We're rapidly approaching the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Sabine Pass. The occasion is being celebrated as "Dick Dowling Days." Information is available here.

Though a relatively small engagement, Sabine Pass represented…

By Joseph Gannon

• Patrick Cleburne: Confederate 'Meteor Shining Brightly'
• Cleburne's Incendiary…

The Irish green shall again be seen

     As our Irish fathers bore it,

A burning wind from the South behind,

     and the Yankee rout before it! 

              -- From the Civil War anthem 'Song for the Irish Brigade'

Since its…

Sunday, September 8th is the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Sabine Pass. The occasion is being celebrated as "Dick Dowling Days."



Though a relatively small engagement, Sabine Pass represented perhaps the finest single day's work of any Irish unit, North or South, in the American Civil War. At Sabine Pass, on the Texas coast near the Louisiana…

In July 2013, I was honoured to give an oration at the graveside of Fr. John Bannon. The following, though long, is the text of my speech. Regards, Liam. (This post is part of a week-long series I've titled, 'Their Stories, Our Heritage, Not Forgotten', in honor of Irish Heritage Week 2020.) 

Commemoration…

The Irish were present at the creation of Georgia as a British colony in 1733. The second Royal Governor (1757-1760) of the colony was the Monaghan-born naval explorer Henry Ellis.  By treaty signed in 1763 with the Creek Indians, a tract of land was transferred which was roughly…

Born on November 12, 1819, in Dublin, Mary Sophia Hill was the daughter of a physician, who, along with her twin brother, Samuel, spent part of their early lives living in England.

By late 1850, both Mary and her brother were living in New Orleans where…

They have called us Rebels and Traitors,

But themselves have thrown off that name of late;

They were called it by the English Invaders,

At home—in the year of "Ninety-Eight ..."

-- from "Kelly’s Irish Brigade"

For…

On behalf of TheWildGeese.Irish, I attended the latest lecture in the Irish Department Foreign Affairs Commemorative Lecture Series, titled Ireland, the Irish and Civil War America, held in the magnificent Iveagh House, Dublin.

Pictured: Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan T.D.

Hosted by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie…

If you live in the southern part of the United States, you know they are still not over the war. Which war? The one where the south lost!  So thought I would stir the pot a little.

A large part of the 34th Mississippi Infantry was captured on the 24th of November, 1863 at…

(First published 12/14/11) 2011 marked the 150^th anniversary of the start of America’s Civil War, and in Ireland, a group of historians and writers used the occasion to promote the concept of a Civil War heritage trail. Archaeologist Damian Shiels and writers James Doherty and Robert Doyle  [All three…

As February’s Black History Month fades into memory and March’s Irish History Month begins its ascendancy, there’s a brief moment where the black takes on a tinge of green.

Few realize that these two ethnic groups, African-Americans and Irish-Americans, who together make up one-quarter of…

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Many who have read Irish history are familiar with the name of John Mitchel (left), Irish revolutionary, Young Irelander, and publisher of The United Irishman, who was born 182 years ago, on Nov. 3, 1815; however, many are unaware of Mitchel's life in America. During the American Civil War, Mitchel supported the Confederacy. Three of his sons served in the…

John C. Mitchel arrived in the USA in 1853 with his father, also, John. The elder Mitchel went on to become a, fiercely, pro Southern newspaper editor while John C. enlisted in the Confederate States army on the outbreak of America's Civil War, after initially working as an engineer on the railroads.…

More on the O'Bannons:

'To the Shores of Tripoli': The Presley O'Bannon Story

By Joseph E. Gannon

WGT Managing Editor…

In 1864, 20-year-old Vicksburg resident Emma Kline was arrested by Union officials, who were then occupying the city, perched above the Mississippi River in the state bearing the same name. She was charged with the crime of smuggling, one of a group of women engaged in smuggling much-needed supplies out of Vicksburg and into…

"Selma," a new film that just went wide to screens around the US, is an Interesting film, and for me as a student of the American, as well as the Irish, experiences, one well worth the investment to watch. The film narrates…

By David Kincaid

Special to The Wild Geese Today…

by Dr. Laura Kelley

At the onset of the Civil war, New Orleans was protected in part by Fort Jackson, located sixty-five miles down the Mississippi River. On April 27, 1862, confederate soldiers, a majority of whom were German and Irish immigrants mutinied…