The History of The Irish...Worldwide
Joe Gannon's Blog (130)
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 4:30pm — 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 5:30am — 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 5:00am — 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 4:30am — 9 Comments
This Week in the History of the Irish: December 25 - December 31
DOMHNAIGH -- On Dec. 25, 1808, Stephen Clegg Rowan who would serve in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War and later be promoted to admiral, was born in Dublin. Rowan immigrated to…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on December 24, 2016 at 8:30am — No Comments
Mayo's Father Andrew Conroy: Martyr of the 1798 Rising
There’s many a lonely hearth-stone tonight in wide Mayo,
There’s many a gallant heart content again can never know
But darkest woe and grief for him the saintly true and tried,
Who on the Saxon scaffold that day for freedom died.
-- From “The Priest of Addergool,” by William Rooney (Founder of…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on November 26, 2016 at 2:00pm — 3 Comments
'In Harm’s Way': America’s Greatest Submarine Commander
Richard Hetherington O'Kane (below-right, in his Annapolis graduation photo) was born on February 2, 1911 in Dover, New Hampshire, a town near the Atlantic coast with a population of about 13,000 at the time. His father, Dr. Walter Collins O'Kane, was a professor of entomology at the University. Richard attended…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on October 11, 2016 at 2:30pm — 2 Comments
Gustavus Conyngham, USN: The “Dunkirk Pirate” from Donegal
Gustavus Conyngham is known to history as the “Dunkirk Pirate,” but that was the name the British gave him. It was not a name that he ever would have given himself. He thought of himself only as, Gustavus Conyngham, USN (United States Navy). He was never, in fact, a pirate. He was a commissioned officer in the new U.S…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on September 6, 2016 at 5:00pm — 10 Comments
General Phil Kearny: 'The One-Armed Devil'
Unlike most other Irish and Irish-Americans who fought in the American Civil War, Philip Kearny was born into a prominent and affluent family in New York City on June 1, 1815. The Kearny name, quite appropriately, came from the Gaelic "O Catharnaigh," derived from the word "cearnach," meaning "warlike" or “victorious.”…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on August 11, 2016 at 1:00am — 2 Comments
'Mary Boyle - The Untold Story'
Here is the trailer for a documentary written and directed by Gemma O'Doherty about the case of Ireland's youngest missing person. Mary Boyle…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on July 11, 2016 at 11:30am — 4 Comments
Patrick White: A Clareman's Tragic Death on Spike Island
On our vacation in Ireland in June 2015 we took the boat trip out to Spike Island in Cobh harbor in Co. Cork. Cobh is famous as last port of call of the Titanic. Spike Island is most often mentioned in Irish history as a place where many Irish political prisoners were held over the years. Cobh was a major port…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on June 22, 2016 at 2:30am — 8 Comments
Tom Barry: 'We May Have Great Men, But We’ll Never Have Better'
When it came to the grand plan of how the Irish, with their meager resources, could defeat the forces of the greatest empire on earth in the Irish War of Independence, Michael Collins was the great architect who drew up the “flying column” blue print. But no matter how great the architect, other men have to take that…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on May 31, 2016 at 4:00pm — 14 Comments
Winfield Scott: Defender of Irish Rights ... Once
Winfield Scott is well known as the hero of the Mexican War and as the over all commander of Federal forces during the beginning of the Civil War. Few have heard much about his experiences in the War of 1812, however. One…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on May 26, 2016 at 7:30am — 2 Comments
The Kilmeena Ambush, May 19, 1921: Seeds of Victory in a Defeat
In the early part of the Irish War of Independence there had not been any major ambushes of Crown forces in County Mayo, unlike several other counties, notably County Cork. However, in May 1921, the Irish Volunteers began to escalate their attacks there. First, on May…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on May 18, 2016 at 3:00pm — 5 Comments
Blessed William Tirry: Priest & Martyr
In the centuries after Christianity came to Ireland, when the only Christian Church was the Roman Catholic Church, it thrived there. In the Dark Ages it was monks from Ireland, "the island of saints and scholars," studying in Ireland and then moving out around Europe that helped preserve European civilization. But from…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on May 12, 2016 at 1:00pm — 1 Comment
Mary Brady: Angel of the Battlefield
There are perhaps no participants in war who see more of the agony and despair that it brings to humanity than the doctors and nurses who tend to its physically and mentally broken combatants. During the American Civil War, many women with no medical background took up the usually thankless and horrific job of tending to these…
Added by Joe Gannon on May 3, 2016 at 3:00pm — No Comments
Ireland's Tithe War: Income for Protestant Clergy With Steep Price
"There are many noble traits in the Irish character, mixed with failings which have always raised obstacles to their own well-being; but an innate love of justice, and an indomitable hatred of oppression, is like a gem upon the front of our nation which no darkness can obscure. To this fine quality I trace their hatred of…
Added by Joe Gannon on April 27, 2016 at 3:00pm — 5 Comments
Remembering the Great Hunger Commemoration at Grosse île
In 1997, during the 150th anniversary of "Black '47," the worst year of the Great Hunger, many commemorations were held all around Ireland and the Irish Diaspora. I attended one of them on Grosse île and wrote the following about that experience.…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on April 17, 2016 at 3:00pm — 5 Comments
On April 17, 1949, the Irish Republic Declared
Added by Joe Gannon on April 17, 2016 at 3:30am — 1 Comment
How a 22-Year-Old Firebrand Became 'Meagher of the Sword'
The very subtlest eloquence
That injured men can show,
Is the pathos of a pike-head,
And the logic of a blow.
Hopes built upon fine talking
Are like castles built on sand
But the pleading of cold iron
Not a tyrant can withstand.
In antebellum America, many former…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on April 12, 2016 at 2:00am — 1 Comment
Latest Blog Posts
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