{"id":187223,"date":"2021-03-02T17:00:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T22:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=187223"},"modified":"2021-03-02T17:00:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T22:00:37","slug":"the-little-known-story-of-an-irish-regiment-that-helped-turn-the-tides-of-the-american-civil-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-little-known-story-of-an-irish-regiment-that-helped-turn-the-tides-of-the-american-civil-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The Little Known Story Of An Irish Regiment That Helped Turn The Tides Of\u00a0The American Civil War"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-little-known-story-of-an-irish-regiment-that-helped-turn-the-tides-of-the-american-civil-war%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=187223&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-181460905.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>July 2, 1863 was a sweltering afternoon, and two miles south of a little Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg, Union Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren was horrified. The chief engineer of the North\u2019s Army of the Potomac, he was tasked by his commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Meade, to ascertain the strength of the Union position on the far southern end of the line. Believing that the 90,000-man army\u2019s left flank was solidly anchored atop a steep, bald-faced hill called Little Round Top \u2014 which presented a commanding prospect over the entire battlefield \u2014 Warren was stunned to find only a handful of signalmen atop this most strategic piece of ground. And through his binoculars the Union general could see waves of men in gray and butternut uniforms, Robert E. Lee\u2019s ferocious Rebel horde, marching at the double-quick through the broken ground to assault this most undefended hill.<\/p>\n<p>Thinking fast, Warren spurred his horse down the reversed slope and galloped over to the first group of blue-clad Federal troops he encountered marching towards the left flank. It so happened to be the 140<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0New York Regiment, commanded by Col. Patrick \u201cPaddy\u201d O\u2019Rorke, who was at the head of a long column of men from the 3<sup>rd<\/sup>\u00a0Brigade, 2<sup>nd<\/sup> Division, V Corps. \u201cPaddy!\u201d shouted Warren as the tumult of approaching battle grew louder, telling all present that a major engagement was underway. \u201cGive me a regiment!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Rorke complied and soon had his men positioned on Little Round Top with the rest of the brigade following, just as the hollering Rebels approached. Throughout the late afternoon the fighting raged across the slopes of Little Round Top, with the extreme left of the Union line under relentless assault from Rebel forces who seemed to understand the significance of the high ground. At one point, the Yankee line just below the crest faltered, and once again O\u2019Rorke and his mostly Irish-immigrant band of soldiers, who in civilian life had planted roots in Rochester, New York, answered the call. Following the sound of the guns, O\u2019Rorke, on horseback, spotted the breach in the line below. He dismounted, determined to lead his men on foot into their first serious action of the war. \u201cDown this way, boys!\u201d the energetic Colonel shouted, drawing his sword. As his men formed into lines of battle, O\u2019Rorke climbed a boulder and called out: \u00a0\u201cHere they are, men!\u00a0 Commence firing!\u201d And the air became a torrent of .58 caliber projectiles ripping the opposing ranks apart.<\/p>\n<p>Paddy O\u2019Rorke\u2019s family had emigrated to America in 1838 from County Caven, Ireland when he was a year old, but he never forgot his Irish roots. A graduate of the West Point class of 1861, he was slated for higher command. But it was not to be. \u201cIt was about this time,\u201d wrote a sergeant of the 140<sup>th<\/sup> New York, \u201cthat Col. O\u2019Rorke, cheering his men and acting as he always does, like a brave and good man, fell, pierced through the neck by a Rebel bullet.\u201d His enraged infantrymen charged and several zeroed in on the hapless Confederate suspected of inflicting their beloved commander\u2019s mortal wound. \u201cThat was Johnny\u2019s last shot,\u201d wrote another New Yorker on the scene, \u201cfor a number of Companies A and G fired instantly.\u201d They riddled the unfortunate Rebel with no fewer than seventeen bullets.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland had given yet another son of Erin to the cause of the Union. Of the 500 men of the 140<sup>th<\/sup> New York who went into battle to avenge their fallen colonel, a quarter of them would become casualties before the day was out. Many military historians have offered that O\u2019Rorke\u2019s actions that day, his heroism and selflessness, were crucial to the Union Army\u2019s left flank not crumbling at the most critical time of the battle. Certainly the 140<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0New York\u2019s conduct was at least as pivotal to the Union victory as was that of the celebrated 20<sup>th<\/sup> Maine, and their Medal Of Honor-winning Col. Joshua Chamberlain. But they were Irish, and this was America in the mid-Nineteenth Century where the nativist America Party had come into prominence and anti-Irish, anti-immigrant fervor was high (\u201cIrish Need Not Apply\u201d) in their adopted country. Little Round Top was never taken.