Civil War Sunday - The Irish

Today is St. Patrick's Day.  This past two weeks, many cities in the United States have celebrated their Irish heritage with St. Patrick's Day parades and parties.  Binghamton, NY (near where I live) had its parade two Saturdays ago.  Savannah, Georgia (more on them in a moment) had its huge party yesterday (anyone there awake yet?).  And then, there are the multiple stories of Irish immigrants and the Civil War.

Notre Dame's footbal team is nicknamed "The Fighting Irish". But back in the Civil War, there was another kind of Fighting Irish. There were The First Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

There were the mostly Irish crew of the doomed Civil War confederate submarine H.L. Hunley.

There were the Irish who fought in the Civil War in the "Irish Brigade".

And, in a particularly ugly episode of the Civil War, were the New York Draft Riots of July, 1863 when members of the Irish population of New York City rioted first to oppose a Civil War draft, but then turned against black residents with some 120 deaths resulting.  I plan to blog about the draft riots of my native New York City this summer.

But now, back to Savannah for a moment.  Savannah has a rich Civil War heritage, and I will be sharing that with you at a later date.  For now, one sign of St. Patrick's Day in this city that hosts the 2nd largest St. Patrick's Day celebration after New York City:

Happy St. Patrick's Day to my readers.

Did you have Irish ancestors who fought in the Civil War?