Irish Confederates: The Civil War’s Forgotten Soldiers Paperback – January 23, 2007

I did the item. Thank you very much.

The book met my expectations - it summarized the topic fairly well, citing names, regiments, actions, etc. A good snapshot picture of an often-sidelined aspect of the Civil War.

Husband had read Phillip Tucker's book on the history of the Irish Brigade, and was pleased with this "companion" book.

This slim volume (about 100 pages of text) is best described as an inexpensive brief introduction to Irishmen who fought for the Confederacy. About a third of the book gives an overview of Irish in the South, their participation in the war and their motivations, and how some other Southerners viewed them. The balance consists of 8 brief chapters, each about various units with large numbers of Irishmen enrolled, usually describing an action in which they fought, and including some brief information on a few individuals in the unit.A fair amount of the book's ink is spent arguing that, despite their outstanding war record, the CS Irish have been swept under the rug and are just now being recognized. While the publisher claims it's due to the tired old cliche about Northern control of publishing houses, thankfully Mr. Tucker himself does not, attributing it instead largely to a low rate of literacy among surviving Irish vets. Tucker's contention has some validity, but the main reason this occurred is Lost Cause-ism, which attempted to portray Confederates as the "real" (read WASP) Americans fighting against immigrant hordes forced to fight for the "stay-at-home Yankee cowards". Once this claim was made, it would not do to have Irish seen around the CSA pantheon, so the Lost Cause advocates airbrushed them out of the picture. Although Ella Lonn demolished this almost 70 years ago, myths die hard.All in all, the book is okay for the casual student; there's just not a lot of meat if you're something more. It's not the in-depth study I'm hoping for, but to be fair I doubt Mr. Tucker was trying to produce one here. A lot of the units and personalities he describes are covered in greater detail in other works, including some of his own. If you're really interested in Irish in the ACW, I'd opt for them instead.

I love the War between the States period and had to have this book. Its written well and has many references for the sources used to back up the author's research. It began as a thesis in college and turned into a book. Excellent reading, especially if you are Irish decent.

This is a long overdue pen-picture of those from the Irish diaspora who found themselves, as always, involved (by choice) in other people's wars. The Mitchel family is an example of what I mean. Tucker does a good job and I look forward to reading his "God Help the Irish". I have heard it said of that expression (God help the Irish), that if He doesn't, we help ourselves anyway - and thank Him afterward!.

You hear only about the Union Irish Brigade and this book tells the rest of the story. It opens another fold hidden within history

not a great book, more for the amateur Historian

To research my forefathers. Brilliant book.Thank you.