Damian Shiels's Blog, page 14

Illiterate Female Emigrants Remember their Famine-era Marriages in Ireland

As I have discussed frequently on this site and elsewhere, the Widows and Dependent Pension Files from the American Civil War represent the greatest repository of detailed social information on ordinary nineteenth century Irish people that exists anywhere in the world. In the future, their most important utility will not be what they can tell us about the Irish in the conflict, but what they can reveal about the life of working-class Irish people in both Ireland and among the Irish diaspora. This will be most true for the story of ordinary Irish women, given that they overwhelmingly dominate among the applicants for dependent pensions.

In the latest of a long series of posts that explore and highlight such potential, I am taking a look specifically at what a group of mainly illiterate Irish women had to say about their marriages in Ireland. These accounts are often rich in detail, and can shed light on multiple areas. The small number shared below provide insights into who these women married, where they married, their marriage ceremonies and celebrations, the process of emigration, the hardships endured during transatlantic travel, the prevalence of chain migration and the maintenance of transatlantic contacts.

All the accounts that follow were provided by women who lost a husband or son serving with the 61st New York Infantry. This was not an ethnic-Irish regiment, but like the majority of urban formations in New York City it had a large Irish contingent. In each case, the woman in question was seeking to prove her relationship with the soldier; if a widow, that they were married to them, and if a mother that they had been married to the man’s father, who was no longer in a position to support them through death, disability or abandonment. Each of them faced a slightly different set of challenges and circumstances that informed the type of information they provided, and the additional affidavits they garnered. All of the women featured below were ultimately successful in obtaining a Federal pension.

[image error] Julia Fox’s Mark (NARA)

JULIA FOX

Julia’s husband Francis was killed in action at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia, on 1st June 1862. Julia provided her affidavit on 19th March 1863. As is evident from her mark, she was illiterate.

[She was] married in Longford Ireland by Father Murry on the 1st day of January 1840…she received no marriage certificate or any instrument which could be tendered in proof of her marriage…the Priest who performed the ceremony has long since been dead…the best evidence of her said marriage which she is able to procure is the accompanying affidavits of having the general reputation of being man and wife…she has no minor children…the number of the house and the name of the street in which she now resides is No. 569 3d Avenue New York City.

The reason women such as Julia were providing such detail on their marriages was usually because they did not have any documentation to prove their union in the United States. Some did manage to obtain this evidence during the application process, by sending back to Ireland where (for a fee) copies could often be obtained. In the absence of that, they hoped that their own statements and those of supporting witnesses would suffice. In Julia’s case, two reputable men were able to give statements that confirmed she and Francis had lived as man and wife, which proved sufficient for the Pension Bureau.

[image error] Ellen McCarthy’s Mark (NARA)

MARY CAREY

Mary’s husband James was shot through the thigh in line of battle near Corbin’s Bridge, Virginia on 8th May 1864, dying shortly afterwards in the divisional hospital. The couple had made their home in Albany, but they had been married in Co. Waterford on 7th May 1846. The key evidence in Mary’s case not from her, but from two affiants back in Waterford–a local priest and Mary’s sister. Mary had sought to get proof of her marriage, but it was found not to exist. However, she was greatly aided by the following statement from J. Mullins, Parish Priest of Ballymacart, Co. Waterford, on 31st January 1866:

[The] Register of this Parish was greatly neglected thro’ the services and protracted illness of the Parish Priest who lived here at that time. I havent the slightest doubt of the marriage of the parties, they remained but a short time in this Parish after their marriage, and then emigrated to America.

It was most common for young married couples to emigrate relatively soon after their wedding, suggesting it was often pre-planned. These statements also demonstrate that while Mary was illiterate, this had not prevented her from maintaining contact with home. She was also able to secure a statement from her sister Ellen (also illiterate–see image above), who was still living in Ireland and making her home in Coolroe townland. Ellen gave the following account on 1st February 1866:

I am the sister in law of James Carey late a soldier in the United States Army whom I have heard and believe was killed while serving in the said army…I was present and a bridesmaid at his marriage with my sister Mary McCarthy which took place in or about nineteen years ago in the Priests house at Loskeran in the County of Waterford the Revd Mr Slattery then a Curate of the Old Parish celebrated the marriage ceremony died in or about one year and nine months after the marriage…James Carey and his wife Mary McCarthy…emigrated to America before doing so they had…one son who died on the passage out.

