The British Military Observer

It is an old military tradition to send military observers to view a war in a distant country. We learn so much from wars in distant lands about the latest tactics and equipment. During the United States Civil War, Great Britain sent Col. Garnet Wolseley to observe the Confederate army. Col. Wolseley frowned as he watched the First Texas Infantry Regiment march by. Even then, in 1862, as they retreated form the Battle of Antietam, most of the men were barefoot. They limped from the cuts and scrapes on their bare feet. Their lower legs were covered by briar scratches. The cuffs of their sleeves and pants were frayed and ragged. They had tossed their blankets away, because they were shredded by bullet holes.

Col. Wolseley noticed their complete lack of military bearing. But, Gen. Lee assured him, “The enemy never sees the backs of my Texans.”

The truth was the Confederacy could not support its troops. Even into November, 1862, 2,000 men in the Army of Northern Virginia lacked foot wear of any sort. Another 3,000 had shoes that would not last through Christmas. The flour that arrived into the stores of Hood’s Teas Brigade in November had worms an inch long. As the war dragged on, the supply situation grew worse, not better. Yet, these hardy, brave men fought on.

The men of the First Texas Regiment were inspected and found wanting. The Inspector General for the Army of Northern Virginia found their rifles in “very bad order” In modern parlance, we would say they failed the IG inspection. It is likely they simply had not cleaned their rifles adequately or lacked some parts. The Inspector General said the officers were derelict in their duty. But, Gen. Hood was not impressed. He knew his citizen soldiers may not look pretty, but they were combat effective. He ignored the report.

Contemporary observers insist the Southern soldier fought for slavery. It is true that slaves represented material investment to the South. But, if the Southern soldier fought solely for slavery, why did he endure such privation for nothing more than material gain? If he was fighting only to protect his investment, why did he fight with no shoes and socks? It was surely poor investment strategy to protect one’s investments in another human being by serving in an army that could not provide shoes and socks.

Susannah J. Ural, Hood’s Texas Brigade, (Baton Rouge, La.: LSU Press 2017), p. 136-137, 138

Retribution for the Rebels

The victors were extreme in their desire to punish the losing side in a protracted civil war. They were determined to seize land from the losers and award it to soldiers who served in the victorious army. One moderate voice, Vincent Gookin, however, cautioned moderation. Total revenge would harm the economy. Mr. Gookin argued that allowances should be made for those who simply followed the leaders and the higher-born who helped start the civil war. No, this was not Reconstruction in the United States. It was the days and months after the end of the rebellion in Ireland that ended in 1653. The Irish Gaelic and old English forces fought for their freedom. They had been oppressed by the English for decades prior to 1641. The uprising started about the same time in several locales throughout Ireland.

There were always tension between the Irish Catholics and the Protestants. But, those tensions rose to fever pitch when the Puritans seized control of the Parliament and executed King Charles I in 1649. Vincent Gookin was a prominent Protestant in Ireland who fled to England during the long war. When the wars ended, he returned to Ireland and preached a more moderate punishment of the Irish Catholics and Old English Catholics. The Puritan radicals wanted to force all the Irish Catholics out of eastern Ireland into Connaught, the western most province. Mr. Gookin lived in Ireland. Most of the Puritans lived in England. The Puritans relied on stereotypes of the worst sort about the Catholics, convinced they were evil marauders.

As the wars wound down in Ireland, the Tories fought effectively throughout the island. “Tory” derived from the Irish word, toraigh, meaning to hunt or pursue. Bands of former soldiers roamed the countryside making war generally on the Parliament forces and sometimes on Protestant civilians. The Tories operated in large numbers, regiments of 1500 soldiers or more. Lacking artillery or siege craft, they could not assault large garrisons or towns. But, they were exceedingly effective. The Puritan response to the Tories was often collective punishment. The commanders would order entire populations into specific corralled areas in a county. Anyone (meaning any civilian) found outside of those reservations was to be “taken, slain and destroyed.” Echoing tactics which would be used in the Boer war in the 1890’s, the Puritan commanders would make war on the Catholic civilians.

