Focusing on the participation of Irish immigrants in both the Union and Confederate armies, this book emphasizes the lives and experiences of the individual Irish soldiers fighting in the ranks of the Brigade, supplying a better understanding of the Irish Brigade and why it became one of the elite combat units of the Civil War.

The Civil War continues to fascinate historians and general readers. Contemporary Civil War scholarship has brought to light the important roles certain ethnic groups played during that tumultuous time in our nation's history. Adding to that genre of literature is this brief but informative history of the Irish Brigade. While the famed fighting prowess of the Irish Brigade at Antietam and Gettysburg is well known, in "God Help the Irish!" historian Phillip T. Tucker emphasizes the lives and experiences of the individual Irish soldiers fighting in the ranks of the Brigade, supplying a better understanding of the Irish Brigade and why it became one of the elite combat units of the Civil War. Phillip Thomas Tucker, winner of the Douglas Southall Freeman Award in 1993, has written fifteen books on Civil War, Irish, and African American history. He is an historian for the United States Air Force in Washington, D.C., and lives in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.