Here we learn that Mary’s marriage had not occurred in church, but in the “Priest’s House”. The lack of church marriages was relatively common in this period, and many such statements reveal that weddings had taken place either in the priest’s house or in the family home. Mary, who had acted as her sister’s bridesmaid, also provided the heartbreaking information that the couple’s only child had not survived the rigours of their journey to America. It appears they were never able to have any more, at least none which survived their infancy.

[image error] Margaret Donnelly’s Mark (NARA)

MARGARET DONNELLY

Margaret’s husband John drowned when he accidentally fell from the boat in which his unit were crossing the Potomac at Alexandria, Virginia on 5th April 1862. She gave her statement on 18th February 1863:

she was married to…John Donnelly at the parish church in Moy, County of Tyrone in Ireland in the month of February A.D. 1849 by Rev Father Michael Coyne…she has never had any certificate of her said marriage, neither is there any record of her said marriage in the United States to her knowledge…she does not recollect the day of the month of February upon which she was married…she lived with the said John as his wife for about two years and a half after they were so married, in the County of Armagh in Ireland, when they moved to the United States…they arrived in the United States on the last day of July 1851, and lived together as man and wife in the City of New York from that time until said John went away to the war in the month of August 1861…she has had five children born of her said marriage, but only two of them are now alive…

It was relatively common for illiterate women not to remember the exact date of their marriage, but they invariably were able to recall the name of the man who had performed the ceremony. As with Mary Carey, Margaret had endured the death of her children, losing three of them in infancy. Her case was substantially strengthened by the supporting affidavits she was able to secure from a number of women who had known her and her husband in Ireland, evidence of the chain migration that was such a feature of Irish life in America. The first statement was from Margaret’s sister, Catherine McKenna, who gave the following account on 19th February 1864:

she is the sister of…Margaret Donnelly…she was well acquainted with the said John Donnelly for several years prior to the time when he was married to the said Margaret, in fact ever since he was a little boy…they were neighbors and went to school together…she was married about one year before the said Margaret and lived away from her father at the time Margaret was married…she received an invitation to come to her father’s to be present at Margaret’s wedding dinner, and went home and was present at that dinner, and the wedding party…she was not present at the Church at the time of the marriage ceremony, when said John and Margaret were married, but she was at her fathers house when they came from the Church and said they had been married and then had what was called Margarets Wedding dinner and party…John and Margaret lived together as man and wife from that time until he went away to the war in the month of August 1861…they lived together as man and wife in Ireland about two and a half years and then came to the United States…that she…came to the United States a few months before…John and Margaret…she saw them often as once a week on an average from the time they came to the United States until said John went away to the war…she has been present when one of their children was born and saw three others of them the next day after they were said to have been born…John and Margaret always spoke of each other and to each other as man and wife and…their marriage was never called in question by their relatives or acquaintance…

[image error] Catherine McKenna’s Mark (NARA)

Catherine’s account is a fascinating one. She notes that she went to school with Margaret’s husband (despite her schooling, Catherine was illiterate), indicating that Margaret and John followed the common Irish trend of wedding another local. Her affidavit indicates that the couple had a celebration at the father of the bride’s home after the ceremony. The couple emigrated relatively soon after their wedding and were chain migrants– Catherine and her husband had already been in America for a number of months. One can imagine the emotional impact the emigration of siblings within such a short space of time must have had on those left behind, particularly Catherine and Margaret’s parents. A further sign of the Armagh/Tyrone support network these women enjoyed in New York is provided in the next affidavit, which was supplied by Ellen Donnelly, who was a cousin of Margaret’s husband:

[she] is a native of the county of Armagh in Ireland…she is well acquainted with Margaret Donnelly widow of John Donnelly…she and said John Donnelly…were first cousins…she has been acquainted with said Margaret Donnelly since childhood and that they were brought up together in the town of Kilmoor [Kilmore] in said county of Armagh up to the time of the marriage of said Margaret to…John Donnelly…she was also acquainted with the said John Donnelly for many years before his marriage…deponent was present and stood up with the said Margaret Donnelly as bridesmaid on the occasion of her marriage…which took place at the Parish Church in Moy county of Tyrone in Ireland in the month of February A.D. 1849…she has been intimately acquainted with the said John Donnelly ever since his marriage with…Margaret Donnelly being a near neighbor of theirs and continued to be up to the time of his enlistment except for the space of three weeks when they were coming out to this country…

[image error] Ellen Donnelly’s Mark (NARA)

In her statement, Ellen identifies the precise location where they all grew up, and reveals that she acted as bridesmaid during the wedding. One wonders how many of the original wedding party ultimately relocated to New York. The extent to which they transposed their community to the United States is evident– Ellen had been a near neighbour of the couple in Ireland, and remained so in New York.

[image error] Bridget Tiernan’s Signature (NARA)

BRIDGET TIERNAN

Bridget’s son Martin was killed in action at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia on 1st June 1862. Her reason for divulging details of her marriage was in an effort to prove her relationship with her son, who had contributed towards her support. She is the only one of the applicants who was able to sign her own name, though notably (as discussed in ) she spelt “Tiernan” rather than the more usual “Teirnan” and she was likely only partially literate. Bridget provided her statement on 22nd September 1862:

her maiden name was Bridget Hanly…she is fifty years of age…she is the widow of Dominick Tiernan…she was married to Dominick Tiernan on or about the 1st day of October 1837 by the Rev Father Thornton then a Catholic Priest in the Parish of Kilgiffin [Kilgefin] County of Roscommon, Ireland…she never had a marriage certificate and has no knowledge of the existance of any record evidence of her marriage…the only evidence she is able to give other than her own affidavit and the fact of her having had three children by the said marriage is the testimony of…witnesses who know her and one of whom knew her husband…her husband has been dead about thirteen years…

Bridget lacked affiants who had been present at her marriage, but she did have access to others who had known her in Ireland. These people did not always have to be close family friends. Bridget was accompanied at the time of her statement by Elizabeth Fleming, who had been Bridget’s landlord when she lived in Co. Roscommon, as she pointed out:

[she] knows of her own knowledge that she is the person she represents herself to be and that the statement made by her is true in all particulars…Bridget Tiernan and her husband Dominick were tenents of hers in Kilgiffin County of Roscommon, Ireland…she knew of her marriage…at the time it occurred….

[image error] Elizabeth Fleming’s Signature (NARA)

This tiny sample of Irish widows and dependent mothers from the 61st New York Infantry provides us with a glimpse into the enormous potential of these applications. That potential is made all the more exciting when we consider the fact that c. 250,000 Irish Americans served in the Northern military during the war, and that as a result thousands of Irish emigrants successfully secured these pensions. One of the great boons of their service is that it indirectly led to the creation of a historical treasure trove–one that now provides us with the potential to unlock unparalleled detail on the lives of ordinary Irish women in the nineteenth century.

If you have enjoyed this and other posts and resources on the website, please consider supporting my work on Patreon. You can do so for as little as $1 per month, and gain access to exclusive content. You can find out more by clicking here or visiting https://www.patreon.com/irishacw. 

References

Widow’s and Dependent Parents Pension Files (NARA). Analysis of these files is only possible thanks to the efforts of the team at the National Archives who worked so hard to make them available for study and analysis.

The post Illiterate Female Emigrants Remember their Famine-era Marriages in Ireland appeared first on Irish in the American Civil War.

Ellsworth’s Zouaves & the Gallant New York Fireman Who Saved the Colors of the 69th

I am delighted to have an opportunity to share another guest post with readers, this time from Meg Groeling. Many of you will know Meg as a regular contributor to the Emerging Civil War blog and as an expert on Elmer Ellsworth and the 11th New York Infantry– a formation that itself contained many Irish. The firemen of the 11th fought alongside the 69th New York State Militia at Bull Run, and one of their number–Jack Wildey–dramatically saved the 69th’s colors. This event quickly became a famous incident in the 69th’s history, and because of that I have long wondered about Wildey’s backstory. In the post below, Meg fills us in on both Captain Wildey’s career and the fascinating regiment in which he served.

