Damian Shiels's Blog, page 11

Other Lost Shoes: The Forgotten Reform School Boys Who Fought the VMI Cadets at New Market

Regular contributor Brendan Hamilton returns with more utterly fascinating research from his project examining underprivileged boys from the North’s juvenile justice system who found themselves in Union service during the American Civil War. You can catch Brendan’s previous post on this topic here. This time round he tells us the story of three boys who faced the VMI Cadets at the Battle of New Market-two of whom were Irish American.

[image error]Still from the film “Field of Lost Shoes” (Brookwell McNamara Entertainment, 2014)

“Put the boys in, and may God forgive me for the order.”

With this solemn command, Confederate General John C. Breckinridge did ever so hesitantly send the Cadet Battalion of the Virginia Military Institute into action at the Battle of New Market, Virginia on 15th May 1864. Their climactic charge lives on in countless books, articles, paintings, and even a film, as does the dramatic moment Breckinridge decided to put these soldiers into the thick of battle. It was a last resort; the VMI cadets were some of Virginia’s most promising youths, on solid career paths to be officers and Southern gentlemen. In stark contrast to these young lions were the forgotten boys of the Massachusetts State Reform School who stood against them at New Market in the ranks of the 34th Massachusetts Infantry. An unknown number of former juvenile delinquents shed their brogans and their blood in the same Virginia mire, fighting the VMI cadets hand-to-hand in the desperate fight for the Union artillery. These boy soldiers had been homeless vagrants and petty thieves before the war, and were to a great extent the products of abject poverty, neglect, and wanton abuse. Some of them had even been granted early releases from the Reform School specifically to enlist. While they may have been guided by patriotic motives, the promise of an end to captivity and a source of income were also undoubtedly factors in some of their decisions to serve. No monument stands in their honor, no films have been made to tell their stories, and if anyone prayed for God’s forgiveness before ordering them into battle, their words have been lost like so many shoes in the mud.

Here are the stories of just three of these boys, Privates John Mockley, Thomas Dugan, and George H. Bascomb.

[image error]Inmates in the yard of the Massachusetts Reform School, possibly ca. 1870 (Digital Commonwealth)

John Mockley

John Mockley was born in Albany, New York to Irish immigrant parents. The Mockleys were Roman Catholics who attended mass “when they could.” John Mockley’s case history record from the State Reform School characterizes his family as “poor + wretched.” His father abused his mother, drank heavily, and sometimes stole things like liquor and wood. His mother, on the other hand, was described as “a kind good woman.” She fled her abusive husband and took refuge at the local poor house in or near Springfield, Massachusetts. John Mockley’s life deteriorated further after her departure, and by the age of eleven he was roaming the streets seeking out sources of income and food. He stole money and fruit on numerous occasions and became “a great thief” over time. His case history record describes him as a “profane, untruthful, Sabbath breaker,” and a “robber of birds’ nests.” Mockley was arrested at the age of twelve, four weeks after his mother died in the poor house. The police caught him stealing a basket of crackers and $1.13 in cash and the court offered him a choice: he could spend three months incarcerated in the House of Correction among its general population of adult convicts, or he could spend his minority (potentially up to the age of 21) in the State Reform School. He chose the latter option. (1)

[image error]Soldiers of the 34th Massachusetts at skirmish drill (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Mockley enlisted in the 34th Massachusetts in July of 1862 at the age of seventeen. He was 5’5” inches tall, with light hair, a light complexion, and black eyes. By the spring of 1864 he was a veteran, and had recovered from a gunshot wound he received at the Battle of Charlestown the previous October. Detached as skirmishers at New Market, Mockley and many of his comrades in Company C were cut off from the rest of the Union forces and captured during the Confederate assault. They were then sent to the infamous Confederate prisoner of war camp at Andersonville, Georgia. Mockley survived the ordeal and was transferred to Wilmington, North Carolina. There, he and many of his fellow prisoners escaped to the surrounding swamps after the Confederates abandoned the prison camp following the Union capture of Wilmington in February 1865. Mockley returned North aboard a hospital ship after he was rescued by the advancing Union troops. He reenlisted in the 14th U.S. Infantry regiment that August and was honorably discharged in December 1865. (2)

[image error]The details of John Mockley’s incarceration after his capture at New Market (NARA)

Thomas Dugan

Thomas Dugan had no memory of his parents. They left him behind in his native Ireland as a small child when they emigrated to America, likely with the intention of sending for him once they had planted new roots across the Atlantic. Tragically, that was not to be; they both died shortly after arriving. Thomas Dugan emigrated instead with his aunt when he was four. She boarded him out to many different places, “but no one had any particular care of him.” He worked as a child laborer in a mill for a year and half and attended school some. Eventually, the Reverend Horatio Wood of Lowell, Massachusetts took Dugan in and arranged for a local family to let him live with them. After a few months, Dugan started keeping company with “bad boys,” refused to work, and ultimately ran away and hid out. Wood tracked the boy down and had him committed to the State Reform School in 1857 for the crime of vagrancy. Dugan’s case history characterizes him as “profane” and “untruthful” and records that he had previously stolen money, apples, and iron. He had been arrested once before for truancy. The record also indicates that while Dugan’s parents’ and aunt’s religious backgrounds were Roman Catholic, Dugan himself attended Unitarian Sabbath School at Wood’s Free Chapel. In 1859, the Reform School indentured Dugan out as a farm laborer to an E.H. Wood of Hawley, Massachusetts. He remained there at least through the time of the 1860 Federal Census. (3)

[image error]The 34th Massachusetts Infantry drilling outside their camp near Fort Lyon, Virginia (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

In December 1863, Thomas Dugan enlisted in Company B of the 34th Massachusetts Infantry and was paid a $60 bounty. The young recruit had blue eyes, light hair, a dark complexion, and stood 5’7 ¾” tall. He offered his age as eighteen, which was likely somewhere near the truth as much as Dugan knew it. He concealed his Irish nativity to the recruiting officer, however, giving his birthplace as Lowell. The Battle of New Market was likely Dugan’s first major combat experience, and it was nearly his last. He was seriously wounded, and spent months recovering in a military hospital in Maryland before returning to duty in December 1864. He rejoined the 34th in time for its dramatic charge on Fort Gregg during the final assault on Petersburg on April 2nd, 1865, and survived to serve through the Appomattox Campaign. (4)

[image error]Thomas Dugan was recorded as American-born on his enlistment. Hundreds, and probably thousands of Irish-born men were recorded as American-born on enlistment during the American Civil War (NARA)

George H. Bascomb

A bootmaker’s son, George H. Bascomb was a native of Worcester, Massachusetts who was committed to the State Reform School in 1856 at the age of ten for “stubbornness.” His parents were Massachusetts natives whose moral influences were characterized in Bascomb’s case history as “not very good.” The Bascombs occasionally attended meetings at Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s Unitarian church, but they were generally not very religious, a fact that clearly caused consternation among the Reform School staff. George Bascomb’s case history laments that he “never heard his parents pray, nor was ever he taught a prayer by them.” The family relocated to Kansas for a short time. It is possible they were Free-Stater abolitionists moving to the then-territory of Kansas to prevent it from becoming a slave state, or perhaps they were seeking new economic opportunities. Whatever the case may have been, they were not in Kansas long before they decided to return to Massachusetts. George Bascomb attended school some and helped his father stitch boots, but he “played truant,” left home without his parents’ permission, and stayed out all night. He admitted to having smoked a cigar, but was not a habitual smoker. (5)

[image error]Unidentified Union soldier with a cigar (Liljenquist Collection, Library of Congress)

Young Bascomb did not adjust well to the rigid discipline of the Reform School. His case history record coolly reports that he was “whipped quite a number of times” for talking. The Reform School’s staff employed both a long leather strap and a rattan cane to discipline inmates for a variety of offenses by lashing them across their bare backs, buttocks, and the backs of their hands. Corporal punishment was employed routinely in most of America’s reformatories and could be both physically severe and emotionally scarring. Luckily for Bascomb, he was not held by the Reform School for his entire minority. He was back home with his parents by the time of the 1860 Federal Census. (6)

George H. Bascomb enlisted in Company B of the 34th Massachusetts in June 1862 at the age of fifteen, though he gave his age as eighteen. He was 5’3” tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair, and he described his occupation simply as “laborer.” Bascom survived the fight with the VMI cadets at New Market uninjured, served alongside his regiment in five other major battles in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864, and was present for Lee’s surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. (5)

[image error]George’s height hinted at the fact he was not 18. The remarks list his many engagements (NARA)

(1) Massachusetts State Reform School, History of Boys; (2) Compiled Military Service Records, Life with the Thirty-fourth Mass., Andersonville and Fort McHenry Civil War Prisoner Index, US Army Enlistments; (3) Massachusetts State Reform School, History of Boys; (4) Compiled Military Service Records; (5) Massachusetts State Reform School, History of Boys, Investigation into the Management and Discipline of the State Reform School at Westborough, 1860 US Federal Census; (6) Compiled Military Service Records;

References

Massachusetts State Reform School, History of Boys, 1856.

U.S. Compiled Military Service Records.

U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914.

1860 US Federal Census.

Andersonville and Fort McHenry Civil War Prisoner Index.

Lincoln, William Sever. Life with the Thirty-fourth Mass. Infantry in the War of the Rebellion. Worcester, MA: Noyes, Snow, 1879.

Investigation into the Management and Discipline of the State Reform School at Westborough Before the Committee on Public Charitable Institutions. Boston: A.J. Wright, 1877.

Charting Clare Chain Migration: From Kilrush to Joliet with the Killeens

Like many I have had a number of events cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic. One talk that fell victim was for the Kilrush and District Historical Society, where I had hoped to discuss stories of local men and women from that part of Co. Clare who left for America in the 19th century. In its place, I thought I would briefly share one of them on the site. It relates to the Killeen family from Kilrush, and how the death of one of their number during the Civil War helps to uncover their sustained chain-migration to the area around Jolien, Illinois, where their descendants still live today.

