Friday, January 28, 2011

Civil War Artifacts at Notre Dame - The Sword of Meagher - Part I

My previous post (here) was about a group of friends from Ohio who recently had the pleasure of visiting the Archives of the University of Notre Dame and saw some precious Civil War artifacts in their collection. That post featured the regimental colors of the 63rd New York Volunteer Infantry of the famous "Irish Brigade."

My friends also got to see another tremendous artifact: the Civil War sword of the Irish Brigade's intrepid leader, Thomas F. Meagher. Meagher hardly needs an introduction to Civil War enthusiasts, but if you do need one, there is a biography at the terrific "The Wild Geese Today" website (here). Damian Shiels has a great post on Meagher artifacts and monuments in Waterford, Ireland (here) on his equally terrific "Irish in the American Civil War" blog.

Many thanks again to friend Gordy Morgan for sharing these great photos!

My next post will describe the 1914 ceremony in which the sword was presented to the university and why Notre Dame is a suitable resting place for the sword.

Enjoy!












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