Easter Rising

In April 1916, Ireland experienced the Easter Rising. From that movement would come the uniting of two cockade colors into one national color scheme - oh yes, and Ireland would gain her independence from Great Britain!

Two Colors

When England and Ireland were one nation, the last Stuart king to reign was James II. James came to the throne in 1685 and had a son - and heir to the throne - in 1688. That's when the English went ballistic.

You see, King James was Catholic and England feared the despotic Catholic rule. This was a time of heavy-handed state religion and the people worried that James and his son would outlaw the Protestant faith (which was only about 170 years old at this point). So they asked James' Protestant nephew William to come take the throne instead.

Prince William of Orange gained the throne of England and Ireland in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. This was in addition to being ruler of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, and the Dutch Republic. He was a busy guy! William brought his orange Dutch cockades with him when he came over.

But James and his Catholic supporters did not give up. In fact, there would be war between the Stuarts and the British monarchs for the next fifty years. But the warring came to a temporary end at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. William won the battle and kept the throne.

After that, Protestant Irish wore orange and Catholic Irish green. Until 1916, that is....

Easter Rising

During Easter Week of 1916, the revolution began which would ultimately lead to Ireland's secession from Great Britian. A symbol of this rising was the wearing of orange and green - together.

This pretty little badge was worn by Geraldine Plunkett Dillon after her brother was executed for his role in the Easter Rebellion. Geraldine's parents and two other brothers were imprisoned at the time she bravely wore this ribbon. She tells a story of being stopped in the street:

"I got some South African medal ribbon because it was green, white, and orange and made it into a bow which I wore everywhere. A big policeman in Dame Street stopped me and said the tricolour would get me into trouble. I said, 'I have one brother shot and two brothers sentenced to death and my father and mother in jail'. He said 'You’re Plunkett, you can wear it'."
Of course, we know the end of the story - that Ireland eventually gained her independence and adopted a flag of green and orange. The white stripe in the middle symbolizes the peace between the two religious factions.

An amusing song tells of the early confusion from uniting the factions - and the colors! But the combination has since come to be an emblem of the Irish people.

Oh, it is the biggest mix-up that you have ever seen.
My father, he was orange and me mother, she was green.

The Colors of Your Country

I have many cockades of national colors - and I'd be happy to include your country's cockade if it's not in my shops! Check out the "National Pride" sections in my shops to see cockades from around the world.

Irish Cockades in the American Civil War

With St. Patrick's Day coming in a few weeks, I thought it would be fun to highlight an Irish cockade.

This lovely green badge belonged to U.S. Colonel Denis Burke. It is currently on loan to the Virginia Historical Society by its owner Joseph Maghe. You might wonder why an Irish gentleman was serving in the United States Army and wearing a green cockade. Well, we don't know all the details, but the little we do know leads to a fascinating story about the Irish in American armies.

Denis's Story
Denis was born in 1840 in County Cork, Ireland. In the aftermath of the Irish Potato Famine, Denis landed in the United States at the age of 17. Four years later, the American Civil War broke out and Denis - a good fighting Irishman! - enlisted in the New York State Militia, eventually winding up in the 88th New York Volunteers. He was evidently a talented man of battle because he rose through the ranks during the war and mustered out in 1865 as Brevet Colonel.


The story is that Denis wore this green cockade during the war, but the reason why he wore it was not handed down. However, in 1865 Denis's story gets interesting and provides a clue. In 1865, Denis was sworn into the Fenian Brotherhood.

Ever heard of it? I hadn't either, until I saw Denis's cockade and "met" Denis in the pages of history.
The Fenians' Story
Fed up with British mismanagement during the Potato Famine, two Irishmen named John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny began to organized a party of resistance. However, before they could get fully underway, the British clamped down on the resistance and the "Young Ireland" rebellion became just another failed revolution of 1848.

Except that Doheny and O'Mahony escaped. Eventually arriving in New York, they not only went to work (in the law and the military respectively) but also joined every Irish organization they could find. Thus it was that if Denis didn't know them previously in County Cork, he most certainly ran into them years later in New York.

Still smoldering over their frustration with British tyranny back in Ireland, Doheny and O'Mahony formed the Fenian Brotherhood in 1858. Its purpose was ultimately the end of British rule in Ireland. But one of the steps to achieving that purpose was to train its members in warfare and battle tactics. So many Fenian Society members joined state militias in order to train.

And that's when our American Civil War broke out. Why did the Irish fight in the American War Between the States? History tells us that 180,000 of them enlisted in the armies on both sides. One highly probably reason was a desire to gain battle experience that would later be used against their oppressors on the other side of the ocean.

And so we can guess what Colonel Denis Burke's cockade stood for: Irish solidarity. It's interesting to note that he is not the only one who wore that green cockade during the war. Here is a picture from the Library of Congress showing Irish Brigade commanding staff. Note the cockades on their sleeves.

A closer view. 

Another interesting picture shows Captain John H. Donovan of the 69th New York (the first regiment in the Irish Brigade) wearing his Irish badge.

 

So did Colonel Denis Burke ever use his military training in Ireland? As the American war ended, Irish revolutionaries filtered back into Ireland to make another attempt for freedom. But things began to go badly as British official discovered their activities. Divisions in the Fenian Brotherhood leadership back in America didn't help things either.

In 1866, Denis Burke was jailed at Mountjoy Jail & Kilmainham for seven months. Temporarily defeated, he was returned to the United States and became a battler of the pen as the publisher of the "Emerald" and "The Irish People," the Fenian Society's journal. He died in 1893, a proud warrior and determined freedom fighter. His cockade survives, vibrant green and sparkling spangles attesting to an Irish spirit that is never conquered.

The entire story of the Fenian Society (including President Johnson's involvement and an attempted invasion of Canada!) can be found in this fascinating article.

Naturally, I was inspired to create Irish cockades for my shop. I wanted something as vibrant as Burke's cockade with a clear symbol of Irish patriotism. I'm pretty happy with the result. See below!

If you'd like to order this in bulk for your group, let me know and I'd be happy to give you a group discount.

To wind up with a spirited poem from the era, here's the last verse of a famous Irish song, "The Wearing of the Green."

Oh, Erin! Must we leave you,

Driven by the tyrant's hand?

Must we ask a mother's welcome

From a strange but happy land?

Where the cruel cross of England's thralldom

Never shall be seen

And where in peace we'll live and die

A-wearing of the green.