The Irish Temperance Movement

Most  folks do not realize there was a very strong temperance movement in Ireland in the 1840’s. Fr. Theobald Mathew, a Capuchin priest in County Cork, started a temperance movement seeking to reduce the reliance of so many Irish on alcohol. He found a very receptive audience and quickly built a large successful organization. The movement jumped across the Atlantic ocean. In New Orleans, Fr. James I. Mullon, pastor at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, organized the St. Patrick’s Total Abstinence Society. Fr. Mullon, a very popular priest in his own right, administered “the pledge” after High Mass every Sunday. In 1842, the society was the pride of the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.

In 1850, Fr. Mathew crossed the ocean and visited the South. In New Orleans, he collected 13,000 new pledges. In New Orleans, Fr. Mathew was welcomed much as this country did when Mother Theresa – now Saint Theresa of India – came to visit. The Father was perceived as a virtual saint. At Memphis, he gathered 700 new pledges. At Natchez, he preached to Catholics and Protestants at St. Mary’s Cathedral. “Throngs” pledged abstinence at the altar rails.

Before Fr. Mathew was welcomed by the Southern Irish, he had to assure them that despite his meetings with abolitionists in the North, he had no intention of interfering with slavery. He assured the Southern Irish that while in the South, he would only address temperance.

Fr. Mathew arrived just in time to help dedicate a new church for the growing Irish immigrant population in New Orleans. He dedicated the new St. Alphonsus church during his visit. That first 1850 edifice was much smaller than the current St.  Alphonsus church building.

Sources:

David T. Gleeson, The Irish in the South, 1815-1877 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Univ. of North Carolina Press 1995), p. 61-62, 132.

Samuel Wilson, Jr., The Church of St. Alphonsus (New Orleans: Friends of St. Alphonsus 1996), p. 3.

Irish Southerners Vote to Secede

The secessionist wave grew and grew throughout the 1850’s. When Lincoln was elected in 1860, that started a reaction. South Carolina voted to secede in December, 1860. Still, many Southerners, including the Irish immigrants, resisted secession. On April 14, 1861, newly elected Pres. Lincoln issued a call to the states for 75,000 troop to suppress “the rebellion.” That move, it was clear, meant Pres. Lincoln intended to invade the South. In the 1860 presidential election, Memphis had voted 2-1 for the union Democrat, Stephen Douglas. But, now after Lincoln’s call for troops, the Memphis Irish now voted overwhelmingly for secession.

In Texas, the only state to hold a general election on secession, the Irish communities of Refugio and San Patricio voted for secession. Among the Irish representatives to attend the individual state conventions, all voted for secession. There were four representatives in Louisiana, one in Florida and one in North Carolina.

SourDavid T. Gleeson, The Irish in the South, 1815-1877 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Univ. of North Carolina Press 1995), p. 138-139.ce:

The Leadership of Jeff Davis

Afghanistan is not the first country that did not support its army. Other countries likewise did not or could not support its army. But, not all of those unsupported armies failed. The Confederate army also suffered from extreme lack of beans and bullets, clothing and more. Yet, up to the very end, the Confederate army performed superbly considering its limitations. Why? What made the Confederate army succeed where the Afghanistan army failed so miserably? One answer is sound leadership.

Robert E. Lee famously tried to lead his troops in a charge himself, not once, but three times. Each time, his own soldiers turned him back. Officers like John Bell Hood excelled at simply taking to his soldiers and listening to them.

Jefferson Davis, the much maligned President of the Confederate States, certainly had his faults. Davis did, however, practice effective leadership. He was a graduate of West Point. His regiment, the Mississippi Rifles performed brilliantly during the Mexican War. He knew how to display leadership.

Think how in more recent wars, Pres. Bush, Obama and Trump went to Iraq and Afghanistan to serve meals to the troops. The troops need to know they have not been forgotten. Speaking from my own experience, it is easy for soldiers to start believing they have been overlooked.

Battle of Atlanta

After the fall of Atlanta, he showed what he had learned. Within six days of the loss of the city, Pres. Davis was with the Army of Tennessee. It took him six days of train travel, because the Federal troops had captured so much that he had embark on a complicated route. By Sept. 26, 1864, he was there with the army to dispel their gloom. He wrote to a friend just days before he left Richmond that the “first effect of disaster is always to spread a deeper gloom than is due to the occasion.” Along his route, he took the time to make speeches to the local citizens. He likely received some not-so-subtle criticisms on these forays, but the undertook them all the same.

