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‘I Feel Like I’m Deserted’: The Impact of One Soldier’s Death in Corcoran’s...
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...
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Irish Colonels: Henry F. O’Brien, 11th New York Infantry
Over 25 Irishmen served as Colonels in units raised in the State of New York. Many are well-known, having served in ethnic Irish regiments such as those of the Irish Brigade and Corcoran’s Legion....
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‘Any One Finding This Note…’: A 69th New York Soldier Prepares for His Death
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...
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A ‘New’ Irish Recipient of the Medal of Honor Discovered?
As recent posts indicate, I am currently in the process of conducting extensive research into Irish-born Medal of Honor recipients from the American Civil War. Research work in the United States has...
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‘Today I am a Boy Again’: A Civil War Veteran Faces an Image of His Past
To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1911, the ten-volume Photographic History of the Civil War was published. One of the photographs showed a group of...
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Nurse Mary McCoy, The Battle of Fair Oaks and a ‘Tin Dipper’ for President...
As the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Fair Oaks approaches, it is interesting to note the contribution of one Irish woman to the battle, which was remembered long after the war. New York newspapers...
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‘It is Colonel Corcoran I Blame’: An Unhappy Irishman After Bull Run
The Georgia Daily Constitutionalist received permission in July 1861 to publish a letter received by one of its Irish readers. It was a note from the Georgia Irishman’s brother, who had fought with the...
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Medal of Honor: Assistant Surgeon Richard Curran, 33rd New York Infantry
In the late morning of 17th September 1862, the first elements of Major-General William B. Franklin’s Sixth Corps, Army of the Potomac arrived on the Antietam battlefield after a forced march. The...
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‘O God! What a Sight’: Tragedy for an Irish Family at Cedar Creek
The Rebel attack at Cedar Creek on 19th October 1864 was one of the most audacious and finely executed flank attacks of the American Civil War. Jubal Early’s Confederates overran a large part of the...
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McClellan or Lincoln? An Irish-American View of the 1864 Presidential Election
Today citizens of the United States go to the polls to elect their President. In that context it is interesting to look back at the key 1864 Presidential election, when the fundamental future direction...
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The Dead of the Irish Brigade: The Music and Message, 16th January 1863
On 13th December 1862 the Irish Brigade had fought at Fredericksburg. Along with many other Union brigades they suffered horrendous casualties in the futile attempt to assault the Confederate positions...
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A Regimental Child and the Baby Name Civil War
As newly formed regiments left their home states for the seat of war, many wives chose to accompany their men to the front. When the 37th New York ‘Irish Rifles’ settled into their duties around...
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150 Years Ago: The Irish-American Reports on the New York Draft Riots
150 years ago today the main Irish newspaper of New York, the Irish-American, reported on the Draft Riots that had engulfed the city in previous days. In the weeks and months to follow the largely...
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Marked Men: The Tattoos of New York Irishmen, 1863
The enlistment records of many Irish recruits during the Civil War provide detail on age, height, hair/eye colour and complexion. Although informative, this data still leaves us without a picture of...
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Scarred Men: The Disfigurements of New York Irishmen, 1863
The first post relating to my work on the New York Irishmen who enlisted in the Union navy in July 1863 looked at their tattoos. However, the marks on their body that they had not chosen for themselves...
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War’s Cruel Hand: The Dedicated Service of Edward Carroll, Irish Brigade
Occasionally one has to look no further than a soldier’s service record to see both the poignancy and cruelty of war. Such is the case with Edward B. Carroll of the 63rd New York Infantry, Irish...
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‘I Have Heard No News From Him’: Catherine Mullen’s Search for her Husband
For women whose husbands went to war, it could often be long months before they heard news of their loved ones. For many the only means they had of gauging the well-being of their men was through the...
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‘Equaled by Few- Surpassed by None’: Colonel James Mallon and the Battle of...
At least 150,000 Irish-born men fought for the Union during the American Civil War. However this figure does not include those first-generation Irish, born in Canada and the United States, who...
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Daniel Divver: An Irish Fireman in the American Civil War
The Irish community in New York has long links to the Fire Service. Large numbers of immigrant Irishmen served in the city’s Engine, Hose and Hook & Ladder companies during the 1850s and 1860s. In...
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How To Find American Civil War Veterans from Irish Counties: A Case Study of...
I receive regular requests from around Ireland to provide information on men from specific parts of the country who served during the American Civil War. Pinning veterans down to a locality of origin...
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