A previous post on the site explored the role of James Rowan O’Beirne in the hunt for John Wilkes Booth following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. When Journalist Jody Moylan got in touch with regard to American Civil War veterans...
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...
A recent post told the story of Landsman Thomas E. Corcoran, a Dubliner who received the Congressional Medal of Honor having helped to save the lives of some of his crewmates aboard the stricken USS Cincinnati on 27th May 1863. The vessel had been disabled...
Over 25 Irishmen served as Colonels in units raised in the State of New York. Many are well-known, having served in ethnic Irish regiments such as those of the Irish Brigade and Corcoran’s Legion. Perhaps one of the least recognisable,...
As part of continued efforts to raise awareness in Ireland of the Irish contribution during the American Civil War, members of the Irish American Civil War Trail team have been attempting to highlight local figures across the country. This piece...
At 12.20 pm on 27th May 1863, Admiral David Dixon Porter sent a brief message to General William Tecumseh Sherman. It stated simply ‘Cincinnati is sunk.’ Sherman already knew, as he had witnessed the luckless ships final moments. He replied to...
Michael Kerwin was born in Co. Wexford on 15th August 1837. He emigrated with his parents to the United States at the age of 10, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There he was educated in a private academy and trained as...
On 24th April 1861, 17 year-old James Allen enlisted in the army at Potsdam, New York. Joining Company F of the 16th New York Infantry, he would see action in all the major battles of the Army of the Potomac...
Thomas Alfred Smyth is often identified as the best Irish-born Union combat General of the Civil War. His wartime career is an impressive one, tinged with the tragedy of his mortal wounding just as the conflict drew to a close...
The 154th New York Infantry is one of the more fortunate of Civil War regiments. It has enjoyed what is perhaps unparalleled focus from a single historian, a man who for the past four decades has intensively studied the unit,...