[image error]The discharge given to Patrick Killeen from Kilrush when he was re-enlisting as a Veteran Volunteer in 1864 (NARA)

On 3rd January 1862 Patrick Killeen from Kilrush enlisted in the town of Ottawa, LaSalle County, Illinois. He was described as 5 feet 6 and 1/2 inches tall, with black hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. Though recorded as a farmer, it is probable Patrick was a farm labourer, a position that many Irish emigrants in their 20s held in the Midwest. The 27-year-old became a private in Company K of the 53rd Illinois Infantry, a strongly Irish American company commanded by Captain Michael Leahy. Over the next few years he would see action at places like Corinth, Hatchie’s Bridge, Vicksburg and Jackson, before taking the decision to re-enlist as a Veteran Volunteer. It proved a fateful move- on 21st July 1864 Patrick was killed in action at the Battle of Atlanta. (1)

[image error]The commission to First Lieutenant of one of Patrick’s officers, Roger Warner. The carpenter had emigrated from Cork to the United States in 1851 (NARA)

As a result of Patrick’s death in service, something of the story of his mother, Mary, was revealed. She had been born in Co. Clare around the year 1811, and in 1829 the parish priest Timothy Kelly had married her to John Killeen in Kilrush. Sometime in the late 1840s or early 1850s they had emigrated to America, settling in Chicago, where John died in 1854. But it was their next move, to Joliet, Illinois that proved to be the lasting one. There the Killeens helped to propoagate a stream of chain migration among their family to the Illinois town. (2)

[image error]This certificate was provided by Timothy Kelly, Parish Priest in Kilrush, for Mary Killeen’s pension application in the 1860s. It records that “she was married by me some 33 years ago and her and husband emigrated to America with his children, one of whom, Patrick has died in his Adopted Country” (NARA)

Both Mary’s pension application and the 1870 census serve to demonstrate how Joliet had become a magnet for these Clare emigrants. By that date, Killeens had begun to converge on the banks of the Des Plaines River from multiple different points in the compass. William Killeen, who had emigrated in 1864, had recently arrived from Iowa with his wife Ellen and two baby children. 30-year-old Patrick Killeen had just set up home in Joliet having come from Ohio. He was making his home with his wife Ann and young son and daughter. His brother John, who had left Kilrush in 1868, soon joined him there. (3)

[image error]Paul Killeen, likely another Kilrush descendant, listed as President of the Joliet Buick Company in 1920 (Joliet Evening Herald News, 26th September 1920)

Mary Killeen, whose son Patrick had died in the Civil War, passed away in Joliet on 23rd May 1895. By the 1920s and 1930s her surviving children and younger Clare relatives had themselves reached old age. But by then they had more than fulfilled the Irish American goal of inter-generational improvement. While in 1870 all the Irish-born Killeens had been labourers, their American-born children had begun to scale the ladder. They occupied jobs as public-school teachers, insurance stenographers, steel mills foremen, and dry goods store assistants. Today many of these different generations lie together in Joliet’s Mount Olivet Cemetery. (4)

[image error]News of the death of 100-year-old Mary (Killeen) Brusnighan in 1932 (Daily Times-Press, 1st November 1932)

There is a particularly notable postscript to the story of Kilrush emigrants in Joliet. On 1st November 1932 the Daily Times-Press of Streator, Illinois, reported on a 100-year-old woman who had been found dead in her home. Her name was Mary Killeen- yet another of the Kilrush Killeens. Mary had left Ireland in 1859 and settled among her kin in Illinois. In 1862 she had married William Brusnighan (Brosnihan) in Joliet, and they eventually moved a few miles away to a farm near Gardner, Grundy County. The family tree compiled by Mary’s descendants suggests that this long-lived member of the Clare diaspora was originally from the townland of Knocknahila. In their possession they have a remarkable image of Mary, taken on her 100th birthday in February 1932. It is easy to forget that the elderly lady sharing the scene with her beautifully decorated birthday cake had borne witness to the Famine as a West Clare teenager. Mary was the last survivor of an impressive influx of Kilrush emigrants who had successfully made Joliet their second home. For her, as for most of them, it had fulfilled its promise as the land of opportunity she must have hoped it would become when she first departed the Atlantic coast. (5)

The research and cost-of-running of the Irish American Civil War website is self-financed. If you would like to support the work and upkeep of this site you can do so via my Patreon site for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/irishacw, or by making a one-off donation to the site’s running costs via the “Donate” button in the right-hand sidebar.

[image error]One of the Killeen headstones in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Joliet (Nancy Ann Mull Buchanan)

(1) Pension File, Database of Illinois Veterans; (2) Pension File; (3) 1870 Census, 1880 Census, Pension File; (4) 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 Federal Census; (5) Federal Census, Daily Times-Press;

References

Daily Times-Press.

Joliet Evening-Herald News.

1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 Federal Census.

Pension File.

Database of Illinois Veterans.

Irish in the American Civil War’s 10th Birthday

This week marks the tenth birthday of the Irish in the American Civil War website. Fittingly it has concided with some recent milestones for the site: surpassing 1,000,000 views, and passing the 1,000,000 published words mark. A decade on from the first post, those words are now spread out across more than 725 articles and 96 pages (rather frighteningly, there are also almost 50,000 unpublished words, languishing in 105 “draft” posts/pages!). In more recent times, the site has also branched out into the world of podcasts and YouTube. However you prefer to interact, I want to thank everyone for continuing to engage with Irish in the American Civil War, and all those who have supported the initiative over the years.

When I began this undertaking, one of my primary goals was to raise awareness in Ireland of the impact of the Civil War on Irish people, an aim that has, I think, had mixed results. I hope though that it has achieved one of its other main purposes, and grown into a useful resource for all those interested in the 19th century Irish emigrant experience in the United States, no matter their geographic location. Writing and maintaining it over the years has certainly presented me with opportunities I could not have imagined in 2010–opportunities to travel to the United States to walk some of the sites I write about, opportunities to publish books, papers and articles on these Irish emigrants, and opportunities to make many new friends on both sides of the Atlantic.

[image error]Back in 2014, speaking about Patrick Cleburne on the occasions of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Franklin, a particular highlight of the last decade (when I had more hair, but also had to contend with a strep throat

For Faith & Freedom: Four Men who Served the Pope and their Adopted Nation

The latest guest post comes from Joe Maghe, one of the longest running friends of the Irish in the American Civil War website. Joe has gathered together and curates one of the most important collections of artefacts relating to the Irish experience of the war anywhere in existence. He has consistently made elements of that collection available for use (and interpretation) on this site over the years, and also generously allowed me to use some of his images in my first book. We have also enjoyed trapsing around a few Civil War battlefields together! I am delighted that Joe has agreed to contribute a guest post on the site focused on four individuals on whom he has conducted much research. All four had first served in the Papal War, before going on to become Union officers. Here Joe takes us through each of their stories, in a post richly illustrated with images-some extremely rare-drawn from his own collection.

[image error]Four of the Irishmen who left their homes in Ireland to serve in Pope Pius’ military in 1860, and then went to America to serve in the Union service (Joe Maghe Collection)

… with freedom’s watch word on your lips
you draw the rebel glaive
against the church that ransomed home
the captive and the slave.

Written in high heaven our oath,
 to fall if not defend her.
 In such a cause an Irishman
 can die, but not surrender…

Excerpt from “The siege of Spoleto; a camp-tale of Arlington Heights” by Michael J. A. McCaffery

[image error]An 1861CDV of Daniel Joseph Keily in his 1st Lieutenant uniform of the Papal Guard. The inset is an enlargement of his Pro Petri Sede and Order of St. Gregory medals that were given to him by Pope Pius IX (Joe Maghe Collection)

In 1860 Guiseppe Garibaldi began to organize the states on the Italian peninsula into a unified country. His efforts were not to the liking of Pope Pius IX, and the Pope organized a volunteer army to resist Garibaldi and his Piedmontese Army.

The Papal Army was a force of fewer than 18,000 officers and soldiers and was composed of men from his loyal Italian states as well as Austrians, French, Belgians, Swiss, Irish, Germans, Spaniards, Poles and Czechs. The Irish force was designated as the Irish Battalion of Saint Patrick. The original group of Irishmen totaled 1,400, but more than 300 of them left due to broken promises over arms and uniforms that were to be provided. By the time the hostilities began, there were 1,040 Irish in the Pope’s forces. The Battalion of Saint Patrick was divided into eight companies and those companies were stationed at different sites in the Papal States as follows: One company of fewer than 150 Irish at Perugia, more than 300 more Irish were at Spoleto, another 105 Irish fought at Castelfidardo, and more than 490 Irish were garrisoned at Ancona.

[image error]This map illustrates the location of the Papal strongholds of Perugia, Spoleto & Ancona in relationship to the Pope’s seat in Rome (Wikipedia)

Patrick F. Clooney of Ballybricken (County Waterford) was 20 years old when he left Ireland to enlist in the service of the Pope in 1860. He was part of Company Number 1 which numbered fewer than 150 men and was stationed at Perugia as part of a 1,500 man Papal force. On 12th September they faced off against Garibaldi’s attackers that numbered more than 12,000. The Papal effort was futile, and Perugia fell in less than a day. Much of the fighting was a delaying action of fire and fall back. Clooney was mentioned as being one of 20 men in his company that were assigned to defend the St. Angelo gate of Perugia. His small group of 20 men, having no cover, were pushed back, until Clooney led 12 of them into a last ditch defense inside an empty house. After a firefight from that small stronghold, they were surrounded and were compelled to surrender. The remainder of the 1,500 man force in and around Perugia’s Rocca Paolina fortress surrendered shortly afterward.

[image error]Rocca (fortress) Paolina of Perugia which was defended by Patrick Clooney. (The Rocca Paolina in a painting by Giuseppe Rossi (1820-1899)(Wikipedia)

Papal Lieutenant and Adjutant John D. Mulhall (who was born in Boyle, County Roscommon about 1839) left his home when he was 18-years-old and enlisted in a British Lancer regiment. His well-to-do family did not approve. They paid for his release from the British regiment and brought him home after only three months of service. He did not remain a civilian for long because he enlisted in the Papal army two years later. He was among the two companies of more than 300 Irish that were stationed south of Florence at Spoleto along with another 500 men of other nationalities to defend that town and the fortress of Rocca Albornoziana. Mulhall and the defenders were attacked on 17 September by more than 2,500 Piedmontese. When he was first asked to surrender the Spoleto garrison, Major Myles O’Reilly answered, “Return, and tell your commander that we are Irishmen, that we hold this citadel for God and the Pope. The Irish who serve the Pope are ready to die but not to surrender.” Eventually however, he was compelled to surrender due to a lack of ammunition after a bloody 14 hours of fighting. After the battle, Major O’Reilly wrote that his Adjutant (Mulhall)  was present and active wherever the danger was greatest.