[image error] Captain John “Jack” Wildey (Image via Meg Groeling)

Perhaps the 69th New York is today’s favorite Civil War Irish regiment, but it was not always so. In 1861 New York City and the rest of the Union northeast was all gaga over the 11th New York—Colonel Elmer Ellsworth’s Fire Zouaves. Much of this was due to the tour made the previous summer by the U. S. Zouave Cadets, a group of athletic young militiamen from Chicago who performed an entertaining version of the French Zouave drill under the direction of 23-year-old Elmer Ellsworth. The rest of it was due to the general popularity of New York City’s renowned volunteer firefighters. The majority of these men were the sons and grandsons of Irish immigrants.

Although
Ellsworth had less than a drop of Irish blood in his veins, his contribution to
the early war efforts features a unique slice of Irish history. When
Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard attacked Fort Sumter, Ellsworth was in
bed at Willards Hotel in Washington, DC. recovering from a case of measles.
Ellsworth quickly left his sickbed and went to President Lincoln for a letter
of recommendation to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley. Ellsworth
told Lincoln:

I want the New York firemen, for there are no more effective men in the country, and none with whom I can do so much. They are sleeping on a volcano at Washington, and I want men who are ready at any moment to plunge into the thickest of the fight. (1)

[image error] Colonel Elmer Ellsworth (National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.)

Ellsworth based his decision to recruit New York firefighters on several good reasons, coupled with personal experience. He had been instrumental in the choosing and training of three hundred men in Chicago for the Chicago Fire Brigade. He knew that firefighters were trained to work together as a single unit, each doing his duty, and keeping an eye on the men around him. They could respond quickly, obey orders, organize, and execute upon command. Ellsworth believed men with these attributes would make good soldiers. With Greeley’s help and encouragement, Ellsworth immediately placed ads in newspapers and blanketed the city with posters. Two days after arriving in New York, he awarded officer commissions to New York City Fire Company leaders and to former members of the U. S. Zouave Cadets, several of whom had agreed to help him in his endeavor. Then Ellsworth began recruiting in earnest.

In
1861, like all other large cities at the time, New York’s fire department was a
volunteer organization staffed by “b’hoys” from a variety of mostly
Irish backgrounds. They responded when their district’s fire tower sounded an alarm
and ran with the masheen to the site of the fire. The physical exertion
required to run a colossal fire engine through the streets and then pump water,
climb ladders, and pull hoses meant that the volunteers were in already in good
physical shape. Although these rough Irish b’hoys were of varying political
viewpoints and, like many New Yorkers, may have initially felt a Democratic
sympathy toward the South, the attack on Fort Sumter caused New York to fall
firmly in line on the side of the Union. Within three days of his arrival,
Ellsworth had at least 1,200 men signed up for a tour of duty lasting ninety
days. The New York Leader, April 27, 1861, printed a compilation of
Ellsworth’s efforts:

Colonel Ellsworth and his officers have been active in preparing this regiment for service. More work has been done in six days than seemed possible. The men have been mustered into service; the officers elected; the uniforms made, and on Sunday afternoon eleven hundred as efficient and hardy soldiers as ever handled a gun, will start for the scene of rebellion. Col. Ellsworth arrived in this city on Thursday of last week. On Friday he called together a number of the principal men of the department. On Saturday he selected his officers. On Sunday he mustered one thousand men. On Monday he drilled them. On Tuesday inspected them. On Wednesday commenced giving them clothes. On Thursday had them in quarters, and yesterday, (Friday), he was ready and waiting for supplies. Today he will receive them, and to-morrow march through the city escorted by the whole Fire Department on board the steamer Baltic direct for the seat of war. (2)

[image error] New York firefighters in 1857. They were the main recruits into Ellsworth’s unit (Library of Congress)

