Publications

I have authored, co-authored and edited a number of books relating to Irish history and archaeology both for academic and public audiences. In addition I have written numerous other book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles and essays and articles. You can explore some of these publications below. Any of the books can be either read or purchased by clicking on the relevant image. If you would like to discuss a potential publication or editing project drop me a line via the Contact Page.

Single-Authored Books

Green & Blue: Irish Americans in the Union Military 1861-1865

Louisiana State University Press, 2025

Green and Blue explores Irish American service in the United States military by analyzing the written correspondence of ordinary rank-and-file soldiers drawn from across the Union’s armed forces. Using a vast and largely untapped collection of letters penned by Irish American combatants to their families during the war, it offers the most detailed and intimate picture yet of Irish Americans’ service in the United States military during the Civil War.

The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America

The History Press, 2016

Based on research of widows’ and dependents’ pension records, The Forgotten Irish reveals the personal histories of thirty-five Irish families who sought new lives in America. It crafts compelling narratives from private letters and correspondence, painting a vivid picture of their struggles, triumphs, and the enduring bonds that connected them to their homeland.

The Heritage Centenary Sites of Rebel County Cork

Cork County Council, 2016

Commissioned as part of Cork County Council’s Heritage of County Cork Series., the volume examines the role that Cork
played in the defining years of the Irish Nation, from the arrival of the Normans up to and including 1916, the War of Independence and the Civil War. It covers a range of different conflicts and movements throughout the centuries and is heavily illustrated and packed full of first hand personal accounts to give a true insight into these pivotal events.

The Irish in the American Civil War

The History Press, 2012

This is the story of the role of Irish men and women who were involved in various ways in the American Civil War. They include James Shields, who challenged Abraham Lincoln to a duel in Illinois before the war began, and James O’Beirne, whose led the hunt for hunt Lincoln’s assassin. Each section contains six stories of the Irish experience, from the flag bearer who saved his regimental colors at the cost of his arms, to the story of Albert Cashier, born Jennie Hodgers, who serve as a soldier through the war.

Edited Volumes

T. Bolger, C. Moloney & D. Shiels (eds) A Journey Along the Carlow Corridor: The Archaeology of the M9 Carlow Bypass, Wordwell, 2015

C. Moloney, L. Baker, J. Millar & D. Shiels (eds) Guide to the Excavations at Ardreigh, Co. Kildare, Rubicon Heritage & Kidare County Council, 2015

S. Hourihan, P. Long & D. Shiels (eds) A Guide to the Excavations at Love Lodge Farm, Ffairfach, Carmarthenshire, Rubicon Heritage, AB Heritage, Carmarthenshire County Council, 2016

Guidance Documents

Researching and Protecting the Archaeological Heritage of the Easter Rising, War of Independence and Civil War

Joanna Brück and Damian Shiels, 2024

Created by Prof. Joanna Brück (UCD), Dr Damian Shiels and Abarta Heritage in collaboration with the National Museum of Ireland; Heritage Council; and National Monuments Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with the additional support of Irish Research Council Coalesce grant 2022/533

Exhibition Catalogues

Portraits: Women of Cork and the U.S. Navy 1917-1919

Damian Shiels, 2017

Exhibition catalogue produced to accompany the exihibition of portraits of Irish women who married U.S. servicemen during the First World War. The exhibition was researched and prepared by Damian Shiels. and designed and produced in association with Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh. It was also displayed at Spike Island, Cork. The images in this exhibition were scanned by The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and sponsored by the Port of Cork

Book Chapters

Shiels D 2025 “Preserved Moments of Traumatic Time: The Archaeology of Small Finds on Irish Conflict Sites” in P. Doyle (ed.) Traces: The Archaeology of Small Things: Proceedings of the 7th National Monuments Service Archaeology Conference, Wordwell

Moloney C, Ó Maoldúin R and Shiels D 2025 ‘The Early to High Medieval Period in South Kildare’ in C. Moloney, P. Long and R. Ó Maoldúin (eds.) Landscapes with Lineage: Archaeological Discoveries along the M9 Motorway in South Kildare, Transport Infrstructure Ireland, 2025

Eogan J and Shiels D 2024 “‘Embellished with Many Elegant Seats’: Uncovering elements of the post-medieval and early modern landscape in the hinterland of New Ross” in J. Eogan & J. Hession (eds.) Places for the Living, Places for the Dead: Archaeological Discoveries on the N25 New Ross Bypass, Transport Infrstructure Ireland

Shiels D 2023 ‘Transported to Fairyland: The Irish Brigades Celebrate Christmas during the American Civil War’ in S Ryan (ed.) Christmas and the Irish: A Miscellany, Wordwell

Brück J and Shiels D 2022 ‘The Battle for Cork: Landscapes of Counter-Memory’ in D. Gannon & F. McGarry (eds.) Ireland 1922: Independence, Partition, Civil War, Royal Irish Academy, 2022

Shiels D 2022 ‘None of her Children ever Lived: Stories of Birth and Loss from Irish Pensioners of the American Civil War’ in S Ryan (ed.) Birth and the Irish: A Miscellany, Wordwell, 2022

Bonsall J and Shiels D 2021 ‘Picking up the Pieces: The Archaeological Survey of Vinegar Hill’ in R O’Flaherty & J Hynes (eds.) Vinegar Hill: The Last Stand of the Wexford Rebels of 1798, Four Courts Press

Bolger T, Mynett A, Tommasino Suárez C, Timpany S and Shiels D 2017 A Medieval Stud Farm? Economy and Subsistence at Mullamast’ in T Bolger (ed.) Colonising a Royal Landscape: The History and Archaeology of a Medieval Village at Mullamast, Co. Kildare, Wordwell

