“Faugh a Ballagh” (Fág an Bealach), old Gaelic for “Clear the Way”, was the battle cry of the Irish Brigade in the American Civil War.  This call was heard on the bloody battlefields of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania where the legend of the “Fighting Irish” was born.

In April 1861 the most destructive conflict in American History – the American Civil War – began.  Across the American continent, thousands of Irishmen and Irishwomen were caught in the nationalistic fever that gripped both northern and southern states.  The American Civil War was one of the most significant wars in Irish history and every parish, town and village in Ireland was affected. 

Huge numbers of Irishmen enlisted in both armies. They formed their own companies, regiments and brigades; the most famous being the Irish Brigade in the Union Army.  The Brigade’s exploits would have repercussions both at home in Ireland and in the United States.  Irish nationalists would draw inspiration from the Brigade in their political battles with Britain, while in America the Brigade’s memory was used to help create an Irish-American identity.

Episode 1 begins and ends in Antietam, Maryland where the legend of the Irish Brigade began.  The story starts with a mystery; the discovery of the remains an Irish soldier on the Antietam battlefield in 1988.  The quest to discover the identity of the unknown soldier opens up the first chapter of the history of the Irish Brigade.  Through the experiences of our central characters we will trace the formation of the Irish Brigade, the story of the men and women behind this unique unit and the Civil War’s impact on Ireland and America.

In Episode 2 we follow our characters to two famous battlefields, Fredericksburg, a disaster for the Brigade and Gettysburg, where the Irish played a crucial part in winning the battle.  This is set against the context of Irish support for the war disintegrating as casualties in the Irish Brigade mount.  The exploits of Irish soldiers helped the Irish to integrate into American society and became a driving force of nationalism, fuelling both the constitutional battles for Home Rule and the struggle for independence.

Over the course of the series, the story is told in first hand accounts by the men and women who were intimately associated with the Irish Brigade and the Civil War. We explore the unfolding events that would have long lasting repercussions for both Ireland and America. 

Irish-American actor Brian Mallon, who starred in the American Civil War feature films Gettysburg and Gods and Generals, goes on a journey to discover how the bloody sacrifice of the Irish on foreign fields changed the course of Irish and American History.

Fág an Bealach / Clear the Way will be directed by Keith Farrell. Keith joined Tile Films in 2006 from Granada Factual, Manchester, where he held various positions and worked on a diverse range of programming spanning History, Technology and Science. Keith wrote and directed the two part award winning series 'Irelands Nazis' an investigative look at Nazis who entered Ireland after World-War II.

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