After the Civil War, some newly discharged Irish soldiers traveled to Ireland to train potential rebels. Others join the Fenian Brotherhood and invaded Canada twice. The US government allowed the Fenians to operate freely but refused to stop the invasion because it did not want to provole the Irish-American voters. Besides, the British had helped the Confederacy and had not yet made amends. Ellen RUDDYsTN wrote: > >> If memory serves me correctly, about two thirds of the Union's >> casualties >> were either Irish born or of Irish descent. I dont think that the war >> could >> have been prosecuted without the Famine Irish. > > > Irish participation in the war was high perhaps 200,000 Irish born of > the 3.5 million men involved. 500,000 died. Two thirds of the > casualties would be 330,000 Irish dead. Maybe a bit of a stretch > there. With the nebulous "Irish descent" added we then go back to the > 1700s, but many of these Irish were not starving dirt farmers but > tradesmen and were accepted members of the American community and many > were Scots-Irish forced out of Ulster. Suffice it to say the famine > Irish certainly played a larger part in the war than other ethnic groups. > > I remember reading somewhere that General Thomas Sweeny was at the > docks in New York greeting the young Irishmen and luring them into > combat. There was active recruiting in Ireland and there is somewhere > in the OR correspondence a remonstrance of our ambassador in England > not to allow in any way the paying of nationals to fight which was a > breech of international law. > Surely the more exuberant recruiters in Ireland promised, over a > cruiskin lan (full small jug), that which wasn't forthcoming upon > arrival in the American docks. > Mike > > > ==== CIVIL-WAR-IRISH Mailing List ==== > To review past messages, visit the list archives at > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/CIVIL-WAR-IRISH-L/ > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 > Source for Family History Online. Go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB > >