![[unidentified Irish eagle flag]](../images/i/ie_eagle1.jpg)
by Richard Case, 18 November 2010
Last modified: 2016-06-03 by rob raeside
Keywords: ireland | eagle |
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by Richard Case, 18 November 2010
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I know this flag existed during the Irish Rising in 1916 and at that stage
Ireland was under British rule so you may have seen reference to this flag in
the past. Below is correspondence I've had with two flag organisations in
Ireland and the story I sent them.
Richard Case, 23 January 2007
I heard this story third hand but apparently my great aunts mother lived on
Mount Street in Dublin during the Easter Rising, an Irish volunteer knocked at
her front door and handed her this flag and a number of bullets. It was his
intention to call back for the flag after a few hours but he never did. Since
then the flag had been folded away in my great aunts wardrobe, When I brought
the flag and bullets to Collins Barracks a gentleman there informed me that he
would have to hold onto the bullets for security reasons. I'm afraid I can't
give anymore information and my great aunt has since past away.
Richard Case, 23 January 2007
I had a look through our book of Irish flags and I have found a series of
flags that have the same type of wreath design. The wreath on your flag has bay
/ laurel leaves and berries on the left and shamrocks on the right bound
together with a bow. This is a common feature with the Irish Volunteers flags c
1770/90's. The book however, though very good at describing flags, is not very
good on actually giving a meaning for the individual designs, so I can't tell
you why they were used etc.
I think the eagle represents an American aspect. Certainly anyone I showed it to
here thought the same and I can't see any eagle representations in Irish flags.
The only alternative is that it may be a Phoenix. There is a mention in the
Irish Volunteers chapter of a medal with a Phoenix on it.
Jenny, Flags Ireland, 12 December 2006
That is a most interesting flag and indeed, quite a beautiful one too. From a
first look it appears to be American in origin and style, possibly an
Irish
Republican Brotherhood or Fenian flag from the US. But this is just a guess at
the moment and I'll do some more investigation on the flag.
Michael Merrigan, Hon. Secretary
Genealogical Society of Ireland, 12 December 2006
That certainly is a very interesting flag - a striking and (as far as I am
aware) a unique design, displaying what seems to be a very good standard of
workmanship. Most of the surviving Irish Volunteer unit colours from that period
look quite amateurish in comparison.
It's not easy to account for it: it is entirely unlike the Irish Volunteer
colours - no harp, no sunburst, no inscription to indicate the identity of the
unit. The other principal body that participated in the 1916 rising was the
Irish Citizen Army, and the current design has no resemblance to its
Starry
Plough flag either.
This is no more than a theory, and it is probably completely wrong, but it's the
only one I can think of at present. There was a third body that took part
in the Rising, a group called the Irish National Foresters (INF). They were
actually an armed section of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) in the United
States. In Ireland, the AOH was closely aligned with the movement for 'Home
Rule', and was strongly opposed to revolutionary republicanism. But the US
branch of the AOH was much more radical and it succeeded in organising among
Irish emigrants in Britain. A small force of their members (the INF), travelled
to Dublin from (I think) Liverpool to take part in the rising. As far as I
remember, there were only about twenty of them involved. Note, however, that the
only grounds for this suggestion is the somewhat American appearance of the bird
...
I will do some research next week to see if I can find out where the INF
contingent was stationed during the Rising. If it was anywhere near Mount
Street, it would strengthen the theory. Unfortunately, I have a vague idea that
they were stationed on the north side of Dublin (Mount Street is on the south
side) and that they never saw action - some of the rebel garrisons had still not
been engaged by the time the order to surrender was given.
Vincent Morley, 24 January 2007
The Foresters are a completely different Organisation founded in 1887 and are
still in existence. They have always been a Nationalist Friendly society. They
broke away from a similar British group called the Ancient Order of Foresters.
At one time they were a very large organisation throughout Ireland and its
Diaspora. But since the founding of the welfare state they have declined
greatly. They are now a small group mainly in the North of Ireland.
