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The Fighting Irish: Ireland & The American Revolution with Dr. Richard Bell
Learn with Dr. Richard Bell

The Fighting Irish: Ireland & The American Revolution with Dr. Richard Bell

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Can't make this time? A video recording will be sent to all participants after the seminar.

Men of Irish heritage played crucial roles in fighting the American Revolution, siding with the patriots against the British Army in overwhelming numbers. This conversation will explore the American Revolution from the alternate perspective of the Irish, and their descendants living in America.
Giving testimony to the British House of Common in 1779, Joseph Galloway estimated that Irishmen composed perhaps one-half of the Continental Army. Five years later, after that Washington’s army won the war, another expert witness told Parliament that “the Irish language was as commonly spoken in the American ranks as English” and that Irish valor “determined the contest.”
Those claims contained a fair degree of exaggeration, but they capture an essential truth: that men of Irish heritage did play crucial roles in fighting the American Revolution. Irish-Americans sided with the patriots against the British Army in overwhelming numbers and shouldered muskets at Lexington and Concord, during the Battle of Bunker Hill, and at every other significant military encounter over the eight long years of war. Their numbers included general, colonels, thousands of enlisted men, and even spies—notably Hercules Mulligan, a major character in Hamilton: An American Musical.
In this conversation, the English-born but American-trained historian Dr. Richard Bell explores the Revolution from the perspective of the Irish and their descendants in America. Drawing on the latest scholarship, Bell reconstructs the history of English and Irish antagonism, the role of Roman Catholic religious faith in decisions about loyalty and affiliation, and the political and economic impact of the American Revolution on Ireland itself.

Dr. Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and has won more than a dozen teaching awards, including the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship and the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar Award. Professor Bell is author of the new book "Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home," which was shortlisted for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize.

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.

Customer Reviews

Based on 6 reviews
83%
(5)
17%
(1)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
j
j.t. (Houston, US)
Ireland and America

As always an excellent talk by Dr Bell.I have run out of superlatives for his work

M
M.B. (Davis, US)
great!

lecture top notch, fascinating material

J
J.H. (Wimbledon, GB)
A great seminar

I am Irish born and bred, now living and working in London and I really enjoyed this seminar. My knowledge of the Irish in the US is limited - and I wanted to improve it by attending this seminar. Correspondingly my knowledge of Irish History is reasonable (it certainly should be!) so the seminar was very helpful in giving me links and further perspective. Especially as I meet mainly Americans when guiding in London (yes I'm a Context docent!).

K
Kieran McAuliffe (Toronto, CA)
Great!

I know quite a bit about the Fighting Irish in the Civil War but not the Revolutionary War. Now I know both. This was an excellent presentation. Dr. Bell speaks easily and his presentation was informative without getting too detailed. Excellent. Thank you Dr. Bell.

A
Anonymous (Sweet Briar Station, US)

An excellent presentation of a topic I have never heard about! He explained both the Irish in America and Ireland perspectives. Excellent.

12

Customer Reviews

Based on 6 reviews
83%
(5)
17%
(1)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
j
j.t. (Houston, US)
Ireland and America

As always an excellent talk by Dr Bell.I have run out of superlatives for his work

M
M.B. (Davis, US)
great!

lecture top notch, fascinating material

J
J.H. (Wimbledon, GB)
A great seminar

I am Irish born and bred, now living and working in London and I really enjoyed this seminar. My knowledge of the Irish in the US is limited - and I wanted to improve it by attending this seminar. Correspondingly my knowledge of Irish History is reasonable (it certainly should be!) so the seminar was very helpful in giving me links and further perspective. Especially as I meet mainly Americans when guiding in London (yes I'm a Context docent!).

K
Kieran McAuliffe (Toronto, CA)
Great!

I know quite a bit about the Fighting Irish in the Civil War but not the Revolutionary War. Now I know both. This was an excellent presentation. Dr. Bell speaks easily and his presentation was informative without getting too detailed. Excellent. Thank you Dr. Bell.

A
Anonymous (Sweet Briar Station, US)

An excellent presentation of a topic I have never heard about! He explained both the Irish in America and Ireland perspectives. Excellent.

12