John F. Kennedy Division 1, Bridgeport, CT Ancient Order of Hibernians

10/03/2026

06/27/2026

No other immigrant group in American history contributed as disproportionately to both sides of the Civil War as the Irish. 🇺🇸 An estimated 150,000 Irish-born soldiers served in the Union Army and perhaps 40,000 in the Confederate forces, and in many engagements Irish units faced each other across the battlefield, men who had grown up in the same counties of Ireland, spoken the same language, worshipped in the same churches, and found themselves in blue and grey on opposite sides of an American conflict they had arrived too recently to have shaped.

The reasons were straightforward. Irish immigrants in the north had settled primarily in the industrial cities and towns where the Union drew its strength, and the mechanisms of enlistment, the bounties, the community pressure, the desire to prove loyalty to the adopted country, worked powerfully on a population that was still being told it did not fully belong. In the south, Irish immigrants had settled in New Orleans, Charleston, and the other southern port cities, and the same pressures operated in the Confederate direction.

The Irish Brigade in the Union Army became the most celebrated Irish military unit in American history, and their actions at Antietam and Fredericksburg and Gettysburg wrote themselves into the permanent record of the war. 💚 But the other Irish, the men in Confederate grey with green flags and Irish names, are also part of the story, the part that illustrates most sharply what it meant to be an immigrant people with no territory of your own in a war that was fundamentally about territory. They fought for the countries they had built in America. They were still Irish. The contradiction is irreducible.

06/10/2026

Congratulations are in order for Mark Smith of JFK Division, Mark has been selected as Grand Marshal of the 2027 Bridgeport St. Patrick's Day Parade.

05/22/2026

AOH Co****le Tournament is June 27, 2026 @ 12:00 PM at the Gaelic-American Club in Fairfield. Please join us for a great time and a very worthwhile cause

Join us for an afternoon of co****le, food, drinks, and community support, all benefiting Off The Streets Bridgeport. Off The Streets Bridgeport is an all-volunteer organization helping people move from homelessness to stable housing and hope. Since launching, they have helped house more than 650 in...

05/11/2026

🌹 Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and mother figures in our Ancient Order of Hibernians family! 🌹
Today we honor the strong Irish hearts that raised us — the faithful women who taught us family, faith, and heritage. From lullabies of the old country to prayers over us here in America, a mother’s love reflects God’s grace.
To every Hibernian mother: thank you for your sacrifices, your strength, and your endless love. You are the backbone of our families and our Order.
May the Blessed Mother wrap you in her mantle today. Wishing you joy, family, and a wee bit of Irish tea & cake! ☘️
God bless every mother, always.
— John F. Kennedy Division 1
Ancient Order of Hibernians
Bridgeport, CT

04/02/2026