He did not come just to buck up the men. He also had to deal with generals with angry egos. But, doubtless, the troops appreciated his visit, all the same. He gave speeches to the soldiers. They held a grand review. With the President came Tennessee Governor Isham G. Harris, Texas Governor Francis R. Lubbock, Howell Cobb, the Georgia general and former Secretary of the Treasury in the U.S. government, and Robert Toombs, former U.S. Congressman and frequent critic of Jeff Davis. They all gave speeches, which was one of the chief entertainments of the time.

The morale of the men likely did perk up. One Tennessee soldier wrote home, “It was all hands round, swing the corner, and balance your partner” [a verse from a popular dance tune]. The same soldier recorded that Pres. Davis shook his hand, saying howdy Captain. Toombs shook his hand, saying howdy Major. “ . . . and every big bug that I shook hands with put another star on my collar and chicken guts on my sleeve.”

Source:

Russell S. Bonds, War Like a Thunderbolt (Pennsylvania: Westholme Publ. 2009), p. 327-332

Bishop England Teaching the Freed Children

His name was England, but he was Irish. Bishop John England was the prelate in Charleston, South Carolina. Bishop England was an active defender of the Irish in early America, at a time when defenders of the Irish immigrants were rare. Like many Irish immigrants to the Southern U.S., he accepted slavery at face value. He did not question the society that gave him a freedom he did not know back in Ireland. But, he also recognized things about slavery.

He started a free school for children of “free colored.” This was seen as a challenge to the white supremacists of the time. There were laws against teaching slaves to read. Children of free colored men and women were a gray area, that many whites preferred not to broach. But, Bishop England was different. He did not mind annoying the Protestant ascendancy here in the U.S.

The Abolitionists

What he did not expect was the mail campaign launched by Northern abolitionists. They inundated the Charleston post office with mail. Nativists used the excessive mail to claim the offensive mail was destined for Catholics. Alarmed by this twisting of his intentions, Bishop England closed the school in 1835. Too, he was probably concerned about so much mail from Northern abolitionists, who were universally fervent Protestant Evangelicals. To any Irish Catholic, fervent Protestants caused severe nervousness.

Bishop England responded by describing the abolitionists as fanatics. His newspaper said the school had to be closed due to the “saints” interfering with a society with which it had no understanding. He meant the abolitionists did not understand the South. His newspaper continued pointing out that in Great Britain and Ireland, the “saints” were seeking Negro emancipation, and the better observation of the Sabbath, they were issuing tracts with the worst calumnies and straining every nerve to exterminate Catholics. It was hard for Catholics to trust Protestants in any country after 200 years of Protestant efforts to exterminate Catholics.

Source:

David T. Gleeson, The Irish in the South, 1815-1877 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Univ. of North Carolina Press 1995), p. 128-129.

Irish Immigrants Earning a Living

How did the Irish immigrants in the South earn a living? They did work similar to what their compatriots in the North were doing. Many Irish males performed unskilled labor. One review of the1850 census records shows the following numbers:

	% Unskilled	Semi-Skilled	Skilled	Low White Collar	High White Collar	Planter/Farmer
Mobile	43.6	16.6	23.7	12.1	5.3	.3
Natchez	18.1	4.3	36.2	20.2	12.8	1.1
New Orleans	51.3	17.1	17.1	10.1	1.7	0
Richmond	43.2	5.2	26.4	12.1	8.5	0

Richmond was one of the few Southern cities with any manufacturing. That city had a larger percentage of skilled labor. Most of the Irish workers were machinists and blacksmiths. New Orleans had a very large canal digging project through the 1840’s, so that city has a large unskilled labor population in 1850. Mobile and New Orleans had large ports, so they had larger numbers of semi-skilled Irish labor. Some Irish managed to get into low wage white collar positions, such as clerks or small proprietors. Some Irish immigrants became successful merchants. In New Orleans, J.C. Prendergast owned and ran the Orleanian newspaper in New Orleans. Maunsel White and John Burnside were successful commission merchants in New Orleans. They both owned homes in the wealthiest section of New Orleans. They would later purchase plantations and become planters.

Thomas Ruddy of Natchez, John McGonagle of Mobile and Timothy Burns of Richmond all operated substantial merchant businesses. There were also many Irish druggists, doctors and lawyers who fell into the high white collar category. In the 1855 City Directory of New Orleans, about 20% of the lawyers listed were Irish. Most of them received their training before they arrived in the U.S. The commission merchant business was a lucrative one. The commission merchant would accept a crop from a planter and then re-sell it- for a commission. The commission merchant was paid with a percentage of the profits. Somewhat less than ten percent of the commission merchants in New Orleans were Irish in the 1850’s.