Among the men chosen by Ellsworth was John “Jack” Wildey, born on March 28, 1823, in New York City’s heavily Irish 8th Ward. The 8th was the heart of Tammany Hall, the political organization that met new immigrants at the docks. America has never had a “comprehensive immigration policy,” but the Democratic politicos under the sway of William Marcy “Boss” Tweed were not about to let that stop them. Tammany men spoke English and Irish dialects, were closely aligned with the Catholic Church, and willingly opened their world to newcomers. Tammany found places for immigrants to live, arranged for food, clothing, medical care, and employment. In exchange, the mostly Irish immigrants pledged loyalty to Tammany Hall. Their votes elected the slates of Democrats who ran New York, the most powerful city in the United States. Tammany Hall counted on the allegiance of generational supporters, and rightly so. By 1861, John Wildey had been a loyal member of Tammany Hall for most of his life.

In 1844, Wildey officially accepted his Tammany-procured job, joining the other volunteer firefighters of Engine Company Number 11. He progressed through the ranks to Chief and was considered to be a charismatic leader. Fire Chief Wildey regularly took fifty of his firemen and “their splendid engine” by steamboat to Boston to participate in a celebration of the Battle of Bunker Hill. This built recognition for not only his company but for the New York Fire Departments in general. Proving his popularity beyond his own engine house, in 1860 Wildey won a closely contested race to the New York area Board of Foreman and Engineers. At the outbreak of the Civil War, John Wildey—almost overnight–raised a company of ninety men, all of whom belonged to the Fire Department. He was elected Captain and immediately offered his men to the 11th Regiment New York Volunteers, the First Fire Zouaves. (3) Ellsworth himself signed Wildey’s enlistment papers.

[image error]William “Boss” Tweed, the most notorious of Tammany Hall’s leaders (Image via Meg Groeling)

New York City supported the federal army amid a tempest of enthusiasm. Every engine house turned into a recruiting station, and in some case, as many as 18-20 men volunteered from a single company. The question was not who was to go, but who was so unfortunate as to be left behind. Wildey, thirty-eight when he brought his men to Ellsworth, was immediately put in command of Company I of the First Regiment. (4) When the Fire Zouaves left New York City, they did so as a 3-month regiment, sworn in on April 20, 1861. On May 7, they were sworn in to serve for the “duration of the war.” (5) Within days, Ellsworth designated Wildey as his aide-de-camp.

Captain John Wildey was with Colonel Ellsworth the night before Ellsworth was shot in Alexandria. The Colonel asked Captain Wildey to come to his tent after 1:00 AM to help him dress for his first mission as a commanding officer. Ellsworth had laid his uniform out on the camp bed. He stood quietly, as if thinking over his choices, and then said to Captain Wildey, “I was thinking in what clothes I shall die.” Wildey laughed and tried to cheer him up with a few joking words, but Ellsworth just shook his head, saying nothing for a moment. Then, smiling, he went to his trunk and opened it. He withdrew an entirely new uniform, tagged and packaged from the tailor. “If I am to be shot tomorrow, and I have a presentment that my blood is immediately required by the country–it is in this suit that I shall die.” Wildey helped him put on the new uniform, and within moments Ellsworth was his usual confident self. Wildey wound the red silk officers’ sash around Ellsworth’s narrow waist. In fact, this was the uniform in which Ellsworth died early the next morning, May 24.

[image error] The death of Colonel Ellsworth at the Marshall House, Alexandria, on 24th May 1861 (Library of Congress)

Unit
cohesion in the 11th was difficult after losing Ellsworth, but leaders like
(acting) Lieutenant Colonel Noah “Pony” Farnham, Major Charles
Loeser, and Captain John Wildey kept the Fire Zouaves together long enough to
make it to the battleground of First Bull Run. The battle was a Union loss, and
the reputation of “Ellsworth’s Zouaves” was initially tarnished by
regular Army officers testifying before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of
the War. It remained thus until recently, as historians such as Lesley J.
Gordon (A Broken Regiment: The 16th Connecticut’s Civil War and “I
Never was a Coward” pamphlet), and Harry Smeltzer (Bull Runnings
blog) have gone back to primary sources to look for another, more accurate,
interpretation. Ellsworth said before he went to New York City that he wanted
the New York firemen because they were men who could go into a fight
immediately. This would prove especially true for Captain Wildey.

