An Irish Assisted Emigrant's Last Letter Under Fire at Kennesaw

Joined
Jul 29, 2010
Location
Cork, Ireland
I wanted to share this with the group. As many of you know I spend most of my time writing about Irish from the Union widow's and dependent parents pension files. These are, understandably, often pretty sad stories. However the latest one has really struck me. The information available from various sources has allowed us to build a picture of this family's life from Derry in Ireland– where they were provided with assisted emigration– to poverty and separation in New York. Although the remainder of the family would unite and move west in the 1870s, one, Barney, was caught in the American Civil War. His letter, written under Confederate bombardment near Kennesaw Mountain on 20th June 1864 and transcribed here, is very powerful and I think is worth a read.
http://irishamericancivilwar.com/20...igration-missing-children-letters-under-fire/
 
I wanted to share this with the group. As many of you know I spend most of my time writing about Irish from the Union widow's and dependent parents pension files. These are, understandably, often pretty sad stories. However the latest one has really struck me. The information available from various sources has allowed us to build a picture of this family's life from Derry in Ireland– where they were provided with assisted emigration– to poverty and separation in New York. Although the remainder of the family would unite and move west in the 1870s, one, Barney, was caught in the American Civil War. His letter, written under Confederate bombardment near Kennesaw Mountain on 20th June 1864 and transcribed here, is very powerful and I think is worth a read.
http://irishamericancivilwar.com/20...igration-missing-children-letters-under-fire/
A good example of crowdsourcing for help in running down loose end.
 
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