Welshmen in the Union Armies

Ahn Conway, a former Commonwealth Fund Fellow at the University of Chicago, has hi» M.A. degree from London University and is now a Lecturer in American History at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. Welshmen in the Union Armies ALAN CONWAY the number of immigrants arriving in the United States from Wales during the course of the nineteenth century was very small in comparison with the number arriving from such countries as Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia , or England itself. Although many may have been included in the more general figures for Great Britain, the total number, at best, is in the region of 120,000. One estimate places the total number arriving between 1820 and 1950 at little more than 89,000.' This is not too surprising in that the population of Wales in 1821 was 789.2712 and did not rise above 2,012,917 by 1901. According to the Eighth Census of die United States, only 7935 immigrants from Wales entered the United States between 1820 and 1860. In the same Census, 45,763 are listed as bom in Wales.3 Robert Ernst, on the other hand, using the "Annual Reports of the Commissioners of Emigration of the State of New York," places the number of Welsh entering the country between 1847 and 1860 at 17,276.4 What is more important for present purposes, however, is the fact that almost 90 per cent of the total number of foreign-bom Welsh in the United States in 1860 were living in the Northern states, the major concentrations being in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa; these states alone contained 84.4 per cent of the total foreign-bom Welsh in the United States and 95 per cent of all foreign-born Welsh in the Northern states. In comparison, only 2.1 per cent of foreign-bom Welsh in the United States were living in the states which were to form the Con1 F. J. Brown and J. S. Roucek, One America (New York: Prentice Hall, 1952), Appendix 1, pp. 663-665. 2 Abstract of Census, 1821. 3 Abstract of Census, 1901. 4 Robert Emst, Immigrant Life in New York City, 1825-1863 (New York: King's Crown Press, 1949), p. 188, Appendix 9. 143 144ALAN CONWAY federacy.5 It is not surprising, therefore, that the great majority of Welshmen served with the Union armies and that all the following letters, taken from the Welsh press and from a contemporary manuscript, are from soldiers in those armies. In addition, the Nonconformist Welsh, who made up the bulk of the emigration to the United States, felt strongly on the question of slavery and saw in the struggle with the South something of a religious crusade. A striking instance of the strength of this feeling was the violent condemnation of the Reverend Samuel Roberts of Llanbrynmair, who in 1856 and 1857 attempted to establish a Welsh settlement in Tennessee and was believed by many in Wales to be a supporter of the South and of slavery.6 The writers of the following letters were, for the most part, ordinary soldiers trying to convey to their families and friends something of their experiences in the war. The fear of death, tiie pride in victory, the longing for peace, the resentment against suspected traitors, the tendency to telescope events, the lapses of memory, the shocking disregard for "security " are all revealed in full measure. On occasion the emotionalism and religious mysticism of the Celt comes through in flowery prose. Throughout , there is little trace of humour or of the ridiculous. The war was a serious matter to the Welsh soldier.7 The number of Welsh was not such as to render possible the formation of purely Welsh regiments. The attempt to form one in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, despite an initial subscription list numbering 1800, seemingly came to nought.8 The most which could be achieved was the formation of Welsh companies, such as Company E of the 97th New York Regiment9 and Company G of the 77th Pennsylvania Regiment.10 On the whole, therefore, the Welsh are found as individuals or as small groups within the state regiments, some still persisting...