The Irish General
The Irish General

Author: Paul R. Wylie

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 9780806138473

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Irish patriot, Civil War general, frontier governor - Thomas Francis Meagher played key roles in three major historical arenas and is hailed today as a hero by some, condemned as a drunkard by others. Paul R. Wylie now offers a definitive biography of this nineteenth-century figure who has long remained an enigma. The Irish General first recalls Meagher's life from his boyhood and leadership of Young Ireland in the revolution of 1848, to his exile in Tasmania and escape to New York, where he found fame as an orator and as editor of the Irish News. He served in the Civil War - viewing the Union Army as training for a future Irish revolutionary force - and rose to the rank of brigadier general leading the famous Irish Brigade. Wylie traces Meagher's military career in detail through the Seven Days Battles, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. Wylie then recounts Meagher's final years, as acting governor of Montana Territory, sorting historical truth from false claims made against him regarding the militia he formed to combat attacking American Indians, and plumbing the mystery surrounding his death. The story Wylie tells is one of contradictions: of a gifted, ambitious man, of a life marred by personal tragedy and drinking, of commitment to comrades who resented his fame. While acknowledging the difficulty in reconciling today's polarized views of Meagher, Wylie has undertaken extraordinary research to realize more fully the complexities of his life and personality. The narrative is amplified by more than forty illustrations, including rare maps and images depicting Meagher's Irish compatriots, the Irish Brigade, and early Montana.

Thomas Francis Meagher and the Irish Brigade in the Civil War
Thomas Francis Meagher and the Irish Brigade in the Civil War

Author: Daniel M. Callaghan

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2012-11-22

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 1476603251

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When President Lincoln issued his 1861 call to arms, the 63rd, 69th and 88th New York Volunteers were among the first to step forward. Comprised primarily of first and second generation Irish immigrants, these three regiments were later joined by the 28th Massachusetts and the 116th Pennsylvania. Suffering heavy casualties, this Irish Brigade, commanded by Thomas Francis Meagher, was one of the most famous fighting groups of the Civil War. This work provides a balanced, historically factual picture of the Irish Brigade and its commander, focusing on their role in the Seven Days' battles and at Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Primary sources range from veterans' memoirs published just after the war to letters and memoirs published as recently as 1996.

The Immortal Irishman
The Immortal Irishman

Author: Timothy Egan

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2016-03-01

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 0544272471

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In the New York Times bestseller The Immortal Irishman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Timothy Egan illuminates the dawn of the great Irish American story, with all its twists and triumphs, through the life of one heroic man. A dashing young orator during the Great Hunger of the 1840s, Thomas Francis Meagher led a failed uprising against British rule, for which he was banished to a Tasmanian prison colony for life. But two years later he was “back from the dead” and in New York, instantly the most famous Irishman in America. Meagher’s rebirth included his leading the newly formed Irish Brigade in many of the fiercest battles of the Civil War. Afterward, he tried to build a new Ireland in the wild west of Montana — a quixotic adventure that ended in the great mystery of his disappearance, which Egan resolves convincingly at last. “This is marvelous stuff. Thomas F. Meagher strides onto Egan's beautifully wrought pages just as he lived — powerfully larger than life. A fascinating account of an extraordinary life.”—Daniel James Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Facing the Mountain

The Irish in the American Civil War
The Irish in the American Civil War

Author: Damian Shiels

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2013-02-13

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0752491970

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Just under 200,000 Irishmen took part in the American Civil War, making it one of the most significant conflicts in Irish history. Hundreds of thousands more were affected away from the battlefield, both in the US and in Ireland itself. The Irish contribution, however, is often only viewed through the lens of famous units such as the Irish Brigade, but the real story is much more complex and fascinating. From the Tipperary man who was the first man to die in the war, to the Corkman who was the last General mortally wounded in action; from the flag bearer who saved his regimental colours at the cost of his arms, to the Roscommon man who led the hunt for Abraham Lincoln's assassin, what emerges in this book is a catalogue of gallantry, sacrifice and bravery.

