Colonel Patrick Guiney - Great

Colonel Patrick Guiney - Great Irishman, Great Union Patriot

Although prejudice against Irish-Americans was still rife in 19th century America, during the Civil War, Patrick Robert Guiney, an Irish-born immigrant, bravely fought for the preservation of the union and his adopted country. Guiney is a shining example of how individuals have been able to put aside the racism and ethnocentrism of their society, and still honor the core principles of the American experiment in democracy.

Guiney was born in 1835 and immigrated to America from Ireland when was a boy. His family struggled to find acceptance in Maine, and were financially destitute at times because Guiney's father could not find work because of his Irish heritage. The young Guiney's studies at Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts were cut short because of poverty, but Guiney was still able to be admitted to the bar in 1856 because of his own hard work and personal study, not unlike Abraham Lincoln, the president whom he would come to admire later in life. Guiney practiced law in Boston but joined the Union army in a regiment dominated by Irishmen ("Colonel Patrick Guiney," Wild Geese Today, 2003).

Despite having a young wife and four-month-old daughter, a spirit of patriotism welled up in the young Irishman, and he felt that duty and honor required him to support what he called 'a cause bright and grand as the Sun.'...The 9th Massachusetts paraded through the crowded streets of Boston to the State House, where it accepted its regimental colors of an Irish green flag bearing a concise warning to enemies: 'Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked'("Colonel Patrick Guiney," Wild Geese Today, 2003). Guiney's inspiration to fight shows that Union soldiers were also willing to risk their lives for a glorious cause and an idea -- just like their Confederate counterparts who fought for slavery and the south.

What is so extraordinary about Colonel Guiney is that, despite or because of the prejudice he experienced as an Irishman and the poverty of his family, he sacrificed his personal life and career as a lawyer for what he believed to be a glorious cause. Perhaps he felt so strongly about the need to eliminate the suffering of African-Americans in bondage because of his family's own difficulties. Although most Boston Irish-Americans lived in poverty they supported the pro-south Democratic Party due to the urban Democratic Party's patronage and 'pork barrel' politics which gained many Irishmen work in the north. Many Irishmen were hostile the Republican Party which they saw as full of temperance activists, and abolitionist's hostile to Irish labor. "In contrast, Guiney was an educated lawyer living in a Boston suburb and came to support the Lincoln administration and liberation of blacks from the shackles of slavery. Not content to remain silent with his liberal views [Guiney] professed his beliefs in word and deed, making clear his political stance and individuality of thought" ("Colonel Patrick Guiney," Wild Geese Today, 2003).

As a soldier, he was beloved by the infantry, but "several officers and prominent North End Irishmen troubled Guiney at every turn" and the lack of political cohesion of the Irish-American community is illustrated by their treatment of the Colonel ("Colonel Patrick Guiney," Wild Geese Today, 2003). Still, Guiney put principle over narrow parochialism, and strove to lead his community, rather than fall prey to the temptations of racism and easy political victories by fanning the flames of prejudice against African-Americans.

One Irish-American, General Thomas Francis Meagher who sympathized with Guiney despaired at the divisions of the Irish community. Guiney was urged by General Meagher to condemn Irish-Americans who blindly followed the Democratic Party: "Democrats they remain until the day of their deaths, miserably and repulsively regardless of the conflicting meanings that name acquires through the progressive workings of the great world about them," he wrote (Samito 2007). Meagher's anger shows the level of opposition Irishmen like Meagher and Guiney were facing -- as well as a divided nation Meagher and Guiney faced a civil war within the Irish community of the north. Colonel Guiney had to withstand anti-Lincoln sentiment amongst the Irish even while he also faced anti-Irish opposition in north, despite his accomplishments and patriotism.