Mr.
Morley is correct in stating there was an Armed Division of Hibernians but they
were called the Hibernian Rifles. He is correct in stating that the Rifles were
a radical group and were funded by the Irish in the States. There has and still
is a division in the AOH between the American group and the Board of Erin Group.
They are two independent groups who share the same name.
Fr. Gabriel Burke,
22 January 2008
This might be the 99th New York State Militia Circa 1860, an Irish Fenian
regiment referred to as the Phoenix Regiment.
Sean Downey, 15 November 2007
I was forwarded your email concerning the flag and I discussed the matter
with members of the 69th Regiment Historical Roundtable. I am including some of
the members comments.
One member remembered speaking with Lar Joye at the
National Museum of Ireland about this a few years ago. Lar is very knowledgeable
about all things Irish. His other thought was the flag might be a 1916 period
piece that is one individual's or organization's personal interpretation of the
"Irish Republic" flag -- the laurel wreath and the eagle are all associated with
Republics.
In 1916, you have the Irish Tricolor (first introduced in 1848
by Thomas Francis Meagher) flown as the flag of the Irish Republic -- I believe
by Pearse and the Irish Volunteers; then, you have the "Irish Republic" flag
hastily painted by the Countess Markiewicz and flown as the flag of the Irish
Republic at the GPO as well. There were a lot of poets associated with the
Easter Rising. The flag may very well have been another individual or
organization's vision or interpretation of the flag of the "Irish Republic" and
their flag never made it to the GPO. I have seen an Irish American motif of an
eagle holding a wreath of laurel and shamrocks.
It seems rather hastily
designed. The eagle is supplanted over the laurel which is kind of odd. A friend
at NASA seems to think the eagle should be flying through the laurels, Someone
might have hastily made this flag in anticipation of the rising. What is
interesting is the ties on the fly (see this
photograph). It was designed to be attached to a flag
staff which may indicate a unit type flag. If it was printed, then there would
be others. If it is embroidered or painted, then it's probably a one of a kind.
At one time, the flag reminded me of a variation of the Irish American Athletic
Club's wing fist motif but that is no longer the case.
I hope this
information helps but it appears although the flag may have some American ties
it doesn't appear to have any ties to the history of the 69th Regiment New York
or its members some of whom were involved in the Easter Rebellion.
James
P. Tierney, 30 November 2010
This is a banner of the Hibernian Rifles/Irish American Alliance. There was a
banner of the H.R. in the 1916 Exhibit a few years back in the National Museum,
but that one, if I remember correctly, had crossed American and Irish flags with
the A.O.H. crest.
If you count the shamrocks and leaves on the banner in
question (including the leaf where only its stem is showing), it adds up to 48 -
the number of states as of 1912.
About ten years ago, I represented the
A.O.H. at the 100th Anniversary of the Dundalk Hibernians. This is the only
branch that was affiliated with the American A.O.H. that still survives. The
Dundalk branch was founded by Edward McCrystal, a Tyrone man with connections in
Louth. McCrystal was a leader of the A.O.H. in Manhattan and a Major in the
Irish Volunteers (military unit) in New York. McCrystal, also an Irish language
speaker and Gaelic Leaguer, went to Dundalk to personally organize the Dundalk
branch. There were only a few A.O.H. branches affiliated with the more militant
American A.O.H. as opposed to the many hundreds that were virtually a part of
John Redmond's political machine and part of the Board of Erin A.O.H.
I
have done a little research on a group of Irish-Americans who went back to
participate in the Rising. I believe they were members of the Irish American
Alliance, a name that was given to the armed wing of the A.O.H. in Ireland.
Perhaps the banner was something they would have brought back. At the O'Donovan
Rossa funeral in 1915 in Dublin, the divisions of the American affiliated A.O.H.
in Ireland took part and carried various banners.
Richard Case, 24
February 2016
