CIVIL WAR ARTICLES
Memory of fighting Irishmen preserved
By James E. Stanton
"We were just a bunch of guys sitting around a campfire trying to keep warm at night. We'd try to outdo one another with our songs."
GEORGE LEVENS, SONGWRITER
A vocalist, accompanied by the rich strums of guitars and the lilting tones of mandolins, fiddles and tin whistles, relates a young Irishman’s desire for a better life in the mid-19th century.
As the song goes, Irishmen intend to seek "bloody work across the seas" — in America.
Little did the men realize what type of bloody work many of them would be thrown into after arriving in the land of freedom. Their task would be to preserve the Union.
In a companion song, a father sings of "how tall and slim" his son, John, was when the youngster embarked for America.
Later in the song, the father grimly relates that John, who survived the battle of Gettysburg, no longer is slim and tall.
"He has no legs at all, both got blown away by a cannonball."
"John" and other Irish Americans who fought in the Civil War are commemorated in the new CD, "Rock of Erin."
The CD portrays the patriotism of the 69th Pennsylvania Irish Volunteers who fought in the Civil War, as well as the hardships they and their families endured in their former homeland.
Most notable was their role in repelling Pickett’s Charge at Cemetery Ridge while suffering heavy losses on July 3, 1863.
Gettysburg, which historians say was the bloodiest battle in the Western Hemisphere, led to the end of the Confederacy. After that battle, it never again invaded the North. The 69th suffered more than 50 percent casualties.
Nearly 139 years later, a group of local re-enactors that uses the same 69th Volunteer moniker, formed a string band and has just released its first CD.
The CD features four Irish ballads written by 69th re-enactor and vocalist/songwriter George Levens, who lives in Abington. The songs are "Prison Ships," "Welcome," "Soldier Boys" and the title track, "Rock of Erin."
Civil War period songs include "Roddy MoCorley," "Battle Cry of Freedom," "Minstrel Boy," "off to Philadelphia," "My Son John," "Shady Grove," "Star of County Down" and "Mara Lyn."
The string band began forming several years ago — with no instruments except its own voices.
"We were just a bunch of guys hitting around a campfire trying to keep warm at night. We’d try to outdo one another with our songs."
As some of the re-enactors began bringing in their instruments, "the music started getting better and better," said Levens, a factory worker.
"It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever been involved in. We turn over all our [donations] for good causes, such as preserving Civil War tombstones and other battlefield preservation projects."
Band members come principally from a 100-mile radius of Philadelphia and often perform in the Philadelphia suburbs.
"Ethnically the regiment hasn’t changed that much since the Civil War," said Dr Bob Levine, 69th coordinator, who lives in Northampton. "The band is predominantly Irish, but there also are members who are Jewish and Protestant."
Like Levens, Levine, a periodontist, plays the guitar.
He said he feels "very close to Gettysburg," and visits the site often, either with his family or the volunteers.
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