Our new IACW Campfire Chat video is now available on our YouTube Channel. We are hoping to do quite a few more in the future, so please consider subscribing to the Channel here.

In the latest video, Brendan and Damian discuss the 29th Massachusetts Infantry. Although not an ethnic Irish unit, the 29th Massachusetts served with the Irish Brigade through much of the Peninsula Campaign and at the Battle of Antietam in 1862. They are represented (and represented themselves) as very “un-Irish,” a regiment filled with “Yankee Pilgrims” who were largely Protestant descendants of the first settlers of Massachusetts. But how true is this image? Taking the Battle of Antietam as one of our focus points, we discuss how the more complex reality, and reveal just how tied many Irish families in Massachusetts were to the fates of men who marched in the 29th’s ranks. You can check it out below or on our YouTube page.