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From: "Dennis J. Francis" <>
Subject: Re: [Civil-War-Irish] Irish brigade in "Gods and Generals"
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 17:24:33 -0400
References: <20030405234947.30376.qmail@web41106.mail.yahoo.com>


Kevin O'Malley wrote:
>

> What did everyone think of the scenes of the Irish Brigade at Fredericksburg in "Gods and Generals"?
-----------------------------------------
1. Don't understand why Maxwell chose to do a smear job on Meagher,
i.e., has him sending the brigade in while he stays safely back in town.

It's true Meagher was a lightning rod for strong feelings, and there
*was* a lot of people who detested him - accusing him of being a drunken
coward seeking glory on the backs of his troops - but all the studies
I've read say he went at least as far as just beyond the canal. Even
Kelly J. O'Grady ("Clear the Confederate Way!"), who is certainly not a
Meagher fan, gives him that much credit. Considering Shaara's book puts
him into the fight, what possessed Maxwell to take him out?

I think the biggest trump on the Meagher-was-yellow theory is the fact
Hancock was his division commander, and Hancock doesn't impress me as
the type to put up with gutless commanders' shenanigans. If Meagher had
shown the yellow feather, IMHO at the very least Hancock would have told
him, with some very choice words, not to bother coming back from his NYC
trip.

2. The guy who Maxwell has leading the brigade is St. Clair Mulholland,
who at the time was a lieutenant colonel, second in command of the 116th
PA. He was relatively far down the rank chain, junior to all the
colonels and other LTCs; why is he in charge and not Nugent et al?
(Actually, beyond the canal, no one at all was leading the Brigade as an
entity - the regiments were fighting individually.)

3. Moving across the stone wall, I noticed the harp on 24th GA's
colors. This struck me as odd - only one company of the 24th was
predominately Irish, and even with an Irish-born commander that does not
an Irish regiment make. But I felt I'd keep an open mind and do some
research, check it out. After a night's worth of surfing around I came
across a Georgia in the CW message board, and a 24th researcher there
says flatly there's no historical basis for it and it was manufactured
out of thin air. Ron and Ted have created an urban legend that will be
hard to disabuse people of. Irish Rebs certainly deserve recognition,
but I don't think it required exaggeration.

Dennis

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