The 1863 Boston draft riot. By Joe Regan During 1–5 May 1863, fighting raged in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, between the Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Outnumbered by more than two to one, General Robert E. Lee had caught the Union army of Joseph Hooker off guard at the village … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons In the early years of Elizabeth I’s reign, Jacob Aconcio, an Italian inventor in England, sent a carefully worded petition to the queen: ‘Nothing is more honest than those who, by searching have found out things useful to the public, should have some fruit of their rights and labours, as meanwhile they … Read more
‘At Tubberneering and Ballyellis Full many a Hessian lay in his gore’ By Nicholas Dunne-Lynch The ballad Boolevogue, which celebrates the heroism of the Wexford rebels during the rebellion of 1798, and in particular the campaign of Fr John Murphy from 26 May to 26 June, contains the lines quoted above. Written by Patrick Joseph … Read more
A newly discovered poem from County Offaly in the 1641 Rebellion. By Jane Maxwell Among a small cache of papers relating to the Digby family of Warwickshire, now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, is a previously unknown seventeenth-century poem about an event that took place in the Irish midlands during the 1641 Rebellion. … Read more
By Chris Chevallier The Bruce invasion was a major turning point in medieval Irish history, a calamity that seriously damaged English influence in Ireland until the Tudor Reconquest. At the very least, it weighted the scales against the colonial administration. This article will evaluate the impact of these events by analysing percentage changes in valuations … Read more