“A Few Spoke Nothing But Gaelic”: In Search of the Irish Language in the American Civil War

Irish in the American Civil War

In Philadelphia on 13th February 1868, Owen Curren and Mary Curren gave an affidvait relating to the case of Farrigle Gallagher. Gallagher, a member of the 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry, had died a Prisoner of War at Andersonville. His wife Anne survived him by less than 6 months, dying– likely of T.B.– in December 1864. The Currens were giving evidence in 1868 in an effort to secure a pension on behalf of the Gallagher’s three minor children. However, the Pension...