Thanks to a fellow blogger, Steve Gore of The Picket, I am pushing my personal envelope and trying to use the updated post settings for First Fallen. If you were on last night, it may have looked pretty odd, but we were working! Working, I tell you!
We were working so hard because Steve first posted the clip above in his blog, and I was very taken with it. I truly wanted to share it with my readers, and so . . . here it is.
When Elmer Ellsworth went to New York in 1861 to raise a regiment for Lincoln and the Union, he was not alone. Many others were fired with the same patriotic fervor, and the city of New York was electrified by it all. Job discrimination at the time was responsible for many men of Irish descent being either under-employed, or unable to find work at all. The opportunity serve in the Army meant a regular paycheck, decent clothes, and wholesome food, and there was a certain pride in serving, as always.
The 69th New York was primarily made up of Irishmen, and led by Irishmen (mostly). They arrived in Washington, D. C. at the same time as Ellsworth's Fire Zouaves, a unit with a lot of Irish b'hoys as well.
This short series will look at the 69th from a Fire Zouave perspective--and enjoy the Wolfe Tones!
(ummm--you might want to look up Wolfe Tone--just sayin').
That came out rather well, and the video worked! Great post to go with it, and thanks again for the "plug"!
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