GDG- Irish Soldiers

[Tom Ryan]

<<By any chance, does anyone know the numbers and percentages of soldiers in
the Union army that were Irish?>>

Andy,

Ella Lonn gives the figure as 144,000 in her study Foreigners in the Union
Army and Navy.  As an immigrant group, the Irish were underrepresented in
the Union military as a percentage of the overall Irish population primarily
because many opposed the war.  For example, there were about 200,000 Germans
who fought for the Union, even though the German population was smaller, if
I recall correctly.

I did a study of the Irish immigration issue and the Confederate
government's secret effort to put a stop to Irishmen coming to America by
sending agents to Ireland for that purpose.  My article on the subject was
included in a special issue of "The Irish Sword," the Journal of the
Military History Society of Ireland, Summer 2002.  It was called "Out of
Ireland into the Union Army:  the battle over Irish emigration."

Tom Ryan


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