Irish Units in the Confederacy

 IRISH MEN IN THE CONFEDERACY 

Much has been written about the Irish in the military service of the United States. Irish Medal of Honor recipients, too, are well documented. However, a lesser known aspect of the American Civil War is our service in the Confederate States of America (CSA).

In 1861, several cities in the American south and Midwest had large Irish populations, namely New Orleans, Savannah, Galveston, Mobile, Memphis, Charleston, Nashville, St. Louis and Louisville. Many Irishmen joined local militia units that were also social in nature. Members drilled, marched and learned to use firearms.  In Border States, such as Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, Irish served in both the Federal and Confederate armies and navies. Sometimes brother fought against brother. In some units, Irish-born soldiers, if not wholly composing the units, numbered at least two thirds of the unit.

     During the evening just prior to the battle of Fredericksburg it was reported CSA musicians played “The Bonnie Blue Flag”. During the battle itself, Meagher's Irish Brigade was decimated as they attacked Marye’s Heights.  A Confederate Irish Unit (possibly the 2nd Georgia) was opposing them.  An officer in that unit was Willie Mitchell, who was the son of John Mitchell, General Meagher's friend, fellow prisoner in Australia and fellow Young Ireland member. Following the war, Mitchel was imprisoned with Jefferson Davis. Upon release he later edited a Pro-Southern newspaper in Richmond. 

 In his diary, later published as The Valiant Hours, Cleveland’s Thomas F. Galwey, Co. B, 8^th OVI, reported that after the battle of Fredericksburg both USA and CSA troops ceased-fire so the dead could be collected and buried. ”Jim Gallagher told us that he had met a man from the 16^th Mississippi Regiment (an Irish regiment, it seems). They all, Confederate and Federal parted on good terms and bade one another a sincere goodbye.”

     The state of Alabama fielded several units. Montgomery was the terminus of the Louisville & Nashville railroad. Traditionally, Irish worked the railroads and it should not be surprising to find Irish communities in Montgomery and Mobile during these times. Irish units reportedly were the Alabama Light Dragoons and Mobile Dragoons.  Co. B, 24th Alabama Inf. (Emmett Guards); 24th Alabama Cavalry Battalion

The 24th Alabama Cavalry Battalion was organized on 31 December 1863, with three companies. Like their Federal counterparts, young men staffed the units. Most served under General Joseph Wheeler in the Cavalry Corps, assigned to the Brigades of Philip Dale Roddey and Moses Wright Hannon. In January, 1865, they were transferred into James Hagan's Brigade. The battalion was involved in the Atlanta Campaign at Resaca and the siege of the city. As they withdrew southward they continued to confront Union forces throughout Georgia and the Carolinas. They eventually surrendered with the Army of Tennessee at Durham Station, Orange County, North Carolina, 26 April 1865.

Another unit, Co. I, 8th Alabama Infantry (Emerald Guards), was from Mobile. The 8^th was the first Alabama unit to enlist “for the war.” Co. I had 104 Irish-born out of 109. Patrick C. Loughry, who was killed in action at the battle of Seven Pines, commanded them. C. P. B. Branegan, later killed at Gettysburg, succeeded him. John McGrath assumed command, only to be wounded at the battle of The Wilderness, Spotsylvania. He was forced to retire on 27 December, 1864.

Instead of butternut and gray, the men of the Emerald Guards wore dark green uniforms. Their banner was unique as well. On one side was a Confederate First National flag ("Stars and Bars") on one side with a full-length figure of George Washington in the center. On its opposite side was a green field, with a harp surrounded by a wreath of shamrocks, and the slogans, "ERIN GO BRAGH!" (Ireland Forever!) and "FAUGH A BALLAGH!" (Clear The Way!). An enlistment banner for the unit at that time proclaimed: “Men of the Auld Sod! Sons of Erin!  The deep green uniforms of Company I, 8th Alabama Emerald Guard should be seen again on the Field of Honor! Good men of Irish origin or ancestry are needed to command and fill the ranks. March under the green banner once again.  Contact Major Michael Kelley for information.”