The Harp and the Eagle
The Harp and the Eagle

Author: Susannah J. Ural

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2006-11

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 0814799396

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On the eve of the Civil War, the Irish were one of America's largest ethnic groups, and approximately 150,000 fought for the Union. Analyzing letters and diaries written by soldiers and civilians; military, church, and diplomatic records; and community newspapers, Susannah Ural Bruce significantly expands the story of Irish-American Catholics in the Civil War, and reveals a complex picture of those who fought for the Union. While the population was diverse, many Irish Americans had dual loyalties to the U.S. and Ireland, which influenced their decisions to volunteer, fight, or end their military service. When the Union cause supported their interests in Ireland and America, large numbers of Irish Americans enlisted. However, as the war progressed, the Emancipation Proclamation, federal draft, and sharp rise in casualties caused Irish Americans to question—and sometimes abandon—the war effort because they viewed such changes as detrimental to their families and futures in America and Ireland. By recognizing these competing and often fluid loyalties, The Harp and the Eagle sheds new light on the relationship between Irish-American volunteers and the Union Army, and how the Irish made sense of both the Civil War and their loyalty to the United States.

The Great Shame
The Great Shame

Author: Tom Keneally

Publisher: Penguin Group Australia

Published: 2022-11-01

Total Pages: 1263

ISBN-13: 1761049879

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In the nineteenth century, the Irish population was halved. The Great Shame is Thomas Keneally's astonishing work of non-fiction which traces the three causes of this depletion: the famine, the emigrations, and the transportations to Australia. Based on unique research among little-used sources, this masterly book traces eighty years of Irish history, told through the intimate lens of political prisoners - some of them Keneally's ancestors who served time as convicts in Australia. Beginning with Hugh Larkin, a twenty-four-year-old 'Ribbonman' transported for life in 1834, The Great Shame tells of the Ireland these prisoners came from and the Australia they encountered. It brings us close to Irish women such as Esther, wife of Larkin, and the future Lady Wilde, mother of Oscar, friend and collaborator of notable Irish prisoners. But we also encounter the 'Female Factory' and the Irish convict women who married humble Protestant criminals, and we learn of the often desperate survival methods of 'transportation-widowed' women left in Ireland. Throughout the nineteenth century, Australian and American organisations participated in the extraordinary escapes or attempted escapes from Australia of some of the world-famous Irish politicals. Among these was William Smith O'Brien, nobleman, leader of an uprising at the height of the Irish Famine, who became, from solitary confinement in Van Dieman's Land, the Mandela of his age. Thomas Francis Meagher's spectacular escape led to a glittering American career as orator, Union general, and tragic Governor of Montana. John Mitchel, Meagher's friend in Van Dieman exile, became a Confederate newspaper man, gave two of his sons to the Confederate cause, was imprisoned with Jefferson Davis, but emerged to reinfiltrate Ireland and become member for Tipperary. Through many such lives, famous and obscure, we see not only the daily experience of famine sufferers and Irish activists, but also the astonishing history of the Irish diaspora: to Saint Lawrence, to New York, to the high plains of Montana and the bush towns of New South Wales. All of them are vividly present in this extraordinary tale of Australian imprisonment, Irish disaster and New World redemption.

The Greatest Brigade
The Greatest Brigade

Author: Thomas J. Craughwell

Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA

Published: 2011-07-01

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 161058063X

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"The Greatest Brigade is an exciting journey through the major battles of the Civil War alongside the members of the famed Irish Brigade. Well researched, compellingly written, filled with fascinating illustrations, and with a story that holds the reader with a 'bulldog grip,' Thomas Craughwell has written a regimental history that deserves to be on every Civil War lover’s bookshelf."—Jason Emerson, author of The Madness of Mary Lincoln and Lincoln the Inventor Faugh a Ballagh! Clear the Way! This is the story of a band of heroes that covered the Yankee retreat at Bull Run, drove the Confederates from the Sunken Road at Antietam, and made charge after charge up Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg. The gallantry of the Irish Brigade won them the admiration of the high command of both North and South, earned them seven Medals of Honor, and after the war, went a long way to helping the Irish assimilate into the American mainstream. Shouting their Gaelic battle cry, the men of the Irish Brigade charged across the bloodiest battlefields of the Civil War and into the realm of legend. The Greatest Brigade is a grand narrative history of these Irishmen who fought in every major battle in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War, including Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Appomattox. Thomas J. Craughwell, author Stealing Lincoln’s Body and The Buck Stops Here: The 28 Toughest Presidential Decisions and How They Changed History, reveals the reasons why thousands of Irish Catholics—the most despised immigrant group in America at the time—rallied to the Union cause and proved themselves to be among the most ferocious fighters of the war. He examines the character of the Irish Brigade’s two most popular commanders, Michael Corcoran, a man of unshakable principles, and Thomas Francis Meagher, a complex man with many fine qualities—and almost as many flaws.

