The History of The Irish...Worldwide
Joe Gannon's Blog (126)
Wexford's James Power and the Trail of Tears to Texas
As nine year old Rosalie Hart came up onto the deck of the schooner “Sea Lion” there was a furious gale blowing. She and her family were thousands of miles from their home in Ballymoney, County Wexford, Ireland. She breathed in the clean sea air; a welcome relief from the…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on December 24, 2017 at 11:30pm — 4 Comments
'The Scourge of Tralee': Stalking 'The Major'
Late on Christmas night 1920, Irish Volunteers John Leen (24) and Maurice Reidy (25) stealthily made their way to the home of John Byrne, the creamery manager in Ballymacelligott, County Kerry. The cottage had been raided often, because Byrne was a well-known Republican who had…
Added by Joe Gannon on December 3, 2017 at 9:30pm — 9 Comments
The Dromkeen Ambush: Down Into the Mire in County Limerick
On the cool, pleasant night of St. Stephens day, December 26, 1920, over two hundred men and women were dancing, eating and enjoying themselves at Caherguillamore House, three miles northeast of Bruff, in County Limerick. The Martin brothers from Bruff were providing the music. This was not a commonplace dance. It had been…
Added by Joe Gannon on November 13, 2017 at 10:00am — 6 Comments
From Dunkirk to Nagasaki: The Long War of Dr. Aidan MacCarthy
Aidan MacCarthy crouched low in the air raid shelter he and the other prisoners of war had dug themselves. They had seen two American B-29 bombers flying toward the city of Nagasaki before they went into the shelter. A few POWs had stayed outside, though, wanting to see bombs fall on the Japanese for a bit of…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on October 13, 2017 at 10:30pm — 6 Comments
The Confederate Monument Issue: Is It Pride or Prejudice?
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…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on September 26, 2017 at 9:00pm — 4 Comments
The Rineen Ambush: Hell Comes to County Clare
Come all you gallant Irishmen, come listen for a while
I’ll sing to you the praises of the sons of Erin’s Isle
’Tis of an awful, awful ambush I’d have you to beware
That happened in Rineen, in a spot in County Clare.…
Added by Joe Gannon on September 2, 2017 at 8:30pm — 13 Comments
Valentine Trant McGillycuddy: Crazy Horse's Friend
On a hot September day in 1877 on the Pine Ridge reservation in the Dakota Territory (now South Dakota), a large group of angry Sioux were crowded around the guard house. Writhing in pain on the ground before them, bleeding profusely from his abdomen, lay one of the greatest leaders of the Native American resistance to the U.S.…
Added by Joe Gannon on August 7, 2017 at 11:00pm — 7 Comments
'Peg-Leg' Shannon: 'Lost Boy' of the Lewis & Clark Expedition
(“Lewis and Clark at Celilo Falls, Columbia River” from a mural by Frank H. Schwarz)
Nineteen-year-old George Shannon nervously trotted his horse across the flat ground to the north bank of the Missouri River and began scanning…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on June 21, 2017 at 10:30pm — 7 Comments
The Carrowkennedy Ambush: Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold
It was late afternoon of a warm day in June in Carrowkennedy, County Mayo. Irish Volunteer Jimmy O’Flaherty (right) heard the…
Added by Joe Gannon on May 20, 2017 at 9:00pm — 7 Comments
This Week in the History of the Irish: May 14 - May 20
MÁIRT -- On May 15, 1847, The Syria, the first ship to arrive during what Quebecois would call the 'Summer of Sorrow,' landed at the Canadian quarantine station in the St. Lawrence River, just north of Quebec. The French had called that island 'Grosse Ile,' but since 1847 many have called it…
Added by Joe Gannon on May 13, 2017 at 10:00am — 3 Comments
The St. Patrick's Day Champ: Clare's 'Bold Mike' McTigue
The exhausted Irish boxer stood in the middle of the makeshift boxing ring in the smoke-filled La Scala opera house in Dublin. Sweat was trickling down his face, tinged scarlett with a bit of blood oozing from a cut above his left eye. His chest was heaving with a heavy breathing -- a mixture of fatigue and…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on May 9, 2017 at 9:30pm — 7 Comments
1981 Hunger Strikes: On the Threshold of Another Trembling World
