I first came across Padraig Lenihan's work decades ago when I bought a copy of his Catholic Confederates at War.
I recall there was minor confusion at the time with some expecting a tome on Dixie. Lenihan's Confederates were of course the Armies of the Irish Confederation in the War of Three Kingdoms. No Emerald Guard or Louisiana Tigers then.
I found Catholic Confederates at War interesting but something big was missing. I still have my copy. In Raw Generals and Green Soldiers he offers a retrospective explanation. Here we go:
" Thirty years ago, when I wrote Catholic Confederates at War, I was certain that class was the key to unlocking the meaning of the 1641 rising."
He continues "Today I would give more weight to recent experience of official expropriation and to religion, a bitter grievance in itself, and a badge of convenience for other issues."
Quite so and who knew? Not to mention the ongoing destruction of the native legal and social structure. To put it plain Ireland was in the process of becoming an imperial colony and the majority of the Irish of all classes resolved to resist that outcome. We might call this context.
Enough of that then. To Raw Generals and Green Soldiers, which is rather good.
Should you want a handy volume to introduce you to the Confederate War this is it. While maintaining a national overview Lenihan gives us tasty chunks of local detail. The footnotes and bibliography bespeak of a serious endeavour. They are also very useful should you wish to pursue the subject further.
Obviously this is a relatively slim volume compared to the hefty books of old. There must have been hard choices for the author on what to include and exclude. What he gives us is accessible and well written.
Not least of Raw Generals and Green Soldiers attractions are 8 colour plates. these are by Seán Ó Brógain and are very good indeed. If you want to know how the soldiers of the Confederacy looked Seán shows you here. Think Trews not Breeches.
Should you have wondered Khurasan Miniatures capture it best. Even then you will have to press some Tyrone's War Irish Light Cavalry into the ranks to best represent the Irish cavalry. Not an ideal match but close. I'd like to think Peter Pig would do an Irish Lancer based on Seán's illustration.
There are black and white illustrations too. This sort of thing below is very good.
