For many years, the controversy of the enslavement of blacks was a dividing issue between the North and the South. Many Northerners wanted to abolish slavery or at least confine it to the South. The Southerners did not want any restrictions put on slavery (Damon 9). Some Southern states threatened to withdraw from the Union if they were denied the right to own slaves (Damon 9).

The brigade went through many battles together and hence saw many Irishmen die. “At Antietam on September 17, 1862, Meagher personally led his brigade in a charge on the center of the Confederate line at the Sunken Road” (Glazier 446). The Irish Brigade went through perhaps its most valorous period between this battle and the Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863. The Irish Brigade was known not only for its fighting spirit, but its dash and Irish-Catholic identity (Glazier 447). Though the brigade continued to distinguish itself on the battlefields, increasing casualties forced changes within the brigade. By June 1864, the brigade had been reduced to that of nearly regimental size (Beller). During that year, most Southerners knew time was running out for the Confederacy. On April 9, at the Appmoattox Court House, General Lee surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant (Damon 77). The men in the Brigade had served for almost four years, many times in the foremost position in the battles. By the end of the war, the Irish Brigade had lost over four thousand men killed (more than which served within the brigade at any one time) or wounded in the course of their service (Glazier 446).

For whatever motivation, whatever purpose, Irish soldiers contributed significantly to their chosen cause during the American Civil War. Irish soldiers lay buried throughout the North and the South (Beller, 90). The Irish Brigade was formed with thousands of Irishmen who wanted to fight for their country. Men in the Brigade and many who were fighting in different places and for different sides were honored as brave soldiers. Many Irish were ranked officers by the end of the Civil War. “The Irish veterans were heroes. They had shared a horrible experience with all of the other immigrants who had come to America before them. By their bravery and with their blood they proved that they belonged to this new country” (Beller, 91).

The South

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