Irish in the American Civil War

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 West Tennessee. By early afternoon, pressure on the Federal advanced position had grown so great that […]

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 the unpleasant task of providing the family with details of their son’s death. Two weeks […]

Private Michael Dougherty of Falcarragh, Co. Donegal, served in the ranks of the 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry during the American Civil War. His bravery in combat would be recognised in 1897, when he was awarded the Medal of Honor. However, as Christmas Day 1863 approached the only thing on Michael Dougherty’s mind was survival, as he […]

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 from Bull Run to Chancellorsville. He was discharged at the end of his term on […]

The Battle of Perryville, Kentucky was the ‘high water mark’ of the Confederacy in the Western Theater. On 8th October 1862 Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of the Mississippi smashed into elements of Don Carlos Buell’s Union Army of the Ohio (mainly the I Corps), bringing on some of the most savage and confused fighting of […]

The Confederate uniforms produced in Limerick and shipped through the Union blockade have been the subject of a previous post on Irish in the American Civil War. The remains of the factory are still visible in Limerick today, and its owner Sir Peter Tait’s memory lives on through one of the city’s most recognisable monuments.

The October 1909 issue of the Confederate Veteran tells the story of Tommy Campbell, and Irishman who had been discharged from the largely Irish 5th Confederate Infantry Regiment in 1862 as overage. This proved to be a very poor decision, as the original article (below) indicates; Tommy was still alive and well in Tennessee 47 […]

The remarkable story of the Confederate uniforms made in Limerick and shipped to the South through the Federal Blockade. Sir Peter Tait was born in Scotland in 1828, but moved to Limerick at a young age. In 1844 he obtained a job working as a shop assistant in the Cumine and Mitchell department store.  However, […]