At the Battle of Frazier’s Farm they engaged Meagher’s Irish Brigade. The 8^th Alabama fought in some of the bloodiest and most savage battles of the Civil War - Sharpsburg (Antietam), 2^nd Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. When rumors of surrender reached them they became indignant and “tore their battle-flag into shreds to retain as mementos. Of 1,377 men on its roll, the 8th lost 300 killed or mortally wounded, over 170 died of disease, and 236 were discharged or transferred; 16 officers and 153 men surrendered.”

More on the unit can be found on two websites - http://www.tarleton.edu/~kjones/wilcox.html#8th-Inf

http://www.37thtexas.org/html/CoI8thAla.html

The state of Louisiana fielded several Irish volunteer units, among them:

 13th Louisiana Infantry - Capt. O'Leary's "Southern Celts", Co. B, St. Mary's Volunteers;

 1st Louisiana Infantry - "Emmett Guards", Co. D, E. The First Louisiana was one of two brigades of Louisiana infantry which served with the 2nd Corps Army of Northern Virginia.  7,534 officers and men served in the various regiments during the war. 1,743 1st Brigade, sons of Louisiana, gave their lives for their country, in the war. A larger number of the Brigade was captured when they were overrun at Rappahannock Station, Virginia, November 7, 1864.

 7^th Louisiana Infantry – Co. C - "Sarsfield's Rangers"; “Irish Volunteers”. Of the 974 men in the 7^th, 331 were born in Ireland. Mustered into service for the duration of the war on June 5, 1861. Though composed mainly of farmers, laborers, and clerks, Gen. Richard Taylor referred to the 7th as a "crack regiment". The original colonel of the regiment was Harry T. Hays, who went on to become a distinguished General with the 7th coming under the command of his lieutenant colonel, Davidson B. Penn for the remainder of the war. The unit’s major engagements were:

Sharpsburg (Antietam). Brigade at this time did not number over 550 men. The command was reduced, losing more than one-half (323 killed and wounded);

Gettysburg. Total loss: 7 officers and 29 men killed, 22 officers and 178 men wounded, and 4 officers and 91 men missing;

Winchester. 2 officers and 10 men killed, 8 officers and 59 men wounded, making a total of 12 killed and 67 wounded. On June 13, 2 men killed 3 officers and 8 men wounded, and 3 men missing. Total of the two days' operations: 14 killed, 78 wounded, 3 missing.

      Of the total wartime rolls of 1,077 men, 190 were killed and 68 died of disease. The regiment suffered only a ten percent desertion rate, a trivial number when compared with other regiments with such diverse ethnic backgrounds.

6th Louisiana Infantry - "The Emeralds", Co. B, F. Commanded by Colonel Isaac Seymour;

    The 6th was composed of almost all Irish laborers from New Orleans. Organized at Camp Moore, Louisiana on June 2, 1861 the unit was almost immediately sent to Virginia, where it participated in the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run). After the battle the 6th was placed in an all-Louisiana brigade that included the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Louisiana and Wheat's Special Battalion. The brigade, initially commanded by Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor, became known throughout the Army of Northern Virginia as the "Louisiana Tigers." When it surrendered to the US government on April 9, 1865, less than 60 of the original 1,146 that fought throughout the war were present.

Colonel Charles de Choiseul, descendant of a commander of the original Wild Geese, was promoted to commander of the Wheat’s “Tigers.” Upon learning of this he said, “I am the victim of circumstances, not of my own will. Whether the Tigers will devour me, or whether I will succeed in taming them, remains to be seen. What is more likely, is that they will remain in their high state of undiscipline. For the officers, at least the majority of them, are worse than the men. " (Letter, Charles de Choiseul to Emma Louise Walton, September 5, 1861} An incident in November of that year appears to validate de Choiseul’s perception.

Two members of the “Tigers” shared a bottle of whiskey with members of the 21^st Georgia Volunteers but the Georgian took off with their bottle. When a fight broke out several “Tigers” were ordered confined to the guardhouse for brawling. A small group of drunken comrades attacked the guard in an attempt to liberate the prisoners and Col. Harry Hayes of the 7^th La. was struck. Privates Michael O'Brien and Dennis Corcoran admitted to being the ringleaders of the attack. In December, military justice had its day.