Shiels S 2016 ‘Widows and Dependent Parents American Civil War Pension Files: A New Source for the Irish Emigrant Experience’ in C Reilly (ed.) The Famine Irish: Emigration and the Great Hunger, The History Press Ireland

Shiels D 2015 ‘Place versus Memory: Forgetting Ireland’s Sites of Independence?’ in L Godson & J Brück (eds.) Making 1916: The Material and Visual Culture of the Easter Rising, Liverpool University Press

Shiels D 2015 ‘The Long Arm of War: Exploring the Nineteenth Century Ulster Emigrant Experience through American Civil War Pension Files’ in P Fitzgerald, C Kinealy & G Moran (eds.) Irish Hunger & Emigration: Myth, Memory and Memorialization, Quinnipiac University Press

Shiels D 2015 ‘Continuity and Change in the Medieval and Post Medieval Landscape’ in T Bolger T, D Shiels & C Moloney (eds.) A Journey Along the ‘Carlow Corridor’: The Archaeology of the M9 Carlow Bypass, Wordwell

Shiels D 2015 ‘Reconstructing Battlefield Landscapes’ in T Barry & V McAlister (eds.) Space and Settlement in Medieval Ireland, Four Courts Press

Shiels D 2014 ‘Witnesses to History: A Military Assemblage from the 1691 Aughrim Battlefield’ in B Kelly, N Roycroft & M Stanley (eds.) Fragments of Lives Past: Archaeological Objects from Irish Road Schemes, Wordwell

Shiels D 2013 ‘The Military Finds’ in C Manning (ed.) Clogh Oughter Castle, Co. Cavan: Archaeology, History and Architecture, Government Stationery Office

Clinton M, Fibiger L and Shiels D 2013 ‘Excavations at Carrickmines Castle, Carrickmines Great’, ‘The History of the 1642 Siege of Carrickmines Castle’ and ‘The Archaeology of the 1642 Siege of Carrickmines Castle’ in C Corlett (ed.) Unearthing the Archaeology of Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown, Wordwell

Clinton M, Fibiger L and Shiels D 2007 ‘The Carrickmines Mass Grave and the Siege of 1642’ in D Edwards, P Lenihan & C Tait (eds.) Age of Atrocity: Violent Death & Political Conflict in Ireland 1547-1650, Four Courts Press

Shiels D 2004 ‘Fort and Field: The Potential for Battlefield Archaeology in Kinsale’ in H Morgan (ed.) The Battle of Kinsale, Wordwell

Journal Articles

Gleeson D & Shiels D Fothcoming 2026 ‘Paid for the Coffin $75.00: Expressing Irish Ethnicity through Death in the Civil War Army and Navy’ in Éire-Ireland: An Interndisciplinary Journal of Irish Studies.

Shiels D & Gleeson D 2023 ‘Northeastern England and America’s Bloodiest War’ in North East History: The Journal of the North East Labour History Society, Volume 54, 2023.

Shiels D 2014 ‘Explorations in Visualizing the Irish of the American Civil War’ in The Americanist Independent, Volume 1, Issue 1.

Shiels D 2011 ‘A Flintlock Pistol from Whitestown, Co. Waterford’ in Decies: The Journal of the Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society, No. 67.

Shiels D 2009 ‘Identifying and Interpreting Ireland’s Post Medieval Conflict Archaeology’ in Journal of Irish Archaeology Volume 17.

Shiels D, 2008 ‘Dún An Óir 1580: The Potential for intact Siege Archaeology’ in Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, Series 2 Volume 7.

Shiels D 2007 ‘Battle and Siege Maps of Elizabethan Ireland: Blueprints for Archaeologists?’ in Journal of Conflict Archaeology Volume 3.

Shiels D 2007 ‘The Potential for Conflict Archaeology in the Republic of Ireland’ in Journal of Conflict Archaeology Volume 2.

Book Reviews

Shiels D, 2025 ‘Edda L. Fields Black, Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War’ in Slavery & Abolition, Vol. 46, Issue 1, 283-284.

Shiels D, 2025 ‘Marion Dowd, Robert Mulraney and James Bonsall, An Irish Civil War Dugout: Tormore Cave, Co. Sligo, Archaeology, History, Memory’ in Current Archaeology 419, February 2025.

Shiels D, 2021 ‘David Brundage, Irish Nationalists in America: The Politics of Exile, 1798-1998’ in Irish Historical Studies Vol. 45, Issue 168, November 2021, 340-341.

Shiels D, 2021 ‘Dan Milner, The Unstoppable Irish: Songs and Integration of the New York Irish, 1783-1883’ in Irish Historical Studies Vol. 45, Issue 168, November 2021, 341-343.

Shiels D, 2021 ‘Lucy E. Sayler, Under the Starry Flag: How a Band of Irish Americans joined the Fenian Revolt and Sparked a Crisis Over Citizenship’ in Irish Historical Studies Vol. 45, Issue 168, November 2021, 345-346.

Shiels D, 2021 ‘Diana L. Dretske, The Bonds of War: A Story of Immigrants and Esprit de Corps in Company C, 96th Illinois Volunteer Infantry’ in Civil War Monitor, Book Reviews, April 2021.

Shiels D, 2018 ‘Ryan W. Keating, Shades of Green: Irish Regiments, American Soldiers and Local Communities in the Civil War Era’ in Civil War History, Volume 64, Number 3, September 2018, 306-307.

Shiels D, 2008 ‘B.G. Scott, R.R. Brown, A.G. Leacock & C.J. Salter, The Great Guns Like Thunder: The Cannon from the City of Derry’ in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Volume 138 (2008), 169-170.