The Ages and Origins of the Union’s Irish Soldiers

A Yankee and Rebel Side by Side in Co... Reporting the Gettysburg Casualties o...

The Ages and Origins of the Union’s Irish Soldiers

In 1869 Benjamin Apthorp Gould published Investigations in the Military and Anthropological Statistics of American Soldiers. Very much a scientific work of its time, it explored topics such as the nativity and ages of Union volunteers together with examinations of physical characteristics such as stature, complexion, dimension and proportions of the head and pulmonary capacity, to name a few. The Irish are frequently referenced in the work; this post concentrates on the data regarding the States where Irish soldiers enlisted, what age they were when they did so and how tall they were.

Gould’s data was garnered from the records of the Sanitary Commission, and was partly based on the efforts of Irishman T.J. O’Connell, a graduate of University College Dublin. After he left the Union army O’Connell had served as Chief Clerk of the Statistical Bureau in the U.S. Sanitary Commission from the summer of 1863 until April 1865. Ill health brought on by his military service had forced his resignation, and eventually led to his death. Gould specifically acknowledges O’Connell’s contribution towards compiling the data upon which his study was based. (1)

Among the fascinating range of tables in Investigations are statistics on the stature of natives when compared to the Irish and Germans. Thus we can learn that the average height of the 746 Irishmen who enlisted in New Hampshire was 66.610 inches (5.55 feet) compared with 66.373 inches for Germans (5.53 feet, based on 299 recruits) and 68.418 inches for natives (5.7 feet, based on 5,239 recruits). (2)

The table in Investigations that looks at the comparative distribution of Irish soldiers by age examines data based on 83,128 records. The information serves to provide a glimpse of the age profile of Irish-American soldiers in Northern armies.

Age Last Birthday

Total in United States Army

Below 17

187

4,345

4,519

4,095

7,550

6,445

5,235

4,360

25 & upward

46,308

Total

83,128

Table 1. Comparative Distribution of Irish Soldiers, by Age (adapted from Table XL, Investigations) (3)

It is striking from the table that the majority of those Irish recorded were over the age of 25, a trend that is seen in many other groups. Information is also available with regard to where Irishmen joined the Northern military. Although it was not possible for the statisticians to exclude bounty-jumpers from their totals (which may have led to some duplication) the figures do provide a picture of the States which provided the strongest Irish contingents. Unsurprisingly New York was overwhelmingly dominant, with over 50,000 Irishmen recorded as enlisting there. It was followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois and Massachusetts.

Place of Enlistment

Number of Irish

Maine

1,971

New Hampshire

2,699

Vermont

1,289

Massachusetts

10,007

Rhode Island & Connecticut

7.657

New York

51,206

New Jersey

8,880

Pennsylvania

17,418

Delaware

582

Maryland

1,400

District of Columbia

698

West Virginia

550

Kentucky

1,303

Ohio

8,129

Indiana

3,472

Illinois

12,041

Michigan

3,278

Wisconsin

3,621

Minnesota

1,140

Iowa

1,436

Missouri

4,362

Kansas

1,082

TOTAL

144,221

Table 2. Nativities of United States Soldiers, by State (adapted from Table III, Investigations) (4)

Aside from comparing physical attributes such as height, eye colour and hair colour between nativities it is also possible to use the tables in Investigations to gain a range of information on a single nativity, such as the Irish. This is the case with the table below on mean height. This information would seem to suggest that the ‘average’ Irishman in the American Civil War was in the region of 5 feet 5 inches tall.

Age

Number

Mean Height (inches)

Mean Height (feet)

Under 17

62.586

5.215

187

65.344

5.445

4,345

65.818

5.485

4,519

66.309

5.526

4,095

66.612

5.551

7,550

66.809

5.567

6,445

67.030

5.586

5,235

67.071

5.589

4,360

67.144

5.595

4,679

67.106

5.592

3,760

67.131

5.594

3,596

67.192

5.599

3,994

67.206

5.600

2,400

67.202

5.600

3,730

67.103

5.592

31-34

7,621

67.242

5.603

35 and over

16,528

67.090

5.590

Total

83128

66.951

5.579

Table 3. Mean Heights of Irish soldiers by age (adapted from Table VI, Investigations) (5)

Naturally much of the information in Investigations has to be treated with due caution, but nonetheless it does contain some interesting data that can be used to increase our understanding of the Irish in the Northern forces during the war. Future posts will explore other aspects of the information in Investigations with a view to reproducing relevant tables in the ‘Resources’ section of the website.

(1) Apthorp 1869: viii; (2) Ibid: 128; (3) Ibid: 182; (4) Ibid: 27; (5) Ibid: 105;

References

Gould, Benjamin Apthorp 1869. Investigations in the Military and Anthropological Statistics of American Soldiers.