 According to the papers of Randolph Abbot Shotwell, “The doomed men (O'Brien and Corcoran) maintained a remarkable coolness, never flinching when the priest bade them farewell and stepped aside, never flinching when at the curt word of command, twenty-four muskets came up to a direct level, never flinching when again the command rings out 'Aim!' Nor was there a sound - for I had covered my eyes - when amid the painful silence came the word 'Fire!' and was drowned in the crashing volley that ensued. Both men fell forward riddled with bullets. Death was instantaneous. "

 On July 1 during the first day's fighting at Gettysburg, the 6th Louisiana, now a part of Brig. Gen. Harry T. Hays' Louisiana Brigade, was engaged north of town. At dusk on July 2 the brigade breached the Federal line on Cemetery Hill. Although Hays' attack was successful, it was not supported, and Federals drove them off Cemetery Hill from the Eleventh Corps. The 6^th Louisianans forever resented this lost opportunity.

 Rev. James B. Sheeran, a native of Ireland, was the Chaplain of the 14^th Louisiana Regiment. He published his diary as Confederate Chaplain. A prisoner of war, Fr. Sheeran spent time at Fort McHenry before being released from Fort McHenry. He became an itinerant clergyman after the war and founded Holy Rood Church, Morristown, New Jersey, where he is interned

     In his doctoral dissertation, Catholic Military and Naval Chaplains, 1776 - 1917, Dom Aidan Henry Germain, S.T.L., J.A., J.C.B., called out both federal and confederate chaplains. Among the Irish surnamed Catholic Chaplains in the CSA were the following priests:

Bannon, John, St. Louis;

Croghan, C.J., Hospital, Montgomery, White Sulphur Springs, VA.

Cunningham, James T., 3^rd Mississippi Regiment Infantry

Jordan, William H., 18^th North Carolina

O’Connell, Laurence P., Hospital, Montgomery, White Sulphur Springs, VA

O’Keefe, M. Virginia. Assigned to General Blanchard.

O’Riely, Thomas, Kinston, LaGrange, Marietta, Newman and Griffin, GA.

Ryan, Patrick, Post Chaplain, Charleston;

Sheeran, James, C.SS.R, 14^th LA Infantry;

Whelan, Peter, Savannah, “Montgomery Guards”, 1^st Georgia Volunteers.

               

Just why did we fight? The popular notion that we have all been taught is that it was to end slavery. Author James B. McPherson, however, attempts to answer the question in a much more scholarly light in What They Fought For, 1861 – 1865. Confederates fought for as many different reasons than did Federals. On the southern list was, and remains, the right of a state to secede from the Union. Intertwined in their cause was the moral issue of slavery. Surprising to some is the fact that many on either side did not fight to save the ‘peculiar institution.” What is known, however, is that all thought the fight would be of a short duration – how wrong they were. Many, like Cleveland’s “Hibernian Guards” and Savannah’s “Montgomery Guards” were initially local social and militia units, the latter being popular throughout the nation at the time.

Be that as it may, nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of the union of the states being permanent.  A textbook written by Judge William Rawle, was used at West Point before the war. A View of the Constitution states, “The secession of a State depends on the will of the people of such a State.” Interestingly, no Confederate leader was ever brought to trial for treason. To do so would have a meant a trial and resulting verdict on the issue of the constitutional legality of secession. The verdict   had already been set by popular thought of the time and the decisions of victories in battle.

Why have we Irish historically been so eager to fight? David Walsh, published in the International Workers Bulletin, December, 1994, declared the Civil War era to have been a time “When Great Ideals Gripped The American People.” "In 1863, a 33-year-old Ohio private wrote that he had not expected the war to go on so long, but no matter how long it took it must be prosecuted, "for the great principles of liberty and self government at stake, for should we fail, the onward march of Liberty in the Old World will be retarded at least a century, and Monarchs, Kings and Aristocrats will be more powerful against their subjects than ever."

