Dennis Frye, lifelong resident of the Antietam Valley and former Chief Historian at the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, gives a first hand account of discovering an unknown Irish Brigade burial site on the Antietam battlefield.
VIDEO HERE (9:40 minutes)
The 69th Infantry is still in service today as part of the New York Army National Guard.
ReplyDeleteThe unit leads the Saint Patricks Day Parade every year up 5th Avenue. They also served in Afghanistan and Iraq
De Oppresso Liber
Very powerful, thank you for that post. I still refuse to call it the 'civil war' though.
ReplyDeleteAntietam is about 40 mins from me. Have visited numerous times as well as Harpers Ferry and Gettysburg. This guy is a good story teller with his enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteThe Irish sure got a bad shake. They were many times used as cannon fodder. It's sad that today the black race does not recognize what those men gave up so they could live free. When a man gives his life for you and your people and that aint enough. Then maybe you belong in slavery.
ReplyDeleteLike the song 'Paddy's Lamentation' said: "Paddy, you must go and fight for Lincoln."
ReplyDeleteWonder which historian will excavate the battlefields of the 2021 civil war?
ReplyDeleteEverybody who studies that war must at some point ask, "Why did they keep going?" Solid shot, grape, explosive shot, .58-caliber rifle balls, line up and march against and through all that. I have been mortared and shot at with rifle and machine gun, but not with that war's volume and massive weight of lead and iron. Belief in a cause, I guess. "You can't tell me how to live" has more weight than, "We're making you stay, and you will follow our rules."
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