This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. The Culture and Sentiments of Irish American Civil War Songs Catherine V. Bateson A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, History University of Edinburgh 2018 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has been composed by me and that it has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Except where stated otherwise by reference or acknowledgment, the work presented is entirely my own. Catherine V. Bateson 2018 5 Abstract During the American Civil War, an approximate 200,000 Irish-born soldiers, and an even greater number of subsequent generation descended soldiers, fought for the Union and Confederate causes. Their experience, opinions, military actions and attitudes of their families were the subject of American Civil War songs, with songwriters penning numerous ballads about them. The conflict witnessed the mass production of wartime ballad culture, with over 11,000 pieces written and composed between 1861 and 1865 alone. An estimated 150 were by and about the Irish American wartime experience specifically. This thesis focuses on these Irish American Civil War songs and analyses the sentiments they expressed. Overall, the main topic written onto songsheet pages and in songbooks was the battlefield actions of Irish-born and descended soldiers. This study explores how military history was reported through song, following traditional oral practice patterns of using balladry to sing war reports. In particular, attention will be drawn to the proliferation of lyrical dedication and focus on specific Irish- dominated units such as the Union Army’s Irish Brigade and 69th New York State Militia, and how their actions, along with other Irish soldiering units, came to dominate Irish American Civil War articulations and history. Within this lyrical attention the figures of Irish-born commanding officers, namely Generals Michael Corcoran and Thomas Francis Meagher, come to the fore. This study also analyses how their own wartime experiences and articulations corresponded with song lyrics. Beyond the battlefield focus, this thesis explores the way in which song lyrics sang about Irish loyalty and devotion to the American Union – and in a few examples Confederate nation – and particularly adopted symbols of the American nation, such as the Star Spangled Banner, as embodiments of the causes and ideals fought for by soldiers. Alongside this were lyrics that referred to symbols of Irish cultural heritage, language and a history of foreign military service. Irish identity can be seen on the surface of some songs, including references to Irish nationalism and the desire to gain Irish independence one day. Yet, as this thesis will argue, Irish American Civil War song lyrics reveal complicated support and sympathy for the Irish nationalist cause in the United States during the 1860s. Running through the songs of this study is a pervading sense and sentiment of American identity – that the Irish fighting and living through the war were stressing to society through song that they were committed to the United States as Americans first and foremost. In addition to assessing wartime views of Civil War politics and military actions, this thesis will also explore the way Irish song played a critical part in the formation of American musical culture, with traditional Irish music forming the foundation for American tunes, and blending Irish culture into the American wartime zeitgeist. This thesis will demonstrate the way in which Irish songs were written, published and disseminated through American society and crucially circulated beyond the confines of the Irish diaspora. Traditional and wartime Irish songs became a fundamental part of American culture because they were American cultural outputs. Thus this thesis will demonstrate the important evidential role Irish American Civil War songs play in singing an unexplored areas of mid-nineteenth century Irish American transnational history. 6 7 Lay Summary This thesis examines the sentiments and culture of songs written by and about the Irish experience of the American Civil War (1861-1865). During the conflict, approximately 200,000 Irish-born, and an even greater number of second and subsequent generation descended men, were the subject of an estimated 150 ballads published in the Union and Confederate States of America. These sang about Irish wartime service, battlefield actions, home-front opinions and lyrical discussion about the conflict’s impact on the Irish American diaspora. Within a broader culture of Irish music in the United States, such ballads sang of an entrenched sentiment about Irish national identity, loyalty and affiliation with their American home country in the mid- nineteenth century. After the introduction, where analysis of Irish and song history studies is discussed, the second chapter of this thesis explores the wider cultural impact and influence of Irish music in the 1800s. The third chapter explores how Irish American Civil War songs were disseminated and spread around Union and Confederate societies. The following six chapters explore different sentiments and themes dominant in these ballads. Chapter 4 analyses the way songs sang about Irish fighting service and battlefield narratives; Chapter 5 focuses on the maintenance of Irish cultural heritage in lyrics; Chapter 6 focuses on the influence and appearance of Irish nationalist sentiments and sympathises on Irish wartime articulations; Chapter 7 discusses the way areas of wartime policies, namely the draft, emancipation and politics, were expressed in songs that provided Irish views on these subjects; Chapter 8 concludes by drawing together the predominant sentiments heard in Irish American wartime balladry. It focuses on the way in which these ephemeral sources sang of ardent Irish commitment to the United States and the diaspora’s American national identity. 8 9 Acknowledgements Just as General Robert E. Lee observed that you could not ‘have an army without music’, it is also true that you cannot do a PhD without a wealth of support. I could write a thesis of thanks to all those who have helped and shared in this project along the way but a few must be acknowledged above all. First and foremost, unending thanks goes to my supervisors Enda Delaney and David Silkenat. They have provided many suggestions, comments and pieces of advice from this project’s first days as a thesis proposal through to submission. I am forever grateful for their generous supervision. This thesis would not have been possible without funding from the AHRC and the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities. SGSAH’s support has added another chapter to the doctoral experience. I am grateful not only for all their aid with research funding and travel grants but also for their workshops, networks and constant welcome at events across Scotland. I am also indebted to the British Library, Eccles Centre and Boston Athenæum Library for granting research fellowships that helped archive study trips. This project began as an idea generated while working as an intern at the British Library during my MA and I am forever thankful for the support from the Americas Collection and Eccles Centre staff past and present. My thanks also goes to the special collections archivists at the Boston Athenæum, New York Public Library, New York University, Library of Congress and Massachusetts State House amongst many others for helping with primary source discoveries. Moreover, thank you to the digital collections that make American Civil War song sources available for transnational researchers. Further thanks must go to all those who have offered feedback and comments at numerous conferences in the UK, Ireland, USA and Romania. I am especially indebted to the scholarly fervour of BrANCH, BAAS, EAAS and to SASA colleagues and members. My thanks also go to fellow Irish American scholars, especially David Gleeson and David Sim, for their support and aid. Particular thanks to Damian Shiels and Christian McWhirter who have responded to every question and have been willing to chat about Irish American Civil War history and Civil War song history from the start. There are many others in these scholarly fields to thank but I owe much to their conversations, source sharing and fellow enthusiasm with regards to the subjects in this thesis. My doctoral journey has led to meeting the most talented and supportive people. I am thankful to the friends, sisters and historians of Edinburgh University’s 2014 History PhD cohort. Along with my SGSAH buddies, you have made the process fun even when the work has been tough. Thanks also to the collective climate of Edinburgh’s Modern Irish History group and to my current and former fellow Americanists in the department. Above all though, heartfelt thanks goes to the brilliant Laura Harrison and Lucie Whitmore, my War Through Other Stuff colleagues who, along with all our society’s followers, have generated new questions about approaching the culture of conflict. This thesis is written with the WTOS ethos in mind. Moreover, the encouragement and positive energy of friends and family has helped during the research and writing process. The friendships of Hannah, James and Madeleine Roberts, Victoria Baker and Jessica Vas amongst others have been constant since undergraduate history days and beyond.