Irish Boston History & Heritage

Castle Island in South Boston  Historic Castle Island dates to 1634, when early Puritan settlers built a fort with mud walls.    During the American Revolution it was called Fort William, and was a key outpost for British troops during the  Siege of Boston, which ended on March 17, 1776.   The earliest reference to the Irish occurred in the 1770s, when several Irish regiments in the British Army were stationed here.  Among them were the 14th and 29th Irish Regiment, whose soldiers were involved in the  Boston Massacre  as well as the Battle of Bunker Hill .  In 1799, U.S. President John Adams changed the name from Fort Williams to  Fort Independence .   Between 1834 and 1851, Fort Independence was rebuilt as a pentagonal five-bastioned, granite fort built. L ocated at 2010 William J. Day Boulevard, it  is open to the public for tours, and is part of a beautiful outdoor setting.  See  National Park Service  for de...

Joseph Milmore was the model for the Sailor statue on the Soldiers & Sailors Monument,  Boston Common    Joseph Milmore (1841-1886), a preeminent sculptor and expert stone carver based in Boston, died in Geneva, Switzerland on January 10, 1886 at age 46, while traveling in Europe with his wife, Mary Longfellow. He contracted pleurisy and was bedridden for several weeks before his death. His remains were sent back to Boston, where he was buried at the Milmore family plot in Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plain. Born in Sligo, Ireland in October 1842, Joseph and his four brothers emigrated to Boston in 1851 with their widowed mother, where they lived on Common Street. Joseph apprenticed in Boston as a cabinet maker, took up wood carving and then began carving in marble and granite, eventually becoming an expert carver. Martin Milmore Though his career, Joseph worked alongside his famous younger brother Martin Milmore (1844-1883), who received dozens of commissio...