[image error]The Piedmontese attack the stronghold of Spoleto where John D. Mulhall was stationed.  (Vintage postcard of the Piedmontese attack at Spoleto, artist unknown)

Both John H. Gleason (age 22) of Borrisoleigh, County Tipperary, and the 31-year-old Daniel J. Keily of Newtonville (near Waterford City), County Waterford were stationed with the Irish contingent at the port of Ancona. A siege of Ancona had begun on 12th September, and attacks upon the city were made several times before it fell on 29th September after it had been heavily shelled. Gleason was wounded three times during the defense and also received a battlefield promotion from Sergeant to Lieutenant for his action while leading a band of skirmishers at Moratta. The Irish were singled out for their bravery because of a bayonet charge during which they repelled the attackers in the fighting at Ancona.

[image error]The explosion of the magazine at Ancona was the end for the Papal defenders of Ancona. Gleason & Keily would surrender with the others. (The Battle of Ancona by Gustavo Strafforello)

The governor of Ancona, Le Comte de Quatrebarbes, was amazed by the actions and demeanor of the Irish in Ancona. He wrote (to the best of my translating ability of French) in his “Souvenirs d’Ancone, Siège de 1860” … “When they were under fire they sang the old ballads of their mountains in chorus, or loudly challenged the Piedmontese and that their officers had great difficulty in restraining them from constantly leaping over the battlements to hurl defiance at the infidel or to applaud the work of the Papal artillery.” More than 6,300 men were taken prisoner at Ancona and sent to Genoa along with those previously captured at Perugia, Spoleto, and Castelfidardo. In fact, Keily, who had previously served as a midshipman in the British Navy, was credited with saving the ship which held him and his fellow officers. The ship ran aground on the voyage to confine them in Genoa. The ship’s captain and crew could not free the craft and they feared that the ship was going to capsize. Keily was instructed to take charge, and through his actions and orders it was set it free.

Within three weeks the active service of these four Irish soldiers had ended. They were released from imprisonment about a month later, and each of them received the Pro Petri Sede medal for their service to the Seat of Peter. Clooney also received the order of Saint Sylvester while Gleason, Keily and Mulhall all received the order of St Gregory due to their being officers. Keily was one of those released who decided to stay in Rome in service with the company of St Patrick of the Papal Guard. Three months later he was joined by John Mulhall who returned from Ireland to do his part for his faith. War erupted in America in the following April.

[image error]Captain Thomas F. Meagher volunteered the service of his Company K to Colonel Michael Corcoran and the 69th New York State Militia. A number of Papal veterans served with him (Joe Maghe Collection)

Colonel Michael Corcoran and the 69th New York State Militia mustered into the Federal service on 9th May, 1861. Shortly afterwards the first of these four “Papal Irishmen” arrived in the United States in order to serve in the Union’s cause. He was John Hassett Gleason. He had a dignified bearing and was a giant of a man…standing nearly 6 feet 6 inches tall. In addition to that he was said to be quite outspoken. He enlisted on 17th May, 1861 which happened to be his 23rd birthday. Gleason was quickly made a sergeant in Thomas F. Meagher’s Company which became a part of Colonel Michael Corcoran’s 69th New York State Militia just a few days later, and he was with them during the 21st July, 1861 Battle at Bull Run (Manassas) Virginia where he claimed to have carried the colors in the fight. When the 69th was released from federal service after this battle, Gleason joined Company H of the 63rd New York as a first lieutenant. He fought at Fair Oaks, the Seven Days (he was cited for his bravery at Malvern Hill), and Antietam where he was in command of the color company. Thirty-five of the color company were either killed or wounded in that battle. Gleason wrote that he personally raised the colors nine times. He also fought at Fredericksburg where he was mentioned in General Meagher’s report as “one of the bravest and most reliable officers of the brigade”, and at Chancellorsville before being released in June as a supernumerary officer.  As the regiment regained its strength, he rejoined the 63rd as a lieutenant of Company D in February of 1864. Two months later he was once again their Captain, and by June of 64 he was their Major. He was promoted once again and commanded the regiment as a Lieutenant Colonel from 19th September, 1864 through the end of hostilities.

[image error]A CDV of John H. Gleason of the 63rd New York in Union uniform wearing his “Pro Petri Sede” medal beside an unidentified medal (Joe Maghe Collection)

The 63rd was one of the three New York regiments of the Irish Brigade, and Gleason was with them through thirty-five of those engagements. He emerged unharmed even though he saw much hard fighting-but he was not at Gettysburg. He was discharged in May of 1865 and received two brevet General appointments, one being a Brigadier appointment and the other as a Major General. Both brevets were due to his gallant and meritorious services during the conflict. While on active service in the war,  Gleason had become a member of the Potomac Circle of the Fenian movement and later went to Ireland as an insurgent in 1867. However, he returned to America before the arrests of his fellow Fenians were made. He died in Washington D.C. on 30th June 1889 and was buried in Section D of the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. He left behind his widow Mary Francis O’Conner and his son, Henry Jerome.

[image error]This CDV is believed to picture Patrick Clooney of the 88th NY. The Captain wears a “Pro Petri Sede” medal, and his hat bears a plume and the number 4 within the infantry horn insignia (Joe Maghe Collection)

Patrick Clooney was the next of these four to arrive in America. He landed in New York during the summer of 1861. He came to America to fight, and so he quickly found Captain Thomas F. Meagher and joined his Company K as a private. Before they went into action with the 69th NYSM at Bull Run, Clooney had become a sergeant in his company. Two months after being discharged he enlisted as a captain in the 88th New York Volunteers. He fought with great valor in the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia and Antietam, Maryland. At Fair Oaks he went forward with the regiment’s colors as they advanced from the woods into an open field. At Antietam many of the color bearers had been shot down, and Clooney had already been wounded in the knee. In spite of that wound, he grabbed one of the color staffs, used it as a crutch and advanced and held it aloft. As he waved the flag and encouraged his men, he was hit twice more. This time he was killed instantly when one shot struck him in the head and the other pierced his heart. It was said that he fought “like one of the heroes of Grecian lore, sword in hand, his green plume waving in the wind” He was buried on the battlefield, and his wooden grave marker was inscribed “He like a soldier fell.”

[image error]General Meagher At The Battle of Fair Oaks Virginia June 1st 1862 (Currier & Ives)

Nearly a year after the war had begun in America, the New York Catholic Archbishop “Dagger John” Hughes (who was born in County Tyrone) went to the Vatican during the Spring of 1862 on behalf of both the Church and President Lincoln. Lincoln was eager to have Hughes recruit men for the Union cause, and several of the Papal Guard Zouaves answered that call. Two of those men that responded to the Archbishop’s entreaty were Daniel Keily and John Mulhall. (unfortunately the Archbishop would not live to see the war end. He died in 1864.)

[image error]John Joseph Hughes was born in 1797 at Annaloghan, County Tyrone. He went to America with his family, became a Catholic priest and Archbishop of New York. He was better known as “Dagger John” Hughes partially because of his fierce defense of his Irish flock (Joe Maghe Collection)

Daniel Keily came to the aid of the Union along with his friend and comrade-in-arms, Myles Keogh. They left their Irish homeland on St Patrick’s Day 1862 and arrived in New York on April Fool’s Day. They were both made Captains and Aides on the staff of the County Tyrone native General James Shields on April 9th- just eight days after their arrival in the States. Keily wasted no time joining in the fighting in the Valley of the Shenandoah- two months after attaching to Shield’s staff he was in the thick of the fray. On 8th June he led a small force of fewer than 200 men in a delaying action against Stonewall Jackson’s Army at Port Republic. A Colonel that was accompanying him was quoted as saying  “I do not think I ever saw a more perfect piece of coolness and heroism.” On the next day a brigade in Shields’ army had abandoned seven cannons as they were being pushed back by Jackson’s forces. Captain Keily rallied a group of men from two Ohio infantry regiments and tried to recapture those guns. As Keily rode into the charge, his horse was killed, and he was shot in the head. The gunshot took away a small portion of his jaw and cut his palate and tongue before exiting through his cheek. He made it back to his lines before he lost consciousness. General Shields was quoted as saying that Keily was “the noblest soldier on that field…a glory to his country and race.” Colonel Samuel Carrol said to Keily, “when you and your horse were shot, you had to pass under a crossfire that a mounted man could hardly expect to live through, but made the attempt.” After a 10-month period of recuperation, Keily returned to active duty in Louisiana on the staff of General Charles Stone. Six months later he organized a Louisiana regiment and served as their Colonel. That regiment became the 2nd Louisiana Cavalry, but it would be consolidated with the 1st Louisiana Cavalry in September of 1864. Keily received a brevet Brigadier General appointment in 1865 for gallant and meritorious services. He remained in Louisiana after the war where he managed a plantation until his death in October of 1867. He died of yellow fever in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana at the age of 38. Where he was buried, no one knows.

[image error]Brigadier General James Shields was born in Altmore, County Tyrone in 1806. He served in the Department of Shenandoah (Joe Maghe Collection)

Lastly, the 25 year old John Dillon Mulhall came to America in late 1862, and he enlisted in the 69th New York Volunteers on the 11th of December as a first lieutenant. Even though he had enlisted, he had not yet reported to his unit by mid-January when a Requiem Mass was held for the Irish killed in the December Battle of Fredericksburg. On 24th January 1863 the Irish American newspaper mentioned Mulhall (who was not in a Union uniform) as attending the 16th January Requiem Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. The article stated: “In the congregation we also noticed a young officer in the uniform of the Pope’s Irish Brigade, whom we subsequently found to be Lieutenant Mulhall, a Chevalier of the Order of St. Gregory, the decoration of which, with those of the Battalion of Saint Patrick, he wore on his breast.” It was clear, however, that Mulhall was already a part of the Irish Brigade.

