"Remember Your Country and Keep Up Its Credit": Irish Volunteers and the Union Army, 1861-1865

Historians have lacked a central theme to explain Irish-American service in the Union Army during the American Civil War, due to the varying experiences of Irish immigrants. There is, however, one common thread linking their service: their dual loyalties to Ireland and America. When the Union cause supported their interests in Ireland and America, Irish Americans volunteered for the war and their families supported them. After the Emancipation Proclamation, the federal draft, and a staggering rise in Irish-American casualties, they began to question, and in some cases, abandon, the Union war effort because it no longer protected their interests in both countries.