Posts tagged with: Irish emigration

For our latest Campfire Chat we were joined by Danny Leavy, an Offaly man who has made his home in New York. Danny has been working on building a database of Offaly people who served during the American Civil War....
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As I am on a brief visit back to my former home of Midleton, Co. Cork at present, I thought for our next post we might take a look at some work I have undertaken on local men who served...
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On 17th June 1862 a Confederate shell arced through the sky from a battery positioned atop the Saint Charles bluffs on the White River, Arkansas. As it plunged donwards into the Union ironclad USS Mound City, it ruptured her steam...
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A special podcast that features a talk I gave to the Lough Gur Historical Society in December 2019. It describes why I believe the American pension files are such a major resource for uncovering the ordinary lives of the 19th...
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The men who entered the Union military as substitutes from 1863 onwards are among the most neglected and maligned groups associated with the American Civil War. History–and many historians–have overwhelmingly focused on the negative aspects of their service, highlighting their...
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Popular perceptions of 19th century Irish emigration imagine a tearful farewell from home, as emigrants departed never to be heard from again. But in reality those who left usually maintained close ties with their home communities– ties of obligation and...
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A number of years ago, Donegal teacher Gerry Moore launched the fantastic My Adopted Soldier project. The cornerstone of his efforts saw 32 Irish school students–one from every county in Ireland–research an Irish soldier from their area who died during the First...
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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...
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As part of the new suite of elements forming part of Irish in the American Civil War I am developing an occasional YouTube series exploring relevant topics, interspersed with footage I have taken while at relevant locations. The first in that series takes...
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The New York Irish-American was a major weekly newspaper serving America’s ethnic Irish community. It provided thousands of emigrants across the United States with news concerning both their local communities and their former homes in Ireland. Then, as now, advertising...
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