Tag Archives: Mexican-American War

Oceanside soldiers, John Brown, and how the Civil War flips the script on dissent

  I was reshaping my Civil War chapter, with a scene on May 12, 1861 — with soldiers in the newborn Union Army singing a song for John Brown. That happened at Boston’s Fort Warren, on the harbor’s Georges Island. As I was trying to evoke that day, I realized a potential problem; I’d begunContinue reading “Oceanside soldiers, John Brown, and how the Civil War flips the script on dissent”

A day late salute to St. Patrick’s Battalion

In yesterday’s excitement at the Inquirer piece, I forgot to observe St.Patrick’s Day by saluting the dissenting soldiers who took that saint’s name as inspiration. These Catholic soldiers emerged amid the killing spree known as the Mexican-American War, 1845-47. In a war staffed entirely by career staff and volunteers, morale started  low and got worse. Between nonexistent wages andContinue reading “A day late salute to St. Patrick’s Battalion”