Perhaps the answer to my question lies in the words of the Ohio private. Irish liberty, indeed, was retarded for centuries when “Monarchs, Kings and Aristocrats” were more powerful than any of us. Reflecting further another question comes to mind. What are the forces of evil that bring brother to fight brother, or in the case of a Federal infantryman named Driscoll, father to kill son? If we could isolate and identify when evil is disguised as good, could we then prevent holocausts from occurring? Perhaps it is up to the voice of the Irish to take the lead. After all, haven’t we earned the right to do so?   

 

Bibliography:  The Valiant Hours, Galwey, Thomas F., Stackpole Co., Harrisburg, PA, p.67.

Fortin, Maurice S., ed. "Colonel Hilary A. Herbert's History of the Eighth Alabama Volunteer Regiment, C.S.A in Alabama Historical Quarterly, XXXIX (1977), 5-321.

Hoole, William Stanley, ed. History of the Eighth Regiment Alabama Volunteers (Infantry). (University, AL: Confederate Publishing Co., 1985 reprint of an article first published in Perry & Smith's Directory of the City of  Montgomery, Alabama (1866).

Trueheart, Charles William. Rebel brothers: the Civil War letters of the Truehearts. (College Station, TX:   

Texas A&M University Press, 1995).

A Civil action, 11/11/99, By William Gordon http://www.nj.com/features/ledger/d8e823.html,

Staff Writer.

http://archives1.archives.nd.edu/calendar/cal1865a.htm, Notre Dame Archives Calendar, 1865,

Dissertation, Catholic Military and Naval Chaplains, 1776 – 1917, submitted to the Faculty of the Philosophy of the Catholic University of America in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Washington, D.C., 1929.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/may1999/mcp1-m19.shtml. James B. McPherson’s What They Fought For: When Great ideals gripped the American people. David Walsh, 5 December e1994.

http://www.geocities.com/pelicanregt/ - Homepage of the 7^th Louisiana.

http://www.users.fast.net/%7eezifra/6thla/

http://home.earthlink.net/%7esdriskell/1stlabrg/1stbhis.htm

The story of Father James Coyle, Birmingham, Ala. Murdered by the KKK.

Rt. Rev. James Coyle, murdered by the Ku Klux Klan

"A Cheese Whiz Sandwich?"

This week I was reminded of the following event. During some of our grade school years we brown-bagged our lunch daily. I remember one day getting what I thought was MY brown bag from where the class kept their lunches. I opened it up and it was like, OMIGOD, a meatloaf sandwich! Yeah Mom!!! Just then another boy at our table opened what he thought was HIS brown bag lunch and, almost in tears, shouted "A Cheese Whiz sandwich? What the hell's wrong with her?" I didn't say a word and enjoyed eating his lunch.

Fr. Peter Whelan, O.S..B., C.S.A.

To describe the life and times of one immigrant to the American South could be also be aptly titled "Holy Men in Modern Times." One chapter would describe Wexford-born Peter Whelan. Oh, he was human, to be sure, but his devotion to God and his fellow man is evident in the way he chose to live his life. He was also a Confederate Chaplain to Irish-Americans in the Montgomery Guards, part of the 1st Georgia Volunteers.

     Peter Whelan was born in 1802 in County Wexford, Ireland. He attended Birchfield College in Kilkenny for two years, where he received classical and mathematical education. He may have been influenced by the desperate appeal of John England, the bishop of the new diocese of Charleston, South Carolina. Priests were sorely needed, particularly in the South. He was ordained a priest of the Benedictine Order in Charleston on November 21, 1830. He offered his first Mass in the state of Georgia in 1835 in the home of Robert Semmes. In 1854 a yellow fever epidemic claimed the life of Savannah's first Bishop, Frances Gartland in 1854. Father Whelan was summoned to Savannah and was stationed there for the remainder of his life.

     In September 1861 Bishop Augustine Verot was named the third Bishop of the Savannah Diocese, which was formed in 1850. Arriving at his new post from Florida, he was asked to send a chaplain to Fort Pulaski. The Fort, on the Savannah River, guarded the approaches to the city. It was thought to be impregnable as no artillery shells could be directed at it from any nearby land.   Part of the garrison there were Catholic troops, in particular the Montgomery Guards, mostly Irish from Savannah.

