S3E3: Jim Walsh & Damian Shiels - Unearthing Diaspora History

Irish Stew Podcast

How much of our history would remain buried if not for a few intrepid explorers of the past?

In this episode we explore little known Irish diaspora stories buried in cemeteries over 1,300 miles apart in Colorado and Georgia.

Drawing on his research of an abandoned cemetery high in the Rocky Mountains, historian Prof. Jim Walsh tells the tale of the Irish miners who migrated to work hard and die young in Leadville, Colorado, the highest incorporated town in America.

Archaeologist and historian Damian Shiels returns to Irish Stew to take us deeper into the saga of the Irish in America’s Civil War with stories of the thousands of the Irish in the Union Army forced into the Confederacy’s brutal Andersonville Prison and the hundreds who are confirmed buried there.

Damian honors these migrants through his online Andersonville Irish Project, while Jim is working to build the Leadville Irish Miners’ Memorial in hopes that their stories might continue. Both guests reveal the plight of migrants with few options in life doing their best to survive, themes that resonate still today.

Prof. James Walsh:

• Bio: https://clas.ucdenver.edu/newdirections/james-walsh
• Leadville Irish Miners’ Memorial: https://www.irishnetworkco.com/leadville-irish-miners-memorial/
• GoFundMe to support the creation of the the Irish Miners Memorial: https://www.gofundme.com/f/memorializing-irish-immigrants-in-unmarked-graves

Doctor Damian Shiels:

• Irish in the American Civil War
• Anderson Irish Project: https://irishamericancivilwar.com/andersonville-irish/
• You can support Damian's work at: Patreon
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