Customer Reviews

The Irish General: Thomas Francis Meagher

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Wylie's book is very well researched and well written. I not only learned about the very rich and flawed life of an infamous Irish general and rebel, but I also learned a good deal about the historical struggles in Ireland that inspired him. I learned much about the Civil War, as well as how communication and politics worked around the war. I learned still more about early Western history as it applied to newly developing territories. If you have any interest in Montana history at all, this book is a must read. The author provides a colorful and detailed, very human picture of what Montana was like when it was first forming. This includes some history of the sociopolitical struggles between the settlers and the Native Americans as well. Meagher was certainly a very colorful and very human character who suffered many ups and downs and wore quite a few important hats in his day. Even Meagher's death is well researched. "The Irish General" is a real page-turner overall.

This is the best book on General Meagher that is available today. The research is prodicious and the writing is excellant. It is a fair view to a complicated man. Dont miss out on a excellant book if you are a fan of General Meagher, the Irish Brigade, the Civil War, or Montana History. The photographs are also excellant.The bibliography is also excellant.

It seems every time you turn around someone's writing a biography of another Confederate general from the Civil War. Somehow, there's not quite the enthusiasm for biographies of Union soldiers that there is for the Confederates. This current book examines the interesting life of one of the more unusual characters from the Union Army in the Civil War era: Thomas Francis Meagher. Meagher is famous as the Union general who led the Irish Brigade, a hard-fighting unit which was famous for its opposition to the Emancipation Proclamation, and also famous for its ability to consume large amounts of whiskey. Meagher himself supposedly drank to excess, though whether he did so on the battlefield or not is a matter of debate.

Wylie's account of Meagher's life is a full one, following the man through life, beginning with his childhood in Ireland, involvement in the Irish uprising in 1848 (which was very small and never had much chance of success). He then recounts his exile in Tasmania and escape. Meagher made his way to America, became a citizen, earned a law degree, and did the lecture tour circuit in order to make money. When the Civil War started, Meagher was at first sympathetic to the Confederates, but changed his mind and wound up raising troops for the Union. These troops were formed into a regiment which he wound up serving in. After First Bull Run, Meagher raised more troops and wound up leading the resulting brigade, fighting through all of the crucial campaigns up through Chancellorsville. By this time the Irish Brigade was down to a few hundred men, and Meagher felt they'd earned a rest and a period to recuperate, but the high command disagreed, and he resigned during the dispute. He did later get himself reinstated, but didn't fight again for the remainder of the war, and primarily distinguished himself with a very poor performance trying to move a body of troops from Tennessee to North Carolina, which almost led to his removal from command. He then, at the end of the war, accepted a post as secretary of the Territory of Montana, and served as the interim governor while the office was vacant or the governor absent. He died in a bizarre accident two years after the end of the war, falling off of a steamboat into the river, his body never being found.

Wylie is a judicious and intelligent biographer, and this is a careful, well-written biography. The author contends that Meagher's drinking certainly had an effect on his life, but also notes that it might have been exaggerated by enemies, of whom Meagher had many. One of those enemies was William T. Sherman, who recounted the famous incident where Meagher complained to President Lincoln about Sherman's rather draconian attitude towards discipline, and Lincoln's rather comical response. This is, frankly, and intelligent and well-written biography, and I think a valuable addition to any Civil War library.

The life of Thomas Meagher starts well, gets incredible in the middle and then terrible at the end. The author has neatly matched this in The Irish General. Thomas Meagher was born into a well to do family in Ireland in the early 1800s and almost immediately used his family's resources to put himself into a better position to attack British rule of his beloved island nation. The Irish General follows his rise leading a failed grass roots effort to remove the English that ultimately leads to his expulsion, his exile and finally his escape to the United States on the eve of the Civil War.

The author does a terrific job of taking us through Meagher's efforts to muster an all Irish Regiment and that Regiment's exploits in the war. The General and his Irish Brigade ended the war among the highest casualty rates of any unit of the war and the terrible price his men paid weighed heavily on Meagher's mind.

But as the General begins to drink more heavily and his career turns to politics the writer delves deeper into the detail of Meagher's last year. The author is a lawyer from Montana so the detail into this part of the General's life is probably expected, but Meagher's final year is certainly not the highlight of his life, nor of this book. That year was dominated with minutia of Montana Politics and Indian / American affairs, the General's ill health and budgetary processes dominate the final paragraphs of the book to the book's detriment.

Finally, the General's death was shrouded in mystery and for ages has stirred mentions of collusion, murder and even suicide. But the author saves the General's death and the after math for only the final six or eight pages.

