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Whose blood was spilled December 13, 1862 on the battlefield in Fredericksburg, Virginia? During the American Civil War, the Battle of Fredericksburg was but one meeting ground of Irish immigrants from both the Union and Confederacy. Once fellow countrymen, these soldiers were forced to assume new perspectives on their identities amidst the chaos of war. The ability to consider themselves Irish immigrants vanished when they donned a blue or gray uniform. With the Battle of Fredericksburg as an example, where the predominantly Irish 24th Georgia regiment of the Confederate States of America (CSA) engaged the Irish Brigade of the Union Army in battle, ethnicity clashed with nationality.

With the departure of Mitchel and the support of the Catholic Church, Thomas Meagher departed from his position as a passive Southern sympathizer and embraced the role of outspoken advocate for the Union Army. Though not blind to the low wages, scarce jobs, and rampant racism, Meagher maintained his great appreciation toward the United States for being a refuge for his countrymen. He showed his appreciation when he did not hesitate to enlist in Company K of the 69th New York Volunteer Regiment. <ref>McCarthy, ''Green, Blue, and Grey'', 45.</ref> After the Union’s crushing defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia, the 69th returned to New York where Meagher spoke in order to bolster recruitment among the Irish. He urged his countrymen to “rise in defence of the flag,” that harbored them safely from the “poison of England’s supremacy.” <ref> D.P. Conyngham, ''The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns'', ed. Lawrence Frederick Kohl (1866; repr., New York: Fordham University Press, 1994), 49.</ref> While trying to enforce the sense of “Irishness”, both Meagher and Mitchel actually introduced a new nationality to their Irish followers, which emerged as the defining factor of identity when these men met in Fredericksburg.

==The Battle of Fredericksburg==

Infantry regiments from New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania composed the Union’s famed Irish Brigade; commanded by the General Thomas F. Meagher. On the Confederate side, Brigadier General T.R.R. Cobb led a brigade that included the overwhelmingly Irish 24th Georgia Regiment. From their vantage point, the 24th had a clear view of the emerald battle flag emblazoned with the gold harp ̶ ̶ ̶ Ireland’s symbol ̶ ̶ ̶ of the 28th Massachusetts regiment that led the entire Irish Brigade into combat. The Brigade marched together across the open field at the base of the Heights and began the climb up a slope to a stone wall that concealed the men of Cobb’s Brigade; including the 24th Georgia. When they got to within “50 paces of this wall, Cobb’s solid brigade of Rebel infantry, said to have been 2,400 strong, suddenly sprang up from behind it,” and fired in unison directly into the oncoming Irish Brigade.<ref> William McCarter, ''My Life in the Irish Brigade: The Civil War Memoirs of Private William McCarter, 116th Pennsylvania Infantry'', ed. Kevin E. O’Brien (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 1996), 178.</ref> When Cobb’s men of the 24th Georgia arose to fire, so too did their battle flag, which was also adorned with the gold harp amid the stars and bars of the Confederacy.

[[File: Cobbtrr.jpg|thumbnail|175px|Brigadier General T.R.R. Cobb]]

From a nearby hillside, Confederate General Robert E. Lee watched the Brigade in action and claimed, “Never were men so brave.”<ref>Tucker, ''Irish Confederates'', 63.</ref> Private E.H. Sutton of the 24th Georgia remembered that after the Union sounded retreat, “Private James Williams was so overcome with emotion that he “leaped upon the top of the [stone] wall and gave three ringing cheers.”<ref>Tucker, 63.</ref> Confederate General George Pickett also witnessed the action at Fredericksburg and wrote in a letter to his wife the following day:

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