Happy Saint Patrick's day from Dixie!
By:
Calvin E. Johnson, Jr., Speaker, Writer of short stories, Author of book “When
America stood for God, Family and Country” and Chairman of the National and
Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Confederate History and Heritage
Month committee. http://www.facebook.com/ConfederateHeritageMonth
1064
West Mill Drive, Kennesaw, Georgia 30152, Phone 770 330 9792 or 770 428 0978.
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The 150th
Anniversary--War Between the States Sesquicentennial continues with events
including the soon to reopen Jefferson Davis Presidential Library at Beauvoir
on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Read more at: http://www.beauvoir.org/Presidential_Library/index.html
Jefferson
Davis President of the Confederacy was of Welsh and his Mother Jane Cook of
Scotch-Irish descent.
A lot
has been written about the 150,000 Irishmen who fought for the Union during the
War Between the States but do you know about the 30,000 equally brave Irishmen who
fought for the Confederacy? It is written that by population a comparable
number of Irishmen fought for the Confederacy as did those who supported the
Union.
The 8th
Alabama Irish Brigade made their mark in history fighting for the Confederacy
and is remembered for their Erin Go Braugh! flag with a field of green with
Faugh A Ballagh on bottom that is Irish for “clear the way.”
Sunday, March 17, 2013 is Saint
Patrick’s Day and it’s also the 185th birthday of Patrick Ronayne
Cleburne.
Among the Union Armies fighting
Irish was the 69th New York but….
Did
you know the Confederacy’s units included the 10th Louisiana and the
10th Tennessee Infantry which was formed at Fort Henry in 1861 and
defended Fort Donelson before becoming part of the Army of Tennessee?
Who was Patrick R. Cleburne?
Patrick
Ronayne Cleburne was born on March 17, 1828, in Ovens, County Cork, Ireland. He
was an Anglo-Irish soldier who served in the 41st Regiment of Foot of the
British Army. He is however best known for his service to the Confederates
States of America.
He
was only eighteen months old when his Mother died and a young fifteen when his
Father passed away. He tried to follow in his Father’s footsteps, Dr. Joseph
Cleburne, in the field of medicine but failed his entrance exam to Trinity
College of Medicine in 1848. He immigrated to America three years later with
two brothers and a sister and made his home in Helena, Arkansas.
In
1860 Cleburne became a naturalized citizen, lawyer and was popular with the
residents.
He
sided with the Confederacy at the outbreak of the War Between the States and
progressed from the rank of private of the local militia to major general.
Cleburne,
like many Southerners, did not support the institution of slavery but chose to
serve his adopted country out of love for the Southern people and their quest
for independence and freedom. In 1864, he advocated the emancipation of Black
men to serve in the Confederate Armed Forces.
Cleburne
participated in the Battles of Shiloh, Richmond, Perryville, Stones River,
Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Ringgold Gap and Franklin. He was killed at the
Battle of Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864.
General
Patrick R. Cleburne said before his death:
"If
this cause, that is dear to my heart, is doomed to fail, I pray heaven may let
me fall with it, while my face is toward the enemy and my arm battling for that
which I know is right."
Cleburne
was engaged to Susan Tarleton of Mobile, Alabama.
On
March 17, 1979, Cleburne’s birthday, I proudly organized the Gen. Patrick R.
Cleburne Camp 1361 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Jonesboro, Georgia
which is still active.
Gen.
Cleburne is buried in Maple Hill Cemetery in Helena, Arkansas.
A
good book “A Meteor Shining Brightly” Essays on Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne”
--edited by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn, is a good source of information about
Cleburne.
April
is Confederate History and Heritage Month. Read more on face book at: https://www.facebook.com/ConfederateHeritageMonth
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