Or, the Parliament forces would fine the residents of a barony for failing to warn the Protestant commanders about a Tory raid or attack.

The Puritan commanders imposed passage requirements. To enter or leave a town required a pass from the local Parliament force commander. During Reconstruction in the United States, Union commanders also imposed similar travel restrictions. The Puritans dictated that anyone found without a pass would be given no quarter. The wars of the 1640’s and 1650’s were vicious and brutal. Both sides committed atrocities. The rules of war were well developed by then in the Continental wars. But, in Ireland, both sides, especially the Parliament forces disregarded the fundamental principles of a rule based war. Oliver Cromwell to this day is reviled in Ireland for massacring defenseless towns after they surrendered to him.

Drogheda was the first such town he massacred. Cromwell was a skilled colonel of cavalry during the English civil war. By the time he entered the Irish version of the civil war in 1649, he was the trusted, mostly unbeatable army commander of the Puritan forces. He was also a true believer. He was convinced that the Papists, as he referred to the Catholics, were the devil incarnate. In the 1650’s, in the European wars, it was accepted that if a garrison surrendered without an agreement, the defenders could be executed. The decision to execute was up to the local commander. It was also a recognized principle of war that unarmed civilians would not be killed. But, In Ireland, those rules were often ignored. Gen. Cromwell believed he was acting for God when Drogheda surrendered without an agreement. The force defending Drogheda was an Irish Catholic regiment who were fighting in the name of King Charles I. Many of the leaders of the defenders escaped from the town before the Parliament forces could enter. The entire town was not killed. But, hundreds of non-combatant Irish Catholic residents of the town were killed by Cromwell’s men. Numerous Protestant residents were also killed.

A few weeks later, Cromwell did the same thing at Wexford town, killing after the surrender, all the men, women, children of the town “to a very few.” After Drogheda and Wexford, many towns would surrender, but they would always secure an agreement first. But, Gen. Cromwell had made it clear this Irish war would end soon, and it would end bloody. The last royalist army to surrender was in October, 1652 at Limerick city. This was the last “publicly entertained” army in the field. The Tories, however, continued.

The Tories operated throughout the otherwise Parliament controlled areas near Dublin. The last Tory unit of any size surrendered in October, 1653. Galway town secured an agreement for surrender. But, after the wars had ended the Parliament would disregard that agreement and seize the property held by Catholics, forcing many residents out into the country side. In 1660, when Puritans would lose their power and King Charles II would assume the throne, the English government would still seek retribution on the Tories and all soldiers who operated secretly or not “publicly entertained.”

When Oliver Cromwell left the island in late 1649, much of the hard work had been done. The ”Great Protector” had vanquished the largest armies in the field. And, the bitterness among Irish Catholics ran deep. In 1997, Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister, paid a call to the new British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook. But, Mr. Aherns stopped as soon as he entered the office. He saw a large painting of Oliver Cromwell on the wall of Mr. Cook’s office. The Irish prime minister refused to enter that office while thatpainting hung on the wall.

That is how most civil wars end. The bitterness and anger ran deep and wide. The United States civil war was different. Yes, the Radical Republicans wanted revenge. They believed the Southern fire-eaters had started the war. As with the Irish civil war, there were Republican moderates who simply wanted to bring the country back together. Andrew Johnson was largely impeached because he advocated a moderate course for Reconstruction. The Irish soldiers on both sides, Union and Confederate, knew their history. They all recalled Oliver Cromwell and his atrocities.

To this day, Oliver Cromwell is easily the most reviled name in Irish history. We are fortunate that our civil war truly did end when the last Confederate army surrendered. Oliver died in 1658. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Soon after his death, the Puritans lost power. Oliver’s body was dug up, tried for treason, and executed, even though he had long been dead. Even in England, many hated the man. For more about Oliver Cromwell from the Irish perspective, see this piece.

