Green and Blue - (Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War) by Damian Shiels (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Damian Shiel's Green and Blue is the first book to explore Irish American service in the United States military by analyzing the written correspondence of ordinary Irish American rank-and-file soldiers drawn from across the Union's armed forces. Using the vast collection of widows and dependent pension files of Union Civil War soldiers and sailors at the National Archives, Shiels located over 1,100 wartime letters from Irish American service members. Written by around four hundred men who went to war from twenty-two different states-ninety-eight percent of whom served in the enlisted ranks-they are the largest and most representative collection of Irish-American Civil War correspondence ever gathered together. Shiles uses the letter collection to reconfigure and reframe perceptions of Irish American service during the Civil War. He does so by defining precisely what constituted an "Irish American" serviceman, conducting the first detailed examination of the scale of Irish American service, which historians have greatly underestimated. He also demonstrates the importance of considering ethnicity and class in understanding wartime service, and through an in-depth analysis of the correspondence, he positions Irish Americans for the first time within the field of Civil War soldiers' studies. Much of Shiels's study focuses on the lived experiences of Irish American soldiers and sailors, explaining how these enlisted men navigated their service from multiple perspectives, including how they adapted to and experienced military life, how they engaged with their faith, and how they interreacted with and communicated with the home front. Shiels assesses the veracity of the negative traits often associated with Irish Americans, particularly their social standing, relationship with alcohol, desertion rates, political affiliation, and interactions with African Americans. Finally, Shiels answers two of the biggest questions concerning Irish American service-how did these men see themselves, and what drove them to enlist? Overall, the study builds from the bottom up the most detailed and intimate picture yet possible of Irish Americans' service in the United States military during the American Civil War"--

Book Synopsis

Damian Shiels's Green and Blue explores Irish American service in the United States military by analyzing the written correspondence of ordinary rank-and-file soldiers drawn from across the Union's armed forces. Using a vast and largely untapped collection of letters penned by Irish American combatants to their families during the war, Shiels explains how these enlisted men navigated their duties from multiple perspectives, including how they adapted to and experienced military life, how they engaged with their faith, and how they interacted with the home front. Green and Blue offers the most detailed and intimate picture yet of Irish Americans' service in the United States military during the Civil War.

Review Quotes

"Green and Blue provides an exceptionally rich portrait of Irish American soldiers and sailors beyond the 'ethnic' units that have garnered most of the attention of historians. By surveying these men's prewar lives, motivations to enlist, and what they and their families endured, this study adds to our broader appreciation of the Civil War soldier experience."--Lesley J. Gordon, author of A Broken Regiment: The 16th Connecticut's Civil War

"Damian Shiels makes a substantial contribution to the literature on Irish participation in the Civil War. His examination of a large body of fresh evidence illuminates the attitudes and actions of common soldiers who served the Union cause in a range of theaters and units. Green and Blue is the obvious first place to explore the topic."--Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Enduring Civil War: Reflections on the Great American Crisis

"Through an extraordinary feat of archival research, Shiels has transformed our understanding of the Irish contribution to the Union war effort. Moving past the familiar narrative of ethnic regiments, he tells the story of the enlisted rank-and-file men, why they fought, and what they thought about race and politics. An original addition to Civil War studies and the history of the Irish diaspora."--Kevin Kenny, author of The American Irish: A History

About the Author

Damian Shiels is a postdoctoral research fellow at Northumbria University.