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"Playing Paddy Right: Some Basics of an Irish-American First-Person Impression"
Part 1

by Kevin O'Beirne

Author's Note: Precise figures on the number of Irishmen who served in the Civil War are not available, but typical estimates are 150,000 in the Federal army and about 40,000 in the Confederate army. Both armies, especially the Union forces, had many regiments that were distinctly Irish in their make-up-units such as the 69th New York, 90th Illinois 35th Indiana, 175th New York, and 10th Tennessee (CS) all made history as "Irish" regiments, often marching under green flags. However, at least eighty percent of the sons of Erin under arms in America in 1861-1865 served in "non-Irish" units (i.e. regiments that did not have a strong ethnic identity), so any living historian can opt for an Irish-American impression. While this article concentrates largely on Irish in the Federal army-especially in the eastern armies-much of it also applies to Irish in the Federal western armies and Confederate Irish.

Civil War reenactors often seek unique living history experiences, and most agree that the only way to achieve an "1860s moment" is to practice good first-person impression. Often, the more unique--within reasonable bounds--one's first-person, the better the living history experience. Few reenactors are afforded this opportunity as much as those who serve in the ranks of "Irish" regiments or who choose an Irish-immigrant portrayal. The rewarding aspects of an impression of an immigrant serving in the Union army are many but, as with any aspect of reenacting, it must be done correctly, in strict accordance with the way the brave men of the 1860s acted. Further, Irish-Americans have been subject to derogatory stereotypes over the centuries--stereotypes that some reenactors perpetuate through ignorance.

What components should factor significantly in an Irish impression? In no particular order, they are: Irish history, unit history, pre-war occupation, Irish language (English syntax, Gaelic phrases, and "the brogue"), common expressions used by Irishmen, religion, alcohol, Irish fondness for celebration and camaraderie, songs, beliefs and why they fought the war (Irish reasons were as many and as varied as "native" Americans' reasons), a desire to "blend in" with the general American population, and the Fenian Brotherhood. These are briefly sketched in this article.

What basic things should be avoided in an Irish impression? Simple: avoid stereotypes. Remember that Irishmen were multi-facetted individuals--not a faceless, homogeneous class. As the fictional Irishman, Buster Kilrain, says in the film, Gettysburg, "Any man that judges by the group is a peawit." People are individuals and should be portrayed as such. For instance, not all Irish were drunks, and not all were street brawlers; some were brave, some were cowardly, some were generous, some were miserly, some were extroverts, and some were introverts. Also in your Irish impression, try to avoid wearing or displaying excessive Irish symbolism. The modern-day "Kiss Me I'm Irish" t-shirt did not exist in the 1860s, and most Irishmen desired most of all to blend in with the general population and be accepted as "Americans".

Many reenactors seem to think that, if they wear one of those ridiculous, farby brass harps sold by the mass-market sutlers, or prominently place a shamrock on some component of their gear, they are doing "enough" to portray an Irishman. In short, if you have to display all sorts of Irish symbolism to show that you are an Irishman, then you are not doing your first-person impression correctly. The best bet is to ditch all of the brass harps, shamrocks, etc. from your hat, uniform, and kit, and concentrate instead on some of the aspects outlined in this article. Remember, as with portrayal of any ethnic group, negative generalities should be few and concentration on the wide range of individual personalities that would have been encountered should be paramount.

Recommended Reading:

Reading is the best cure for ignorance. The overall scope of the beliefs, hopes, dreams, disappointments, aspirations, and experiences of these heroic men is best gained by reading the words of the Irish- American soldiers themselves. Fortunately, several good sources are now available in mass-market book form. Among the best of these are: Irish Green and Union Blue: The Civil War Letters of Peter Welsh, edited by Lawrence Kohl and Margaret Richard (Fordham University Press, New York NY, 1986), My Life in the Irish Brigade: The Civil War Memoirs of Private William McCarter, 116th Pennsylvania Infantry , edited by Kevin E. O'Brien (Savas Publishing, Campbell CA, 1996), Memoirs of Chaplain Life: Three Years With the Irish Brigade In the Army of the Potomac, by William Corby (Fordham University Press, New York NY, 1992 reprint), and Commanding Boston's Irish Ninth: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Patrick R. Guiney, edited by Christian Samito (Fordham University Press, New York NY, 1998).

