LUAIN-- On June 27, 1862, the Irish 9th Massachusetts Infantry regiment of the Union Army was heavily engaged at the battle of Gaines Mill, Virginia, during McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. Put into an exposed, forward position near the bridge over Powhite Creek, the regiment sustained heavy casualties while delaying the…

DOMHNAIGH -- On June 5, 1868, James Connolly was born of Irish immigrant parents in the Cowgate, an Edinburgh, Scotland, slum. He served in the British army but deserted to marry an Irish girl and returned to Edinburgh. Under the influence of Scottish socialist John…

DOMHNAIGH -- On May 8, 1857, William Brown, of Foxford, Co. Mayo, an Admiral in the Argentine navy, died in Buenos Aires. Brown first came to the New World as a boy, when his family immigrated to the United States in 1786. He later went to sea on a merchant ship. Pressed into the…

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…

In my research on the history of the 28^th Massachusetts Volunteers, a Boston Irish regiment raised to be a part of Thomas Meagher’s Irish Brigade, the most surprising find was the identification of three Jewish soldiers who served in its ranks.  The three were included in a 19^th century effort by Jewish…

DOMHNAIGH -- April 24, 1916, Easter Monday, was one of the most critical days in the history of Ireland. On that day, Irish Volunteer units and the Irish Citizen Army, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, began their famous…

Hi. I'm James Francis Smith - author of the Irish-American series - consisting of 7 historical novels which place characters in real-life scenarios ranging from the ancient Celts through the American Revolution, America's Civil War, WWI, and the Irish-Anglo War - WWII, the Kennedy Era, including the Korean War and…

My friends kid me about one of the websites I frequent, a place called Banjo Hangout (dot Org). It’s a place where banjo geeks like me go and talk about strings and rings, and pots and picks, and necks and woods and, well, banjo makers! And occasionally I receive messages from those fellow Banjo geeks – so I wasn’t too…

In remembrance of the 1916 Easter Rising, the Kindle edition of James Francis Smith's The Irish-American Chronicle, will be free starting March 28th through Thursday, March 31st.

The 44-pages dedicated to Kennedy's assassination and funeral are well worth acquiring.

Travel an historical byway few…

DOMHNAIGH -- On March 20, 1780, Miles Byrne, United Irishman and officer in Napoleon's Irish Legion, was born in Co. Wexford. He was active in the 1798 Rising in Wexford and fought all its major battles, right through the rebels' climactic defeat at Vinegar Hill.

(Right: The…

The Mississippi Territory existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817. The Territory had the usual frontier problems of land claims and the establishment of law. The attraction of vast amounts of high quality, inexpensive land ideal for growing cotton attracted hordes of settlers. From 1798 through 1820, the…

DOMHNAIGH -- On March 6, 1831, Philip Sheridan, one of the greatest Union generals on the American Civil War, was born. We know he was the son of Irish immigrants, but his place of birth is uncertain, with Albany, New York; somewhere in Ohio; at sea; and County…

DOMHNAIGH -- On February 14, 1895, Sean Treacy, revolutionary leader during the Irish War of Independence, was born in Solohead, County Tipperary. Treacy joined the Gaelic League and the Irish Republican…

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…

I live in County Clare, Ireland. All my family originate from the West Of Ireland, My GGGrandad John Doherty was a pensioner in 1866. The only way he could have a pension is from the military. Does anybody know how to find this out? I know that most Irish fought for the Irish Brigade.

Regards Ray (Doherty)

Over the next two Sundays, RTE Radio 1 in Dublin will broadcast programmes on the legacy of the Irish in the American Civil War . Programme 2 will feature the importance of P. S. Gilmore as the unofficial 'bandmaster general' of the Union Army and the role that music played in the propaganda of the war.  The programs will…

Himself: A Civil War Veteran's Struggles with Rebels, Brits and Devils.  By William J. Donohue 319 pp., 2014 Buffalo Heritage Press www.BuffaloHeritage.com, softcover $19.99…

In early 1916, a young Irishman was making secret plans to travel from England to Dublin to take up arms in an insurrection to achieve Irish independence. This was Liam Parr, a singer and bagpiper who was sometimes known as the ‘The Minstrel Boy” after one of his favourite songs. He was a Dubliner who had been living…

DOMHNAIGH -- On November 29, 1895, Denny Lane (right), author and poet, and member of the revolutionary Young Ireland party, died in Cork. Lane was born in Riverstown, near Glanmire in County Cork, in 1818. Denny attended Trinity College, Dublin. While a student there, he met fellow student Thomas Davis, a…

LUAIN-- On Nov. 16, 1814, Michael Kelly Lawler, general in the Union army during the American Civil War, was born in County Kildare, Ireland. Lawler…