The History of The Irish...Worldwide
Joe Gannon's Blog (130)
Nellie Bly: Circling the World and Changing It - Part Two
Nellie was able to fool the doctors at Bellevue into believing she was mentally incompetent and was transported out to Blackwell’s Island (in a 19th century illustration, above). After ten harrowing days there, the paper managed to get her out, but she admitted to feeling a lot of anxiety waiting for it to happen.…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on April 3, 2016 at 4:00am — 2 Comments
Nellie Bly: Circling the World and Changing It - Part One
"I have never written a word that did not come from my heart. I never shall." -- Nellie Bly - The Evening-Journal (8 January 1922)
The world of media today, be it print, radio, television or online, includes a very large percentage of female reporters, but it was not…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on April 2, 2016 at 5:00pm — 3 Comments
George Thomas: The Irishman Who Would Be King - Part 2
Unfortunately Thomas’ new employer, like so many of chiefs in the region, was dishonorable and motivated by greed and little else. Still, as had been the case with The Begum, Thomas was an honorable man in a dishonorable world. He served his new employer well, refusing several chances to…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on February 26, 2016 at 4:30am — 5 Comments
George Thomas: The Irishman Who Would Be King - Part 1 of 2
To say the prospects of children born into poverty-stricken Irish Catholic families in the 18th century were poor, with the Penal Laws still being used to oppress the Catholic population, would be a…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on February 24, 2016 at 3:00am — No Comments
John Gregory Bourke: Part 2 - Warrior, Author, Humanitarian
(Above: Lt. Bourke saving bugler Elmer Snow in "Battle of the Rosebud" by Andy Thomas)
On June 17th, on the…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on January 16, 2016 at 9:00am — 6 Comments
John Gregory Bourke: Part 1 - Warrior Anthropologist
Not many people in the United States or the world today know who Irish-American John Gregory Bourke was, and that is unfortunate. Few historical figures have ever had his rare combination of heroism in a major war; chronicling and participating in two decades of conflict with a fierce indigenous foe;…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on January 15, 2016 at 4:30pm — 4 Comments
George Croghan: Irish-American 'Boy Major,' Hero of War of 1812
Where dear Sandusky’s waters glide
From storied falls, through meadows wide,
By verdant hills on either side
To seek Lake Eiries’s famous tide:
On proud Fort Stephenson
--- From the poem “Fort Stephenson,”
by Captain Andrew…
Added by Joe Gannon on November 21, 2015 at 9:00am — 4 Comments
Pals to the End: Every Dog Has His Day
Six weeks later, Stubby, the canine hero of the 102nd, was healed. The little scamp of a dog who had fought to survive on the streets of New Haven was was not easy to kill. He was sent back to the ranks, though the hospital staff and patients, who had been enjoying Stubby’s perky and therapeutic presence there, probably…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on September 25, 2015 at 2:00am — No Comments
Pals to the End: A War Dog and His Irish-American Doughboy
" It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.”
- Mark Twain
On April 25th of 1919 in…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on September 22, 2015 at 4:30pm — 13 Comments
Ongoing Effort To Identify War Memorials Throughout Ireland
I found this website a while back and was able to note the location of several interesting monuments and find them while I was in Ireland in June. This is by no means all the war memorials in Ireland, far from it, but it's an attempt to catalog them.
The site…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on September 10, 2015 at 5:00am — 1 Comment
Friends Until the End: Ambush at The Burgery, Part 2
(Pictured: The field in the hills north of Dungarvan where Sgt. Michael Hickey's body was found)
(Read Part 1 - 'Nigh Comeragh's Rugged Hills')…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on September 1, 2015 at 4:00am — 4 Comments
'Nigh Comeragh's Rugged Hills': Ambush at The Burgery
When silence overcomes me
My dreams they seem to fill
Of my dear native happy home
Nigh Comeragh's rugged hills
-- From a poem by Pat Keating
My wife, Lindy, and I have just completed…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on August 27, 2015 at 3:00am — 18 Comments
'Jimmy’s Hall' Gralton in Long Line of Irish Working-Class Heroes
As I watched Ken Loach's newest film, “Jimmy’s Hall,” I was struck by how, as had also been true in “The Wind That Shakes the Barley,” Paul Laverty’s writing and Loach’s directing of that writing is free of pretension.
Loach (pictured, foreground) doesn’t need fantastic sound tracks or the latest and greatest special…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on August 20, 2015 at 10:30am — No Comments
In the Footsteps of Bridget: A Titanic Connection
In 2013 our annual trek to Ireland brought us to a pleasant small cottage in the little village of Lahardane, County Mayo. The choice had been more about it being a centrally located base…
Added by Joe Gannon on July 24, 2015 at 6:00am — 3 Comments
Chillin' in Tipp's Nearly 900-Year-Old Kilcooley Abbey
One day during our just completed two-week vacation to Ireland my wife, Lindy, and I had another of those thoroughly enjoyable “only in Ireland” experiences that make traveling there such a joy. We stayed in a 200-year-old cottage in the little town of Ardfinnan…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on July 8, 2015 at 3:00pm — 3 Comments
The 'Wild West': Sailing to Slieve League, County Donegal
In 2011 my wife, Lindy, and I spent two weeks in Donegal, staying in a cottage near Killybegs. One of our most enjoyable days during that two weeks included a boat trip to see the cliffs at…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on May 18, 2015 at 10:00am — No Comments
1798: The Year of Liberty
What have you got in your hand?
A green bough.
Where did it first grow?
In America.
Where did it bud?
In France.
Where are you going to plant…
Added by Joe Gannon on May 13, 2015 at 4:00pm — 2 Comments
Irish Rebels and the Baltimore Riots
Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
And be the battle queen of yore,
Maryland! My…
Added by Joe Gannon on May 3, 2015 at 4:00pm — No Comments
This Week in Irish History - April 12 - April 18
SATHAIRN -- On April 12, 1816, Charles Gavan Duffy (right) was born in County Monaghan. Self-educated as a journalist, …
Added by Joe Gannon on April 14, 2015 at 3:00am — 1 Comment
Fighting the Vampire: Irish Commandos in the Boer War
(Above: The Irish Brigade who fought alongside the Boers against the British army in the Anglo-Boer War. Col. John Blake is sitting in the front row 2nd to the left of the concertina player.
In far-off Africa to-day the English fly dismayed…
ContinueAdded by Joe Gannon on December 31, 2014 at 3:00pm — 7 Comments
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