While not strictly history, the novel Fredericksburg: A Novel of the Irish at Marye's Heights by Kirk Mitchell (St. Martin's Press, New York NY, 1996) lends the reader insights into the everyday life and beliefs of Irish soldiers in both the Union and Confederate armies. Period Irish-American and Catholic newspapers (available on microfilm at selected public libraries and church archives) are excellent first-person sources, as are unpublished letters and manuscripts from the period.

The Non-Irish Component:

It is perfectly acceptable to belong to an Irish unit and not be an Irishman. Fully one-third of units such as the 37th New York and 155th New York, for example, were not Irish-American. "Americans" as well as immigrants born in lands other than Ireland joined Irish units for a variety of reasons. While many things can be said about such impressions, in general, typical considerations for all Civil War first-person impressions apply to such portrayals with one exception: one would not find a blatantly anti-Irish bigot within the ranks of an Irish regiment. Yelling, "Fall in, you bloody micks!" in an Irish unit would be a very good way to quickly make a lot of enemies. If you portray a non-Irish person, then tolerance for foreign-born Celts and Catholics would be an essential part of your public personality.

History:

As with all first-person, the most important aspect of a proper Irish impression is some knowledge of the history of the person and people that you portray. A living historian, a reenactor with an Irish impression should know something about Ireland, its history, its myths, its legends, what county he was from, and what that county looked like. These men were soldiers for four or fewer years, but they were Irishmen all their lives. Many of the poorer immigrants fleeing from the Irish famine of the late 1840s came from the south and west of Ireland, so your first-person could well have hailed from counties within Munster (southern Ireland, including Cork, Kerry, and Limerick) or the Connaught (western Ireland, including Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo), moreso than from Leinster (eastern Ireland, including Dublin, Wicklow, and Waterford) or Ulster (partially Protestant northern Ireland, including Belfast).

Some knowledge of Irish history--especially the past 150-200 years of it (i.e. from Patrick Sarsfield's "Wild Geese" in the 17th-century, to the 1860s) is essential. Every Irishman, regardless of education, would know a fair amount about events in his own lifetime and his father's lifetime. Events such as the Penal Codes of the 18th-century (which basically made it a crime to be a Catholic); the bloody 1798 uprising (in which English forces slaughtered over 30,000 Irish peasants); the forced, much-hated Act of Union with Great Britain (1801); Daniel O'Connell's popular but doomed Repeal Association of the 1840s (an attempt to force England to repeal the Act of Union by non-violent means), the failed Young Ireland uprising of 1848 (a precursor to the Fenians); and, of course, the Great Hunger (the 1845-1850 potato famine) with its associated starvation, lethal epidemics, mass emigration, and "coffin ships", were all pivotal events in the recent history of Irish soldiers in the Civil War.

Forced emigration (i.e. eviction by landlords) during The Hunger, in particular, is the reason why many Irish fighting in the Civil War were in the United States in the first place. The famine ensured a deep-seated hatred of England which was fresh in the minds of the Irishmen of the 1860s and, indeed, lives on to this very day. Many of these events are at least briefly described in each of several good books on the Great Hunger, and it is recommended that any reenactor with an Irish impression read a minimum of one book on this subject. Excellent works in this vein include The Great Hunger by Cecil Woodham-Smith (1962) and This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845-1852 by Christine Kinealy (1995).

For those who wish to know more about Ireland's long military tradition, with an emphasis on ancient wars (and with a good account of the 1798 uprising), a good reference is A Military History of Ireland, edited by Thomas Bartlett and Keith Jeffery (1996).

