'I am very uneasy to know if my husband is alive or dead': Memorial highlights Irish in US civil war
Research by an Irish historian trawling US records shows that 250,000 Irish-born or first generation fought with the Union side in the American Civil War, with more than 35,000 killed. Many died in a notorious Confederate prisoner of war camp.
Damian Shiels, an archaeologist, historian, and curator, recently attended the unveiling of a monument to hundreds of Irishmen who died in Andersonville camp in Georgia.
Mr Shiels is head of a volunteer research group, the Andersonville Irish Project, (which led to the commemoration) and has also carried out wider research on the Irish involved in the 1861-1865 civil war.
“It’s not well studied or remembered in Ireland today.
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“For those Irish counties which suffered the worst emigration, it undoubtedly stands alone,” he said.
The four-year war saw 180,000 Irish-born men don the Union uniform. Another 70,000 children of Irish emigrants also wore Union blue.
“Through the multitude who perished at Andersonville, we can examine and highlight Irish service, and explore the wider emigrant experience,” he said.
The Andersonville Irish Project was established in 2020 on the Irish in the American Civil War website. Supported by the Consulate General of Ireland in Atlanta and Andersonville National Historic Site, it identifies Irish Americans who perished at the prison, to record and tell their and their family’s stories.
To date, through this research, over 900 Irish people who died at Andersonville have been identified. Almost 400 have been located to their county, town, or sometimes even townland of origin. Irish dead have been traced to every one of Ireland’s 32 counties.
“The youngest were barely 16 years old. The oldest, Edmund Wool from Ballyphehane in Cork, a remarkable 64. Cork also records the highest number of dead with 13% of those identified, with Munster the province worst impacted, accounting for 36% so far,” Mr Shiels said.
Letters have allowed the researchers to get the full picture of Irish emigrant life in the US at the time.
In late 1864, Ann Hand had a letter composed in New York City. The Irish emigrant could neither read nor write; instead she relied on others to communicate for her. Ann was addressing the US military (Union) for what was the second time that year. The previous 12 months had brought her little but worry and hardship.
“Please excuse a poor soldier’s wife for troubling you,” she began. “I’m in great distress myself and my family and we’ve had sickness and distress, and I am very uneasy for to know whether my husband Lawrence Hand is dead or alive.”
Hand was one of the tens of thousands of Irish serving in the Union side. Captured by the Confederates just after the Battle of Gettysburg, he’d been a prisoner of war (POW) since July 1863.
“I have not heard from him but once since. For the love of God, let me know whether my husband is dead or alive for I have a family to support and the paving streets of New York will not support us,” Ann wrote.
In fact, by the time Ann was composing her letter, Lawrence had already been dead for many months. He had fallen victim to the most notorious POW camp of the American Civil War: Andersonville.
Located in rural south-west Georgia and established in early 1864, Andersonville operated for a little more than a year.
In that time, it became the deadliest single place of the entire conflict. Exposure, poor rations and disease ran rampant among the 45,000 Union troops who had the misfortune to pass through its gates. Some 13,000 of them shared the deadly fate of Hand.
“The 26.5 acres of Andersonville Prison extinguished more Irish emigrant hopes and dreams than any other location between 1861 and 1865 and it’s there where the most Irish dead from the American Civil War still rest.
“Now, almost 160 years after the guns fell silent, the rows of dead in Andersonville National Cemetery are revealing the story and facilitating remembrance of the Civil War’s impact on Irish people,” Mr Shiels said.
A new memorial plaque at Andersonville has been funded by both the Irish and Northern Irish governments.
With words in English, Irish, and Ulster-Scots, it recalls that men and boys from all the island’s communities suffered together inside Andersonville’s stockade.
The Andersonville dedication represents the first government funded memorial to the Union Irish of the American Civil War.
“In formally dedicating the memorial, Minister Darragh O’Brien correctly remarked that it now allows us to honour the memory of these men, to restore to them the dignity of remembrance, to name them and to root them in their home country,” Mr Shiels said.
He said the tales told by the Andersonville graves are often visceral and deeply moving.
For example, in Grave 3284 is Owen Malone, who came from Tromra, Co Clare.
As a 14-year-old during “Black ’47”, he was forced to take his dead father’s place on Famine Relief Works, part of a desperate effort to keep his family from the workhouse.
Not far away in Grave 2399 is Hugh Coyle, from Fanad, Co Donegal. His military pay supported his ageing parents back in Ireland. Following his death, they were evicted by their landlord, the notorious Third Earl of Leitrim, who wanted to replace them with grazing cattle.
In Grave 8463 is George Bell, from Co Dublin. He and his wife Lucy had left Ireland in 1863. In his last letter home, George predicted his fate.
“I always thought the Lord would give [me] the pleasure to see you again but now I begin to think it is too late… God of heaven spare and bless you and be my son’s guide and keep him from a soldier’s fate.”
When he died at Andersonville, the last words from his lips were his baby son’s name.
“The memorial stands as a welcome remembrance of all Irish who suffered due to Andersonville and the American Civil War,” Mr Shiels said.
Further information on the Andersonville Irish Project is available at [url=
http://irishamericancivilwar.com/andersonville-irish/] irishamericancivilwar.com/andersonville-irish[/url]