1860

By the 1860 census, the numbers changed a bit:

	% Unskilled	Semi-Skilled	Skilled	Low White Collar	High White Collar	Farmer/ Planter
Mobile	45.8	13.7	21.6	8.4	5.9	1
Natchez	45.8	6.6	30.7	5.0	8.2	0
New Orleans	41.7	17.5	17.8	9.0	5.2	0
Richmond	44.8	9.1	22.9	9.7	5.7	0

The large increase in unskilled labor in Natchez reflects the fact that in 1850, Natchez did not yet have that influx of famine immigrants. By 1860, they had received many famine immigrants. Looking at the birth places of their children, one can see that the Irish who arrived in Natchez generally came from other parts of the U.S. Natchez, like other Mississippi river ports, was a large city for its time period.

Sources:

Earl Niehaus, The Irish in New Orleans (Baton Rouge: LSU Press 1965), pp. 26, 30

David T. Gleeson, The Irish in the South, 1815-1877 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Univ. of North Carolina Press 1995), p. 38-40

Irish Immigrants in New Orleans

How many Irish immigrants were there in the South before the war? Precise figures are elusive. But, there are hints. The Irish were generally described in the immigration records as having come from Great Britain. Arrivals generally peaked in the Spring or Fall, so as to avoid the Summer heat.  In the last quarter of 1845, there were 813 arrivals from Great Britain in the port of New Orleans. In late 1846, there were 1,519 arrivals from Britain in New Orleans. In the last quarter of 1847, known as “Black ‘47” – the worst year of the famine in Ireland, there were 3,621 arrivals from Great Britain. During the normally slow summer time, there were 5,856 arrivals from Great Britain in New Orleans.

In 1849, there were 7,272 passengers disembarking at New Orleans. By 1850, New Orleans was second only to New York for Irish arrivals.

In the 1840’s, Liverpool was the center of the cotton trade in Europe. On the return trip to America, the cotton ships would bring immigrants. The cheapest fare to the US was to New Orleans. So, it is not surprising that by 1850, there were some 24,000 Irish immigrants in Louisiana and some 28,000 by 1860. New Orleans had some 116,000 people in 1850 and 168,000 in 1860.

Source:

David T. Gleeson, The Irish in the South, 1815-1877 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Univ. of North Carolina Press 1995), p. 26-27

Irish Immigrants Becoming White Collar

The numbers in the 1860 census do reflect remarkable advancement by Irish immigrants in the white collar category.

	Skilled	% Change Since 1850	Low White Collar	Change Since 1850	High White Collar	Change Since 1850
Mobile	333	+48	128	+12	80	+176
Natchez	98	+188	16	+16	26	+117
New Orleans	180	+68	97	+54	62	+373
Richmond	263	+157	112	+139	65	+97

There was significant upward mobility among the Irish in those years between 1850 and 1860. These Irish men prospered in business and in retail. John Roach operated a bank and sat on the board of the very successful Vicksburg and Jackson Railroad. John Moore of Augusta, Georgia organized the bank of Augusta. In Richmond, Alex Worrell served as superintendent of the Richmond and Danville railroad. James Elder in Mobile served the same position of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.

William Agar, a native of County Carlow, came to the U.S. in 1847. He started as a clerk for a sugar broker, P. A. Giraud, in New Orleans as early as 1850. William would later name one of his sons after his early boss. By the time of William’s death in 1915, he was known as one of the most prominent brokers in New Orleans. His brother-in-law, Edward M. Rice preceded him in the sugar business. The commission merchant and sugar broker business was one avenue for advancement for the Irish immigrants.

Edward M. Rice

Edward Rice was one of those rare Irish who entered the sugar broker trade early in the 1850’s. His wife, Catherine Price, ran a boarding home before they married. She continued with the boarding house during the marriage. Edward did young and Catherine continued with the boarding house after his passing.

Other Irish in the professions included Hugh Lyle who practiced medicine in Natchez. Patrick Wallace and Robert Langfield taught at a private academy in Mobile. James Kernan taught, among others, William C. Faulkner of Ripley, Mississippi, grandfather of the famous 20^th century author, William Faulkner. Samuel O’Callaghan was a successful lawyer in New Orleans.

