This is the story of the forgotten role of the 200,000 Irish men and women who were involved in various ways in the US Civil War. This book is based on several years of research by the author, a professional historian, who has put together a series of the best of his collected stories for this collection. The book is broken into 4 sections, 'beginnings', 'realities', 'the wider war' and 'aftermath'. Within each section there are 6 true stories of gallantry, sacrifice and bravery, from the flag bearer who saved his regimental colours at the cost of his arms, to the story of Jennie Hodgers, who pretended to be a man and served throughout the war in the 95th Illinois.