Irish Brigade
The Battle of Fredericksburg is best known from an Irish perspective for the doomed advance of the Irish Brigade. But a number of Irishmen faced their more famous countrymen from behind the stone wall at Marye’s Heights, dressed in Confederate...
Captain John H. Donovan of the 69th New York went into action at the Battle of Fredericksburg already bearing the scars of war. While serving with the Irish Brigade at Malvern Hill in July 1862 he had suffered the loss...
This weekend sees the start of the 150th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Fredericksburg. There is perhaps no other battle of the American Civil War that is more associated with the Irish, given the participation of the Irish Brigade...
In 1863, Ireland was on the brink of famine. Poor harvests for three consecutive years had left many destitute, and disaster loomed. In response to the threat, relief committees that had previously been established to channel funds to assist the...
The site has featured a number of posts based on research I carried out on the birthplaces of the men of the 23rd Illinois Infantry (Mulligan’s Irish Brigade) which led to the production of a number of maps to show...
I had the pleasure recently of participating in a discussion on Irish involvement in the American Civil War as part of the 1848 Tricolour Celebrations in Waterford. It took place in the Granville Hotel, on the site of Thomas Francis...
Two previous posts on this site (here and here) examined the nativity of soldiers in the 23rd Illinois Infantry, ‘Mulligan’s Irish Brigade.’ This research was carried out to determine how ‘Irish’ the regiment really was, and where within the United States...
The Irish Brigade celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day in 1863 are the most famous from the period of the American Civil War, recorded as they were by a number of writers and in a series of wonderful illustrations by Edwin...
The Irish Brigade’s first taste of active campaigning arrived in the summer of 1862, when Union forces advanced along the Peninsula towards Richmond. They had yet to experience serious action when they settled into ‘Camp Winfield Scott’, near Yorktown in...
As I am an archaeologist by profession, the vast majority of public presentations I give are related to that subject, principally my area of expertise which is conflict archaeology. It is therefore very gratifying for me to have two upcoming...