Further, an Irishman would have had some knowledge of his American hometown's politics, especially if he was from a population center with a large Irish ghetto, such as New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Chicago, etc. The Democratic party was a large part of 1860s Irish-America, and the influence of local party bosses in institutions such as New York City's Tammany Hall cannot be discounted. Tammany Hall is where certain well-known Irish figures in the Civil War era, such as John O'Mahoney and Michael Corcoran, got their start. Other important Irish figures of the day included men such as John Mitchel, who had helped lead the 1848 uprising and later supported the Confederacy in the Civil War, and New York City's Archbishop Edwin Hughes, who was an outspoken proponent of Irish-American rights. Several influential Irish-American periodicals served the immigrant population, with the best known being the weekly newspapers Irish American (New York City) and The Pilot (Boston); Catholic newspapers, such as Buffalo's The Sentinel, also reported heavily on Irish-American politics and well-known ethnic personalities. Irish soldiers at the front eagerly snapped up copies of these periodicals when they were available and soldiers in the ranks were always aware of what was happening on the home-front.

Irish-Americans were particularly aware of their own accomplishments in the military in the Civil War, so some talk of such subjects should certainly find its way into your impression. Of course, any man would know and have an opinion about his own regimental and company commanders; it is totally essential for a reenactor to have a working knowledge of these individuals' names for various campaigns. An Irishman would certainly know the names of the battles in which his unit had participated, and he would probably talk endlessly about his own exploits in those actions. Further, he would know and take pride in the accomplishments of prominent Irish-American military leaders, chief among these were Brigadier Generals Thomas Francis Meagher, Michael Corcoran, James Shields (the only Federal general to beat Stonewall Jackson in battle), and "Fighting Tom" Sweeney (a well-known militant Fenian who commanded a division under Sherman in 1864); Irish-Americans also knew that Phil Sheridan was the first-generation son of Irish immigrants and claimed him as one of their own. A good example of this was the Irish Brigade soldier at Antietam who, while firing at the Confederates in the Sunken Road, hollered to the Rebels, "Shields beat you at Winchester and Meagher will thrash you at Sharpsburg!"

In short, there is no substitute for a good historical background when doing first-person impression. Such a background takes some time and effort to achieve. In the interim, it is recommended that all "Irish-American" reenactors determine what region and town in Ireland they are from, read one good book on the Famine, learn a small amount about the hometown politics that shaped their daily lives in America, and obtain a working knowledge of the history and commanders of their own regiment. These aspects are invaluable in a proper, in-depth portrayal.

Occupations:

While tens of thousands of Irish emigrated to the United States prior to the Great Hunger, over a million more arrived on American shores between 1845-1852 as a result of the Famine. In contrast to earlier immigrant groups, which did not arrive in such numbers over such a short time, the Irish were largely unskilled labor, experienced only at working small, hardscrabble farms of a few acres or so. Upon their arrival in America, most Irish were penniless and took whatever jobs were available. In the 1840s and '50s, America was a rapidly growing, robust young nation with a great demand for strong backs and people willing to take menial jobs--the very jobs that many Irishmen took to support themselves and their families.

Another reason why many Irish-Americans just "off the boat" could not better themselves was the prevailing social attitudes in the United States at the time. Irish were unskilled and Catholic, and hence were viewed as uncivilized and deserving only of menial jobs. It was Irish hands that built the canal systems, coal mines, roadways, and infrastructure in the 1850s and '60s. Irishmen also unloaded ships on docks, felled trees, and were laborers. While it is true that many Irish made their way into rural areas, most "Irish" Civil War living history organizations portray regiments that were largely urban in their make-up; as such, one would probably not find as many farmers in the ranks of, say, the 28th Massachusetts or 69th New York as there were dock workers, gravediggers, canal-builders, and men who's jobs included other types of physical, menial labor.

