#OTD in 1862 – The Irish Brigade suffered over 60% casualties at the Battle of Antietam at an area that came to be known as Bloody Lane.

17/09/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

At the Battle of Antietam, the Irish Brigade led its division in attacking the infamous Bloody Lane. In preparation for the deadly work ahead, Father William Corby, one of the brigade’s chaplains and future president of Notre Dame, rode down the firing line and administered a general rite of absolution to the men. Thomas Meagher […]

#OTD in 1947 – All-Ireland Football Final played at the Polo Grounds, New York.

14/09/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

The 1947 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the sixtieth All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1947 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland. For the first and only time, the final was played outside Ireland, at the Polo Grounds in New York City, to […]

Commemoration of the mass hanging of the Saint Patrick’s Battalion

12/09/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Formed and led by John Riley, was a unit of 175 to several hundred immigrants (accounts vary) and expatriates of European descent who fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican–American War of 1846–8. El Batallón de San Patricio, The Saint Patrick’s Battalion, deserted to fight on the side […]

#OTD in 1861 – The 10th Tennessee Infantry Regiment enters Confederate service in the American Civil War.

01/09/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Company D was known as the ‘Rebel Sons of Erin’ because so many of them were Irish. Indeed, the roster of Company D reads like any small town in a 19th century Irish village (every surname was Irish). While the Fighting 69th on the Union side is the most famous “Irish Brigade,” it is estimated […]

#OTD in 1973 – Death of legendary film Director John Ford.

31/08/2018.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Film site IMDb states: John Ford is, arguably, The Great American Director.” Although born John Martin Feeney, he never forgot his Irish roots. John Ford’s homage ‘The Quiet Man’ to his ancestral was hardly an accurate depiction of Ireland. However, the 1952 movie is probably the best tourist commercial ever for Ireland. Filmed in Co […]

#OTD in 1869 – Birth of athlete, Tom Kiely, in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary.

25/08/2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Tom Kiely competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St. Louis, Missouri, in the all-round, which consisted of 100 yd run, shot put, high jump, 880 yd walk, hammer throw, pole vault, 120 yd hurdles, 56 pounds weight throw, long jump and 1 mile run. He won the gold medal. Kiely was thirty-four at […]

US Infrastructure and the extraordinary legacy of Irish-American Immigrants

23/08/2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Irish people have always of course had a special relationship with America with over 10% of Americans reporting Irish ancestry. What we hear less about is the role the Irish played in building America but luckily this infographic from Claddagh Rings gives us some insight into their work in building some of America’s most celebrating […]

#OTD in 1930 – Birth of Frank McCourt in Brooklyn, NY.

19/08/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

Writer and educator Francis “Frank” McCourt was born on 19 August 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, as the eldest of seven children. McCourt’s father, Malachy, worked odd jobs while his mother, Angela, worked to raise the children. The family frequently struggled to make ends meet and, after a long stint of unemployment during the Depression, […]

#OTD in 1876 – The ship Catalpa arrives in the U.S. with Irish Fenian prisoners rescued from Australia.

19/08/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

The “Fremantle Six” were Irish political prisoners who made an audacious escape from the notorious British prison in West Australia aboard the U.S. whaling ship “Catalpa” in 1876. Captain Anthony and the Catalpa arrive at Rockingham beach near Fremantle to rendezvous with the escaped prisoners; after a fierce confrontation with the Georgette, an armed British […]

#OTD in 1861 – The Irish Brigade fights at the First Battle of Bull Run under General Michael Corcoran from Co Sligo.

21/07/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

General Michael Corcoran led the 69th New York Militia, Irish Brigade, into action at the First Battle of Bull Run and was taken prisoner. Corcoran was one of the founders of the Fenian Brotherhood in America. While in jail, Corcoran wrote, “One half of my heart is Erin’s, and the other half is America’s. God […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Category: Irish-American History