Among the most powerless men in the world are those in prisons. Your body no longer belongs to you; it belongs to the state. Every day you are told when to get up, when to go to bed, when you can exercise, when you can see your family, and also, when you can eat. Hidden within that last power of the state, however, is a…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on May 5, 2017 at 8:00pm — 6 Comments
Confederate Hero, Dick Dowling: Miracle at Sabine Pass
He stands in bronze and he stands on granite,
Facing the river where the fleet turned tail;
The stone lists the Davis Guards upon it,
Names that rhyme in the songs of the Gael.*
Around 3:30 on an afternoon of September 8th 1863, on…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on April 23, 2017 at 4:00pm — 3 Comments
Mountain Man Thomas Fitzpatrick: Legendary 'Broken Hand'
On a crisp, clear afternoon in what is now southwest Montana, in January 1836, a thin bearded man in his mid-30s, dressed in buckskin, was racing across the valley of the meandering Yellowstone River on the back of a very fast horse. Ahead of him in the distance, lit by the bright sunlight, he could see the…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on April 12, 2017 at 9:30pm — 8 Comments
John Paul Jones and His Irish Marines
As John Paul Jones, captain of the Bonhomme Richard, prepared to face two British ships off Flamborough Head on the coast of England on September 23, 1779, he had some very interesting allies on board his…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on April 8, 2017 at 2:30pm — 2 Comments
The Lispole Ambush -- Averting Disaster on the Dingle Peninsula
If you ever drive down the south side of the beautiful and scenic Dingle Peninsula in Co. Kerry, as I did with my wife, brother and sister-in-law last June (and everyone should, at least one in their lives), you will pass through the small village of Lispole on N-86 a few miles before you get to Dingle town. As you make…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on March 20, 2017 at 1:30pm — 20 Comments
Westward, Ho! John J. Healy, Montana Pioneer
(Above: "When Wagon Trails Were Dim," Charles Russell's depiction of a wagon train in the American west.)
Many men and women with Irish roots participated in the “winning” of the West for the new nation that was growing into a…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on March 14, 2017 at 10:30pm — 6 Comments
The Battle of Crossbarry: ... 'Who Piped Old Ireland Free'
They sought to wipe the column out,
From east to west, from north to south,
“Till at Crossbarry’s bloody rout
They woke from their day dreaming
Though ten to one they were that day
Our boys were victors in the fray,
And over the hills we marched…
Added by Joe Gannon on February 10, 2017 at 10:30am — 11 Comments
This Week in the History of the Irish: January 22 - January 28
DEARDAOIN - January 22, 1760, at Wandewash, India, General Thomas Arthur Comte de Lally's French army, including his regiment of the Irish Brigade, was defeated by…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on January 21, 2017 at 10:00am — No Comments
Mayo's Robert Horatio George Minty: Past Imperfect Hero
I see the long, blue line, push back the rebel pickets
Far stretched o’er hill and dale; through break and thickets.
My old heart leaps
As up the steeps
Rock-crowned and flinty:
I see the dash,
And hear the crash,
Where leads the peerless…
Added by Joe Gannon on January 14, 2017 at 9:30am — 9 Comments
Latest Blog Posts
- This Week in the History of the Irish: August 18- August 24
- Ireland’s Roads Not (Often) Taken: “Inis Cealtra,” the Holy Island
- Tunney vs Dempsey: The “Long Count” Title Fight
- This Week in the History of the Irish: March 24 - March 30
- WWI Pilot James McCudden: From Mechanic to Ace
- West Cork’s Hales Family: Giving All for Irish Freedom
- Corkman Stephen Moylan: The Man Who First Wrote 'United States of America'
Most Popular Blog Posts
- The Kilmeena Ambush, May 19, 1921: Seeds of Victory in a Defeat
- The Headford Ambush: Time Runs Out in Kerry
- The Carrowkennedy Ambush: Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold
- 'The Scourge of Tralee': Stalking 'The Major'
- In the Footsteps of Bridget: A Titanic Connection
- The Battle of Crossbarry: ... 'Who Piped Old Ireland Free'
- Tom Barry: 'We May Have Great Men, But We’ll Never Have Better'
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