Lecture:

Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society May Lecture – Waterford connections with the American Civil War

The WAHS lecture season for 2017 and 2018 concludes on Friday 25th May with a lecture titled ‘Waterford connections with the American Civil War’ by military historian Damian Shiels at 8:00 pm in the St Patrick’s Gateway Centre, Waterford.

Over the past number of years, Waterford, like much of the country, has done much to remember the large numbers of Irishmen who fought and died during the First World War. What remains virtually forgotten are the comparable numbers of men who less than fifty years earlier fought and died in similar numbers on the other side of the Atlantic. Indeed, for the area that now makes up the Republic of Ireland, there is little doubt that the American Civil War represents the largest conflict—in terms of the numbers of men serving in uniform—in the modern Irish experience.

In the region of 200,000 Irish-born men fought in the American Civil War, the vast majority (c. 180,000) with the Union. Though thousands of Waterford natives were impacted by the fighting, memory of that involvement in the county has largely been distilled into the experiences of one individual—Thomas Francis Meagher. However, Meagher’s story is just the tip of the iceberg. New research is uncovering the previously hidden histories of local families—in both Waterford and the United States— for whom the American Civil War was a life-changing event. In the process, it is also revealing a wealth of important detail regarding aspects of 19th century Irish emigration such as chain migration, transatlantic networks and American remittances.

As well as exploring some of the better-known Civil War individuals from the county, Damian’s talk will seek to tell the stories of ordinary Waterford men and women affected by the American Civil War. For the first time, it will reveal their experiences in their own words, and will include letters that have never previously been read in public. Theirs is a story that ranges from the doors of the county’s Workhouses to the battlefields of Virginia—it is one that deserves to be better remembered in the land of their birth.

Damian Shiels 

Damian Shiels is an archaeologist and historian currently researching at Northumbria University. Formerly a curator with the National Museum of Ireland, he was one of the team who created the award-winning Soldiers & Chiefs military history exhibition at Collins Barracks, Dublin. He has lectured and published widely in Ireland, Europe and the United States on topics relating to Irish history and archaeology. Among his authored books are The Irish in the American Civil War (2013) and The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America (2016). He runs the largest online resource relating to Irish people in the conflict www.irishamericancivilwar.com.

Admission to the lecture is €5 (students €2.50), but is free for members of the Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society.