Behind the Lines
By William C. Davis · Originally published September-October 2026 · pp. 4–7
Whenever I travel outside the United States, I am reminded of the impact and influence of our Civil War and its figures on other nations and cultures around the world. Abraham Lincoln stands in Parliament Square in London. Indeed, you will bump into Lincoln in Edinburgh, Manchester, Oslo, Mexico City, Tijuana, and elsewhere. A monument dedicated to U.S. Grant rests in the shade in Kyoto. In Tokyo itself, some years ago, speakers at street crosswalk lights played tunes to alert the blind that it was time to cross. You might have expected to hear the ancient cherry blossom song “Sakura” or some other traditional Japanese tune. What I heard instead was “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” This pervasive international presence was brought home to me in June when I traveled with a Virginia Tech group to the Irish Republic. One of the escorts with us was Darren Fitzgerald, a charming fellow taking time away from his regular job as an usher at the Dáil Éireann, the lower house and main chamber of Ireland’s parliament, the Oireachtas. Somehow, he learned I was a Civil War historian and introduced himself, saying he had a longtime interest in the war and its people. And in the conversation, he casually
Author stands next to the 69th New York’s regimental flag in theJa Oireachtas.
asked if I would like to get into the Oireachtas to see its Civil War flag? When we reached Dublin, he led me and half a dozen others to the imposing parliament building’s entrance, where we found that he had arranged special passes for us to tour the building, which is off limits to the public. Then he took us to the flag. Senior readers “of a certain age” may remember that in June of 1963, President John F. Kennedy made a muchpublicized visit to Ireland and his ancestral home in Wexford. On June 28 he appeared before the Dail and the Seanad Éireann, or upper house, to give an address honoring Irish-American relations and acknowledging the dramatic impact Irish emigrants had on American history. As he spoke, he stood in front of a gift he had brought for the Irish people, a battle flag of the 69th New York Infantry, the famed “Fighting Irish” of the Irish Brigade. In his address, he paid tribute to the regiment’s courage and heroism, noting that at Fredericksburg in 1862, it lost more than 900 men in action. In fact, the 69th New York is usually credited with ranking seventh on the list of war regiments with the highest casualties. Kennedy’s address was moving, and the parliament erupted in applause when he unveiled the banner. [A brief video of Kennedy’s speech and the unveiling can be found on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXNDGm1xjRA] That storied banner occupies a special room in the parliament building where climate control and subdued lighting strive to preserve the fragile silk that still bears its brilliant green color. It lies flat on an acid-free surface so that no strain from its weight in hanging can do it harm. Of course, over the years, I have seen hundreds of flags, but somehow none have impressed me as this one did. It was one of a new stand of regimental flags presented to the 69th in late fall 1862, just before the Battle of Fredericksburg, its first set of flags being so shot to pieces that the banners all but disintegrated. This flag, too, suffered along with its regiment at Fredericksburg and later at Chancellorsville. After Gettysburg, only 50 men were left to answer roll call, and the 69th virtually ceased to exist. Today, thanks to extensive restoration, the banner appears almost perfectly intact. It is apparent that the ushers and others who work in the building feel a reverence for it that is touching, but of course, to them it is not just an emblem of that regiment, but a symbol of the bravery and sacrifice of Irishmen at large, whether in the long and bloody struggle for independence in their homeland, or to preserve the government of their adopted home. As Darren led us through the rest of the capitol, almost every usher we passed stopped, introduced himself to me, and expressed his own interest in the Civil War. They all seemed to know that 200,000 Irishmen fought here, making up nine percent of the entire Union Army. When Darren took us into the viewers’ gallery in the Seanad, the president pro tem of the Senate interrupted its deliberations to introduce the Americans and reference our Civil War. The degree of their feeling for those ancestors in our trial in 1861–1865 is somehow joined in their consciousness with the memory and lore of their own struggle for freedom. We can only hope that Americans today will learn and preserve something like that reverence for the tattered banners of our fighting men and women, regardless of when they served, or where. William C. Davis was managing editor, then editor, then publisher of Civil War Times Illustrated from 1969
to 1990. He is the author or editor of more than 50 books in Civil War and Southern history, and former director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia
Tech, where he served as professor of history until 2013. His most recent book is The Whartons’ War: The Civil War Correspondence of General Gabriel C. Wharton and Anne Radford Wharton, 1863–1865, co-edited with Sue Heth Bell.