Irishmen had their fair share of lawyers, politicians, and other "non-menial" jobs, but such types often wound up as officers--not as enlisted men. It is certainly not incorrect for an "Irish" reenactor to maintain that he was a farmer before the war but, keep in mind, your first-person was most likely from the city--unlike the majority of men who served in the blue ranks in the Civil War.

Speaking Like an Irishman:

Irishmen did not speak English as their first language and most immigrants would have known their native tongue, Gaelic (note: the language's name is "Gaelic", not "Irish" or "Celtic"). Accounts of certain Irish regiments maintain that some recruits had a poor knowledge of English and used Gaelic as a first language. Regardless of your background, knowledge of a few basic Gaelic phrases lends a significant "air" to your Irish impression. Here a few basic Gaelic phrases for you to learn:

When greeting someone say:

"Dia dhuit" (JEE-uh Gwitch). Used as hello (Literal translation: "God to you")

The response is:

"Dia's Muire dhuit" (JEE-uss MwUR-uh Gwitch). Literally: "God and Mary to you."

If you are saying hello to more than one person, such as at the campfire in the morning:

"Dia dhaoibh" (JEE-uh GEEV). Literally: "God to ye."

After greeting someone you might want to ask how they are. Unfortunately, there are three dialects of Gaelic: Connaught, Ulster, and Munster, and each says "How are you?" differently. The shortest and easiest to learn is:

"Conas tá tú?" (KUN-uss TAW too? "How are you?"

Possible responses to "How are you?": Since most people usually answer that they are well, you can get by with:

"Tá mé go maith" (TAW may guh MAH) "I am well."

Additional responses include:

"Tá mé go measartha" (TAW may guh MASS-ur-huh) "I am middling."
"Maith go leor" (MAH guh Lyor) "Good enough."
"Nílim ródhona" (NyEEL-im ROH-ghunnuh) "I'm not too bad."

We all know some who should always use this one.

"Go holc" (guh HULK) "Miserable."

These responses are possible:

"Crap leat" (KRAP lat) "Bugger off."
"Tá slaghdán orm" (TAW SLY-dawn urrim) "A cold is on me." (I'm sick).

Any time someone does something for you, you can say:

"Go riabh maith agat" (GUH ruh MAH UH-gut). "Thank you."

It seems that many "Irish" reenactors think that the principal aspect of a first-person impression is an Irish accent, or "brogue". Unfortunately, few reenactors can manage such a difficult task properly. First, the best way for an authentic impression with regard to "the brogue" is, if you cannot do it properly, do not try it at all. Many men in Irish regiments were born in America or Canada to immigrant parents and, most likely, such men would have had little or no Irish accent. Further, we have all seen those reenactors who embarrass Irishmen through public use of a bad accent--most of the really poor accents done by reenactors seem to be more of a British Cockney or Welsh or even Scottish accent than anything resembling the speech patterns of Ireland. But, if you want to try "the brogue" as part of your first-person, there are measures that can be taken to ensure that it is correct. The best way to affect a proper accent is to live and/or keep company with people born and raised in Eire. Failing that, one can resort to watching movies set in Ireland, but be careful--as with Civil War films, many movies having to do with Ireland are "pure Hollywood" and should not be relied upon as correct. Films that can be used as tools in the development of a half-way decent accent include The Informer (1935, four Academy Awards) with Victor McLaglen and Michael Collins, starring Liam Neeson; most of John Wayne's The Quiet Man was filmed on the Emerald Isle with Irish actors, so it too can be used as a tool. Avoid films such as Far and Away, and Sean Connery's British-accented Irish character in The Untouchables. Reenactors can rent movies such as Michael Collins for their home VCRs and watch them each a few times to study the fine points of both the accent as well as the language syntax.