[image error]The 2012 rededication of the Irish Brigade memorial near the docks at Fredericksburg, Virginia in 2012, with Eugene Power (of Midleton, Co. Cork) representing othe Irish Defence Forces (Joe Maghe Collection)

The 17th January New York Times article went on to give details of how Mulhall was esteemed by General Meagher:

After the religious ceremonies were concluded, a large number of the military gentlemen present collected at Delmonico’s Fifth-Avenue Restaurant, for the purpose of participating in certain amenities between the Irish Brigade and the Sixty-ninth National Guard. Brig.-Gen. MEAGHER played the host, and among the officers of his Brigade present were Col. Nugent, Capt. Marooney (Moroney), Adjutant Smith, Capt. Donovan, Capt. To[???]l (Toal), Capt. Carr, Dr. J.A. Reed, Lieut. Mulhall and others. There were also present Major Bagley, Quartermaster Tully, Alderman Farlev, Mr. [???]ennessy, Fathers O’Reilly and Ouellett, and later in the afternoon Judge Daly, about a hundred guests, all told, assembled…Gen. MEAGHER, in a humorous speech, paid a compliment to Lieut. MULHALL, Lieutenant of the Battalion of St. Patrick, and Chevalier of the Order of St. Gregory, having been decorated by His Holiness Pope Pius IX., whose name he coupled with the toast: …The highest fidelity to the highest principle.“

[image error]A CDV of John Dillon Mulhall in his 69th New York uniform with an unidentified device on his left breast (Joe Maghe Collection)

Mulhall had missed the debacle at Fredericksburg but was in time to serve with the 69th at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He contracted scurvy in August of 1864 but returned from the hospital to Company D in mid-February. A month after that he was wounded on 25th March of 1865 at Skinner’s Farm while leading his company against MacRae’s Sharpshooters. They had been sent out as skirmishers to probe the Confederate lines for weaknesses after the attack on Fort Stedman. He was left in a contested no-man’s-land for more than two hours while the fighting raged around him. Lt. Colonel James J. Smith reported: 

About this time (4:00) part of the First brigade, then in our front, moved to the left and the enemy commenced to take demonstrations of an attack on our front and on our right flank; and, in obedience to orders from the brigade commander, I threw out my right and left flank companies as skirmishers – the left company covering our front, our skirmishers immediately in front were driven in slowly, fighting stubbornly every foot of the ground. Captain Mulhall, commanding at this point, received a severe wound, falling some distance in front of our line, when the skirmishers (the left company) approached within twenty paces of our line. In obedience to orders, I called them in, and they formed on our left; soon afterward, the enemy having approached within about 200 yards, we opened fire. The enemy soon afterward appeared to fall back, when the order to cease firing was given, and some four of our men went out and brought in Captain Mulhall, wounded, and who for over one hour had lain between the two fires. Captain Mulhall also acted with the greatest bravery, and kept his skirmishers well to the front, and fell back only when the only alternative was annihilation or capture. I regret to say that he was severely wounded.

[image error]A National Archives image of Ft. Stedman and a map showing its location in relationship to the approximate location of Skinner’s Farm (National Archives/National Parks Service)

Mulhall  was discharged in May of 1865, and he was brevetted Lt. Colonel of New York Volunteers. He married Mary Kinsella in 1869, and they had a son named David, who died in 1900. Even though Mulhall was in his late fifties, he once again served in the U.S. military during the Spanish-American War. He died at his home in Harlem New York on 7th July, 1903 with his wife at his side. Mulhall was buried in the Old St. Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.

References

The New York Times.

The New York Irish-American Weekly.

The New York Herald.

Official Records of the War of the Rebellion.

U.S. National Archives Military Records.

National Park Service Troop Movement Maps by Ed Bearss (1959).

Le Comte de Qautrebarbes. Souvenirs d’Ancone, Siège de 1860.

Berkeley, George Fitz-Hardinge. 1929. The Irish Battalion in the Papal Army of 1860.

McCaffery, Michael J.A. The siege of Spoleto; a camp-tale of Arlington Heights.

Three Bodies. Three Families. Three Stories. Kerry’s 1860s Diaspora in Ireland and New York

One battlefield. One regiment. Three bodies. Three families. A story of Step Migration, Chain Migration, and Americanisation- and of the Kerry diaspora in Ireland, Canada and America.

As the last wisps of lingering gunsmoke departed the woods and ravines of the New Bern battefield, the 51st New York Infantry began to count the cost of victory. For 34 men of the regiment, the 14th March 1862 proved to be the day that brought their doom. As was inevitable with an urban New York unit, Irish America was all too prominent on the butcher’s bill. Among the crumpled blue bodies strewn up and down the North Carolina treeline was that of 27-year-old Robert Smith. An engraver in civilian life, the Brooklynite met his death as the First Sergeant of Company B. Not far from him lay the motionless form of John Kavanagh. A few months before, the Company K private had told the recruiters he was 19, but that was a lie. In reality he was a child of at most 16-years when his life was snuffed out near the Atlantic & North Carolina railroad. Further down the line, the left side of his chest driven in by a Southern bullet, the mortal remains of Felix McCarthy hugged the earth. In his mid-twenties, Felix had traded the tenements of the Five Points for Company F of the 51st. It was a gamble that had cost him his life. (1)

[image error]Plan of the Battle of New Bern. The 51st New York Infantry advanced on the left, part of Reno’s brigade (Mechanical Curator Collection)

These three men were united by more than their shared-death, their regiment, or their home state. For all were also part of New York’s Kerry diaspora- the county where both John and Felix had been born. Their deaths at New Bern precipitated the creation of a document trail that allows us to draw back the veil not just on their lives, but on those of their families, and the wider Kerry community in the Empire State. In addition to telling those stories, these narratives also reveal wider perspectives; not the least of which is the the fact that even where emigrants shared strikingly similar backgrounds and backstories, every individual’s prospects and fortunes remained remarkably variable.

[image error]The personal effects Felix McCarthy had with him at the time of his death in the 51st New York Infantry (NARA)

At an economic level, there was no mistaking which of the three men had been the poorest. Felix McCarthy’s decision to enlist likely had as much to do with the war-induced recession as it did with patriotism. In anycase, it probably took little encouragement for the illiterate laborer to depart his wretched accomodation in the world’s most notorious slum. In 1860, Felix had been crammed into a tiny apartment with seven other people. They included his own family; wife Mary, and daughters Mary (2) and Anne (4 months), as well as the Sheehans; Mary (70), John (28), Alice (6) and John (2). The family address told its own tale. Their home was at 9 Mulberry Street, which in 1850 had been one of a new set of six-story brick tenements constructed in front of the Old Baptist Church. By 1860 the Church too had been crudely converted into living space, and in short order had become notorious for poverty, stench, filth, alcoholism and vice. By the time Felix pulled on Uncle Sam’s uniform in October 1861, this was an environment that had already claimed the life of his baby girl Anne. (2)

[image error]A brick tenement sits beside older wooden buildings in New York’s Five Points (New York Public Library)

Felix didn’t have to go far in the Five Points to find fellow Kerry emigrants. Kerry and Cork dominated among the Irish there, and included a sizable number of former Landsdowne tenants from around Kenmare. But unlike many of his countymen, Felix’s transatlantic adventure had not begun in New York. He was a step migrant, having only arrived from Canada as the 1860s dawned. Prior to that, Felix and Mary had been part of the significant Irish community based in Hamilton, Canada West (now Ontario). It was there that they had married in 1857, and it was there that they had celebrated the birth of their first daughter in 1858. Their decision to move to Manhattan was probably influenced by community as much as economy. Perhaps they were among those Landsdowne immigrants who in the 1850s had been forced to sail via Quebec rather than go direct to New York. Whatever the truth of it, they knew a number of people in New York who had been with them in Hamilton, and who moved with them at the same time. They included Felix’s mother Mary; his best friend who had lived near him “in Ireland and in Canada” and who had “stood up” for him at his wedding (also Felix McCarthy, though no relation); and Abbie Shay, who had helped to guide Mary through the birth of her first child. (3)

Following Felix’s death in 1862, Mary took their surviving child to Pittsburgh, but it wasn’t long before both were back in Manhattan. As well as her older connections, she had made new bonds there, among them some others who had lost loved ones in the 51st New York. Nonetheless, times were hard for a widowed woman. In the late 1860s Mary complained that difficulties in transferring her pension had left here in a “very distressful case for want of money”, particularly, as she revealed, as “i cannot get no work”. She managed to make it through, and continued to claim the pension paid for in blood at New Bern until her own death in 1907. (4)

[image error]The Marriage Certificate of John MCarthy and Catharine Aherne. John, from Cork, died of disease in the 51st New York in early 1862. Catharine and Felix’s widow Mary McCarthy became friends (NARA)

Whereas Felix McCarthy had step-migrated to New York, Robert Smith had lived there his entire life. Nevertheless, he was every bit a part of the Kerry diaspora. His father William had left his native Dingle, Co. Kerry for a new start in America at the beginning of the 1830s. By the time the war came along he had gone some way to making good on the American dream. William and his wife Ann had welcomed all their children in New York: Ann, Robert, Richard, Eliza and Rachel. Despite the tough economic climate after the Panic of 1857, times seemed good. By the age of 50, in 1860, the shoemaker had amassed a personal estate worth $1000, and was making his home at 85 Portland Avenue in Brooklyn. He was even earning enough to employ a live-in servant for his family, 25-year-old Irish woman Bridget Welsh. (5)

William’s two boys were still living at home when war began. Both Robert and Richard seemed to be on the path towards fulfilling the Irish American goal of inter-generational improvement. Richard was holding down a position as a clerk, while Robert had recently graduated from a carver to an engraver. While the family maintained strong ties to Kerry- many of their direct family still lived in Ireland, and their home would have been a regular stop off point for recently arrived relatives-young Robert also celebrated his American identity, and appears to have been every inch the “Irish American”. In 1859, at the Thirty-First Annual Fair of the American Institute of New York City, he was awarded a diploma for his efforts in carving baseball insignia, the quintissential American sport. He had also become an active member of the 13th New York State Militia, based in Brooklyn, a military apprenticeship that helped him secure his post as First Sergeant in the 51st. Had he survived New Bern and some of the engagements which followed, he would rightly have expected to continue his upward trajectory by rising into the regiment’s officer class. (6)

[image error]Notice for 13th New York State Militia members to meet from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 19th July 1859. Robert Smith was a member of Company B of this formation (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

The Smith family’s relative success sat in stark contrast to the experiences of Felix McCarthy, but ultimately their story provides a cautionary tale of how quickly emigrant gains could be lost. By 1870, the Census no longer recorded William Smith as a shoemaker, but as a 60-year-old laborer. Apart from suffering the death of their eldest son, it appears that the 1860s may also have forced William and Ann to endure the failure of an enterprise they had built across more than three decades. It is possible that downfall is tied to a City Court of Brooklyn Summons issued against one “William J. Smith” in 1868, which brought notice of a complainants claim that $187.20 was owed as part of a contract dispute. (7)

Robert Smith had come from a family that had built its way into American life across almost three decades. In 1861, his life experiences and future prospects appeared significantly brighter than those of our final soldier, John Kavanagh. This was despite the fact the young boy who fell beside him at New Bern was his Irish first cousin. It is with John’s story- whose fortunes sat somewhere between those of Felix McCarthy and Robert Smith- that the greatest insight into the Kerry diaspora are revealed.