     The militia unit was organized on August 20, 1861. Not having their own banner, Captain Lawrence J. Guilmartin contacted the Sisters of Mercy in Savannah. After Mass on Saint Patrick's Day, 1862, a presentation ceremony was held. Private Bernard O'Neill was appointed standard-bearer and Major John Foley presented it to him.

     Father Whelan was present on April 10, 1862 when Federal forces began an artillery bombardment of the Fort. Using new 'rifled' artillery, the rounds were able to reach the outer walls from Tybee Island, more than a mile away. Thirty hours later, with one wall breached by the shot, it was determined that the entire ammunition magazine was in danger of exploding. If that happened the entire garrison would be killed. Colonel Charles H. Olmstead agreed to surrender. Now prisoners-of-war, Father Whelan and the Montgomery Guards were transported to Governor's Island, New York. Bernard O'Neill hid the banner on his person.

     Wartime conditions persisted for prisoners and Father Whelan, through the office of Father William Quinn, pastor of St. Peter's Church, Barclay St., New York, applied for the position of Prison Chaplain so he could offer daily Mass at Castle William. Through Father Quinn he was discharged and put on parole. Father Whelan could have left but he chose to remain with his men and minister to them. He eventually returned to Savannah where the Vicar General assigned him the task of overseeing the spiritual needs of the confederate military posts in Georgia.

On one occasion another Confederate chaplain, the Reverend James Sheeran of the Fourteenth Louisiana, on leave from Virginia, visited him. In his diary he observed, “He stands nearly six feet with drab hair, coarse ill shaped countenance, round or swinging shoulders, long arms, short body and long legs, with feet of more than ordinary size.... One day he met a brother priest, to whom nature was no more liberal than to himself. "Well," said he, "...your mother and mine must have been women of great virtue....because they did not drown us when the first saw us. None but mothers of great...patience would have raised such ugly specimens of humanity."

     During May of the same year Fr. William Hamilton, pastor of Assumption Church in Macon, accidentally came upon Andersonville Prison and stopped to learn how many Catholics were there. His experience led him to petition the Vicar, suggesting a priest be provided; Father Whelan was asked. He arrived at Andersonville on June 16, 1864. Even though other priests and the Bishop visited briefly, Whelan remained for four months.  Although he never penned his feelings, a pastor from Macon did. "I found the stockade extremely filthy:  the men all huddled together and covered with vermin....they had nothing under them but the ground."

At the fall of the Confederacy, Father Whelan returned to Savannah and served there until 1868. During this time he was called to be a defense witness in the trial of Andersonville Prison Commandant Henry Wirz. At the trial, evidence was not introduced that demonstrated that Wirz had constantly written Richmond to obtain better food and supplies for the prisoners. Testifying on behalf of his fellow Catholic, Whelan said, "He may sometimes have spoken harshly to some of the prisoners but during my time in the stockade I never heard that he had taken a man's life, and I have seen him commit no violence."


At the age of sixty-nine, and in failing health from his wartime tribulations, he administered his last baptism in 1871 and died in February of the same year. The funeral procession was reported in the Savannah Evening News as the longest ever seen in the city. After a 10:00 a.m. Mass a procession of eighty-six carriages and buggies of civilians, religious societies and Irish organizations escorted his mortal remains through Savannah's crowd-lined streets to the Catholic Cemetery. Colonel Olmstead led Confederate Army and Navy veterans. An officer who knew Father Whelan said, "I followed this good old man to his grave with a sense of exultation as I thought of the welcome that awaited him from the Master whose spirit he had caught and made the rule of his life."

Bibliography

Gilliam Bowen, Diocese of Savannah

Father Whelan of Fort Pulaski and Andersonville, Georgia Historical Quarterly, Spring, 1987.

Fr. .,

US WAR HEROES HONORED IN CO. MAYO, IRELAND

U.S War Heroes are honoured  in  County Mayo.

Many world historians claim that the USA entered world war one, in time to help with the cleaning up operations.  Well if they did they certainly lost a lot of men in battle during the time they were involved. Many of those that died came from all parts of America and a lot of those were emigrants from Europe who were drafted soon after they arrived in America.  When the war was over, there were many US war cemeteries scattered around Europe, and they are a testament to America’s great sacrifice.

