George Galphin was a married man in his late 20s when he left Armagh for a new life on the American Frontier in 1737. Across the four decades that followed Galphin built an extraordinary personal empire on the frontiers of colonial South Carolina and Georgia. At the heart of his success were his connections with the indigenous Muscogee (Creek) people, amongst whom he lived. In this episode, Fin and Damian are joined by Dr Bryan C. Rindfleisch--an expert on Galphin's life--to discuss this fascinating Ulster Scot emigrant, the people that surrounded him, and the world he inhabited.

Bryan outlines for us what life was like on the frontiers of Empire in the 18th century American south-east, and how Galphin found success as the key-go between in the lucrative deerskin trade with Native American peoples. He traces Galphin's Irish origins and how his transatlantic ties influenced him, not least through his efforts to support increased Ulster emigration to the Frontier. We also delve into some of the intimate relationships that were central to Galphin's life, particularly with women such as Metawney, the powerful Muscogee woman who made his career possible, and the enslaved women he held in bondage and with whom he fathered children. 

Book: Bryan C. Rindfleisch George Galphin's Intimate Empire: The Creek Indians, Family and Colonialism in Early America

Discover Ulster Scots: The Scotch Irish of Savannah

Website of The Muscogee Nation

National Park Service History of The Muscogee Nation

Silver Bluff Audubon Center and Sanctuary

Initial Archaeological Investigations at Silver Bluff Plantation

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The Gaelic Athletic Association is one of the defining organisations in modern Irish history. Founded in 1884, it became the bedrock of community life across Ireland and played a significant role in the country’s political and cultural story. Its importance was starkly illustrated on Bloody Sunday in 1920, when Crown forces attacked spectators at a match in Dublin.

In this episode, we turn to the history of the GAA in the United States. Bennett Burke, Public Relations Officer of the United States Gaelic Athletic Association, joins Fin and Damian. Their conversation traces the story of Gaelic games in America from their earliest beginnings to the present day. They discuss how the games took root, the challenges they faced, and the role the GAA played in the lives of Irish emigrants and their descendants across the US and North America.

The USGAA governs Gaelic football, hurling, and camogie in the United States (except metro NYC), Mexico, and the Caribbean. Visit https://usgaa.org/usgaa-interactive-map/ to find a club near you

US GAA Homepage

New York GAA Homepage

The "Mayo Curse"

Video Footage of the 1947 All Ireland Football Final in New York

Michael O'Hehir speaks about "Just give us five minutes more" during the 1947 All Ireland radio commentary

Paddy Bawn Brosnan & the American Civil War: The Famed Gaelic Footballer's Links to Kerry's Greatest Conflict

New York Make History with Shootout Win Over Leitrim

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Today a little over 2,500 people live in Leadville, Colorado. But in the late 19th century tens of thousands of people flocked here, trying to eke out a living during the great silver mining boom. A huge number of those people were Irish. Nicknamed "Cloud City" because of its incredible altitude--over 10,000 feet up in the Rockies--there were few more difficult places to live. The harsh climate, shanty accommodation and terrible working conditions sent many to an early grave, with the least fortunate consigned to an unmarked pauper's burial ground. In this episode, Fin and Damian are joined by Professor Jim Walsh of the University of Colorado, Denver, who has worked tirelessly to recover these pauper's names --and their lives.

Jim describes for us what life was like for Irish men and women in Leadville during the 1880s and 1890s, sharing their stories and outlining their shocking life expectancies. He also traces the links that tie Leadville to Irish mining communities from Waterford, Tipperary and Allihies in West Cork, and Irish American ones in Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region and Butte, Montana. We also discuss the ongoing work of identifying the names of those interred in the pauper's cemetery, an effort that has led to the creation of the deeply moving Leadville Irish Miners' Memorial.

Professor Jim Walsh University of Denver, Colorado

Leadville Irish Miners' Memorial

The Lost Irish Miners of Leadville: PBS Documentary

Biographies of Leadville People

Molly Brown House Museum, Denver

Transatlantic Episode 14. The Irish in Pennsylvania Coal Country

Irish Stew Podcast Season 3 Episode 3: Unearthing Diaspora History

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The coastal area of South Carolina and Georgia, known as the "Lowcountry", may not be the first place that springs to mind when it comes to Irish America. But the historic cities of Savannah and Charleston have long, rich histories of Irish immigration that have forged connections which endure to this day. In the case of Savannah, that immigration was so large it saw the Irish population reach a percentage of the city's total white population that was comparable to New York. In this episode Professor David Gleeson makes a return to Transatlantic to discuss Charleston and Savannah's story and offer insights into a part of the U.S. he knows extremely well. We chat about their colonial origins and 18th century Ulster-Scots migrations, the expanding Irish Catholic communities of the 19th century, and the political and cultural legacies of the Irish in Savannah and Charleston in the 20th and 21st centuries. Along the way David introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters and uncovers some of the very specific regional ties the Lowcountry maintained with Ireland.

Dr David Gleeson is a Professor of History in the School of of Humanities and Social Sciences at Northumbia University Newcastle. The leading historian of the Irish in the southern United States, among his many publications are The Irish in the South, 1815-1817 and The Green and the Gray: The Irish in the Confederate States of America.

You can hear David's previous episode on Transatlantic, discussing the Irish in New Orleans in Episode 10, here.