[image error]Brooklyn in the 1880s. The city was central to the story of the Smiths and Kavanaghs of Dingle (Library of Congress)

John Kavanagh’s story began on 17th April 1845 just outside Dingle in Co. Kerry. That morning, 18-year-old Emily Smith set out from her home on the most momentous journey of her young life. Emily had been living with her older brother since her father’s death, but she was about to strike out on her own. With her 13-year-old sister Jenny and 18-year-old friend Sarah Ann in tow, she headed for the altar of the parish church in Ventry, some three miles away. Waiting there for her- along with Reverend Thomas Moriarty-was John Kavanagh, her future husband, and the man who would become the father of a soldier son. After their wedding ceremony and the celebrations that followed, the young couple moved into John’s home to begin their married life. Emily’s sister Jenny joined them there two-days later. She stayed with them for more than a year, as John and Emily started a family. Across the five years that followed they would welcome three sons: John Junior, Joseph and James. They were not easy times. It was to be their misfortune that the happy occasion of their union had come in a year that would be remembered by all for very different reasons. As the newlyweds got used to each other’s company in the Autumn of 1845, reports began to mark the arrival on Ireland’s shores of Phytophthora infestans– the long struggle of the Great Famine lay ahead. (8)

John and Emily Kavanagh were in a better position that many during the Famine. Though they were far from wealthy, they had some means, enough, at least, to save themselves from the Workhouse. Nevertheless, as work and opportunities dried up their situation grew increasingly desperate. So it was that around the year 1849 they took the decision to emigrate. But their funds couldn’t stretch to a passage for five. Like so many other families, they would have to seperate. John would blaze the trail, seeking to earn enough money in the New World to quickly send for his wife and children. But at least John wasn’t travelling into the unknown. When he left, he did so with the New York City address of his Dingle cousin Mary Ann Sullivan tucked into his pocket. Emily also told him to be sure and call on her older brother William- then plying his trade as a shoemaker in Brooklyn. (9)

[image error]Ventry as it appears today (Bjørn Christian Tørrissen)

When John Kavanagh Senior landed in New York he made straight for Mary Ann Sullivan’s home. Apart from being a welcome-face, John could help supplement his cousin’s income as a boarder. This was particularly welcome in 1849, given the fact that Mary Ann was expecting another child. Her eldest son Thomas would later recall how John talked about his wife and three children back in Kerry around their New York dinner table. Looking to make money as fast he could, John took a position at the docks, where there was always demand for laboring men. Many of them were set to work unloading vessels laden down with “white gold” from the South, the slave-picked cotton that was such an important part of the New York economy. On the morning of 17th April 1850, John was told to make for Pier No. 5, where the ship Universe lay awaiting his attentions. As he and his workmates sweated over the heavy cotton bales, one of them broke loose, and made straight for John. It smashed directly into his head, striking him “with so much force as to knock him down and kill him”. (10)

Young Thomas Sullivan and his father had to go to the dead house to see to his cousin John’s body. Mary Ann was unable to attend, as she was suffering from “sickness”, having giving birth to her baby just seven days earlier. While they attended the funeral, Thomas and his father couldn’t accompany the body to its final resting place, as it took place over the river in Williamsburgh. Perhaps this was an arrangement attended to by John’s Smith in-laws in Brooklyn. (11)

[image error]The Evening Post marine list for the 22nd April 1850, recording the departure of the Universe. While in port, her cargo of cotton had killed recent emigrant John Kavanagh (Evening Post)

Back in Kerry, Emily was none the wiser. Indeed, she had recently received a letter from John, telling her he had gathered enough money for her and the children to join him. She and her friend Sarah Ann had pored over this joyous news together, excited by the fact that it was “giving her directions about coming”. Hot on its heels came the next comminique, which told Emily of John’s death. The news undoubtedly rocked her, and thoughts of America had to be put on hold. But hopes of a better life and better prospects were infectious, and with each passing spring fewer and fewer of her friends and family were to be seen around Dingle. In 1851 her sister Jenny and Sarah Ann departed for New York, settling in Brooklyn and New York City respectively. Finally, in 1852, Emily rekindled her plans. She gathered together her three boys, and headed for the emigrant boat. (12)

Though her brother William was steadily improving his lot, Emily’s position as a widow with three young children consigned her to a life on the breadline. Friends and relatives alike agreed the she “was left poor when her husband died and she is still poor”. She went straight to work, earning what she could, and her sons soon followed her. While her sister and brother made their homes in Brooklyn, Emily seems to have spent at least some of her time in New York City, perhaps working as a live-in domestic. In the early 1860s, she had an address at 9 East 14th Street. By then John Junior, a “good, industrious boy” who “always appeared to be glad to aid his mother” had moved in with his uncle William and taken a job as a store clerk on Brooklyn’s Myrtle Avenue. Meanwhile, his brother Joseph went to sea. By the beginning of the 1860s, only James- born around the time his father left Ireland in 1849-remained fully dependent on Emily. (13)

[image error]Emigrants arriving in 1850s New York (Harper’s Weekly)

The coming of the war presented new opportunites for young men, and in September 1861 John Junior threw in his lot with the 51st, mustering in a month ahead of his older cousin. He passed every cent of pay he could spare to his mother, sending her $20 following his first pay muster, and $23 after his second. Then in early 1862, everything fell apart. In February, news arrived at Emily’s door that her second son James had been drowned at sea. She barely had time to digest that catastrophe before word arrived of John Junior’s fate at New Bern, dead alongside her nephew Robert. Aside from the incomprehensible anguish, the harsh practicalities of this double loss would have quickly begun to bite. Emily’s sister Jenny felt sure that “had he lived, [John Junior] would have been a great help to her in affording her a support from his own earnings”. That help was now gone. (14)

[image error]Notice of the funeral arrangements of Robert Smith and John Kavanagh (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

William, Emily and their wider circle of Kerry family and friends were united in loss. But circumstances and their combined means did allow them one comfort, often denied grieving parents during the American Civil War. They were able to send for the bodies of their two boys. The 22nd April 1862 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle carried news of the funeral, to be held at the Smith home in 85 Portland Avenue. From there the remains were conveyed the two and a half miles to Green-Wood Cemetery. The Dingle and Ventry diaspora gathered once more at the graveside. All the brothers, sisters, cousins, in-laws and friends were there; emigrants who had left West Kerry across a period of almost 25-years, together again in shared pain on the other side of the Atlantic. Once the last shovels of earth were placed on the graves, many of them would set themselves the task of recounting elements of Emily’s life, hoping their efforts would secure her a pension. Almost 160 years later, those affidavits, together with those given by others connected to the three New Bern Kerrymen, offer us a unique window into the individual and collective realities of life for the nineteenth century Kerry diaspora in Ireland, Canada and America. (15)

The research and cost-of-running of the Irish American Civil War website is self-financed. If you would like to support the work and upkeep of this site you can do so via my Patreon site for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/irishacw, or by making a one-off donation to the site’s running costs via the “Donate” button in the right-hand sidebar.

(1) Official Records, 51st Roster, Pension Files, Muster Rolls; (2) 1860 Census, Anbinder 2001: 352-4, Pension Files; (3) Pension Files, Anbinder 2001: 64; (4) Pension Files; (5) 1850 Census, 1860 Census, Pension Files; (6) 1850 Census, 1860 Census, Transactions of the American Institute; (7) 1870 Census, Brooklyn Daily Eagle 1 February 1868; (8) Pension Files; (9) Pension Files; (10) Pension Files; (11) Pension Files; (12) Pension Files; (13) Pension Files; (14) Muster Rolls, Pension Files; (15) Brooklyn Daily Eagle 22nd April 1862;

References

Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

51st New York Infantry Roster.

New York Civil War Muster Rolls.

1850 Federal Census.

1860 Federal Census.

Civil War Pension Files.

American Institute of New York 1860. Transactions of the American Institute of the City of New York 1850-60.

Official Records of The War of the Rebellion Series 1, Volume 9. Report of Colonel Edward Ferrero, Fifty-First New York Infantry.

Anbinder, Tyler 2001. Five Points: The 19th-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, And Became The World’s Most Notorious Slum.

“I was forced to leave Ireland, through Famine and starvation”: The Petition of Timothy Sullivan, Liverpool

In May 1913, Cork emigrant Timothy Sullivan approached a Commissioner of Oaths in Liverpool. He wanted the man to write and witness a letter for him. Though he could sign his own name, the 66-year-old was not confident enough to commit a full document to paper, particularly one as important as this. Its intended recipient lay across the Atlantic, and was a man who held the power to grant him an increase in his monthly payments from the United States government. Timothy’s eligiblity for that increase centred around him proving his age, so that was the topic on which he focused. His primary topic surrounded the circumstances of his birth, which occurred during the Great Famine in West Cork:

14 College Lane

Liverpool

May 2nd 5/13

Mr J.L. Devenport

Commissioner

Sir,

I received your letter of Apl 16th I am very sorry to say I cannot answer any of your questions, stated in the letter. All I know, concerning my age and birthplace, is from my parents, whom are dead. I was born in a fishing village called, Argroom [Ardgroom], outward, on the West Coast of Ireland, Barehaven, County Cork. As for dates the peasants of Ireland never kept any, only after large events. I heard my parents, say I was born two weeks before Christmas, the year before the Famine, and it was in 47. I took my dates from 46, thats how I made the error on my application paper. I was forced to leave Ireland, through Famine and starvation at an early age. My father had to give up the few acres of land, he had to pass to U.S. America with his family. We settled in the [area] of Fall River, Bristol county, then a town, and remained there until my parents expired. My father was to poor to buy a bible, until later years, then got a family bible, but there are no records of births or marriages in it, and as for churches the was none then. I have now given you all details I know, hoping they will be sufficient answers to your questions.

I remain Dear Sir,

Yours Respectfully

Timothy Sullivan

[image error]Timothy’s home village of Ardgroom in the 1980s (Andreas F. Borchert)

Timothy claimed to have been born on 11th December 1846, making him 66-years-old, and therefore entitled to an age-related pension increase. As he was unable to provide any formal proof of his age, he was required to state under oath the reasons he could not do so- hence his 1913 letter. Timothy’s response makes for interesting reading, not least because it directly mentions the Famine. Despite the fact that the Famine was the catalyst for many departures from Ireland, it was exceptionally rare for emigrants to ever mention that fact. Timothy’s explanations demonstrate the cloudiness over dates and ages that was common among working-class Irish emigrants in the mid-19th century; one of the reasons behind why their own age estimates often varied so much. Such lack of precision was a consequence of limited literacy, and is typical of illiterate and semi-literate societies. A particularly interesting aspect of Timothy’s letter is his assertion that “as for dates the peasants of Ireland never kept any, only after large events”. Here he is discussing how he calculated his likely birthdate, as his parents had made reference to its proximity to both Christmas and the Famine. There are interesting parallels here with other semi-literate groups, such as enslaved African Americans, who similarly tended to mark time based not on precise dates, but on the occurence of major events.

