The Green and the Gray: The Irish in the Confederate States of America by David T. Gleeson (review)

In The Green and the Gray, David Gleeson provides a nuanced and comprehensive examination of the Irish in the Confederacy. Using a rich variety of sources, Gleeson chronicles the experience and attitudes of Irish Southerners from the antebellum period through the Civil War to the Lost Cause commemorations of the postwar period. He persuasively argues that the Irish were “ambiguous Confederates” during the war years (221). At times, they demonstrated a fervent commitment to the Confederacy, but at other times, they showed a willingness to easily desert that nation. It was only after the war that the Irish became unified in their support of the Confederacy. Gleeson demonstrates how in the decades after the conflict, the Irish fully embraced the Lost Cause mythology and actively memorialized Confederate leaders and soldiers. The Irish then became far better Confederate patriots in remembering and memorializing the struggle than they were during the war itself. With their enthusiastic participation in these Lost Cause activities, along with their determined resistance to Radical Reconstruction, the Irish were able to more fully integrate into Southern society. Gleeson’s work thus affords great insight into the complexity of Confederate nationalism and the immigrant experience in the South.

Gleeson organizes his book roughly chronologically, beginning with a look at the political views of Irish Southerners during the tumultuous period leading up to the Civil War. The Irish proved to be loyal followers of the Democratic Party and supportive of the institution of slavery. But, as Gleeson convincingly shows, they were also “reluctant secessionists,” who only favored secession after the election of Abraham Lincoln as president (10). Interestingly, during the election of 1860, many Irish Southerners voted for the Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas over the Southern Democrat John Breckinridge. Yet, despite their reluctance to leave the Union, many Irish joined the Confederate armed forces, around 20,000 in all. Gleeson points to several important reasons that the Irish enlisted: defending their homes, proving their manliness, and fighting an oppressive enemy—just as Irish at home struggled against Great Britain.

Notwithstanding this early patriotic fervor, Irish Confederates compiled a mixed war record. In numerous instances, they distinguished themselves on the battlefield. Indeed, Gleeson impressively documents the heroism of Irish Confederate soldiers and their leaders in combat. But Irish soldiers also had more of a tendency to desert the Confederate cause and take the oath of allegiance to the United States than native Southerners. Gleeson finds a similar pattern when he examines the patriotism and loyalty of the Irish on the home front. Irish Confederates from all different backgrounds, from politicians to church leaders to laborers, demonstrated a strong commitment to the Confederacy, especially at the war’s beginning. In many instances, though, this commitment proved shallow. As the war progressed and Union forces occupied Southern cities, many Irish civilians more than eager to come back to the Union and forget the Confederacy. For example, when New Orleans and Memphis came under Union control, the Irish cooperated with and helped the Federals. At the end of the war, the Irish accepted defeat and sought reconciliation with the North.

Irish Southerners’ problematic Confederate nationalism was forgotten in the postwar South. Gleeson’s final chapter, one of his most interesting, establishes the important role the Irish played in the formation and celebration of the Lost Cause. In these Lost Cause commemorations, the Irish cast a romantic and positive aura over their Confederate experience. They celebrated the Irish as heroic soldiers and forgot those Irish who deserted or those who took the oath. This Lost Cause mythmaking united Irish Southerners and made them stronger Confederate nationalists than the war did. More importantly, it helped make them truly Southern. Gleeson asserts, “In the long run then, for the Irish Confederates and their descendants, their commemoration of the war was more important than their actual participation in it” (187).

Gleeson’s...