"Green & Blue: Irish Americans in the Union Army," with Damian Shiels, PhD Sanders Lecture in Irish Studies

Damian Shiels presents "Green & Blue: Irish Americans in the Union Army, 1861-1865," for this year's Fred and Donna Sanders Distinguished Lecture in Irish Studies. During the American Civil War, approximately 180,000 Irish-born soldiers (plus 70,000 offspring of Irish natives) served in the Union Army. Many were volunteers, but Irish immigrants were already strongly represented in the nation's professional armed forces. When the conflict began, they constituted roughly 40% of the regular U.S. Army and 20% of the regular U.S. Navy.