[image error]Granite Mill No. 2, Fall River, built in 1871. Large numbers of Irish emigrants were attracted to Fall River by the prospect of employment in factories and industries such as these cotton textile mills. (Marc N. Belanger)

The reason Timothy was receiving payments from America was because of his service in the Union Navy during the Civil War. Records from the 1860s show that he was being truthful about his age in 1913. The 1860 Census finds the then 14-year-old in Fall River, living with his parents Daniel and Ellen, grandmother Mary, and siblings Jeremiah, Mary, Denis and Richard. The ages and birthplaces of the children suggest that the family emigrated sometime between 1851 and 1856. On 7th January 1864 Timothy left his home at Fall River’s 49 Ferry Street and made for the North Square Naval Rendezvous in Boston. As he signed on for a 12-month stint in the navy, the recruiter described him as 18-years-old, 5 feet 4 inches tall, with a light complexion, auburn hair and blue eyes. He was sent from there to the receiving ship USS Ohio, before being assigned to the USS Pequot on 15th January, where he would serve his time.

[image error]USS Pequot, the vessel on which Timothy served (Naval History & Heritage Command)

Timothy and his mates aboard the Pequot sailed from Boston in February to take up post as part of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In March they captured the British blockade runner Don off the coast of North Carolina, and later were engaged at the First and Second Battles of Fort Fisher. Timothy had not been a sailor before he signed up-he entered as a Landsman- but after his departure from the service in 1865, the sea was to remain central to his life. He returned home to Fall River until 1867, before moving on to Providence, Rhode Island, where he resided for the next six years. His work appears to have revolved around the water; during the early 1870s he spent 18 months crewing vessels that operated along the North Atlantic coast. Following a short stint in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, Timothy left America for good in 1875. He worked on boats operating out of Saint John, New Brunswick until the spring of 1883, when he switched his home to Liverpool. For the next 20 years he was a seaman aboard fishing boats that based themselves on Merseyside. He finally retired in 1904, the date when he began to receive his American pension. Timothy had first applied for it in 1903, supporting his claim with a physician’s report that outlined a series of ailments, including “weakness of legs and very bad palpatation of heart” that made him “unfit for a sea faring life or for manual work”.

[image error]George’s Dock, Liverpool in 1897 (Liverpool Record Office)

Aside from his pension-and his failing health-another of the mementoes Timothy carried with him from his time at sea was a tattoo. He noted that he had a crucifix on his right forearm, which had been executed by “Stephen QuarterMaster”, one of his shipmates- it is not clear if this was during his Civil War service or afterwards. Despite his long months away from port, he did eventually marry. Even though he had left Ireland when he was a boy, when he finally tied the knot in June 1890 it was an ethnic Irish woman he wed- Susan Carmody. This was typical of ethnic Irish people in Britain and the United States, who invariably married other members of their own community. Timothy and Susan’s only child, Daniel, was born on 10th May 1898, but tragically passed away on 15th July 1900. The early years of the 20th century saw a rift develop between the couple, and by 1908 Susan had left Timothy, and was “living with another man as his wife”. They would never reconcile- indeed Timothy would later claim that Susan’s first husband, Thomas Carmody, was still alive.

[image error]St. George’s Hall, Liverpool in the 1890s (Library of Congress)

Timothy spent most of his time in the early 1900s moving around different boarding houses in Liverpool. Over the years he had addresses at 21 Lonsdale Street, 4 Dimple Hill, 21 Duke Street and 14 College Lane. During the years of the First World War he was residing at 18 Hampton Street, where he was boarding with the widow Mrs. Margaret Guest at a cost of sixpence per week, paid for by his pension. In 1916 he began to suffer from bronchitis, for which he was periodically treated at Toxteth Park. It was this ailment which finally cost him his life. Timothy passed away on 17th December 1918. Informing the pension bureau of his death, Mrs Guest stated that “he has lodged with me for nearly six years and I am very sorry poor old man.” The Irish Famine-era emigrant, Union sailor, and Liverpool seaman was laid to rest at Allerton Cemetery, Merseyside on 21st December 1918.

The research and cost-of-running of the Irish American Civil War website is self-financed. If you would like to support the work and upkeep of this site you can do so via my Patreon site for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/irishacw, or by making a one-off donation to the site’s running costs via the “Donate” button in the right-hand sidebar.

[image error]Allerton Cemetery, where Timothy Sullivan is buried (Sue Adair)

References

U.S. 1860 Federal Census

England Select Marriage Records

Timothy Sullivan Pension File

Ireland’s American Revolution Redcoats, Part 1

As regular readers are aware, I occasionally like to dip back into Irish connections with the American Revolution. Some of the records I have been looking at this weekend relate to Irish veterans of the British Army who went on to receive pensions from the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin. Many of them had seen action during the American War of Independence, so I am starting an occasional series that presents details of those whose discharge documents specifically mention that conflict. Most of these men had enlisted for unlimited service, and had spent many decades in the military–often across multiple continents.

John Grace, Thurles, Tipperary, 17th Dragoons in America

John, a native of Thurles, Co. Tipperary, was born around 1750. A labourer when he enlisted, he would go on to spend 37 years in military service, and later worked as a recruiter during the Napoleonic Wars. By then he had spent 12 years in the 18th Dragoons in Ireland, 3 years in the 20th Foot in the West Indies, and 10 years in the 87th (The Prince of Wales’s Irish) Foot, with whom he fought against Republican France in Flanders and the Netherlands in 1794-5. His American War service came in the 17th Regiment of Dragoons, with whom he spent 12 years. They landed in 1775, and John spent his first 8 months in Boston following the Battle of Bunker Hill. He then moved to Halifax, and participated with the regiment at the Battles of Long Island, White Plains and Fort Washington (all 1776), Forts Clinton and Montgomery (1777), Crooked Billet (1778), and Barren Hill (1778). Some of the regiment were detached to serve in the South with Tarleton’s Legion, with whom they fought at Cowpens (1781). John returned to Ireland with the regiment after 1783. His American service was the most arduous of his career, leading him to suffer from “rheumatism and bilious complaints” in later life.

[image error]John Grace’s discharge (UK National Archives)

John Hamilton, Cork City, 44th Regiment of Foot in America

John was born in Cork City around 1751. He was a weaver before he enlisted in the army, joining the 44th Regiment, which would later be designated the East Essex. Across 19 years in uniform he spent 3 years as a private, 3 as a corporal, and 13 as a sergeant. He was recorded as having “served with great credit in the Light company during the whole of the American War”. John and his comrades in the 44th had landed in Boston in 1775, and fought at the Battle of Long Island (1776), Battle of Brandywine (1777), Battle of Germantown (1777), and the Battle of Monmouth (1778). They moved to Canada in 1780, and cycled back to Ireland in 1786. After leaving the 44th, John played an integral role in the formation of the City of Limerick Militia.

[image error]The Delaware Regiment engage British troops at the Battle of Long Island (Brooklyn) in 1776. John Hamilton from Cork City served there with the 44th Foot (Domenick D’Andrea)

Robert McClune, Cork City, 38th Regiment of Foot in America

Robert was born in Cork City around 1750. He was a labourer when he joined up. He spent a total of 15 years in the army, “eight years of which time he served in America in his majesty’s 38th Regiment during the later war in station of a non-commissioned officer”. When friends offered him some business opportunities back in Cork he obtained his discharge, but would later go on to serve in both the 70th and 65th Regiments of Foot. The 38th, or 1st Staffordshires (as they were known from 1782), had arrived in Boston in 1774. Robert fought with them at Bunker Hill (1775) and at the Brandywine (1777). By 1790, Robert was described as “old and worn out in the service”.

[image error]Birmingham Hill on the Brandywine battlefield. Robert McClune from Cork fought at the Brandywine with the 38th Foot (Damian Shiels)

Henry Stedfast, Bandon, Co. Cork. 16th Regiment of Foot in America

Henry was born in Bandon around 1748, and was a weaver when he enlisted. He crossed the Atlantic with the 16th Foot, who would be known as the 16th (Buckinghamshire) Regiment from 1782. Henry spent 20 years with them, including 9 years as a corporal and 3 as a sergeant. He also spent another 3 years in the 18th Foot. Henry’s time in America was difficult. The 16th were stationed in Florida, where they were headquartered at Pensacola. Though they moved briefly to New York in 1776, they were soon back in what would become the Sunshine State. Henry was next among a detachment who were taken prisoner by the Spanish in 1779 when they captured Baton Rouge. Other portions of the regiment fought at Savannah (1779) and Pensacola (1781). The 16th returned home in 1782. On his discharge, Henry was described as “being worn out by twelve years service in the unwholesome climate of West Florida, and two years and three-quarters confinement while prisoner with the Spaniards at New Orleans, Vera Crua and the Havannah”.

[image error]Discharge of Henry Stedfast from Bandon (UK National Archives)

Henry Weir, Sligo, Co. Sligo, 17th Dragoons in America

Henry served with John Grace in the 17th Dragoons. He had been born in Sligo town around 1747. A labourer when he joined-up, he spent 8 years in the 10th Dragoons and 13 years in the 17th Dragoons–12 of them as a corporal. By the time of his discharge in 1787, it was noted that he had served “twenty-one years, nine of which in America last war and is now discharged being consumptive and worn out in service.”

[image error]Pennsylvania Historical Marker to the 1778 Battle of Crooked Billet, where Henry Weir from Sligo fought with the 17th Dragoons (Dough4872)

Thomas Rielly, Limerick City, 34th Regiment of Foot in America

Thomas was born in St. John’s, Limerick City around 1762. He was barely a teenager when he first enlisted in the 34th, with whom he went on to serve “for seven years and six months during the time of the American War”. The 34th (who became the Cumberland Regiment) were sent to Canada in 1776, and the grenadiers and light companies participated in the Saratoga campaign until their surrender in 1777. The regiment returned home in 1786. Thomas would spend his life in the army. He was active during the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland, when he was “injured in the West”. He was serving with the 4th Royal Veteran Battalion in 1807, and enlisted for the final time in 1819.

