The story of Gettysburg in many ways represents the struggle to define America in the mid-19th century. In the hour of need of  two struggling peoples, at Gettysburg and many other Civil War battlefields, the Irish nobly fulfilled their duty. 

As we approach the 150th anniversary of this epic struggle, July 1, 2 and 3rd, we are happy to present a variety of narratives and viewpoints on this chapter in American (and Irish-American) history, from our members and our archives. We hope that through these accounts we might better understand the drama of those three days, when the fate of the nation hung precariously in the balance. We pray for Irish luck so we never see their likes again. WG

Right: "Rock of Erin" by Don Troiani, courtesy of Historical Art Prints.

• Join our members' group, The Blue, Gray and Green, to join fellow Wild Geese members who are passionate about the Irish experience during America's Civil War.
• Do you have ancestors who fought in the War Between the States?  Join our discussion and tell us all about them.

Related Articles:

The Irish at Gettysburg

Among the Irishmen at Gettysburg

Grab Keneally's Biography of an 'American Scoundrel'

Honoring Father William 'Fair Catch' Corby

An Irishman in the 8th Ohio Volunteers

June 28-30, 2013: Blue-Gray Alliance Gettysburg Reenactment

Private Willie Mitchel: An Irish Confederate Boy

"Faithful to us here, we lived him to the last.": Col. Patrick Kelly

For Erin and America - James McKay Rorty

The Irish Brigade's Fifth Regiment

'The Fighting 69th'

The Stories Behind the Songs: 'The Irish Sixty-Ninth'

'Born a Soldier': Myles Walter Keogh

Defender of the Faith and the Union

Gods and Generals: 'Stonewalling' the Civil War

Related Videos:

Here's a clip from the epic Ted Turner-funded film "Gettysburg" in which the soldiers of the Union Army's Irish Brigade are blessed before the battle.

Here's a nice video showing the monument to the New York regiments of the Irish Brigade at Gettysburg.