Westward Cork Migration by Sail 1815-1860 by John Sutton

PART II EMIGRANT PERSPECTIVE

The New Orleans port scene captures a river flatboat in foreground, a steamboat ferry, and sailing ships. The funnels of steamboats can be seen on the distant bank, location of the Cabildo, once the seat of Spanish government, where the Louisiana Purchase papers were signed with the French in 1803. --------------------------- Observations from New Orleans Passenger Arrivals (M259) 1820-1902: Evidence of emigration from Cork to New Orleans is lacking until mid-century, when the arrival of several familiar Cork emigrant ships, and their captains, were documented during the early 1850s. While sources have suggested that New Orleans was a favored port for German emigrants, the 1860 US Census has more foreign-born Irish than Germans in both Louisiana and Mississippi (numbers for both are small). Texas on the other hand, which is convenient to New Orleans, developed a large foreign-born German population, far exceeding new Irish citizens. Impact of Irish immigration on New Orleans and Louisiana ( 1850 USA Census): Total Population - %Irish - %British - %German - %Foreign-born New Orleans 99,071 20.4 3.6 11.5 49.1 Louisiana 272,953 8.9 1.8 6.4 23.0 Ireland was again the dominant emigrant group here, where foreign-born residents had a greater proportional impact on the population than in New York, though the total population of New York State is 11.35 times greater than the State of Louisiana. One fifth of New New Orleans foreign-born Irish residents increased from approximately 20,210 to 24,308. Irish-born residents in Louisiana increased by about 3,914 - from approximately 24,293 to 28,207. The important Port of New Orleans was a small but economically vibrant city, dependent on cotton, tobacco, sugar, and its slave population for much of its wealth. “By the Civil War, the cargo moving south through New Orleans was valued at $200 million, or 6 billion today. Lippincott (historian) estimates that, meanwhile, hubs like St Louis, Cincinnati, and Natchez, Mississippi, were also trading cargo valued at $200 million or more by the Civil War. Like the Nile, the Thames, or the Seine before them, the western rivers in America became a floating supply chain that fueled national growth” (Buck, Rinker, 2022) At the start of the Civil War in 1861, New Orleans was the largest city in the South and supplied thousands of troops and supplies to the Confederate cause. Strategically important, it was blockaded and engaged by the Union fleet on 18 April 1862 in the second Battle of New Orleans, and on 28 April 1862 it was the first major Confederate city to be captured. The Federal Commander, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, quickly imposed martial law, and ruled with an iron fist. However, his governance failed to endear him to the community, and he was transferred out in December of 1862. General Butler is noteworthy for a maritime connection to Cork. The famous racing yacht America, that won the “Hundred Guinea Cup” against all-comers around the Isle of Wight in 1851, fell into the hands, on 30 July 1860, of Henry Edward Decie of Cork, and he sailed the Orleans’s approximate 20,210 residents in 1850 were born in Ireland! Further developments between 1850 and 1860 ( 1860 US Census):

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