[image error] The Muster Roll Abstract for Jack Wildey’s service (New York State Archives)

July
21, 1861, the Battle of First Bull Run was fought. The battle lasted most of
the day, but the Fire Zouaves were only involved in the afternoon attempt to
defend Union batteries on Henry House Hill. Control of the field around the
Henry House switched several times, but ultimately the South held sway. There
was some small fighting in which the guns changed hands, but because the horses
that had pulled them lay dead in their traces, no one could remove the captured
pieces from the field. Finally, by 3:15 PM, after just over an hour of combat,
the Confederate forces took final possession of the Union guns and the 11th New
York, among others, retreated. The 11th did not “run like little girls or
scared rabbits,” but they did not stay in retreat either. Many of them
looked around the battlefield, identified another unit that was still fighting,
and rushed to join in. Wildey joined the fellow Irishmen of the 69th New York,
who were having a bad time of it. Their leader, Colonel Michael Corcoran, had
been captured, yet they fought on. During this last encounter with the
Confederates, Confederate Jeb Stuart’s cavalry took the beautiful green flag
that was held so proudly over Irish heads. Who got it back?

At the fight at Bull Run, when the flag of the glorious Sixty-ninth Regiment was wrested from them by a superior force of the enemy, John Wildey rushed forward at the head of his brave men, and after a bloody contest, in which he killed two men,–one a rebel officer, whose sword he took from him as a trophy,–recaptured the flag, and after marching four miles he restored it to the gallant corps from whom it had been taken. (6)

[image error] On 1st August 1861 the 69th met in their regimental Armory to pass a series resolutions of thanks relating to the Bull Run campaign. The very first one was to Jack Wildey for his actions on the battlefield (Irish American)

Nevertheless, the Federal troops had been demoralizingly routed and, to make things worse, many ninety-day northern militia enlistments were about to expire. The Union needed heroes. As Wildey’s fame spread northward, he became one of those heroes. The gallant captain was called home to New York City, ostensibly to recruit more soldiers. However, Tammany Hall leader William “Boss” Tweed had other ideas. He needed Wildey to represent Tammany in an upcoming city election. Wildey served as one of New York City’s elected coroners—a job created to reward loyal Tammany members—and went from there to Wildey’s other passion—Base Ball. He was president of the New York Mutuals Base Ball team for several years and then became an early baseball commissioner. Wildey’s vote with the National Association of Base Ball Players was the one that pushed the count ahead to create professional baseball.

[image error] Jack Wildey (standing centre in suit) with the New York Mutuals (Image via Meg Groeling)

In
the 1870s, the law finally caught up with “Boss” Tweed and Tammany
Hall. John Wildey was one of the many hundreds called to court to testify as to
the particulars of his employment and the funding of the New York Mutuals.
Tweed spent time in jail, and machine politics took a severe hit in New York
City. Wildey’s association with Tammany prevented him from further employment,
and he gradually sank into poverty and obscurity. Four years before Wildey’s
death, a history of the New York City fire departments concluded their
biographical sketch of him with:

Everyone knows of Jack Wildey of ‘Black Horse Guard’ fame. He was always a great admirer of athletic sports of all kinds, and, although sixty-two years old, he would astonish some of the present generation should they try their strength against him. (7)

Captain John “Jack” Wildey, of New York City’s Engine Company Number 11, of Tammany Hall, and the 11th New York Fire Zouaves died in 1889. His obituary, although short, does not fail to mention that, “… in the Battle of First Bull Run he contributed by his bravery to saving the colors of the Sixty-ninth Regiment from capture by the rebels….” (8)

[image error] The 69th New York State Militia and 11th New York at Bull Run, where Jack Wildey became famous (Currier & Ives)

References

(1) About.com, Col. Elmer Ellsworth Became a Legend and Martyr Early in the Civil War [online version available at http://history1800s.about.com/od/civi....]

