Irish in the American Civil War

The latest addition to the Resources section of the site are the fatality details of 21 Irish regiments who served the Union during the Civil War. Check out the ‘More Resources’ tab on the top right of the site and access the drop down menu to see what else is available. In 1889 William F. […]

As part of the Irish-born Medal of Honor Project I have overhauled the Medal of Honor page to provide further information on the 146 Irish-born recipients from the Civil War I have thus far identified. A new introduction provides some background to the Irish awards, while more detailed entries for each of the men are also […]

Although some 170,000 Irishmen served during the American Civil War, it is extremely difficult to gain a picture of what service was like for them across a broad spectrum. This is a symptom of the fact that for the majority of Irish troops their wartime experience occured outside ethnic Irish units. I have been considering […]

While I was working as part of the curatorial team that developed the Soldiers & Chiefs Military History exhibition in the National Museum of Ireland I had the good fortune to be heavily involved in the identification and acquisition of items for the American Civil War gallery. Among the objects we secured on loan was […]

A previous post looked at a number of Irish veterans who returned to the land of their birth following the American Civil War and received a pension for their services, delivered to their local post office. Part 2 of the series looks at a further eight veterans who are recorded on the 1883 ‘List of Pensioners on the […]

Reminders of the American Civil War abound in the United States. Even regions far from the battlefield can point to local memorials and veterans graves as a reminder of those tumultuous times. In contrast, there is little on the island of Ireland to remind its citizens of the nearly 200,000 Irish involved in the war. […]

As recent posts indicate, I am currently in the process of conducting extensive research into Irish-born Medal of Honor recipients from the American Civil War. Research work in the United States has added a number of names to the ‘Irish-born’ list, and I would like to put forward a further name that I feel may […]

One of the main resources added to this site at an early stage was the list of Irish-born Medal of Honor recipients. Drawn from a number of different sources, I have found occasion to add the names of additional men over time, as it became apparent that they were in all probability of Irish birth. The list […]

Although this site is dedicated to the Irish in the American Civil War, I recently came across some records pertaining to a number of Irishmen who died in 1866 that I thought worthy of inclusion. Footnote.com are currently in the process of adding Final Statements from 1862-1899 to their resources, a process that is currently […]