The US government  in  a very humanitarian gesture, offered to repatriate the bodies of fallen soldiers to their home places in Europe, if the families requested this. In County Mayo on the West Coast of Ireland, an area, which actually faces out across the Atlantic Ocean towards America, many of the family’s did just that.

Some bodies were repatriated and  buried , then they  were forgotten, their families were poor and probably couldn’t afford the money to develop the graves at the time, so with the passing of the years, there was no sign of a grave or even a marker to say that they existed, with hindsight it would have far been better if they were buried in the U.S military cemeteries in Europe where they would have received the respect and attention they had earned & deserved.

For the past two  years  in County Mayo,  a small group of  local men have continued to find and develop the graves of those unfortunate US Soldiers, they have been doing this out of their own pockets and expense as a labour of love. 

The trio are led by the Chairman of the Mayo Peace Park, Garden of Remembrance memorial, Michael Feeney, which is a   magnificent memorial to the fallen,   Michael together with  Ernie Sweeney & John Basquille  a former British soldier do this work.  They  identify  the soldiers who have no graves and Mr Pat Gorman in Dixon, Illinois does the rest, Pat researches the soldiers records and when he has this  established, he applies for a proper US military marker for the graves and the US Dept of Veterans Affairs ship the marker headstones over to Ireland.   They have developed a grave for US Army Chaplin Fr PJ Gallagher, in Belcarra, they have done a complete grave for Marine Martin Cooney from Achill, and    In September of this year they rededicated the graves of three further Mayo born U.S. soldiers, two of whom  had died in world war one and the other soldier was a veteran of world war two and Korea , who died in retirement in Ireland.

This work has been going on for the past few years and they have developed graves for a number of British soldiers as well.  They  are extremely  grateful to the US Dept of veterans affairs for all their assistance in supplying the markers, it is it is great that they have done so, as their group could not possibly afford to do it out of their  own resources.  In  all  honesty  they can barely afford to continue what they are doing right now, as it take a lot of planning, time, effort as the  materials have to be purchased and paid for and transported around.  They continue do it as a labour of love.

The Politics of Belfast Paranoia.

     I was taking a short-cut through the downtown parking lot when I saw them coming towards me. In America I wouldn't give it a second thought. But this was Belfast, and fear immediately gripped my gut. Rather than turning and running, I picked up my pace and veered left, remaining outwardly calm and trying to show no outward sign of fear. None of the four men made any moves toward me. As I passed within uncomfortable distance to them I forced myself to look at one of them. I saw no hatred on his face or fear in his eyes, only a ‘is there something wrong with you buddy?' look. And, for the first time in my life, I knew paranoia.

     It remained vivid as I awoke in the relative safety of my suite in the Europa Hotel and I knew exactly when the nightmare had begun - my second night in Ireland, when I'd stopped with friends in a West Belfast pub to enjoy a few pints of Guinness and a se sion of
traditional Irish music. While there I decided to call a friend from Bangor, County Down. Stephen knew I was coming to Ireland but didn't know exactly when. He'd become a 'policeman' since I'd last seen him in America. A policeman, just like my dad in Cleveland had been.         
   Two friends with me that evening were Tomas, a Sinn Fein Councillor, and his spouse. Because I was having difficulty dialing
Stephen's number, I came back to the table to ask for help. My Irish friend was eager to help and I was certainly grateful. After picking through the American and British coins I held out in my palm, he dropped the appropriate ones into the slot and dialed the number in Bangor. He listened for a moment then handed me the receiver. "You're connected," he said with a smile, and then returned to the table. The call went unanswered on the other end and, returning
to our table, I sensed a change in everyone. Tomas and his spouse were ashen-faced, as if they had just received some earth-shattering news.

    In my absence, my American co-traveling friend at the table had informed them the phone number he'd dialed was to the home of a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (R.U.C.), Northern Ireland's 'police force.' They were terrified and shocked that I knew an R.U.C. man. I had been to their home and could betray their internal security. My political education had taken a sudden new direction during this, my second night in Ireland. An unnatural uneasiness came over me.