[image error]The British surrender to the Americans after the Second Battle of Saratoga, 1777. Some comrades of Thomas Rielly from Limerick were among those captured (John Trumbull)

Thomas Clark, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, 15th Regiment of Foot in America

Thomas was born in Castlerea around 1745. During his service he spent 10 years as a private in the 14th Dragoons, and 13 years as a Sergeant in the 15th Foot (The Yorkshire East Riding Regiment from 1782). With the latter unit he fought at the Battles of Long Island (1776), White Plains (1776), Fort Washington (1776), Brandywine (1777) and possibly Germantown and White Marsh (both 1777). He was “wounded thro’ the right knee on the 11th September 1777 at the Battle of Brandywine”. Though he continued to serve, “always during a march [he] complained of a sever pain in his right knee which often renders him incapable of marching”. Thomas stayed with the 15th as they went to the West Indies, where he was wounded again, struck in the shoulder during the Siege by French troops of Brimstone Hill on Saint Kitts in 1782. He left the army in 1788 as a result of these two wounds.

[image error]Marker remembering the British dead at the Brandywine battlefield. Thomas Clark from Castlrea was wounded in the right knee here (Damian Shiels)

Sylvanus Clark, Ballykelly, Co. Derry, 28th Regiment of Foot in America

Sylvanus was born in Ballykelly around 1750. A labourer when he enlisted, he went on the spend 19 years in the 28th Foot (from 1782 the North Gloucestershire). Deployed to America in 1776, they Sylvanus fought at White Plains (1776), later being sent to the West Indies, where they were engaged at Saint Lucia and Saint Kitts. All in all, he spent 4 years in America and 5 in the West Indies. When he was discharged in 1790, he was described as “rheumatic and worn out in the service and served in America and West Indies during the late war.”

[image error]The British and French fleets engage each other at Saint Kitts in January 1782. Slyvanus Clark from Co. Derry served here with the 28th Foot (National Maritime Museum)

John Guthrie, Coleraine, Co. Derry, 10th Regiment of Foot in America

John was described as being born in “Colerain, Antrim” around 1753. He was a weaver when he enlisted, and served as a grenadier in the 10th, who were there when the Revolution began at Lexington and Concord in 1775. John was among those who charged up Bunker Hill in 1775, and also fought at Long Island (1776), Germantown (177), Monmouth Courthouse, and Rhode Island (both 1778). They returned home in 1778. The regiment became the North Lincoln regiment in 1782. Having been “twice wounded in America during the Rebellion” it was a peacetime incident that ended John’s service. He was discharged in 1784 having lost the use of his left arm as a result of an accident while stationed at Charles Fort, Kinsale, Co. Cork. He had been in the army for 14 years.

[image error]British troops advance during the Battle of Bunker Hill. John Guthrie from Coleraine was among the grenadiers who repeatedly sought to take the American positions (Percy Moran)

Henry Hollaren, Nanee [Nenagh?]. Co. Tipperary, 40th Regiment of Foot in America

Henry was born around 1749. He spent 21 years in the service; 14 years in the 40th Foot, 3 years in the 59th Foot, and 3 years in the 52nd Foot. The 40th (who became the 2nd Somersetshire) deployed to Boston in 1775, and spent some time briefly in Halifax and Georgia in 1776. They fought at the Battles of Long Island (1776), Fort Washington (1776), Princeton (1777), Brandywine (1777), and Germantown (1777). Next deployed to the West Indies, they fought at Saint Lucia (1778). They returned to New York and fought at the Battle of Groton Heights (1781). Henry was wounded at Elizabethtown in America and again at Saint Lucia. He was 41 years-old when discharged, “being twice wounded and worn out”.

The research and cost-of-running of the Irish American Civil War website is self-financed. If you would like to support the work and upkeep of this site you can do so via my Patreon site for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/irishacw, or by making a one-off donation to the site’s running costs via the “Donate” button in the right-hand sidebar.

[image error]A grenadier of the 40th Regiment of Foot, Henry Hollaren’s Regiment, in 1767 (Raymond Smythies)

In Search of the American Civil War Dead of Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin

Over recent months I have been volunteering some of my time to help the Glasnevin Trust locate individuals interred in the cemetery who served in the American Civil War. Readers may recall my previous research into this topic back in 2010 (which you can read here). Since that time I have come across more individuals with Civil War links, the majority of whom came to light through my pension file analysis. In addition, Trust historian Conor Dodd has flagged a number of records that may relate to American service which I have investigated further for them. I am sharing the list as it stands below, which covers all those identified with 19th century American military links. There are still questions to be answered about some of these individuals, and undoubtedly many more to be added. If you feel you can add any details in either respect, please drop me a line!

“Captain Hall”, Blockade Runner

A 10 April 1902 obituary I located in the Freeman’s Journal refers to this native of Mayor Street, Dublin, who was buried in Glasnevin having died at the approximate age of 70. Among his many stated exploits during a long naval career was that he “ran the blockade many times during the American Civil War”.

[image error]The obituary of “Captain Hall” (Freeman’s Journal)

Bannon, Father John, First Missouri Brigade (Confederate)

Known as the “Confederacy’s Fighting Chaplain”, Father Bannon (1829-1913) is buried in the Jesuit section of Glasnevin Cemetery. He had been sent to St. Louis following his ordination, and when war broke out he served as Chaplain to the First Missouri Confederate Brigade. He was captured with his unit following the fall of Vicksburg in 1863. He subsequently returned to Ireland in an attempt to assist in the disruption of Union recruitment efforts on the island.

[image error]Detail of the inscribed cross recording the names of the Jesuits buried in the order’s plot in Glasnevin. ‘P. Joannes Bannon’ can be seen second from bottom. Bannon never returned to America following the war, instead remaining in Ireland and becoming a Jesuit. (Damian Shiels)

Burke, Peter, USS Ranger

Peter enlisted on 13th September 1876 and was discharged on 8th March 1879. He had served as a Petty Officer aboard USS Ranger while she was operating in the Far East. When anchored at Hong Kong in 1878, Peter fell in the act of securing a launch to the ship. This caused him to be hospitalised in Japan and ultimately led to his discharge. He had an address at 6 Botanic Avenue, Drumcondra, but when he died was at 5 Wellesley Place on Russell Street. He was interred in Glasnevin Cemetery in May 1905.

[image error]Peter Burke’s ship, the USS Ranger (All the World’s Fighting Ships)

Byrne, Andrew J., United States Regulars, 65th New York Infantry

Andrew J. Byrne was a fascinating individual; a Civil War soldier, Fenian and author, he was wounded at Malvern Hill and Cedar Creek. You can read the review of his memoirs on the site here. Andrew’s grandson, Seamus Condon, who published Andrew’s memoirs is featured here (he is himself a veteran of the Congo). Andrew is also featured in this post about Fenian mugshots. Andrew worked as a bricklayer in Dublin in his latter years, living at 5 Palmerston Place. He was interred in Glasnevin Cemetery in August 1911.

[image error]The mugshot of Andrew J. Byrne taken following his return to Ireland. He had been arrested as a suspected member of the Fenian Brotherhood (New York Public Library)

Carey, Mary, A Gettysburg Widow

My research did not include Civil War widows buried in Glasnevin this time round, but there are undoubtedly a number of them. As a representative I have added Mary’s details here. As Mary Kennedy she had married Stephen Carey in Glasnevin on 3rd January 1850. Their first daughter Bridget was born in December 1850, their second Mary in October 1852. Stephen enlisted in Company A of the 2nd Delaware Infantry in May 1861, and was killed in action at Gettysburg on 2nd July 1863. When Mary was interred in Glasnevin Cemetery in February 1887, it was recorded that she “had been a soldier’s wife”. Her last address had been 9 Wrenn’s Cottages, South Richmond Street.

[image error]The monument to Stephen Carey’s 2nd Delaware Infantry at Gettysburg (National Park Service)

Clinton, John, 61st Massachusetts Infantry

John was recorded as a 36-year-old barber when he was enrolled at Salem, Massachusetts on 28th November 1864. He served in Company G, and was involved in the assault on Fort Mahone on 2nd April 1865. He was discharged on 16th July 1865. When he returned to Ireland he continued his trade as a barber. His last address before his death was 88 Capel Street; he was interred in Glasnevin Cemetery in February 1894.

[image error]Alfred Waud’s sketch of John Clinton’s Ninth Corps attacking Fort Mahone outside Petersburg, Virginia on 2nd April 1865 (Library of Congress)

Corrigan, Phillip, 16th United States Infantry, 1st Battalion

Phillip enlisted as a 33-year-old laborer from Chicago on the 10th September 1861. He served in Company C and was discharged on 3rd March 1863 as a result of injuries sustained when he took a gunshot wound to the leg. That likely occurred during the Battle of Stones River, Tennessee. After his return to Ireland, Phillip lived at 7 Clonturk Avenue, Druncomdra. He was interred in Glasnevin following his death in December 1900, after which his widow Kate received a pension.

[image error]The United States Regulars Memorial at Stones River National Cemetery, Tennessee, where Phillip Corrigan was most probably wounded (Damian Shiels)

Delmore, Henry, 1st New York Marine Artillery

Henry enlisted on 9th May 1862 and served in Company I. That June he was serving in New Berne, North Carolina, but wasn’t there for long before he contracted malaria. This forced his discharge on 9th February 1863. He was living at 41 Upper Rutland Street at the time of his death, and was buried at Glasnevin in May 1899.

[image error]Henry Delmore’s muster roll abstract (New York State Archives)

Donnelly, Patrick, 22nd United States Infantry

Patrick was born in Carlow. He enlisted as a 21-year-old laborer in New York City on 29th October 1885, and was assigned to Company H of the regiment. He was discharged for disability at Fort Lewis, Colorado on 5th May 1887, having been partially paralysed in both his legs by Typhoid Fever. His last address was 45 Harty Place. Patrick was buried in Glasnevin in March 1904.

[image error]Fort Lewis, Colorado, just before Patrick Donnelly arrived there (Fort Lewis College Center of Southwest Studies)

Dwyer, Hugh Bernard, American Army Pensioner

Identified by Glasnevin Cemetery. Their records indicate that Hugh was an American Army pensioner, but as yet I have not been able to positively tie down his service. He died on 25th April 1904 aged 80-years. He had worked as a chandler. Interestingly, his last address, 5 Wellesly Place, Russell Street, was also the building where Peter Burke who had served aboard USS Ranger lived.

