“Nolan left New Orleans as a sergeant in one of the companies of the First Louisiana Volunteers; he quickly rose to a lieutenancy, then captain, lieutenant-colonel and colonel. He commanded his regiment with great bravery and ability. He was wounded at Sharpsburg, where he assumed command of his brigade upon the death of General Stark, who was killed in that battle. General Nolan’s commission as brigadier had not reached him when he was killed at Gettysburg. “Full, full of glory is the history of the Irishmen and the sons of Irishmen in Louisiana, in every branch of life, in the press, in the professions, in commerce, in the church and in deeds of valor upon the battlefields of Mexico and the South.” Gen. Wm. B. Bate, the able and distinguished senator from Tennessee, has furnished me with an important contribution with regard to the loyalty and gallantry of such Irishmen and Irish-Americans as were connected with the Confederate army. To give the military career of such men would require a volume. There were no more loyal and gallant men in the Confederate army, both as soldiers and officers, and none was truer to our cause and stood by our little flag with its stars and bars and cross of St. Andrew, from the beginning to the ending, with more fidelity, pride and patriotism than did the Irishmen and Irish-Americans who were enlisted in the Confederate army. The Irishman who won the most distinction on the Confederate side and gained the highest rank was Major-General Patrick R. Cleburne. He was formerly a private in the English army and when his connection with it ceased he came to this country and at the time of the breaking out of the war was a practising lawyer in Helena, Arkansas. He assisted in raising a regiment of Arkansas troops and became its colonel. His regiment was united with the Army of Tennessee, was at Bowling Green, Ky., in General Hardee’s command, under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson, and went with it to Shiloh. General Cleburne commanded a brigade that day composed principally of Tennesseeans, which fought in Hardee’s corps and which composed the front line of battle. General Bate’s regiment, the Second Tennessee Infantry, C. S. A., composed its extreme left. He was from that time on identified with the Army of Tennessee and its campaigns and battles. He was subsequently promoted and commanded what is known as Cleburne’s Division, was an active and efficient factor in the Army of Tennessee until he was killed in the charge on the Federal breastworks at Franklin, November 30, 1864.