“I have been absent from home for a fortnight, and did not receive your letter in regard to the Irish-Americans in our late war from this state in time to aid you.
“I have a typewritten copy of the family history of the Butlers of my family, and would send that to you, but it is the only copy, and therefore do not like to risk it, as it is doubtless too late for your purpose. The Pierce Butler to whom you refer was of the same stock as my great-grandfather, James Butler, who came here from Prince Williams county, Virginia, sometime before the Revolution.
“Another branch moved to Kentucky, to which Gen. Wm. O. Butler belonged and also Col. E. G. W. Butler of Louisiana. They have always been a ‘fighting’ people—the cropping out of their Irish blood—and have taken a hand in all the wars of our past history.
“I think the most distinguished and conspicuous military man of my immediate family was my uncle, Col. Pierce M. Butler, who was killed at the head of the Palmetto Regiment on the 20th of August, 1847, at Churubusco, in Mexico. I have always understood he was held in the highest estimation by General Scott, and other general officers of rank in the United States army.
“I should think Armstrong, that witty, devil-may-care gallant Irishman of Charleston, could give you valuable information of the part the Irish-Americans of this state bore in the Confederate armies. He is himself a conspicuous example of their gallantry and patriotism.”
I publish the following extracts from letters of Col. James Armstrong, of Charleston, S. C., just mentioned, than whom there was no more gallant soldier in the army of Northern Virginia:
“Gen. John Rutledge, of Revolutionary fame, was of Irish descent. So were the Mannings, three of whom served as governors of the state. Judge J. Belton O’Neill, Judges Johnstone and Caldwell, James L. Pettigrew, George McDuffie, Governor Patrick Noble, Gen. John Barnwell, who defeated the Tuscarora Indians, were of the same race. The Rhetts are descendants of the renowned ‘Irish Rebel,’ Roger Moore. Judge A. E. Burke, who fought in 1776, and was afterward judge in South Carolina, was an Irishman.
“The most prominent South Carolina Irishman in the war of 1812 was, as you know, Andrew Jackson. In the Mexican war Col. Pierce Butler, who was killed in command of the famous Palmetto Regiment, was of Irish extraction. This regiment was in Shields’ Brigade. Patrick Leonard was color-bearer. Many other Irishmen were in the regiment.
“Charleston had several Irish companies in the Confederate army. Nearly every company had Irishmen. The flags of the first fourteen regiments, McGowan’s Brigade, were the first Confederate colors to enter the town of Gettysburg. The Irish Volunteers was the color company of the First Regiment and the flag was borne into the town by the captain of the company, the color-bearer having been shot.
“Capt. John Mitchell, son of the Irish patriot, was in command of Fort Sumter. He had developed superb courage on the ramparts and was struck by a shell.