Use of films should be only a starting point for affecting a proper "brogue". Keep in mind, there are as many different Irish accents as there are accents in the United States. Any Irish accent adopted as part of your impression should correspond with the region in Ireland from which your first-person hails. Further, if you wish to use "the brogue" as part of your impression, you cannot use 20th-century American phraseology with an accent and be correct--you must also study and use the language syntax of Irishmen. Irish syntax is heavy with use of propositions and has tenses that do not directly correspond to English. More than for learning accents, films such as The Informer, The Quiet Man, and Michael Collins can be used to gain a beginning knowledge of Irish phraseology.

In addition to Gaelic phrases, a proper accent, and correct syntax, an Irish first-person impression may well include some period Irish sayings or cliches. Below is a selected list to incorporate into your everyday speech at events:

WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE IS GOOD FOR THE GANDER.
THE OLDER THE FIDDLE THE SWEETER THE TUNE.
IT'S NO USE BOILING YOUR CABBAGE TWICE.
THERES NO NEED TO FEAR THE WIND IF YOUR HAYSTACKS ARE TIED DOWN.
IF YOU LIE DOWN WITH DOGS YOU'LL RISE WITH FLEAS.
A WILD GOOSE NEVER REARED A TAME GOSLING.
AS THE OLD COCK CROWS THE YOUNG COCK LEARNS.
MANY AN IRISH PROPERTY WAS INCREASED BY THE LACE OF A DAUGHTERS PETTICOAT.
THE BEST WAY TO KEEP LOYALTY IN A MAN'S HEART IS TO KEEP MONEY IN HIS PURSE.
A NARROW NECK KEEPS THE BOTTLE FROM BEING EMPTIED IN ONE SWIG.
IF THE KNITTER IS WEARY THE BABY WILL HAVE NO NEW BONNET.
IT'S FOR HER OWN GOOD THAT THE CAT PURRS.
ANY MAN CAN LOSE HIS HAT IN A FAIRY-WIND.
IT'S NO USE CARRYING AN UMBRELLA IF YOUR SHOES ARE LEAKING.
IT'S DIFFICULT TO CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO BLIND GOATS.
A SILENT MOUTH IS SWEET TO HEAR.
IT'S A BAD HEN THAT WON'T SCRATCH HERSELF.
NO MATTER HOW OFTEN A PITCHER GOES TO THE WATER IT IS BROKEN IN THE END.
THERE WAS NEVER A SCABBY SHEEP IN A FLOCK THAT DIDN'T LIKE TO HAVE A COMRADE.
A NOD IS AS GOOD AS A WINK TO A BLIND HORSE.
EVERY PATIENT IS A DOCTOR AFTER HIS CURE.
NEITHER GIVE CHERRIES TO PIGS NOR ADVICE TO A FOOL.
YOU'LL NEVER PLOUGH A FIELD BY TURNING IT OVER IN YOUR MIND.
A SCHOLARS INK LASTS LONGER THAN A MARTYR'S BLOOD.
A TURKEY NEVER VOTED FOR AN EARLY CHRISTMAS.
THE IRISH FORGIVE THEIR GREAT MEN WHEN THEY ARE SAFELY BURIED.
THE LONGEST ROAD OUT IS THE SHORTEST ROAD HOME.

Another item to add into your Irish-speaking impression is the tendency to incorporate religion into everyday speech. When exclaiming in disbelief, use "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!", "Holy Mary!" and other such terms. Another Irish habit is the use of the word "boyo" (pronounced, "boy-oh") in place of the American slang, "man"; this is used as: "You've done it this time, boyo!" All of these things--the accent, proper phraseology, at least a smattering of Gaelic, and some period cliches--contribute greatly to your Irish impression. An Irish reenactor should not physically appear to be Irish just by walking along, but proper speaking will let others know your impression right away. However, if you cannot do it properly, do not try "speaking Irish" at all--it's one of the toughest aspects of the impression and is the easiest to goof up. Keep in mind, if a real Irishman would laugh at your attempts to "speak Irish", then you need to do a lot more work on it.