The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-06-30

THE IRISH SOLDIER.

Gen b. +. Butler delivered lecture in New
York last week for the benefit OF charitable
institution, in which he took for subject the
Irishman as Il soldier We copy the follow
ing brief synopsis of it from the World:
The lecturer recOunted all the historic
deeds of Irish patriot soldiers in behalf OF
their own and other countries, and mention
ed the names OF "a very large number of those
who had distinguished themselves as com
inanGers. Speaking of the peculiar quail
tiles which fitted lrishmen for military duty
he said the Irish soldier was hardly ever
troubled with inconsistencies. He knew tina,
most people had no idea of the amount OF
loss caused to volunteer armies from this NAL
ady of inconsistencies. 1t killed tens Of thou
sands OF Union soldiers during the war. l,
laid the sufferer open to numerous maladies
and was one OF the greatest enemies the com
manders had to encounter. The suffering
was the greatest among those young men
who went from rural homes. Thousands OF
them, never having been away from home
more than few weeks at time at the far
thest, began to pine as soon as they came into
the army and found that it was impossible to
get back. Especially did the army of the
Gulf suffer from this cause, as no thirty
days furlough could be obtained by them &c
enable them to visit dear friends at home
With the Irish soldier it was not so. lie gen
orally had no home. Having been driven out
OF Erin, the only home for all true lrishmen
he felt that he had become cosmopolitan
and that he had no home, or else that all the
world was his home Another thing that
kept up the Irish soldiers was the fact thai
they were always llghthearted and took the
brightest view of everything. Their natural
wit enlivened many an hour that might other
wise have been gloomy and have driven
them also into brooding over their hardships
and misfOrtunes. Another very important
quality in the Irish soldier was that he was a
natural disciplinarlan, and did not require
those years of drilling which can only bring
discipline into the ranks of soldiers as gencr
ally made up. But the Irish soldier, while
he disciplined himself to certain degree
could not be advanced beyond that He
seemed to have contempt tor the minutial
absolute precision required of thoroughly
disciplined troops. For instance, it was ut.
terly impossible to make the Irish soldiers
wear their caps squarely on their heads
they would always tip a little towards one
side. Then their coats were never but!oned
all the way up, as the regulations required,
and very rarely, il ever, would one be found
10 have his breast plate exactly in the middle,
where it correctly belonged. Irish troops, in
almost every case stood well together in &C
ton, and if forced to retreat they did so in or
der together instead of stampeding. This
was another natural quality of the Irish sol
diers, and an important one, such as it gener'
ally took years Of drilling to leach to most
soldiers. Irish soldiers always loved thcil
officers so long as they had confidence II
their integrity and capacity, and would new
er desert them even under the most trying
circumstances.