Irish Central today have an interesting piece on the Commander of the Michael Corcoran, 69th Infantry Regiment who became know as the Fighting Irish. Google's work in digitising and making available has brought to light a photograph of Corcoran from the Life magazine archives.

Corcoran is one of the men featured in Green, Blue and Grey – The Irish in the American Civil War (The Collins Press, €16.99), which the Sligo Champion had a decent review of back in May:

Irishmen fought in every important action in the American Civil War, helping to shape the America that we know today. Irish involvement began when an ethnic Irish unit was called into action during John Brown's abortive attempt to start an anti-slavery uprising in 1859.

The most famous Irish unit in the Federal army, the Irish Brigade, which included the famous 'Fighting 69th', was formed in 1861.

Many Irish made the supreme sacrifice in Union blue and Confederate grey, and their heroics at Antietam, Gettysburg and Frederickburg have become an important part of American history.

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