The latest episode of the Forgotten Irish Podcast explores Irish connections with America’s highest award for gallantry– the Medal of Honor. Since the inception of the Medal during the American Civil War, Irish and Irish American men have been prominent...
The north-eastern portion of Washington D.C. is home to a cemetery with strong ties to the nineteenth century Irish Diaspora. Indeed, this is perhaps the most significant–and least well known– site with Irish American links in the entire District of...
For anyone familiar with the excellent John Banks’ Civil War Blog you will be familiar with how he makes extensive use of the widow’s pension files to tell the stories of those impacted by the American Civil War. I recently did an...
Last week I had the great honour of taking part in a discussion and audience Q&A at the National Archives in Washington D.C. with Dr. Michael Hussey of NARA and Professor David Gleeson of Northumbria University. The event was followed...
I am delighted to announce that the official Irish launch of The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America will take place in Ireland’s oldest bookshop, Hodges Figgis of Dublin, on Thursday next 26th January at 6pm. The publication will...
The Forgotten Irish will be officially launched in Dublin in January 2017, with the book becoming available in the United States later in the year. I would like to thank everyone for the initial feedback it has received. Claire Santry...
On 8th March 1862, the Confederate Ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly the Merrimack) steamed out of Norfolk, Virginia to attack the Federal fleet in Hampton Roads. The resulting two-day encounter remains one of the most famous naval engagements in history. One...
In the first of a couple of guest posts coming up on the blog, friend of the site Brendan Hamilton brings us the story behind a fascinating image of a young wounded Irishman. Brendan has spent a lot of time...
On 16th September 1862, 33-year-old Ann Dunnigan appeared before an Albany judge to begin the process of claiming a widow’s pension. Her husband Patrick had been mortally wounded in the Irish Brigade’s first major engagement- the Battle of Fair Oaks,...
As I have often noted on this site, the American Civil War is the only conflict in the Irish experience which compares with World War One in terms of scale. But just how many Irish served during the conflict? Relatively...