    Nationalists in the North of Ireland are, simply put, at war. Their targets?  The British Army, economic structures and loyalist paramilitaries. And, because of innumerable injustices inflicted against them over the years, I learned that anyone wearing either uniform is an enemy, including my friend from Bangor, the young man who had stayed at my home in America. They've learned to hate the British Army and R.U.C.  uniform and the man wearing it and I learned the Irish Republican Army (IRA) is the only entity Nationalists truly trust to protect them.

     Later in the week Stephen and I met at the Crown Bar, across from my hotel. He'd changed little since I'd last seen him except he now sports a mustache and he's married. His spouse, who must remain
nameless, was a charming hostess. We drove to their neighborhood where I was given the grand tour. Stopping first for a sandwich, we then pub-hopped, having a few pints of Smithwicks together as we caught up on each other's lives. I also told him, without naming names, what had happened in the Falls Road pub in West Belfast. It was déjà vu - my friend and his spouse became ashen-faced. They,
too, were terrified and shocked that a nationalist might know their name and telephone number and possibly even be able to find out where they lived. The rest of the evening for me was 'double-think' before speaking. For example, while discussing President Clinton I found myself whispering the word Republican; in the North of Ireland it means a supporter of Irish Nationalism. And in Bangor you won't find any.

    Most unionists/loyalists, including the upper echelon of the R.U.C., equate membership in the Sinn Fein political party with membership in the IRA. Therefore, by extension, anyone associated with Sinn Fein condones IRA violence. When innocent men, women and children are killed by bombs, unionists/loyalists feel outrage, the same outrage Nationalists feel when innocent Catholic men, women and children are killed by the R.U.C, the British Army or loyalist paramilitaries.          

     Obviously, I'm not calling either of my friends by their real names but suffice to say they are both Gaels. Tomas is a man who, through a stilted political process, is attempting to better the lives of his family and people. And because of that, he's a target.

     Stephen can be best described as fun-loving and apolitical; the kind of young man that would rescue a kitten from the tree where it's stuck.  I fear for both my friends. Many Sinn Fein Councillors, who aren't even paid, wear heavy body armor under baggy clothes. All have party-provided, elaborate security in their homes. It's not unusual for them to be shot at or murdered in their homes, in front of their children. Sometimes even their children are murdered.

    
 I'm afraid Stephen's work will eventually make him hateful and blindly prejudiced. I'm also afraid because, like Tomas,he,too, is a target. It's no wonder I had the damn nightmare.
I now wonder if either of these two friends or their families will ever trust me again when I go back to Ireland.

      You can bet I truly understand what freedom is. 'God save Ireland!'

2011 Postscript. I have since returned to Ireland and found vast changs had taken place. For example, the R.U.C. has been re-named Police Service of Northern Ireland, and they now actively recruit Cathlics (even though Catholics now mistrust them for being PSN).

I traveled with an American Congressman during this first trip. We met leaders of the north Ian Paisley and the then-U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith, sister of John F. and Robert Kennedy.

SULLIVANS VISIT IRELAND.

“It was a dream that my family has had since the christening of the ship and we felt so incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to be involved with the festivities.” Those words describe the feelings of Kelly Sullivan Loughren, granddaughter of Albert Sullivan, one of the Fighting Sullivans. Her father, James, is the son of Albert, the only one of the five brothers who married.  He and his four brothers from Waterloo, Iowa perished when their ship, the USS Juneau, was torpedoed and sunk during the sea battle for Guadalcanal in 1942. “My brother John and I made a promise eight years ago that we would go to Ireland if the ship ever made it there,” she said. Thomas Sullivan, Loughren’s great-grandfather, left Trafrask, Adrigole, Co. Cork, in 1849. Accompanying him during An Gorta Morta, the Great Hunger, was his wife Bridget Agnes and his brother Owen.

Both Gunner's Mate George Sullivan, 27, and Coxswain Francis Sullivan, 25, had four years of prior Navy service. Joe (Red), 23, Matt, 22 and Al., 19, became seamen, second class, when they enlisted and were assigned to the new $13,000,000 light cruiser, Juneau, the first American war ship commissioned in camouflage. Nine months later, during the Battle of Guadalcanal, near the Solomon Islands, she was steaming toward base when an explosion sent her to the bottom.