Savannah St Patrick's Day Parade

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The U.S. entry into World War II in 1941 led to the deployment of tens of thousands of American troops to Ireland, just as it had during World War I. But this time they were concentrated only in Northern Ireland, which had remained part of the United Kingdom. The American arrival led to an unparalleled explosion in Northern Ireland's population. In this episode we are joined by Dr James O'Neill to discuss the U.S. military's return to the island. We cover the who, when and why of their presence, and move beyond the military to explore their social impact--covering everything from chewing gum and buying rounds to interactions with local women and racial segregation.

Dr James O'Neill is Collections Officer at the Northern Ireland War Memorial Museum in Belfast's Catheral Quarter, which is dedicated to exploring the story of the Second World War in Northern Ireland. Jim is also the leading historian of the Nine Years' War (1593-1603) in Ireland; you can find his books on that here and here. 

Northern Ireland War Memorial Museum

Transatlantic Episode 3: 1917- The American Invasion of Ireland

War and Navy Departments Washington D.C., 1942: A Pocket Guide to Northern Ireland

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The St. Patrick's Day Parade is the centrepiece of celebrations of Ireland's patron saint the world over. But how did it start--and just who started it? In this episode Fin and Damian are joined by noted historian of the Irish aboard, Dr Cian McMahon, who is currently working on a new history of the Parade. In a far-reaching episode we discuss the Parade's origins, influences and legacy down to contemporary times. Among the nuggets Cian discusses are the misconceptions that ihe Parade's origins are as a Catholic Irish American event, and the idea that Dublin's Parade has been increasingly "Americanised."

Cian T. McMahon is Professor of History at the Department of History and Honors College at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He was the co-editor of The Routledge History of Irish America and is the author The Coffin Ship: Life and Death at Sea during the Great Irish Famine and The Global Dimensions of Irish Identity: Race, Nation and the Popular Press, 1840-1880.

Listen to Cian discuss his Coffin Ship book with Fin on the Irish History Podcast here

Read about some early St. Patrick's Day horrors in Temple Bar, involving a giant St. Patrick, a pint, and a plastic bag: https://www.thejournal.ie/st-patrick-temple-bar-pub-6968056-Feb2026/ 

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As the Irish communities prepare to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, Fin and Damian look at who he was and what we know about his life. From his early days in the late Roman Empire to his time in Ireland as a slave and his role in conversion Ireland to Christianity.

Terry O’Hagan’s Vox Hiberionacum https://voxhib.com

St Patrick Dictionary of Irish Biography Entry

 https://www.dib.ie/biography/patrick-patricius-patraic-padraig-a7225

Flechner, R. (2019) Saint Patrick Retold: The Legend of Ireland's Patron Saint

Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland Website https://pilgrimagemedievalireland.com/

Test of St.Patrick's Confessio https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english

Test of St Patrick's Letter to Corotocus: https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/epistola_english

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The beginnings of the Catholic Irish story in New York City are usually associated with the mid-nineteenth century. But in the immediate wake of the Revolution, a small, vibrant community had already begun to establish itself, quickly making an impact on the religious, political and social life of New York. In this episode we will hear about the wealthy Irish Catholic merchants who helped create Manhattan's first Catholic parish and who sought to reshape New York politics. We also discuss the growth of the City's Catholic Irish working-class, and the early nativist tensions--and sometimes violent clashes--their growing numbers created. 

We are joined in this episode by AoH historian Kevin Moore, who has been studying and researching Irish Catholics in New York between 1784-1806. To find out more about Kevin's work or to get in touch with him you can do so at the links below:

AOHNYC7.com

AOH.com

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Irish folklore often recalls an ancient past. However, in this episode Fin and Damian explore how America and the experiences of Irish emigrants had already become part of folklore by the early twentieth century. Set down almost 100 years ago, among the stories you will hear tales of ghosts that reflect a sense of loss and remembrance of emigrants, examples of how returned emigrants were sometimes seen as "other", and even find out about how Irish children had already become fascinated by the American West and Native Americans.

Folklore Archive www.duchas.ie

Seymour, S. True Irish ghost stories https://archive.org/details/trueirishghostst0000seym_s6t9

Tait, C Spectres Across the Atlantic, c.1820-1940: Communicating with the Dead Over Space and Time https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14780038.2023.2258606

Interview with Clodagh Tait acast.com/irishhistory/episodes/a-history-of-the-supernatural-in-ireland&ved=2ahUKEwjOxZbyoLCSAxWRW0EAHeZIC9sQFnoECDcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3kmEFkBqKv1hnVAg6DtN7B

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The American Civil War was a defining moment for Irish Americans in the 1860s. Over 250,000 Irish Americans many of them Famine emigrants served in the Union army. Over the course of the war they played a key role in the defeat of the Confederacy.

However their service has been dogged by stereotypes and myth for more than 160 years. 

In this episode Damian discusses his latest research published in his 2025 book Green and Blue. Fin and Damian explore the book that brings new perspectives to our understanding of the war. They examine the immense Irish contribution to the Union cause and what their experiences of the conflict were really like. They also address the darker aspects of Irish involvement. Damian explains how and why Irish attitudes to emancipation and racism were not what we might expect from a community that served the Union in such overwhelming numbers.

Damian’s book “Green and Blue Irish Americans in the Union Military, 1861–1865” is a must read for anyone interested in the civil war of Irish America more broadly 

Get your copy https://www.amazon.com/Green-Blue-Americans-Conflicting-Dimensions/dp/0807183709

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