Description
Book SynopsisAnalyzing letters and diaries written by soldiers and civilians; and military, church, and diplomatic records, this work tells the story of Irish-American Catholics in the Civil War, and reveals a complex picture of those who fought for the Union. It sheds light on the relationship between Irish-American volunteers and the Union Army.
Trade ReviewThe best book ever published on ethnic units in the American Civil War. * Journal of Southern History *
Professor Susannah Ural Bruce’s remarkable – and highly readable – study explores the complex political and historical motives that sent 150,000 Irish Catholic soldiers into the ranks of the Union Army during the Civil War. For the majority of Irish soldiers the cause of the union was inextricably linked to the cause of Irish independence and Bruce’s wide ranging study paints a complex and evocative picture of the network of alliances and experiences that animated Irish participation in the war effort. Recommended. * Irish Voice *
Anyone serious about their Irish-American history will have to get The Harp and the Eagle. * Irish Echo *
With remarkable sensitivity and acuity Bruce goes digging among the personal and public accounts of the Irish soldiers in the Union army and presents these soldiers, and their families and communities, on their own terms so that they emerge as real people conflicted and changed by the demands of war and the obligations of 'community.' The result is a book of immediate interest. -- Randall M. Miller,author of Union Soldiers and the Northern Home Front: Wartime Experiences, Postwar Adjustments
Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction 1 "An Irishman Will Not Get to Live in This Country": The Irish in America, 1700-18602 "Remember Your Country and Keep Up Its Credit": Volunteering for Ireland and America 3 "We Are Slaughtered Like Sheep, and No Result But Defeat": The Decline of Irish-American Support for the War in 1862 4 "The Irish Spirit for the War Is Dead! Absolutely Dead!": Battles Raging in the Field and at Home, 1862-1863 5 "Hordes of Celts and Rebel Sympathizers": The Decline and Consequence of Irish-American Support for the War 6 "Father Was a Soldier of the Union": Irish Veterans and the Creation of an Irish-American Identity Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index About the Author
