In 1950 Harry S. Truman was the President of the United States. The greatest conflict the world had ever seen had drawn to a conclusion over five years previously, and the Korean War was about to begin. By 1950 the...
Irishman John Donovan served with the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry in the first major battle of the American Civil War, at Bull Run, Virginia. His unit fought side by side with the 69th New York State Militia, as part of the...
The morning of 3rd October 1862 had not gone well for Major-General William Starke Rosecran’s Union forces. Holding the northern Mississippi town of Corinth, they had been attacked around 10am by Confederate forces of Major-General Earl Van Dorn’s Army of...
On 8th September 1864, First Lieutenant Patrick McCarthy of Company C, 182nd New York Infantry (69th New York National Guard), sat down to write a letter to the father of one of his comrades. The young man found himself with...
It is just after 4p.m. on 1st September 1864, and the men of the XIV Corps of the Army of the Cumberland are ordered to the attack. Their objective is the right flank of Confederate Lieutenant-General William Hardee’s Corps, which...
On 29th May 1865 United States President Andrew Johnson issued an Amnesty Proclamation for those who directly or indirectly participated in the rebellion. However, the amnesty did not cover everyone in the former Confederate States; fourteen exceptions were outlined, and...
It is the 27th June 1862. Colonel Thomas Cass and the 9th Massachusetts Infantry have just retraced their steps under orders, marching back towards their old camping grounds near a mill and millpond that empties into Powhite Creek, Virginia. The...
It was just after 3 o’clock in the afternoon on 30th June, 1862 near Glendale, Virginia. Brigadier-General Joseph Hooker looked anxiously to his division’s right flank, where the Pennsylvania Reserve division under Brigadier-General George McCall had been ferociously attacked by...
Many of the Irishmen who fought during the American Civil War had a strong commitment to using their experience to strike a blow for Irish Independence when the conflict was over. These were the Fenians, and even when on military...
The morning of 7th November 1861 found the men of the 2nd Tennessee Volunteer Infantry* in camp around the town of Columbus, Kentucky, on the east bank of the Mississippi. Their gaze, along with the majority of Major-General Leonidas Polk’s Confederate...