(2) 11th Infantry regiment, New York, Civil War Newspaper Clippings. NYS Division of Military and Naval Affairs [online version available at http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/regh... NYSMM

(3) J. Frank Kernan, A. M., Reminiscences of the Old Fire Laddies and Volunteer Fire Departments of New York and Brooklyn Together with a Complete History of the Paid Departments of Both Cities, (New York: M. Crane, 1885), 480. [online version available through https://archive.org/details/reminisce...]

(4) A. E. Costello, Birth of the Bravest: A History of the New York Fire Department from 1609 to 1897. (New York: Tom Doherty Associates, first published in 1887), 287.

(5) Ibid.

(6) New York Herald, July 27, 1861

(7) Frank Kernan, Reminiscences of the Old Fire Laddies and Volunteer Fire Departments of New York and Brooklyn, Together with a Complete History of the Paid Departments of Both Cities, (New York: M. Crane, 1885), 474. [online version available through https://archive.org/details/reminisce...].

(8) Obituary, “John Wildey Died in Poverty,” June 1, 1889, The New York Times.

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Video: The Story of a Donegal Islander in the American Civil War

A couple of weeks ago I began my holidays on beautiful Arranmore Island, off the coast of Co. Donegal. Aside from being a great place to visit, I was also there to meet local historians Seamus Bonner and Patrick Gallagher. We had been corresponding for a long time about a former resident of the island– Paddy Nojeen Gallagher– who had returned to his remote island home following service in the American Civil War. Paddy had fought with the 38th Illinois Infantry, seeing intensive action at Stones River and Chickamauga before experiencing the horrors of Andersonville. He was one of the few of his company to survive. On 30th August I gave a talk to locals on the island about Paddy Nojeen’s remarkable life, which I had reconstructed from primary sources such as his pension file. The talk was live broadcast on YouTube, and you can watch it by clicking here. I had the opportunity after the talk to visit the home where Paddy spent his final years and where he died in 1920, and also his grave in the local cemetery. It was a great event, and I hope you enjoy the video!

[image error] The house in Torries where Paddy Nojeen Gallagher lived in after he returned to Arranmore Island, and where he died in 1920 (Damian Shiels)



[image error] The grave of American Civil War veteran Paddy Nojeen Gallagher on Arranmore Island (Damian Shiels)

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Donegal in the American Civil War Map Launched

I am delighted to formally launch my Donegal in the American Civil War Map. It combines research I have gathered over the past decade together with public contributions I have received over recent weeks, and now amounts to almost 200 entries. This map represents the most detailed attempt to plot American Civil War veterans’ place of origin in Ireland yet attempted. Although an extremely time consuming exercise, I hope that in future I will be able to roll out my research on other counties and make it freely available to readers, and to launch further public appeals for information. In addition, I hope to add to the Donegal map with future discoveries and contributions. The Map now has a dedicated page on the site, so you can check it out and start exploring the entries by clicking here or visiting the “Mapping Donegal Veterans” tab on the site menu.

All of the work undertaken on this map has been conducted in my spare time, and I wish to thank the Irish in the American Civil War Patrons for their ongoing support which is helping to defray some of the costs of both conducting this research and running the website, thereby assisting in maintaining the website’s mission of freely sharing as much original research about the Irish experience of the conflict as possible. If you would like to support this work you can do so for as little $1 per month at https://www.patreon.com/irishacw, where you can also gain access to exclusive content, or you can make a one off donation by clicking here.

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Podcast: Ireland and the Medal of Honor

The latest episode of the Forgotten Irish Podcast explores Irish connections with America’s highest award for gallantry– the Medal of Honor. Since the inception of the Medal during the American Civil War, Irish and Irish American men have been prominent in it’s history. This podcast takes a journey through these Irish connections, from the American Civil War and the wars of the twentieth century through to recent conflicts in places like Afghanistan, telling the stories of a number of the recipients along the way.

You can listen to the new podcast below; The Forgotten Irish Podcast is also available on Soundcloud, iTunes and Spotify so please do follow there and leave a review!

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Appeal: In Search of Donegal Veterans of the American Civil War

As regular readers are aware, I am consistently pointing out that for many Irish counties the American Civil War saw more men fight and die than any other conflict in modern history, including the First World War. One county for whom this is certainly true is Donegal.

