As rare as it is to find identified images of Irish immigrant soldiers of the American Civil in the field, it is rarer still to discover examples that include their families. The National Archives’ collection of Civil War images includes a fascinating series of images of members of the 170th New York Volunteer Infantry, of General Michael Corcoran’s Irish Legion. In several, the familiar face of Captain Thomas David Norris appears alongside his wife Ann and children Mary Ann, Ann Eliza and John, presumably visiting from New York City. The first image- click to enlarge (National Archives) The s ..read more

In advance of St. Patrick’s Day I joined John Banks and Tom McMillan of the Antietam and Beyond Podcast to chat about the Irish Brigade and other Irish at Antietam, and Irish participation in the Civil War more generally. It was a really enjoyable chat- you can find it wherever you got your podcasts, by searching for Antietam and Beyond, or by visiting the podcast site here. John and Tom need little introduction; John runs the John Banks’ Civil War Blog (see his most recent publication is A Civil War Roadtrip of a Lifetime) while Tom has also authored multiple history books, and his latest is ..read more

A previous StoryMap post on the site explored the devastating toll the 1866-67 Cholera epidemic took on immigrant and African American families connected with the Regular army (you can read that here). In this post, we take a look at a letter that emerged as a result of that wave of death which struck the army’s ranks. It was written to Irish woman Mary Duggan from Fort Hays, Kansas in 1867 to inform her of the circumstances by which her son Daniel, a Corporal in the 5th United States Infantry, had lost his battle with the disease. The Duggan family had emigrated to New York from Co. Limerick ..read more

As regular readers will be aware we are pretty fond of a map here on Irish in the American Civil War. One of our previous initiatives was the Mapping Donegal Veterans project, which plotted American Civil War links to that county onto an interactive map. It generated a lot of online and media interest, and many requests for us to add other Irish counties to the list. I am pleased to say we are now hoping to do so, thanks to the efforts of University of Limerick Master’s in history student Ben Wrafter. Ben is focusing his efforts on Co. Leitrim, and is appealing to our readers to help him. Ben ..read more

The recent dedication of the memorial at Andersonville was a historic event. As well as remembering the impact of the prison on Irish emigrants and their families, it was the first time that an American Civil War related memorial was unveiled by the Government of Ireland, acting in partnership with the Northern Ireland Bureau. In December Andersonville National Historic Site, who filmed the dedication ceremony, uploaded the video of the event to their YouTube Channel, so now it is possible for everyone to experience the import and emotion of the day. You can watch the video below. The running ..read more

The latest StoryMap from my recent Civil War related trip to Georgia and Tennessee is now live. This one is the latest installment of the “Storied Tombstones” series, which explores Irish graves in National Cemeteries. Those in Marietta relate to soldiers who died in the 1864 Atlanta Campaign. The StoryMap, which has images and audio, traces a number of them back to their communities of origin in America, Ireland and England. You can view the StoryMap by clicking here ..read more

Recently I joined Fin of the Irish History Podcast to discuss the Andersonville Irish Project and the memorial plaque to the Irish unveiled at Andersonville National Historic Site. The episode is now available through all the usual podcast hosts, and you can also listen to it by clicking here. It was a really interesting discussion, I hope you enjoy it ..read more

I have recently returned from Georgia and Tennessee where I was on the trail of Irish in the American Civil War. A lot of my posts over the next period will relate to that trip. One of the opportunities I had while there was to join Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park Historian James Ogden for a tour of sites relating to “Chicago’s Irish Legion”-the 90th Illinois Infantry- during the Battle of Missionary Ridge. Jim’s expertise is breathtaking, and it was a great privilege to be able to spend a few hours in his company on the battlefield. I have completed a StoryMap Tour of the ..read more

Earlier this week, to mark the major upcoming Irish event at Andersonville National Historic Site we shared the first of our new project infographics, which explored the demographics of the first 850 men we have identified. You can check that out here. Now we are sharing the second infographic, which more closely examines the service of the Andersonville Irish- details such as where they enlisted, who they served with, and when they died. To explore the infographic in detail, just click on the image below to enlarge it. Remember you can find it and more Andersonville Irish content over at the ..read more

Last week we brought you the big news of the upcoming 19th October event at the Andersonville National Historic Site, when a plaque will be unveiled to commemorate the Irish American dead of Andersonville and their families (more on that here). To mark the occasion we have prepared two new project infographics, each of which examines some of the key facts and figures relating to the first 850 Andersonville Irish identified. This post shares the first, which examines the demographics of the 850. To explore the infographic in more detail just click on the image below. Remember too that you can c ..read more