As many readers will be aware, I do not believe that the Irish State is currently doing enough to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, particularly given the huge impact it had on the Irish community in the United States. I rarely launch ‘appeals’ through the site, but colleague and accomplished historian […]
The site has featured a number of posts based on research I carried out on the birthplaces of the men of the 23rd Illinois Infantry (Mulligan’s Irish Brigade) which led to the production of a number of maps to show what countries, states and Irish counties men in that regiment came from. In addition friend […]
On 23rd March 1862 Stonewall Jackson entered into his first serious clash in the Shenandoah Valley, at the Battle of Kernstown. The fight was part of what became known as the 1862 Valley Campaign, a series of engagements that would make Jackson a legend. However, at Kernstown the Confederate General had miscalculated; he had mistaken a […]
Around 4.30am on 12th April 1861, Confederate artillery fire erupted on the U.S. occupied Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. These shots marked the start of the American Civil War. Some two and a half hours later, at about 7am, the guns of Sumter replied to the barrage, firing the first shots in defence […]
Following the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, communities all over the North and South counted the cost of the three-day struggle which had taken the lives of over 7,000 men. One of the more unusual groups to be affected by the engagement were the Fenian Brotherhood, an organisation committed to securing Ireland’s freedom from […]
In the late morning of 17th September 1862, the first elements of Major-General William B. Franklin’s Sixth Corps, Army of the Potomac arrived on the Antietam battlefield after a forced march. The bloodiest day in United States history was already in full swing, and Franklin’s lead unit, Colonel William H. Irwin’s 3rd Brigade of the […]
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 […]
The latest batch of James Wall Scully letters (kindly provided by Anthony McCan) sees Henry Halleck’s forces continuing their slow movement towards Corinth, Mississippi in May 1862. The Kilkenny man remains preoccupied with his quest for a commission, and signs are appearing that the relationship between he and his friend and mentor Alvan Gillem are […]
The Georgia Daily Constitutionalist received permission in July 1861 to publish a letter received by one of its Irish readers. It was a note from the Georgia Irishman’s brother, who had fought with the 69th New York State Militia at Bull Run and had been wounded in that battle. Although the authenticity, circumstances and motivations behind the […]
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