DEARDAOIN -- On March 16, 1828, Patrick Cleburne, one of the finest generals produced by either side during America's long, bloody civil war was born at Bride Park Cottage in Ovens Township, Co. Cork, just outside Cork City. Robert E. Lee would one day say of…

LUAIN -- On February 13, 1782, Dillon's regiment of the Irish Brigade of France helped capture St. Kitts from the British during the American Revolution. Earlier, Dillon's regiment…

Irish Volunteer Paddy "Bug" Callaghan and his two comrades stared up the road to the east as the cool, crisp air of February 2, 1921, caused their breath to fog the air around them. The three members of the North Longford Battalion of the Irish Volunteers were tasked with the most critical job of…

DOMHNAIGH -- On January 15, 1861, Young Irelander Terence Bellew MacManus died in San Francisco. MacManus was born in County Fermanagh in 1811. He later moved to Liverpool, England, where he began a successful shipping agency. In 1843 he returned to Ireland and joined the Repeal Association…

She stands

On the shore

Watching

Her ship burn

Her two horses

In the water

Stand

Like two pillars

Strong

The promise

Of swift

Departure

The mountain

Unmoved

Like a giants

Table

Covered…

The modern Christmas wreath demonstrates the spirit of the season, but to some, it is also a reminder of another spirit – a spirit that demonstrates courage and fortitude dating back to 16th century Ireland, when the Penal Laws forbade the practice of the Catholic religion. Not only was their…

CÉADAOIN -- On Nov. 16, 1814, Michael Kelly Lawler, general in the Union army during the American Civil War, was born in County Kildare, Ireland. Lawler emigrated to the United States with his family at just 2 years of age. His family moved from New York to Maryland, and finally to Gallatin…

The Pale (a word taken from the Latin meaning fence) was a strip of land along Ireland’s east coast, stretching from Dundalk, County Louth in the north to Dún Laoghaire, south of Dublin City. It was the base of English rule in Ireland since the Norman invasion of 1169. The Normans increasingly…

DOMHNAIGH -- September 4, 1607, (Julian calendar) was a crucial day in Irish history. On that day Hugh O'Neill, Ruari O'Donnell, and many other chiefs of their families departed from Lough Swilly for the continent. It is known in Irish history as the 'Flight of the…

LUAIN -- On August 22, 1846, Fenian poet John Keegan Casey (right) was born at Mount Dalton, Co. Westmeath. While only in his teens Casey began writing poetry for The Nation. After teaching in Cleraun and Keenagh, Casey gave up the profession to work for…

Seán Connolly and Leo Carter pushed a table into the corner of the upstairs bedroom of the Lloyd family in Ballymahon, Co. Longford. Carter, who stood 6’ 3”, jumped on the table and began to hack at the roof with an ax. It was just past midnight in the early morning hours of August 20,…

DOMHNAIGH -- On August 7, 1890 labor organizer and American Communist Party official Elizabeth…

The Bear Flag Revolt, was from June to July in 1846. American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed California an independent republic.  After the Bear Flag  was…

Welcome to August a significant month in Irish history. Here are a few examples, August 1 is the ancient feast of Lugnasad – the Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest. Begun by the De Danann god, Lugh, in honor of his foster-mother Tailtiu, it included religious…

LUAIN -- On Aug. 1, 1915, the funeral of Fenian Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was held before a huge crowd at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. Rossa's body had been returned from New York where he died June 30. He had been exiled by the British…

MÁIRT -- On July 12, 1691, the Jacobite army in Ireland fought the forces of William of Orange at the Battle of Aughrim. Although the battle of the Boyne fought a year earlier is seen by many today as decisive, the Jacobite army was still a grave threat to…

Seán Culhane stood across the street from the Cork & County Club Hotel, an Anglo-Irish social club in Cork City. Culhane, the Intelligence Officer, Cork 1 Brigade of the Irish Volunteers, was watching the door, waiting for a sign from his informer, waiter Ned “Bally” Fitzgerald. It was a…

LUAIN -- On June 20, 1763, one of the most famous revolutionary leaders in Irish history, Theobald Wolfe Tone, was born at 44 Stafford St., now called Wolfe Tone St., in Dublin. Tone was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and called to the bar,…

DOMHNAIGH -- On June 12, 1844, Januarius A. MacGahan , war correspondent, was born near New Lexington, Ohio. MacGahon's father was a native of County Derry. Januarius was an excellent student and became a teacher and then moved to St. Louis and was hired as a newspaper…