The Irish Brigade
The Irish Brigade

Author: Russ A. Pritchard

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-04-07

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1510756876

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A Full-Color History for Civil War Enthusiasts, History Buffs, and Anyone Interested in the Saga of the Irish in America! The Union’s Irish Brigade, the Civil War’s most famous fighting outfit, built an unusual reputation for dash and gallantry having fought throughout the war, from First Bull Run in 1861 to the Confederate surrender and Appomattox Court House in 1865. Here is the gripping true story, replete with stunning full-color illustrations, of all Irish regiments from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York serving under the direction of the Brigade’s most famous commander, General Thomas Francis Meagher. This meticulously researched text features complete and detailed accounts of the Brigade’s battles and skirmishes, from Bull Run to Yorktown to Peach Orchard to Malvern Hill to Antietam to Petersburg—to name a few. This powerful, authoritative volume captures the heart and tireless effort of the heroic men who rescued the Union from defeat time and time again—enthralling reading with authentic accompanying illustrations that will fascinate everyone from the biggest history buffs to the occasional layman interested in the history of Irish-Americans or the Civil War.

The Forgotten Irish
The Forgotten Irish

Author: Damian Shiels

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2016-10-06

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 0750980877

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On the eve of the American Civil War, 1.6 million Irish-born people were living in the United States. The majority had emigrated to the major industrialised cities of the North; New York alone was home to more than 200,000 Irish, one in four of the total population. As a result, thousands of Irish emigrants fought for the Union between 1861 and 1865. The research for this book has its origins in the widows and dependent pension records of that conflict, which often included not only letters and private correspondence between family members, but unparalleled accounts of their lives in both Ireland and America. The treasure trove of material made available comes, however, at a cost. In every instance, the file only exists due to the death of a soldier or sailor. From that as its starting point, coloured by sadness, the author has crafted the stories of thirty-five Irish families whose lives were emblematic of the nature of the Irish nineteenth-century emigrant experience.

Shades of Green
Shades of Green

Author: Ryan W. Keating

Publisher: Fordham Univ Press

Published: 2017-08-08

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 0823276619

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“An exceptional book that should make an immediately positive impact on the study of Irish Americans in the Civil War.” —The Journal of Southern History Drawing on records of about 5,500 soldiers and veterans, Shades of Green traces the organization of Irish regiments from the perspective of local communities in Connecticut, Illinois, and Wisconsin and the relationships between soldiers and the home front. Research on the impact of the Civil War on Irish Americans has traditionally fallen into one of two tracks, arguing that the Civil War either further alienated Irish immigrants from American society or that military service in defense of the Union offered these men a means of assimilation. In this study of Irish American service, Ryan W. Keating argues that neither paradigm really holds, because many Irish Americans during this time already considered themselves to be assimilated members of American society. This comprehensive study argues that the local community was often more important to ethnic soldiers than the imagined ethnic community, especially in terms of political, social, and economic relationships. An analysis of the Civil War era from this perspective provides a much clearer understanding of immigrant place and identity during the nineteenth century. The author focuses on three regiments not traditionally studied—rather than those of New York City and Boston—and supports his argument through advanced quantitative analysis of military service records and a wealth of raw data, an unusual and exciting development in Civil War studies. Shades of Green’s impressive research provides a significant contribution to scholarship sure to bring something valuable to several fields of study.