Things could have been different but the circumstances of the 19th century lead to many Irish becoming involved in a Civil War on a faraway land that they wanted to call their new home.
The Great Hunger, the Irish Famine of 1845-51, happened just a few short years before the breakout of the Civil War and thrust millions of young Irish men, women and children into the US melting pot of the time.
It’s estimated that wartime America homed 1.6 million Irish born immigrants, featuring a large percentage of Irish Catholics and, to a slightly lesser extent, Scots Irish Protestants.
This large collection of young able-bodied workers would soon become embroiled in a fight that spanned the nation.