Blog
As some readers will be aware, I recently carried out some extensive research into those Irish women who married U.S. Naval personnel based in Ireland during the First World War. Much of that work was initially based on my review of ‘War Brides’ identified through their application for U.S. passports at consulates in Ireland and......
I have recently moved to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the North-East of England in order to pursue PhD research into the Irish of the American Civil War. In my first days here, I have been looking at local connections to the conflict. One way to do this is to examine American Civil War veterans who are buried......
In August 1861, tens of thousands of Irish immigrants took part in a “Monster Irish Festival” on Manhattan. Organised to benefit the widows and orphans of Irish men who had fallen at Bull Run, its scale and scope were considered by many to be unprecedented. In the new post, we explore why this event was......
I recently had an opportunity to spend some time in Cornwall, England’s most south-westerly county. The dramatic scenery is everywhere punctuated by the physical remains of the industry for which the Cornish established an international reputation– mining. Cornish tin and copper mines allowed many of the locals to develop skills that became particularly useful in......
Of all the Naval and Marine Medals of Honor awarded during the American Civil War, a little over 15% were earned by men born in Ireland. But being recognised for wartime valor didn’t necessarily put bread on the table during the post-war years. Despite their actions, many Medal of Honor recipients did not get......
Although this site concentrates on the Irish emigrant experience and where that intersects with the American Civil War, I thought readers may be interested in some work I undertook wearing my other hat– that of a conflict and battlefield archaeologist. I recently had the opportunity to direct some fieldwork at the Vinegar Hill battlefield, the......
We often view many of the ethnic-Irish ‘green flag’ units of the American Civil War as being completely dominated by Irish-born or Irish-American soldiers. While this was true to varying degrees, all of them also had a proportion of men with no connection to the Emerald Isle. This was particularly the case in the later......
Many Irish Fenians enlisted in the Union cause during the course of the American Civil War, seeking to gain military experience in advance of a hoped for military confrontation with the British. None had closer ties to the Fenian cause than the Phoenix Brigade, which entered service as the 99th New York State National Guard......