"It just happened all at once and the Juneau was gone, reported an officer who witnessed it from another ship. One of the most extraordinary tragedies that have ever been met by any family in the United States, spoke Henry A. Wallace, Vice President of the United States, referring to the sinking. The Navy issued a statement: "Loss of the five Sullivan brothers ranks as the greatest single blow suffered by any one family since Pearl Harbor and probably in American Naval history. Even though the Navy has alleged that in  wartime it had been Navy policy to separate members of the same family, no evidence of that policy existis. Presence of the five Sullivans aboard the USS Juneau was supposedly, according to the Navy, at the insistence of the brothers themselves and in contradiction to the repeated recommendations of the ship's executive officer. Serving together had been one condition of their enlistment. The lads were the sons of Thomas F. and Aletta Sullivan, 98 Adams Street. Mr. Sullivan was born on a farm in Taylor Township, Allamakee County, Iowa, near Harpers Ferry, Iowa.

On April 17, 1997 Kelly Ann Sullivan Loughren and John Sullivan, grandchildren of Albert and the daughter of James and Sally Sullivan, were present at Stapleton Pier, Staten Island New York for the formal commissioning into the US Navy of the second The Sullivans (DDG68). Kelly is a schoolteacher in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Arleigh Burke Class destroyer, with a crew of 26 officers and 315 sailors, is commanded by Richard A. Brown. The DDG68 visited Ireland this year for the O’Sullivan clan reunion and festivities. Loughren and her brother John stood on the shore to watch the ship come in. According to Loughren the locals welcomed the crew with open arms and made sure they experienced a taste of Irish culture.

"As a member of the crew of USS THE SULLIVANS (DDG 68), it was great to be part of this historic trip to Ireland,” said U.S. Navy Petty Officer Ed Flynn of Boston.  “Additionally, to be on a ship named after the five Irish-American Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, was an honor."Flynn described the symbolism of the ship's Shield, dark blue and gold representing the sea and excellence. They are also the Navy's tradition colors. Red is emblematic of courage and sacrifice. The five interlaced swords honor the five brothers killed in action and commemorate their spirit of teamwork and patriotism. The upright points of the swords allude to the present ship's combat readiness and its missile system. The boarder reflects unity and the eleven stars represent the battle stars earned by the first USS THE SULLIVANS; nine for WW II and two for the Korean War.  The trident, symbol of sea prowess, symbolizes DDG 68's modern warfare capabilities; the AEGIS and vertical launch system. The fireball underscores the fierce battle of Guadalcanal where the five brothers courageously fought and died together and highlights its firepower of the past and present USS THE SULLIVANS. The inverted wreath, a traditional symbol of the ultimate sacrifice, is in memory of the brothers. The shamrock recalls the Irish heritage. The arms on the Seal are blazoned in full color upon a white oval enclosed by a dark blue collar edged on the outside with a gold rope and bearing the name "USS THE SULLIVANS" at the top and "DDG 68" in the base in gold.

A reception for the family was held on board the ship. Lougren said she felt like a proud mother when she saw the officers and crew at their best. “Overall, it was an experience of a lifetime, so amazing that it is difficult to explain in words.  I only wish that I could bottle the feeling I get every time I'm on the ship! We were so honored to take part in this history making event for the best ship in the Navy.”

The ships crew met all the Sullivans from Castletownbere. Flynn said the people of Ireland and County Cork were “very warm and genuine to all of the ship’s crew. “It was a trip of a lifetime, and to be an Irish-American and visit Ireland on a US Navy ship – is something you could only dream of.”  Flynn described his feelings for the World War II heroes. “The Sullivan brothers were courageous and loyal. Our country and the world itself is a better place because of this outstanding family.  The motto of our ship is We Stick Together. It was also the motto of the Sullivan brothers. That is something we are all proud of."

JC Sullivan is an Irish-American writer residing in northeast Ohio. He witnessed the commissioning of the ship at Staten Island, New York.