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Permalink Reply by Gerry Regan on October 5, 2011 at 9:14pm

How did Notre Dame, and Catholics in general, fare in the anti-Catholic atmosphere that seems pervasive in the United States in that period? There was real mistrust, even suspicion about the loyalty of Catholics then,  would you all say?

Permalink Reply by Damian Shiels on October 7, 2011 at 7:39am

Jim dosen't focus too much on that aspect in the book, but it is an interesting point to consider- the work by Susannah Ural and others would suggest that much of the Irish-American community on the home front felt that the casualties Irish units, like the Irish Brigade, were sustaining was due to them being used as cannon fodder due to their religion and ethnicity (not that there is any evidence that this ever actually happened). Notre Dame in itself is an interesting one, as it had a very strong connection with Sherman, who had children attend there. I would love to look more at the question in Irish soldiers accounts of their wartime experiences, I know for example there were some issues with getting enough Catholic chaplains to minister to the troops in some of the Union armies. Still, a fascinating topic!