Michael O’Siochru, God’s Executioner (London: Bloomsbury House 2008), pp. 1, 195-200, 210-211, 240-241.

Irish As Troublesome Troops

The Irish were often seen as good soldiers, but as not the best disciplined soldiers. After the rebellion of the 1640’s ended in defeat for the Irish and again after the Williamite wars of the 1690’s ended in defeat for the Irish, a great many emigrated to European countries. Many Irish served in the armies of Catholic countries, including Spain, France and Austria. In Spain and in France, these Irish soldiers became known as the “Irish Brigade.” In the 18^thcentury, a regiment generally included about 1,000 soldiers. The regiment was commanded by a colonel. A brigade would include two or more regiments.

Before the wars in the 1600’s, the Dillon family owned tens of thousands of acres in County Meath and Roscommon. After the Dillons lost their land,  they attained considerable fame in the French military. They contributed over 70 family members to the French army.

Like many Irish descendants, the cause of Irish freedom was always close to the heart of the Dillons. General Arthur Dillon spoke in 1792 to a meeting in Paris about the enslaved condition of the Irish. He said he hoped the time would come soon when he could devote his sword to the service of his own home, one day. He told the story how King Louis had once complained to him that of all his troops, the Irish gave him the most trouble. Arthur Dillon replied, “the enemy make the same complaint, Your Majesty.”

So, it is perhaps not surprising that in the Louisiana Sixth Regiment, the most Irish of the many Confederate regiments, the new general, Richard Taylor felt it necessary to execute two Irishmen. Two of their comrades had been placed in the stockade. One night, Michael O’Brien and Dennis Corkeran, got drunk and tried to break out their fellow soldiers. Gen. Taylor, even though a new commander, decreed they must be executed. They were the first executions in the Army of Northern Virginia. The regiment was drawn up in a square and all had to watch. They were shot by a firing squad. Half the members of the firing squad had blanks, so no one would know if they shot killed their comrade. One soldier recorded: “They fired, the two poor men fell down dead. They were picked up and put in a coffin and buried at once. Most every fellow that was standing cride.”

The punishment struck many as an over-reaction to drunken behavior. One Northern newspaper said the incident showed the prejudice held by Confederate officers toward the Irish-born soldiers. As time would show, whatever bias Gen. Taylor may have held regarding the Irish, all that changed by the end of the war.

Stephen McGarry, Irish Brigades Abroad, (History Press, Ireland 2013), p. 216

James P. Gannon, Irish Rebels, Confederate Tigers, (DaCapo Press 1998), p. 14-15.

 

He Served His Country Faithfully

Every successful army needs them, the dedicated few soldiers who will undergo any sacrifice to make the unit work. Audie Murphy said in his book, To Hell and Back, that every platoon needed three to four soldiers ready to kill without flinching. That is what he meant, that every military unit relied on those few who were very good at their craft and were ruthless in the execution of their craft.

Virginius “Jinny” Petty was one such soldier. At the Second Battle of Manassas, he was First Sergeant of Co. E, Fifth Texas Infantry Regiment. The Fifth Texas Infantry was known as  the “Bloody Fifth,” because of its high casualties at the Second Battle of Manassas. Jinny Petty was shot in the bowels and mortally wounded. Then as now, that was the worst wound, because death was certain and it would come slow. He was said to be the most dedicated man in Co. E. He had promised he would “go naked and eat dirt” before he would fall out of line on the march.

His messmate was W.H. McCalister. Mr. McCalister did not lie to 1SGT Petty’s family, as most soldiers did. He told the family that the First Sergeant died a slow death. “He suffered a great deal before he died,” W.H. wrote to the Petty’s. But, his last request, he wrote, was to tell his friends that he “died for a good cause and that he was perfectly willing to die for he had served his country faithfully.” No soldier can hope for more than that.

Susannah J. Ural, Hood’s Texas Brigade, (Baton Rouge, La.: LSU Press 2017), p. 112.