New and Noteworthy---Irish Troops , Black Troops and American Citizenship

Becoming American Under Fire: Irish Americans, African Americans, and the Politics of Citizenship During the Civil War Era, Christian G. Samito, Cornell University Press, 312 pages, November 2009, $39.95.

In Becoming American under Fire, Christian G. Samito provides a rich account of how African American and Irish American soldiers influenced the modern vision of national citizenship that developed during the Civil War era. By bearing arms for the Union, African Americans and Irish Americans exhibited their loyalty to the United States and their capacity to act as citizens; they strengthened their American identity in the process. Members of both groups also helped to redefine the legal meaning and political practices of American citizenship.

For African American soldiers, proving manhood in combat was only one aspect to their quest for acceptance as citizens. As Samito reveals, by participating in courts-martial and protesting against unequal treatment, African Americans gained access to legal and political processes from which they had previously been excluded. The experience of African Americans in the military helped shape a postwar political movement that successfully called for rights and protections regardless of race. For Irish Americans, soldiering in the Civil War was part of a larger affirmation of republican government and it forged a bond between their American citizenship and their Irish nationalism. The wartime experiences of Irish Americans helped bring about recognition of their full citizenship through naturalization and also caused the United States to pressure Britain to abandon its centuries-old policy of refusing to recognize the naturalization of British subjects abroad.

As Samito makes clear, the experiences of African Americans and Irish Americans differed substantially—and at times both groups even found themselves violently opposed—but they had in common that they aspired to full citizenship and inclusion in the American polity. Both communities were key participants in the fight to expand the definition of citizenship that became enshrined in constitutional amendments and legislation that changed the nation.

Aaron Sheehan-Dean, author of Why Confederates Fought: Family and Nation in Civil War Virginia states "Christian G. Samito's new book offers a signal contribution to a crucial but understudied aspect of the Civil War--its effect on citizenship. By focusing on the aspirations of Irish and African Americans, Samito shows how the contingencies of war gave opportunities for people at all levels to revise this fundamental attribute. His narrative reveals how a new, more robust national citizenship eclipsed older versions built narrowly around state identity and racial attributes. Samito's story rightly emphasizes the dynamic nature of how Americans have defined and understood citizenship and, in the process, adds a crucial historical dimension to contemporary debates over identity, citizenship, and politics."

Christian G. Samito earned a law degree from Harvard Law School and a doctorate in American history from Boston College. He is the editor of Commanding Boston's Irish Ninth: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Patrick R. Guiney, Ninth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; “Fear Was Not in Him”: The Civil War Letters of Major General Francis C. Barlow, U.S.A.; and Changes in Law and Society During the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Legal History Documentary Reader. He edits a series about the legal history of the Civil War era, teaches at Boston College and Boston University School of Law, and practices law in Boston.

Text Source: Cornell University Press


Middle and Bottom Images: Irish Banner, Black Troops Poster,

New Books From McFarland Press : 149th PVI & Irish Rebels

149th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Unit in the Civil War, Richard E. Matthews, McFarland and Company, paperback, 296 pages, McFarland and Company, 109 photos, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index, 346 pp, July 2007,

In 1861, Americans on both sides flooded to enlist for what all thought would be a short and glorious war. Anxious to prove their loyalty to their new homeland, thousands of America's Irish immigrant population were among those who hurried to join the fight on both sides. While the efforts of the Union's legendary Irish Brigade are well documented, little has been said regarding the role Irish American soldiers played for the Confederacy. This comprehensive history explores the Irish contribution to the Confederate military effort throughout the four major combat theatres of the Civil War. This is a paperback edition of the 1994 hardcover.

Table of Contents:
1. Recruiting the Companies 7
2. Assignment to Washington 17
3. Chancellorsville 39
4. Gettysburg 67
Between pages 76 and 77 are 16 plates containing 59 photographs
5. Northern Virginia 109
6. Richmond Campaign 127
7. Wilderness 131
Between pages 140 and 141 are 16 plates containing 58 photographs
8. Spotsylvania 151
9. North Anna 161
10. Petersburg 179
11. Elmira 213
Epilogue 221
Appendix A: Civilian Occupations 231
Appendix B: Regimental Roster 233
Appendix C: Chronology—Regimental Officers 272
Appendix D: Army Command Assignments 274
Bibliography 275




Irish Americans in the Confederate Army, Sean Michael O'Brien, McFarland and Company, hardcover, 3 photos, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index,
264 pp. hardcover, July 2007.


Beginning with an overview of Irish Americans in the South, the book looks at the Irish immigrant experience and the character of the typical Irish Confederate soldier, detailing the ways in which Irish communities supported the Southern war effort. The main focus is the military actions in which Irish American soldiers were present in significant or influential numbers. With a combat death rate disproportionate to their numbers, the 40,000 Irish who served in the Confederate army played significant roles in the Army of Northern Virginia, the Army of Tennessee, the hotly disputed coastal areas and the Mississippi and Trans-Mississippi campaigns. Most major battles of the war are discussed including Manassas, Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, Shiloh, Murfreesboro and Appomattox. Appendices contain a list of various Irish commands and field commanders in the Confederate Army. First hardcover edition.

Table of Contents:
PART I. THE IRISH EXPERIENCE IN THE SOUTH
1. The New Country: Irish Immigrants in the South 11
2. Fighting Irish: The Character of the Irish Confederate Soldier 23
3. Home Front: The Irish Family, Community, and Church in War 33

PART II. THE IRISH IN THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
4. Green Flag Unfurled: Manassas and the Valley Campaign 43
5. Defending Richmond: The Seven Days, June 1862 53
6. Southern Offensive: Second Manassas and Sharpsburg, August–September 1862 64
7. “With Distinguished Gallantry and Coolness”: Fredericksburg, December 1862 79
8. “A Stubborn and Bloody Conflict”: Gettysburg, July 1863 87
9. “To No Avail”: Wilderness to Appomattox, May 1864–April 1865 100

PART III. THE IRISH IN THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE
10. Hornets’ Nest: The Irish at Shiloh, April 1862 109
11. “Gallantry and Courage”: Perryville and Murfreesboro, October–December 1862 116
12. The Contest for Chattanooga: Chickamauga to Ringgold Gap, September–November 1863 127
13. The Contest for Atlanta, May–September 1864 141
14. “Carnival of Death”: Franklin, November 1864 156

PART IV. THE IRISH IN THE COASTAL STRONGHOLDS
15. “Up-Hill Work”: Charleston, Savannah, and Fort Fisher 167
16. To the Last Ditch: From Fort Pickens to Fort Blakely, 1861–1865 177

PART V: THE IRISH IN THEMISSISSIPPI AND TRANS-MISSISSIPPI CAMPAIGNS
17. The Struggle for the Mississippi 189
18. West of the Sabine: The Irish in Texas 200
Epilogue: “Their Bones Lie on Every Battle-Field” 211
Appendix 1: Irish Commands in the Confederate Army 215
Appendix 2: Some Irish-American Field Commanders in the Confederate Army 226
Chapter Notes 237
Works Cited 247

Text and TOC from publisher.