Untold Tales of the Boston Irish

Untold Tales of the Boston Irish
Author: Peter F. Stevens
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2021
Genre: History
ISBN: 1467147079

When it comes to the Boston Irish, names such as Bulger and Curley have long shaped the local turf. But most people are probably unaware of some of the most amazing and forgotten Irish men and women who helped mold this city. There was Patrick Gilmore, America's first famed bandleader. Louis Sullivan was the "Father of the Skyscraper." Other colorful characters included Patsy Donovan, the man who discovered Babe Ruth, and Ann "Goody" Glover, whose horrifying ordeal launched the Salem Witch Trials. Although each played a noteworthy role in his or her era, all have been unjustly forgotten. Local author Peter Stevens uncovers the missing pieces of the Irish experience in Boston.

Irish Boston

Irish Boston
Author: Michael Quinlin
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2013-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1493004530

The fascinating story of the Irish in Boston unfolds in this engagingly written history-cum-guidebook. Full of heroism and romance, politics and brawls, it tells the stories behind the well-known history and vividly portrays what life was like for the Harrigans, Gallaghers, Kelleys, Finnegans and others who made their home in Boston over the past three centuries. From the days of "No Irish Need Apply" in the 1850s to the inauguration in 1960 of the first Irish Catholic president, the Boston Irish have molded the history of the city--and the nation--in all areas of culture and society, and their spirited tale is told in these pages. The cast of characters includes such larger-than-life personalities as *Hugh O'Brien, Boston's first Irish Catholic mayor (1885) *John Singleton Copley, America's first great portrait painter *Louis Sullivan, the father of American Architecture, born in Boston's South End in 1856, *Brendan Connolly, the first top medalist in the modern Olympic Games (1896) *John L. Sullivan, world heavyweight boxing champion *Patrick Kennedy and Bridget Murphy, progenitors of the Kennedy political dynasty Those who want to do more than just read about the saga of the Irish in Boston will also find information on dozens of Irish-related historic and cultural sites, such as the Irish Famine Memorial, the Civil War Monument, St. Augustine's Cemetery, the Irish Cultural Centre, the JFK Library, and the pub where Seamus Heaney and his buddies frequently enjoyed a pint. Also included is a directory of Irish gift shops, annual events, genealogical resources, Irish organizations, and Irish-related academic courses. This one-of-a-kind guide is a complete source for the total Irish experience, both past and present.

Commanding Boston's Irish Ninth

Commanding Boston's Irish Ninth
Author: Patrick Robert Guiney
Publisher:
Total Pages: 330
Release: 1998
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

These are the collected Civil War letters of Patrick Robert Guiney, an Irish immigrant from County Tipperary who relocated to Boston, Massachusetts. When the Civil War broke out, Guiney volunteered to defend the Union and, quickly rose from First Lieutenant to Colonel, to command the ninth Massachusetts regiment. A fervent supporter of Lincoln and passionately opposed to slavery, Guiney felt that, in his service to his new country, he was doing his part to gain freedom for the slaves.

So Conceived and So Dedicated

So Conceived and So Dedicated
Author: Lorien Foote
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
Total Pages: 429
Release: 2015-04-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0823264491

“Outstanding essays” exploring how educated Northerners viewed, and discussed, the Civil War (Michael B. Ballard, Civil War News). With contributions from multiple historians, this volume addresses the role intellectuals played in framing the Civil War and implementing their vision of a victorious Union. Broadly defining “intellectuals” to encompass doctors, lawyers, sketch artists, college professors, health reformers, and religious leaders, the essays address how these thinkers disseminated their ideas, sometimes using commercial or popular venues and organizations to implement what they believed. To what extent did educated Americans believe that the Civil War exposed the failure of old ideas? Did the Civil War promote new strains of authoritarianism in northern intellectual life, or reinforce democratic individualism? How did it affect northerners’ conception of nationalism and their understanding of their relationship to the state? These essays explore myriad topics, including: *How antebellum ideas about the environment and the body influenced conceptions of democratic health *How leaders of the Irish American community reconciled their support of the United States and the Republican Party with their allegiances to Ireland and their fellow Irish immigrants *How intellectual leaders of the northern African American community explained secession, civil war, and emancipation *The influence of southern ideals on northern intellectuals *Wartime and postwar views from college and university campuses—and the ideological acrobatics that professors at Midwestern universities had to perform in order to keep their students from leaving the classroom *How northern sketch artists helped influence the changing perceptions of African American soldiers over the course of the war Collectively, So Conceived and So Dedicated offers an in-depth look at this part of the nation’s intellectual history—and suggests that antebellum modes of thinking remained vital and tenacious well after the Civil War.