I am certainly happy that I purchased the book and read it and would still recommend it to anyone interested in the fascinating life of Thomas Francis Meagher. You will fly through the first 150 pages riveted by the passion with which Meagher fought for an Independent Ireland and the drama of his unit's actions in this country's bloodiest war. But as his life drags on to an untimely and unromantic ending the book drags as well.

THE IRISH GENERAL: THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER
PAUL R. WYLIE
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS, 2007
QUALITY SOFTCOVER, $29.95, 404 PAGES, ILLUSTRATIONS, NOTES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX


Thomas Francis Meagher, born orator, prince of a fellow, witty, an altogether superior gentleman, was in the late 1850s, struggling for place and position in his newly adopted country, the United States. A Democrat, like most of his fellow Irish-Americans, his political sympathies in the deepening sectional crisis were with the South. Meagher's credentials as an Irish patriot were impeccable. From his birth in Waterford, Ireland, in 1823, to the dramatic events of the 1848 rebellion against English rule, his life was dominated by romantic visions of an independent Ireland. In the summer of 1848, he was captured with arms in his hand (hence the "Meagher of the Sword" appellation). Tried for high treason, he was convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Meagher escaped this dismal end when his sentence was commuted to exile in Tasmania. He sailed to Tasmania, escaped from the island in 1852, and made his way to New York City and took out citizenship papers. He was a lawyer, lecturer, and newspaper editor when he was commissioned a brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers on 3 February 1862. He then took command of the Irish Brigade (that he had raised that winter in 1861-1862 in New York). He participated in the Peninsula Campaign, Second Battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He resigned on 14 May 1863 due to his unit's ineffectiveness and decimation but it was cancelled on 23 December 1863. He was then given command of District Etowah. He was with Sherman at Atlanta where he commanded a provisional division. He then resigned on 15 May 1865 and was awarded a gold medal by New York City after commanding the Irish Brigade. He was appointed a territorial secretary and then the temporary Governor of Montana when, in 1867, he drowned in the Missouri River, falling from the deck of a steamer while on a reconnaissance near Fort Benton.

Author Paul R. Wylie has painstakingly researched and written an outstanding account of one of the most well known personalities that fought for the Union during The War Between the States-Thomas F. Meagher. His attention to detail and excellant writing style gives the reader an accurate and balanced portrait of a man that deserves to be remembered for his contributions to the Union cause during the 150th Anniversary of The War Between the States.



Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard
Orlando, Florida

The life of Thomas Francis Meagher is a compelling story, skillfully ushered through its tempestuous chapters by Paul Wylie. This son of a wealthy Irish family was a gifted orator, who rose to prominence in the disastrous rebellion of 1848 and was exiled to Tasmania by the British. His escape to the United States permitted Meagher to participate in the Irish-American community in New York City, achieving considerable influence as editor of the Irish News. Using his colorful powers of persuasion, he recruited the famous Irish Brigade for Union Army service in the U.S. Civil War, commanding his men in important battles from Antietam onward.

The author treats the ambiguous character of Meagher as revolutionary, military figure and acting governor of Montana Territory.

James M. McPherson, dean of American Civil War historians, has called this work an "engaging biography". Wylie's thorough biographical research is clearly documented and it seems destined to become the standard work on Thomas Meagher.

- L. G. Wise

This is an excellent historical biography which clearly has been researched carefully. The amazing life and background of Thomas Meagher makes for some very good reading. His travels alone from Ireland to the US, and then on to Tasmania and back to the US makes for a spell-binding tale; and then he also is a great orator and general as well. Then on to become governor of Montana also. What a life he lead ! Michael Dinnin

The rich and varied life of the Irish General (Thomas Meagher)is is well described in this outstanding and thoroughly reseached biography. From a beginning in the Irish upper crust to rebel and exile in Tazmania, followed by excape to high society in New York and then to Civil War hero (and goat) and finally acting terrirorial governor of Montana and a mysterious death. Meagher packed a hugh amount in to his life and it would have been easy to glamorize him. But this book is far too professional to do that. The defects are all their. An unlikely marraige of convenience in Tzmania result in desertion of wife and child and through out his life alcohol was a demon he could not control.

The book is well written and well organized. It is easy to read and highly enjoyable.

An excellent overall review of the life of Thomas Francis Meagher (pronounced Marr) from his birth in Ireland to his mysterious death in the Missouri River in the Montana Territory of 1867. I used material on a master's thesis and found it very illuminating in many areas and cleared up points that were only touched in other resources. A great work on a complicated figure.