[image error]Hugh and his wife Catherine on the 1901 Census (National Archives of Ireland)

Fitzsimons, John, 10th New York Infantry

The 76-year-old John Fitzsimons who was interred in Glasnevin Cemetery in July 1903 is almost certainly the same John Fitzsimons who last claimed his American military pension in Dublin the previous March. He had enlisted in New York City on 4th March 1864, when he was a 36-year-old cook. Assigned to Company D of the 10th New York Infantry, he was wounded at the Battle of The Wilderness, Virginia on 6 May 1864. He spent much of the next year in hospital, finally being discharged from the service on 29th May 1865. He passed away in the North Union Workhouse.

[image error]National Color of the 10th New York Infantry which they carried into The Wilderness in 1864, where John Fitzsimons was severely wounded (New York State Military Museum)

Hayde, William, 8th United States Infantry

Initially identified by Glasnevin Cemetery, William was recorded as an American Army Pensioner at the time of his death in March 1892. My research indicates that William was born in Co. Wicklow. A laborer, he enlisted at the age of 22 on 6th June 1849 in New York, and was assigned to Company F. He spent his entire service in Texas and was discharged on 6th June 1854. His last address in Dublin was 3 Albion Terrace in Inchicore.

[image error]The register of William Hayde’s enlistment into the United States Army in 1849 (NARA)

Hayes, William Charles, 5th New York Cavalry, 18th New York Cavalry

Identified by Glasnevin, William was recorded as 75-years-old when he was interred there in 1916. My research indicates that William enlisted in the 5th New York Cavalry at the age of 20 on 21st August 1861, becoming a member of Company B. At the time he worked as a clerk. He was promoted to Corporal but was discharged for disability on 3 September 1862. He returned to the service on 23rd June 1863, when he entered Company A of the 18th New York Cavalry as First Sergeant, though he was later reduced to the ranks. He mustered out a Corporal on 27th May 1865.

[image error]William Charles Hayes on the 1911 Irish Census, where he is listed as an American pensioner. He was living on Merrion Road (National Archives of Ireland)

Long, John, American Pensioner

Glasnevin have identified John Long who was interred in the cemetery in August 1914 as an American pensioner. He was 82-years-old and had been living at 21 Benburb Street. I have not been able to narrow down John’s service any further as yet, given the prevalence of John Longs in the American military.

Mahon, James Patrick “The O’Gorman Mahon”, Civil War Adventurer?

The famed O’Gorman Mahon, Member of Parliament, duellist and international traveller, is often referenced as having become involved in the American Civil War (though he was in his 60s at the time). I have never been able to identify anything to corroborate this claim. He passed away in June 1891.

[image error]Caricature of the O’Gorman Mahon from Punch, 1885 (City College of New York)

Mooney, John, United States Marines Corps, USS Saugus

John enlisted in the U.S. Marines on 23rd September 1873 and was discharged for disability on 26th September 1877. John’s injury was caused when he got his knee caught in a hatch on board the Saugus, an accident that permanently impacted his mobility. He was just 44-years-old when he died at Our Lady’s Hospice at 8 Grand Canal Terrace in September 1893. He had previously made his home at 65 Capel Street.

[image error]Crew of the monitor USS Saugus in 1865. John Mooney served aboard her in the 1870s (NARA)

Moran, Thomas, USS Aroostook, USS Bienville

Thomas had enlisted on 27th February 1862 and was discharged on 4th May 1865. He had not been in the United States for long when he joined up, as he had married Mary Noonan in St. Michan’s in the summer of 1859. At the time Thomas had been living at 32 Church Street, Mary at 72 Church Street. A cooper by trade, he was just 48-years-old when he died from Bronchitis in the Mater Hospital at 14 Bolton Street in February 1887. Their home had been 17 Ellis Quay in Dublin.

[image error]Part of the appeal from Mary Moran, Thomas’s widow, as she sought a pension from the American Government (NARA)

Murphy, Patrick, 36th New York Infantry

The 84-year-old labourer interred in Glasnevin in November 1915 having died in the South Union Workhouse is probably the man of the same name and approximate age who had been claiming an American pension in Dublin up to that date. Patrick had enlisted in Company I of the regiment on 9th November 1861. At the time he gave his residence as “no home”. He was wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia on 31st May 1862, and was discharged the following October.

Niland, Hugh, USS North Carolina, USS Commodore Morris, USS Proteus, USS Savannah

Hugh, a cooper, was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in December 1894 having passed away on the North Dublin Union Workhouse. The family lived at 62 Upper Dominick Street. I have written up their fascinating and extensive family story here.

[image error]The death certificate of Hugh Niland, supplied by his widow to the American authorities (NARA)

O’Brien, Michael, 5th New Jersey Light Artillery

The Manchester Martyr Memorial at Glasnevin includes the name of Michael O’Brien, who during the Civil War served with the 5th New Jersey Light Artillery. One of the Irish Republican Brotherhood leaders who he helped to free during the fateful Manchester operation was Thomas Kelly, who had served as an officer in the 10th Ohio Infantry and on the staff of General George Henry Thomas. Michael was buried in England following his execution.

[image error]Detail of the Manchester Martyr Memorial at Glasnevin (Damian Shiels)

O’Brien, James Francis Xavier, Confederate Surgeon

James Francis Xavier O’Brien (1828-1905) was a member of the Fenian Brotherhood and also served as a Member of Parliament for the Irish Parliamentary Party. He was in America at the outbreak of the Civil War, and served briefly as an Assistant Surgeon for the Confederates in New Orleans.

[image error]The birthplace of James Francis Xavier O’Brien in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford (Damian Shiels)

O’Mahony, John, 99th New York State National National Guard Artillery

A founder of the Fenian movement while he was in New York, the famed Limerickman (1816-1877) served as Colonel of the 99th New York National Guard in 1864, guarding Confederate prisoners at Elmira. You can read correspondence from their service at the camp here.

[image error]Fenian leader John O’Mahony as a Colonel of the 99th (American Military Heritage Museum of North Carolina)

O’Shea, Timothy, 1st United States Artillery, 8th United States Cavalry

There is a likelihood that the 56-year-old laborer interred at Glasnevin in May 1899 is the same Timothy O’Shea who was being pensioned in Dublin that year, and who was suffering from muscular atrophy. Timothy’s term of service in the cavalry is yet to be established, but his time in the artillery began on 20th October 1881. During that time the unit was stationed on the west coast, around San Francisco and Fort Canby, Washington. He was discharged from Battery I on 19th October 1886. Timothy’s last address was 29 Upper Tyrone Street.

Ryan, Denis, 6th New York Heavy Artillery, 13th New York Heavy Artillery

Denis was 26-years-old when he enlisted in Buffalo on 12th September 1863. He served in Companies I and D of the 13th New York Heavy Artillery until 1865, transferred to the 6th Heavy Artillery on 18th July 1865 and was mustered out a month later. A cooper by trade in Ireland, his last address was 24 Thomas Davis Street on the Crumlin Road. Denis was buried in Glasnevin in January 1900.

[image error]The 13th New York Heavy Artillery during the Civil War, when Denis Ryan was serving with them (New York State Military Museum)

Todd, John, 5th United States Artillery

The 80-year-old chandler buried in Glasnevin in October 1912 is almost certainly the same John Todd who was receiving an American military pension in Dublin. He was a 32-year-old laborer when he enlisted on 20th August 1864 in New York City. Assigned to Battery D, he served with the Army of the Potomac and was discharged for disability on 15th July 1865. He was living at 3 Charleville Mall when he died.

Walker, William Dillon, Union Army

William Dillon Walker possesses one of the most important American Civil War memorials in Ireland, yet almost nothing is known aof his service. Despite numerous efforts I have not been able to pin down his unit, so any assistance is greatly appreciated! The monument was erected by Walker’s friends and family very shortly after his death in the conflict. It records that he fell at the Battle of The Wilderness on 5th May 1864 “combating for the restoration of the Great Republic of the United States”. The presence of the memorial was being remarked upon in American newspapers as early as 1866. Prior to his service for the Union, William had been a member of the Papal Brigade that served the Pope in 1860 Italy– service for which he was proclaimed a Knight of the Order of St. Sylvester. He was a native of Golden Bridge in Dublin.

[image error]The memorial to William Dillon Walker, killed in action at the Battle of The Wilderness, in Glasnevin Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

Wilson, Louis, 17th New York Veteran Infantry

Louis was 54-years-old when he was interred at Glasnevin in September 1886. A printer, his last address had been 1 William Terrace, Stoney Road, North Strand. He had entered the American Civil War as a 29-year-old on 22nd June 1863, becoming a member of Company E. Fighting in the Western Theater, he was severely wounded at the Battle of Jonesboro outside Atlanta on 1st September 1864. As a result his right leg was amputated. Louis was discharged from the military on 9th June 1965.

[image error]The Battle of Jonesboro, Georgia, where Dublin printer Louis Wilson suffered a wound that cost him his leg (Wikipedia)

There are undoubtedly many more individuals in Glasnevin Cemetery with links to the American Civil War and American military service more generally. If you have any information on them, or details to add on any of those featured here, I am eager to hear from you, so please drop me a line!

The research and cost-of-running of the Irish American Civil War website is self-financed. If you would like to support the work and upkeep of this site you can do so via my Patreon site for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/irishacw, or by making a one-off donation to the site’s running costs via the “Donate” button in the right-hand sidebar.

Podcast Interview: Irish in the American Civil War

I was recently interviewed by David Cummins, who operates The Irish at War podcast (along with The Irish at War twitter and instagram pages) to discuss the Irish in the American Civil War. My chat with David is the most extensive and wide-ranging discussion I have had on the topic in this format. We touched on a multitude of facets of the Irish experience, everything from emigration to Irish American life, motivations for enlistment, battlefield experiences, draft rioting, racism and many, many more. You can listen to the podcast below or via David’s podcast channel (on Soundcloud here and iTunes here). I hope you enjoy it, and be sure and give David’s work a follow!

Irish in the American Civil War with Damian Shiels by The Irish at War

I talk to Damian Shiels about the Irish involvement in the American Civil War

Visualising the Personal Stories of the 1866 U.S. Army Cholera Outbreak

During my research I have repeatedly encountered the consequences of the 1866 Cholera epidemic that swept through the U.S. Army. By the time it was over, the military had suffered almost as many deaths as were experienced in the entire city of New York. Unsurprisingly, this event impacted large numbers of Irish emigrants, and as a result it is the focus of a chapter in my book The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America. Given current events, I decided to take a more in-depth, visual look at the epidemic. The resulting StoryMap is my most extensive to date. It charts the spread of Cholera in 1866, along the way telling the personal stories of many of those affected. These men, women and children were disproportionately immigrants and African-Americans. To access the visualisation, just click here, or on the image below.

[image error]