The Irish General

The Irish General
Author: Paul R. Wylie
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2012-10-09
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0806182636

Irish patriot, Civil War general, frontier governor—Thomas Francis Meagher played key roles in three major historical arenas. Today he is hailed as a hero by some, condemned as a drunkard by others. Paul R. Wylie now offers a definitive biography of this nineteenth-century figure who has long remained an enigma. The Irish General first recalls Meagher’s life from his boyhood and leadership of Young Ireland in the revolution of 1848, to his exile in Tasmania and escape to New York, where he found fame as an orator and as editor of the Irish News. He served in the Civil War—viewing the Union Army as training for a future Irish revolutionary force—and rose to the rank of brigadier general leading the famous Irish Brigade. Wylie traces Meagher’s military career in detail through the Seven Days battles, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. Wylie then recounts Meagher’s final years as acting governor of Montana Territory, sorting historical truth from false claims made against him regarding the militia he formed to combat attacking American Indians, and plumbing the mystery surrounding his death. Even as Meagher is lauded in most Irish histories, his statue in front of Montana’s capitol is viewed by some with contempt. The Irish General brings this multi-talented but seriously flawed individual to life, offering a balanced picture of the man and a captivating reading experience.

The Irish in the American Civil War

The Irish in the American Civil War
Author: Damian Shiels
Publisher: The History Press
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2013-02-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 0752491970

Just under 200,000 Irishmen took part in the American Civil War, making it one of the most significant conflicts in Irish history. Hundreds of thousands more were affected away from the battlefield, both in the US and in Ireland itself. The Irish contribution, however, is often only viewed through the lens of famous units such as the Irish Brigade, but the real story is much more complex and fascinating. From the Tipperary man who was the first man to die in the war, to the Corkman who was the last General mortally wounded in action; from the flag bearer who saved his regimental colours at the cost of his arms, to the Roscommon man who led the hunt for Abraham Lincoln's assassin, what emerges in this book is a catalogue of gallantry, sacrifice and bravery.

Conflict of Command

Conflict of Command
Author: George C. Rable
Publisher: LSU Press
Total Pages: 441
Release: 2023-08-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807181021

The fraught relationship between Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan is well known, so much so that many scholars rarely question the standard narrative casting the two as foils, with the Great Emancipator inevitably coming out on top over his supposedly feckless commander. In Conflict of Command, acclaimed Civil War historian George C. Rable rethinks that stance, providing a new understanding of the interaction between the president and his leading wartime general by reinterpreting the political aspects of their partnership. Rable pays considerable attention to Lincoln’s cabinet, Congress, and newspaper editorials, revealing the role each played in shaping the dealings between the two men. While he surveys McClellan’s military campaigns as commander of the Army of the Potomac, Rable focuses on the political fallout of the fighting rather than the tactical details. This broadly conceived approach highlights the army officers and enlisted men who emerged as citizen-soldiers and political actors. Most accounts of the Lincoln-McClellan feud solely examine one of the two individuals, and the vast majority adopt a steadfast pro-Lincoln position. Taking a more neutral view, Rable deftly shows how the relationship between the two developed in a political context and ultimately failed spectacularly, profoundly altering the course of the Civil War itself.