Many Irish women taught school. They did not usually run their own schools. They would typically live and teach at a plantation as a private tutor. Nancy Wightman taught on the plantation of Mr. and Mrs. Collins near Florence, Alabama. She taught the four Collins girls and three other girls from a nearby family. These three girls were “not so smart, but very good children.” In Louisiana near New Orleans, Maunsel White started as a sugar broker, later owned a sugar plantation in Plaquemines Parish with hundreds of slaves.

Coffee Houses

Some Irish prospered in less respectable businesses. Mary Murphy, 28 years old, ran a coffee house and dancing room. Coffee houses in that time served everything but coffee. They were essentially saloons, where much business and other activities was conducted. Ms. Murphy’s establishment in what we today call the French Quarter employed Irish prostitutes, such as Mary Gallagher, Mary Meagher, and Abby Phillips. Margaret Haughery, from Ireland via Baltimore, operated a very successful bakery and dairy in New Orleans. She would become locally famous for her philanthropy. Today, there is a sweet monument to Margaret near St. Theresa de Avila Catholic Church in Uptown New Orleans. See the photo above.

Source:

David T. Gleeson, The Irish in the South, 1815-1877 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Univ. of North Carolina Press 1995), p. 41-42, 43.

The Lost German Girl, Part 2

Mary Miller

From the day of their purchase, little was heard of the fate of the Daniel Muller family. Until in 1843, Madame Carl Rouff was walking past a coffee house and saw a young slave named Mary Miller who looked exactly like her dear friend, Dorothea Muller. Madame Rouff was convinced this was the long missing Salome Muller, daughter to her friend Dorothea Muller. Ms. Rouff took Mary to her friend, Eva Kropp Schuber’s house. Eva instantly recognized Mary as Salome Muller.

Salome was clearly light-skinned, but that did not necessarily mean she was not considered “black.” In one of the stranger aspects of slavery, even one drop of Negro blood was enough to render a person “black” in the eyes of the law. But, it was a foundational principle of slavery that a person who was 100% white could not be a slave. It was critical to know what Mary’s background was. But, Mary, then probably in her 30’s, had no recollection of her childhood. Even so, Eva and Mrs. Rouff believed they knew. Eva was convinced by a large mole on Mary/Salome’s upper thigh. Eva in particular became indefatigable in supporting the cause of Mary/Salome.

They hired talented lawyers of the day to represent Mary in her lawsuits. Eva was a bulldog, raising money from the German community of New Orleans to pay the legal fees. As the lawsuit progressed, the second-hand story emerged that a German family of a single father with one son and two daughters traveled on a keel boat to the Attakapas region. One evening, the German father let out a gasp, clutched his chest and fell over. He died before he hit the planking. Later, sometime that night, his oldest son jumped into the river and was never seen again. No one knew what became of the two daughters.

John Fitz Miller

Louis Belmonti ran the coffee house where Madame Rouff first saw Mary Miller. He had  purchased Mary from John Fitz Miller, a planter from the western parts of Louisiana. Miller was one of the wealthiest men in the state. The lawsuits became a personal matter for John F. Miller. It was a very dis-honorable thing to force a white person into slavery. John hired the best lawyers to defend his good name.

Gen. Lewis

In 1843, trial was held in New Orleans state district court. John Fitz Miller presented a vigorous defense. He called as witnesses persons who knew Mary as his former slave. One witness was identified as “Gen. Lewis.” Gen. Lewis testified that he remembered seeing Mary as a young slave. She did not speak with a particular accent, he said. We would expect Mary Miller to speak with a German accent in her youth. On cross examination, Gen. Lewis admitted that he might have viewed the light-skinned Mary as a slave, simply because he saw her in the company of other slaves. Later, after a lunch break, Gen. Lewis rose and asked if he could add to his prior testimony. The judge assented. Gen. Lewis said he was struck by the resemblance between Mary/Salome and Eva Schuber and later by the Mary/Salome’s resemblance to another young Muller girl in the court room. He said he had always assumed Mary Miller had some Negro features, but perhaps that was because he had simply always associated her with Negroes. His testimony was remarkable for its time.

Gen. Lewis’ testimony likely rocked the court. Slavery was premised on a mistaken belief that different races possessed fundamental biological differences. Educated persons in 1843 sincerely believed some races were inferior. Gen. Lewis’ testimony turned accepted science of the day upside down.

The Mole

Several persons testified on behalf of Mary/Salome. Witnesses testified that they knew Mary in her younger days to have a slight German accent. Other witnesses from the German community testified that they knew Mary was Salome. A doctor examined Mary and attested to the presence of the mole. Even Daniel Muller, son of Henry Muller, turned up and testified that he recognized Mary/Salome as Salome Muller, his cousin. Yet, in the end, Mary/Salome lost her trial.

