Image description: During the fall and winter of 1861-62, Thomas Meagher, an Irish Revolutionary who had immigrated to New York City after escaping from a British prison in 1852, organized the Irish Brigade.
The Irish Brigade was a group of Irish-American soldiers who fought in the Civil War to prove their worth as U.S. citizens. According to historians, the Irish Brigade fought so they could live in a country that didn’t discriminate against their Irish culture and Catholic religion.
The Brigade was made up mostly of Irish immigrants to the Northeast, and they earned a reputation for their bravery in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, including the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Image from the Library of Congress.
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