Soldiers of the Cross, the Authoritative Text

Soldiers of the Cross, the Authoritative Text
Author: David Power Conyngham
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
Total Pages: 634
Release: 2019-05-30
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0268105324

“Students of the Civil War, Catholic history, and women’s history, among others, will welcome [Soldiers of the Cross] . . . Brilliantly edited.” —Randall M. Miller, co-editor of Religion and the American Civil War Shortly after the Civil War, an Irish Catholic journalist and war veteran named David Power Conyngham began compiling the stories of Catholic chaplains and nuns who served during the conflict. His manuscript, Soldiers of the Cross, is the fullest record written during the nineteenth century of the Catholic Church’s involvement in the Civil War, as it documents the service of fourteen chaplains and six female religious communities, representing both North and South. Many of Conyngham’s chapters contain new insights into the clergy during the war that are unavailable elsewhere, either during his time or ours, making the work invaluable to Catholic and Civil War historians. The introduction contains over a dozen letters written between 1868 and 1870 from high-ranking Confederate and Union officials, such as Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Union Surgeon General William Hammond, and Union General George B. McClellan, who praise the church’s services during the war. Chapters on Fathers William Corby and Peter P. Cooney, as well as the Sisters of the Holy Cross, cover subjects relatively well known to Catholic scholars, yet other chapters are based on personal letters and other important primary sources that have not been published prior to this book. Due to Conyngham’s untimely death, Soldiers of the Cross remained unpublished, hidden away in an archive for more than a century. Now annotated and edited so as to be readable and useful to scholars and modern readers, this long-awaited publication of Soldiers of the Cross is a fitting presentation of Conyngham’s last great work

Civil War High Commands

Civil War High Commands
Author: John Eicher
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 1062
Release: 2002-06-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780804780353

Based on nearly five decades of research, this magisterial work is a biographical register and analysis of the people who most directly influenced the course of the Civil War, its high commanders. Numbering 3,396, they include the presidents and their cabinet members, state governors, general officers of the Union and Confederate armies (regular, provisional, volunteers, and militia), and admirals and commodores of the two navies. Civil War High Commands will become a cornerstone reference work on these personalities and the meaning of their commands, and on the Civil War itself. Errors of fact and interpretation concerning the high commanders are legion in the Civil War literature, in reference works as well as in narrative accounts. The present work brings together for the first time in one volume the most reliable facts available, drawn from more than 1,000 sources and including the most recent research. The biographical entries include complete names, birthplaces, important relatives, education, vocations, publications, military grades, wartime assignments, wounds, captures, exchanges, paroles, honors, and place of death and interment. In addition to its main component, the biographies, the volume also includes a number of essays, tables, and synopses designed to clarify previously obscure matters such as the definition of grades and ranks; the difference between commissions in regular, provisional, volunteer, and militia services; the chronology of military laws and executive decisions before, during, and after the war; and the geographical breakdown of command structures. The book is illustrated with 84 new diagrams of all the insignias used throughout the war and with 129 portraits of the most important high commanders.

Shades of Green

Shades of Green
Author: Ryan W. Keating
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2017-08-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 0823276627

Drawing on records of about 5,500 soldiers and veterans, Shades of Green traces the organization of Irish regiments from the perspective of local communities in Connecticut, Illinois, and Wisconsin and the relationships between soldiers and the home front. Research on the impact of the Civil War on Irish Americans has traditionally fallen into one of two tracks, arguing that the Civil War either further alienated Irish immigrants from American society or that military service in defense of the Union offered these men a means of assimilation. In this study of Irish American service, Ryan W. Keating argues that neither paradigm really holds, because many Irish Americans during this time already considered themselves to be assimilated members of American society. This comprehensive study argues that the local community was often more important to ethnic soldiers than the imagined ethnic community, especially in terms of political, social, and economic relationships. An analysis of the Civil War era from this perspective provides a much clearer understanding of immigrant place and identity during the nineteenth century. With a focus on three regiments not traditionally studied, the author provides a fine-grained analysis revealing that ethnic communities, like other types of communities, are not monolithic on a national scale. Examining lesser-studied communities, rather than the usual those of New York City and Boston, Keating brings the local back into the story of Irish American participation in the Civil War, thus adding something new and valuable to the study of the immigrant experience in America’s bloodiest conflict. Throughout this rich and groundbreaking study, Keating supports his argument through advanced quantitative analysis of military-service records and an exhaustive review of a massive wealth of raw data; his use of quantitative methods on a large dataset is an unusual and exciting development in Civil War studies. Shades of Green is sure to “shake up” several fields of study that rely on ethnicity as a useful category for analysis; its impressive research provides a significant contribution to scholarship.