Liberty is Presumed

But, Eva did not give up. She raised the money to pay the fees for an appeal. In Louisiana law, as in most slave states, there was a presumption in favor of liberty. That is, if there was doubt as to the racial background of a person, then the court would defer to liberty. In 1845, the state Supreme Court reviewed the evidence and overturned the trial result. The court based its ruling on the lack of evidence showing Mary/Salome Miller was descended from a slave mother or even from a black mother. The court pointed to the testimony of Gen. Lewis that Mary/Salome appeared to be white in every respect. And, with that ruling, Mary/Salome was now free. From then forward, she went by the name of Sally Muller. The German community of New Orleans celebrated.

But, John Fitz Miller was devastated. This decision cast him as a slave owner who had wrongly forced a white girl into slavery. Miller continued his efforts to find anyone who could testify about the fate of the missing two daughters of Daniel Muller. In Morehouse Parish, an upstate Louisiana parish, he found one Dorothy Kirchner. Dorothy was another one of those German Redemptioners from 1818. Dorothy said there were no noticeable marks on either of the two Muller girls. Dorothy rejected the claim of Daniel Muller, son of Henry. Daniel, she said was only eight when they arrived at New Orleans. But, she was 15 when they first arrived at the port. Dorothy said she had found the two missing Muller girls in upstate Louisiana in 1832. Her testimony then led to Polly Moore of Monroe, Louisiana.

Polly Moore

In 1846, Polly Moore happened to come to New Orleans. John F. Miller filed an action in Federal court, so as to take her testimony. Polly spoke with a lingering German accent. But, she said she was not Salome. She said she was the older sister, Dorothea. She said the names of the two sisters were changed often. They could not yet speak English and could only communicate by pointing. Polly/Dorothea said her sister, Salome had died four years before in upstate Louisiana.

John Fitz Miller had also located the original Redemption contract signed by Daniel Muller in 1818. The paper, signed by Daniel Muller with three crosses to mark the signatures of his three children, showed someone other than John bought them all. They had not gone to the Attakapas region, at all. Instead, they had gone to Morehouse parish in 1818.

In yet another trial in state district court, the jury could not reach a decision. By now, the case of Sally Miller v. John Fitz Miller was a nationally known affair. The Judge had respected the Supreme Court decision and charged the jury that a white person or an Indian were presumed to be free. If they found Mary/Salome was white, then they would have to presume she was free. Since the jury could not reach a result, the prior decision by the state Supreme Court stood. Mary/Salome remained free.

By this time in 1848, John Fitz Miller’s finances had diminished a great deal. He hovered  just above bankruptcy. Sally Muller was still free. And, in 2023 we would think the citizens of New Orleans had to ask some hard questions of the very foundation of slavery.

Source:

John Bailey, The Lost German Slave Girl  (New York: Grove Press 2003), pp. 1-2, 23-24, 46-47, 115-116, 161-165, 214-216, 240-241, 245-246, 249

The Lost German Girl, Part 1

There was much that was wrong with slavery. Decent white Southerners of the day would say that African-Americans of the time were not capable of taking care of themselves. They believed slavery was a necessary evil. But, even those otherwise decent white Southerners had to consider the hypocrisies and the sheer stupidity of slavery at times. One such time concerned the lost German slave girl.

The story of the lost German girl attracted national attention in the 1840’s. Her story started in New Orleans when Madame Carl Rouff happened to walk past a coffee house owned by Louis Belmonti in the Vieux Carre part of New Orleans. She recognized the daughter of a dear friend of hers back in Germany. The young woman, believed Madame Rouff, was one Salome Muller. The Muller family experienced one of the worst sorts of immigration stories. The father, Daniel Muller bought tickets to take his family to America in 1816. His brother, Henry and Henry’s family joined the Daniel Muller family in their journey.

The two Muller families were not destitute. Daniel was a shoemaker and Henry was a locksmith. They were both skilled tradesmen. Daniel had four children and Henry had three. They were respected members of their Alsatian community. But, they wanted something better. They – and other families from their region – bought tickets for the overseas passage to America in 1816. But, the Master of the vessel who took their money disappeared – with their money. Working class families who had never been in want were now left destitute in a strange port city. They waited months for news of the AWOL Master. Eventually, after months of waiting, they all agreed to sail on a ship as indentured servants.

