The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America

by Damian Shiels

On the eve of the American Civil War, 1.6 million Irish-born people were living in the United States. The majority had emigrated to the major industrialised cities of the North; New York alone was home to more than 200,000 Irish, one in four of the total population. As a result, thousands of Irish emigrants fought for the Union between 1861 and 1865. The research for this book has its origins in the widows and dependent pension records of that conflict, which often included not only letters and private correspondence between family members, but unparalleled accounts of their lives in both Ireland and America. The treasure trove of material made available comes, however, at a cost. In every instance, the file only exists due to the death of a soldier or sailor. From that as its starting point, coloured by sadness, the author has crafted the stories of thirty-five Irish families whose lives were emblematic of the nature of the Irish nineteenth-century emigrant experience.

Genres: History, Irish Literature, Nonfiction

290 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 6, 2016

About the author

I am a professional archaeologist who specialises in ‘conflict archaeology’, particularly where it relates to Ireland. I was formerly one of the curators at the National Museum of Ireland where I worked with the military collections and in the preparation of the Soldiers and Chiefs military history exhibition. I have a particular interest in the Irish experience of the American Civil War.

Reviews

[Pauleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book which will be of interest to historians, especially those with military, migration or Irish interests as well as to serious genealogists.

The author has mined the correspondence relating to pensions for dependant spouses and children of Irish men killed in the American Civil War. In the process he has unveiled much about the Irish experience across that period as well as in the decades before and after.

There are four segments or threads to the book and within each, there is a story about one man's death and the impact it had on his family. It tells of their challenges and the lengths they needed to go to establish their pension entitlements...for which we can all be grateful as it reveals so much about their lives.

As both a local historian and a genealogist I wish there was ready access to the documents. There are plainly huge opportunities there to uncover the impact of the civil war on particular Irish villages and the families. One of the conspicuous features of the correspondence, both of the soldiers and their families, is the naming of so many kin and friendship networks both in America and Ireland...just imagine how much scope there is for yet more research. My brain was fizzing with thoughts.

Another characteristic of the stories was the precariousness of daily life for many Irish immigrants, or indeed their families at home. Elderly was deemed as being late 50s or 60s and many had been injured or suffered poverty-induced illnesses which made it difficult for them to work. The pressure to provide economic support to family was key for many of these Irish-American soldiers.

I strongly encourage anyone with historical interests to read this excellent book. The clarity of the writing makes it easy to read despite the heaviness of the content and the depth of the research.

Thanks Mr Sheils for these fascinating insights. I especially congratulate you for bringing forward the human face of the war, but also migration and daily survival...this is grassroots history which reveals the human face of great events.

[Andrea Barlien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant book for anyone interested in social history or history of the Irish Diaspora. Lots of letters from a variety of soldiers filled with their hopes and dreams but laced with the poignancy of the fact that the letters survived because the soldiers didn’t: all are found in the survivors’ widowed pension application and justification.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book a number of times, yet many of the stories still shock. The book consists of over 30 individual stories of Irish men who lost their lives fighting in the American civil war and the efforts of their surviving dependant spouses and families to be awarded a pension. To prove entitlement families had to submit documentation proving the relationship. Very often these were letters from the dead soldier, treasured possessions that had to be handed up and not ever returned to loved ones. Every one of these stories is poignant and carries a sadness that the reader cannot avoid. For me, the two stories that have left an indelible mark on my memory are the story of the poor simple boy who was kidnapped and made to serve in the army, and his mother's heartbreaking quest to find him. She returned to Limerick without ever seeing him again. The other is the story of the elderly parents who were threatened with eviction by the notorious Lord Leitrim in Fanad, Co Donegal and were pleading for a pension as they had lost the support of their son who had died for America.
This book will appeal to the casual reader as well as to anyone with an interest in history or society as it was in the 19th century. It reveals a relatively unknown aspect of lives of Irish emigrants and those they left behind at home.