EACH SOLDIER HAS AN INDIVIDUAL PAGE CONTAINING ALL CURRENTLY AVAILABLE DETAILS
PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE INFORMATION WE CAN ADD
Today after another busy few weeks of work we have reached a major milestone. We have loaded onto the site the names of 400 Offaly born men who participated on both sides of the US Civil War. Its a figure we didn’t think was possible at the beginning of our research. But not only was it possible to confirm 400 names, we still have at least another 150 more soldiers to add to the site and, as we continue digging, we are still finding more and more names. What the final number could be is hard to estimate but, if we take into account that County of Offaly is historically one of the lower populated counties in Ireland, the figures help to give an indication of the huge overall Irish involvement in the American Civil War.
Here are some interesting statistics and numbers from the information we have on our Offaly involvement:
1 – The number of Medal Of Honour Winners on our list – Samuel Belton Horne from Ferbane.
2 – The number of Offaly soldiers that were ranked as Colonels in the Union Army and are currently the highest ranked soldiers on our list. – Colonel Michael Bennet from Edenderry and Colonel Edward Hopper from Banagher.
4 – The number of Offaly men who were Musicians in the Union Army.
5 – The Number of sets of Father and Sons on our list.
6 – The number of Offaly men who served in the Union Navy during the US Civil War.
24 – The number of Offaly soldiers who fought for the Confederate Army.
33 – The number of sets of Brothers on our list.
68 – The number of Offaly soldiers on our list that died during the US Civil War.
92 – The number of Offaly men who joined New York Regiments. The highest number from any area in the US.
140 – The number of Offaly men on our list who we have yet to confirm their town or area of birth. We have categorized them in a section named “Unknown Within Offaly”, any help with finding an exact place of origin for these men would be welcome.
We have several photographs of the men in question, here are some examples:
Thanks to everyone who has helped us so far. Over the next few months we will have more stories on the men from Offaly who fought in the US Civil War.
Kevin Guing
25/05/2025
