The Greatest Brigade: How the Irish Brigade Cleared the Way to Victory in the American Civil War

Between 1861 and 1865, 7,000 Irishmen, virtually all of them immigrants, enlisted in the Irish Brigade, and 4,000 of them were killed or wounded. This book is the story of their heroism, sacrifice, and faith. Although most of the Irish in America were consigned to squalid slums, given only the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs, and almost universally looked down upon by native born Americans, they recognized that America promised freedom unknown in Europe and opportunities unimaginable in Ireland--and the men of the Irish brigade were willing to fight to defend those opportunities and that freedom.

Thomas J. Craughwell has written about saints for the Wall Street Journal, Inside the Vatican, and Catholic Digest, among other national publications.