Happy St. Patrick's Day!
During the Civil War era, by far the largest number of foreign-born soldiers on both sides came from Germany or Ireland, although dozens of countries were represented in the ranks, including a fair number of Scandinavians. Irishmen were prominent in both armies, and there were many tiomes in the war that all-Irish Union regiments battled Gaelic troops in gray.
An estimated 185,000 Irish-born soldiers fought in the Civil War, with the majority on the Federal side (145,000). Georgia and Louisiana had significant Irish units, and one almost all-Irish Confederate regiment camped in York.
The 6th Louisiana (a part of Harry Hays' First Louisiana Brigade in Jubal Early's Division) had been recruited from the shantytowns and slums of New Orleans, and the vast majority were Irish immigrants who had arrived in the Crescent City via crowded ocean-going passenger ships. The roster of the nearly 1,000 recruits is filled with Irish surnames, inter-mixed with Germans. It was known as the "Irish Brigade" (not to be confused with the later Union brigade that adopted the same name).
By the time the regiment arrived in York in late June 1863, it was down to under 250 men under the command of Lt. Col. Joseph Hanlon. A 32-year-old Irish-born immigrant, Hanlon had arrived in New Orleans before the war and established a career as a newspaperman serving the Irish community. He began the war as the first lieutenant of Company A, which had only three native-born Americans among its 100 original volunteers.
Hanlon and the Irishmen of the 6th Louisiana encamped June 28-30 near the Codorus Creek, not far from where today's U.S. Route 30 crosses the creek. A number of them slipped into York and got drunk, and "old Red Eye" caused several soldiers to be placed under arrest by the regiment's provost guards. Hard drinking and hard brawling marked this regiment, as well as hard fighting.
A half dozen of the regiment's Irishmen who camped in York would die at Gettysburg and be buried in the rich Pennsylvania dirt.
Pvt. John Carroll, Co. F
Sgt. Thomas Casey, Co. B
Pvt. John Good, Co. B
Pvt. James D. Haines, Co. C
Sgt. Patrick McGuinn, Co. B
Pvt. William Murray, Co. F
