A Sacrifice to the “Demon of Death”: A Mother Parts with an Image of Her Son
My primary area of research relates to wartime letters written home by soldiers and sailors, and which widow’s and dependents parted with in order to provide the Bureau of Pensions with evidence to...
View ArticleEllsworth’s Zouaves & the Gallant New York Fireman Who Saved the Colors of...
I am delighted to have an opportunity to share another guest post with readers, this time from Meg Groeling. Many of you will know Meg as a regular contributor to the Emerging Civil War blog and as an...
View ArticleThe Story of a Tyrone Widow, a Misremembered Death, and a Letter from the...
In 1865 Ellen McCann of 87 Mulberry Street in New York’s infamous Five Points district went in search of a pension. She was not a typical widow. By the time her husband Francis had elected to join the...
View ArticleLife & Limb: Exploring the Consequences of Non-Amputation for Five Irish...
Amputation, as one historian has noted, is the “symbolic wound” of the American Civil War. One estimate places the number of wartime amputations at 60,000, three-quarters of all the operations...
View ArticleSearching for Irish Family at Christmas 150 Years Ago: “Information Wanted”...
In 1869 the New York Irish-American Weekly came out on Christmas Day. As with every week’s issue, a portion of the paper was given over to “Information Wanted” advertisements. Most often placed by...
View ArticleDocument Focus: Michael Corcoran in the Revenue Police
Brigadier-General Michael Corocoran was one of the most famous Irish Americans of the 19th century. He led the 69th New York State Militia at Bull Run, and in the months of captivity that followed he...
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