Indentured Service

During a difficult voyage, Daniel’s wife, Dorothea, and his youngest child died. Daniel was left a single father with three young children. The ship Rudolph arrived in New Orleans in 1818. The Muller family and the other passengers of the Rudolph all owed a debt to the captain for the passage.  They would now pay that debt by allowing a buyer to buy them for a period of time. The passenger could reject an offer. But, every extra day the passengers spent on board the ship was an additional cost owed to the captain. The passengers were known as Redemptioners. They had to redeem their debts to the ship. A Redemptioner who escaped the ship became a criminal. A Redemptioner would be purchased for a particular price, but would then owe the buyer a certain number of years of service. His debt to the ship would be paid. But, he would still owe one, two or more years of service. This was the process known as indentured service.

One by one, the families found buyers. The buyers would come on board, inspect the passengers and make an offer.  The buyers would be from the city of New Orleans or from the upstate Louisiana parishes. Daniel and Henry held out hoping for someone who would buy their entire families. After some weeks, Henry relented and allowed his daughter to be purchased separately from his family. Daniel still held out. Finally, after weeks, he accepted an offer for him and his three remaining children, Jacob, Dorothea, and Salome. On his way out of the city, he stopped briefly to see one of his fellow passenger, Eva Kropp. Eva was from his old village. He told her they were going to the Attakapas region of Louisiana. The Attakapas region referred in general the western parts of Louisiana beyond the Mississippi river.

The Montgomery Guards: Blessing of the Flag

Before the War, the New Orleans Daily Delta was not a pro-Irish newspaper. The Delta had published a series of articles condemning the Irish for causing all sorts of ills in the city. The Irish, said the Daily Delta, were forever “kicking up rows and breaking heads.” Yet, that same newspaper reported the consecration of the Irish Flag to be borne by the Montgomery Guards. The Montgomery Guards were named for Gen. Richard Montgomery, Irish born, who served in the Continental army during the American Revolution. He had risen through the ranks of the British army, and took up the patriot cause. He fell at Quebec. For the Irish in the 1850’s, he was a great Irish-American hero.       

War Drums

By March, 1861, Louisiana had already seceded. Ft. Sumter and Lincoln’s levy of 75,000 troops had not yet occurred. But, by St. Patrick’s Day, war looked very likely. The Montgomery Guards were the oldest Irish militia in New Orleans. In the 1800’s, militias were more than martial organizations. They served a prominent social role, as well. And, the Montgomery Guards were at the top of the Irish social ladder. Indeed, they had been criticized over the years for the expense of their uniforms. That large expense limited their membership to only the most prosperous Irish immigrants.

In times like war, the Irish turned to their trusted institutions. In 1861, the Montgomery Guards celebrated St. Patrick’s Day be seeking the blessing of the church on their flag. The flag was beautiful. It was green with fringe. On one side, there was a wreath of cotton plants, with the words, “Montgomery Guards, organized 8^th January, 1861.” On the other side, there was a wreath of cotton plants, with the words, “Louisiana, our home: her cause is ours.”

St. Patrick’s Day

On St. Patrick’s Day, 1861, the Guards marched with their flag from their armory in what is now downtown New Orleans to St. Alphonsus church.  St. Alphonsus is uptown in the area now known as the Irish channel. The church was largely built by Irish labor. It is said that the Irish workers would return home from their normal day jobs and then go work at the church after hours.

At the church, the esteemed Fr. Duffy blessed their flag. Representatives from other militia units attended. The commander of the Louisiana Greys, Capt. Dean, attended. Sponsors of the flag included two Misses Redmond, Ann Farrell, two Misses O’Neil, Miss O’Shea, Gen. E.L. Tracy, Gen. Denis Cronan, Capt. C.D. Dreux (Orleans Cadets), Capt. C.E. Girardey (Louisiana Guards), and Capt. Dean. Fr. John B. Duffy exhorted the Montgomery Guards that defending their country with the spirit of a Christian soldier was to serve God. That the women sponsored the flag likely means they sewed the flag.

After the blessing, the Guards paraded through the city and returned to their armory. They held a celebration which likely included food and drink. The Daily Delta said this was the only St. Patrick’s Day celebration that year. The Irish may have left their country, but they brought much of their country with them. The Montgomery Guards would later become Co. E of the First Louisiana Infantry Regiment.

Sources:

New Orleans Daily Delta, March 19, 1861, p. 2, col. 6

New Orleans Daily Picayune, March 19, 1861, p. 4, col. 6

Earl Niehaus, The Irish in New Orleans (Baton Rouge: LSU Press 1965), pp. 88