More than 170,000 Irish-born Americans fought under the flag of the United States between 1861 and 1865. Society in the United States had, up to that time, displayed a marked anti-Catholic sentiment, and most newly immigrated Irish occupied close to the lowest rung of the economic ladder, but this did not dissuade many from rallying to the colors at the beginning of the war. When President Lincoln made his first call for volunteers following the bombardment of Fort …
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…war from New York never returned. Throughout the war the units of the Brigade were hotbeds of Irish Separatist sentiment, and many of the original members had joined to gain military experience with which they hoped to return to Ireland and free their land from British rule. This dream, however, was not realized, for too many of those devoted to Irish nationalism lay buried along the eastern seaboard, casualties of the bitter years of 1861 through 1865.