a soldier of commanding
presence, skill, and daring, beloved by the whole Army
of the West. The gallant colonel Thomas Claiborne
was a striking cavalryman. It was Lieutenant
Thomas A. Claiborne of the 1st South Carolina who,
with Corporal B. Brannan, lashed the broken flagstaff
on Fort Sumter in June, 1864, when, under a withering
fire, the flag of the Confederacy had been shot away.
The fighting of Major-General Gary of South Carolina
around Richmond was desperate. He was the last
to leave the city when it fell, as told by Captain
Sullivan: “He galloped at night through
the burning city, and at the bridge over the James
cried out, ’We are the rear guard. It is
all over; blow the bridge to h—l!’
and went on into the night”
The story of the Civil War is a mine of honor to the Irish, and Irishmen should set it forth at length. Here it can be merely glanced at.