Social History (Famine Era)
It will come as little surprise to readers that my analysis of Irish American correspondence during the Civil War has revealed that they were overwhelmingly pro-Democrat and anti-Republican. When they expressed a political opinion, they showed a general antipathy towards Abraham...
The pension applications of widows and dependants for Civil War pensions pull back the curtains on the hardships that many 19th century working class Irish American women suffered at the hands of their husbands. For many, physical abuse, alcoholism and...
Corcoran’s Irish Legion were, along with the Irish Brigade, one of just two brigade-level formations in the Union military during the American Civil War. Formed by famed Fenian, Brigadier-General Michael Corcoran, the regiments sustained terrible casualties during the 1864 Overland...
A number of previous posts have explored the impact of loss during the American Civil War on ordinary people in Europe (See Mapping Mainland Europe’s American Civil War Widows). Many of them had never–and would never–set foot in the United...
James McDevitt was born into a large Irish family around the year 1845. His home was in a small cluster of houses– known as a clachan– which operated an infield and outfield farming system known as rundale (see here). James...
The striking, weather-beaten and feature-filled face that gazes intently back at us from this image does so across more than 150 years of history. A product of the 1860s, the photograph was created as a result of the American Civil...
I recently attended the excellent 2018 Famine Summer School held at the National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park House in Co. Roscommon. I was speaking on what pension files can reveal about the remittance of money from America to Ireland, and the...
On 25 May last I delivered a lecture to the Waterford Archaeological & Historical Society at St. Patrick’s Gateway Centre in Waterford City. The topic was the exploration of the impact of the American Civil War on Irish families. As...
In 1860 one in every four people in New York was of Irish birth. The majority dwelt among the urban poor, congregating in notorious areas such as Manhattan’s Five Points. Their experience of the American Civil War was mixed, ranging...
When the American Civil War broke out in April 1861, Ireland’s Nation newspaper predicted that the lives of Irish emigrants would be “offered in thousands. Many a mother’s heart in Ireland, long cheered by the affectionate and dutiful letter and the generous...