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, further up the line in the smoking valley one hundred fifty feet below and a mile to the north, one of the most peculiar scenes ever witnessed on an American battlefield was taking place. And this drama would also come courtesy of Irishmen who\u2019d left their old home and were now defending their new one. Under the command of Galway-born Col. Patrick Kelly, this unit of 530 staunch Irish Catholic immigrants from New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, was known as \u201cThe Irish Brigade.\u201d As they awaited to go into what was the most violent and blood-soaked of the three days of the largest and costliest battle ever fought in North America, the men all took a knee, with caps in hand and heads bowed. As the men contemplated how long they had to live once the order to advance towards the rapidly approaching enemy was given, their chaplain, Father William Corby, stood upon a boulder. There, shouting above the din of battle swirling all around, he lead a prayer granting the men absolution as their emerald green battle flag snapped in the warm summer breeze overhead.<\/p>\n<p>The brigade then formed up in line of battle and pitched into the fight, charging headlong under intense fire through a wheat field strewn with the wreckage of war and into a tangled woodlot filled with Rebels in a desperate action to break up Lee\u2019s attack on this sector of the line. They emerged from the fierce engagement minus forty percent of the men who\u2019d just been granted absolution an hour before\u2026but with all their battle flags and honor intact.<\/p>\n<p>Other units made up of predominantly Irish immigrants fought throughout the war with equal \u00e9lan, and the sacrifices they made for their new country defy the imagination. Some wore Confederate grey as well as Union blue, adding to their often tragic tale. At the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Union Irish Brigade was utterly annihilated as they were ordered into a series of fruitless, suicidal charges against a heavily entrenched Confederate army perched high on a hill and behind a stone wall. By the end of that day\u2019s fighting, the brigade counted just 256 survivors in its decimated ranks \u2014 out of the 1,200 it took into battle that morning. \u201cIrish blood and Irish bones cover that field today,\u201d wrote one survivor.\u00a0 Sadly, many of the men from the 24<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Georgia who choked back tears as they methodically shot them down were Irishmen too.<\/p>\n<p>All told, 150,000 Irish-born soldiers fought for the Union, 40,000 for the Confederacy, representing a significant portion of the soldiers enlisted in each army. This does not include the many more that were American-born and of Irish descent.<\/p>\n<p>Today the Irish Brigade\u2019s lineage, and by rights the memory of all the Irish fighting men during the Civil War, lives on in the \u201cFighting 69<sup>th<\/sup>\u201d of the New York National Guard, who saw combat in World War I, World War II (Pacific) and even Baghdad in 2004-2005. Ironically, or perhaps poignantly, their nickname was bestowed upon them by Robert E. Lee, who after observing their bravery for himself at Fredericksburg, was heard to say as they formed for the grim charge \u201cAh yes, the Fighting 69<sup>th.<\/sup>\u201d Not a bad endorsement.<\/p>\n<p>So as you celebrate St. Patrick\u2019s Day, remember the Irish who fought and strove and perished over the hallowed ground of our history. The emerald green banner has often been saturated with the blood of those who gave so much to insure that their newly adopted homeland should survive and prosper. And if perchance you should see some men and women in green parading through your streets on March 17, singing songs and hoisting a pint in toast to their heritage, you best remember the Gaelic battle cry of the Irish Brigade who preceded these happy bands: <em>\u201cFaugh A Ballagh!\u201d<\/em>, \u201cClear the Way.\u201d Many an enemy on many a battlefield no doubt wished they heeded this call.<\/p>\n<p><em>Brad Schaeffer is a commodities trader and writer whose articles have appeared in\u00a0The Wall Street Journal,\u00a0New York Daily News,\u00a0National Review,\u00a0Celeb Magazine,\u00a0Zerohedge,\u00a0Frumforum, and other news outlets.\u00a0 He is the author of the acclaimed World War II novel\u00a0Of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Another-Time-Place-Brad-Schaeffer\/dp\/1682616630\">Another Time And Place<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>July 2, 1863 was a sweltering afternoon, and two miles south of a little Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg, Union Maj. Gen. Gouverneur Warren was horrified. The chief engineer of the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274600,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-181460905.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"The Little Known Story Of An Irish Regiment That Helped Turn The Tides Of\u00a0The American Civil War","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-181460905.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"The Little Known Story Of An Irish Regiment That Helped Turn The Tides Of\u00a0The American Civil War","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}