Irish cowboys

Consider the 69th New York Infantry, or the "Fighting 69th", the Irish Brigade was known in part for its famous war cry, the "faugh a ballagh", which is an anglicization of the Irish phrase, fág an bealach, meaning "clear the way".

Also the 23rd Illinois Infantry was the "First Irish" or "Irish 'Brigade'", two of the 23rd's soldiers, John Creed and Patrick Highland, both Tipperary men, won the Medal of Honor.

And there were Irish settlers in Kansas. There is nothing wrong with Irishmen being cowboys!

Quoting from a booklet by an Irish priest Rev. Thomas Butler writing in 1871:

The population of the city of Leavenworth, according to the census taken last year, is twenty-five thousand.
Of this number of people, inhabiting the city of Leavenworth, about one-sixth, or four thousand, are Irish Catholics, and the children of the Irish. They are to be found in various positions and walks of life. The sheriff of the city is an Irishman, the deputy-treasurer is an Irishman, the market-master, the weigh-master, many of the foremost lawyers, and some of the city police are sons of " the old land." A great many " saloon-keepers" (publicans) and shopkeepers are Irish ; and a stranger from " the Emerald Isle" might read such Celtic names, on show-boards, as Phelan, Whelan, Casey, McCarthy, Cooney, &c, &c. The draymen and railroad porters are almost all Irishmen; also a great many of the bricklayers, masons, and carpenters. But the majority of our countrymen in Leavenworth belong to the labouring class, and are obliged to work hard on railways and streets for small wages. Four years ago the pay given to labouring men was two dollars per day; now it is reduced to one dollar and a half. A married man with a family cannot save anything with such pay ; and if you take into account many inclement days during the year, when the labourer cannot work, it will be seen that such men have hard times here. The stern truth of the case is this—Irishmen must not hope to make much money as labourers in the towns and cities in the future. Since the emancipation of the negroes the labour-market has been glutted, and, undoubtedly, in a few years more Sambo and John Chinaman will be the only labourers on the highways. Then, indeed, many of our people will regret having squandered away their money, and not having gone out, to work a farm for themselves, in former years.