A contributing factor to the lack of recognition of the Civil War’s impact in Ireland is the fact that it is so difficult to locate precisely where Civil War veterans were from. In a recent post I brought details of a new project I hope to develop with Ireland Reaching Out, an effort to “crowd-source” the identification of some of these locations. You can find out more about that here. Prior to that, and in an effort to test-out the potential of this initiative, I have been developing an interactive map plotting individuals associated with the American Civil War from one Irish county– Donegal. Currently I have information relating to more than 110 individuals plotted (See Working Screenshot above). This is now the most comprehensive map that has every been produced of American Civil War veterans from any Irish county. The great bulk of information is the product of my own research over the course of the last decade, but I have also been aided in recent days by public contributions, principally from descendants. I aim to make this map live towards the end of this month, to coincide with a talk on the American Civil War on 30 August on Arranmore Island in Co. Donegal. To that end, I wanted to make a final appeal to readers for any details they may have on Donegal men and women, Union or Confederate, who were involved in the conflict.

Many thousands of Donegal people served in the American Civil War, so there should be many more men and women to be included. In order to be incorporated into the map I need the individuals name, their unit of service, and their place of origin within Co. Donegal– just to note, county of origin alone is not sufficient to be included. I would be very appreciate if readers could spread the word far and wide within the Civil War and Irish genealogy communities to see what details may emerge. You can provide details either as a comment to this post, via the email irishamericancivilwar[at]gmail.com, via twitter @irishacw or on the Irish in the American Civil War Facebook page.

As an aside, I am also keen to hear from anyone who may have a place of origin within Donegal for Patrick Summerville Slevin, who was Brevetted a Brigadier-General for his services during the conflict. He is the highest ranking officer for which I have not been able to ascertain a location. His biography is as follows:

Born on 13th April 1815 in Co. Donegal. He became the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 100th Ohio Infantry which was organised in Toledo and mustered into service in September 1862, rising to command the regiment in May 1863. He was honorably discharged from the service on 30th November 1864 following wounds received at Atlanta. When not in the service he worked variously as a lawyer, U.S. Customs collector and a Methodist missionary. Slevin was breveted Brigadier-General of volunteers on 13th March 1865 for faithful and meritorious services. He died on 9th September 1894 in Toledo, Ohio, where he is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery (Section 41, Lot 176).

Thanks to everyone for their help and support!

The post Appeal: In Search of Donegal Veterans of the American Civil War appeared first on Irish in the American Civil War.

John O’Neill & the Fenian Raids into Canada

Historian and author Christopher Klein has recently published When the Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veteran’s Who Fought for Ireland’s Freedom , a book which charts Fenian efforts to advance their aims through attacks on British North America. In this new guest post on the site, Christopher shares some of his research, telling the fascinating story of the Fenian’s main on-field military leader– Monaghan native and Civil War veteran John O’Neill.

Thirteen months after Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, hundreds of Union and Confederate veterans returned to the front lines. With some dressed in Union blues, others in Confederate grays, these former foes did not pick up their guns to reignite the Civil War but to undertake one of the most fantastical missions in military history—to kidnap Canada and ransom it from the British government for Ireland’s independence.

[image error] John O’Neill (Courtesy City of O’Neill, Nebraska)

Entwined by Irish bloodlines, eight hundred
members of the Fenian Brotherhood toting secretly stockpiled rifles and
ammunition crossed the Niagara River from Buffalo, New York, in the early
morning hours of June 1, 1866, and pierced the soil of the British Empire with
three green Fenian battle flags.

As he led the Army of the Irish Republic across Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula, the thirty-two-year-old colonel John O’Neill fulfilled his boyhood dream. “The governing passion of my life apart from my duty to my God is to be at the head of an Irish Army battling against England for Ireland’s rights,” he declared. “For this I live, and for this if necessary I am willing to die.” (1)

Even after taking a Confederate bullet in
defense of the Union, O’Neill never forgot the plight of his homeland. After
the Civil War, he joined the Fenian Brotherhood when he heard of its plan to
attack the British province of Canada, which was directly ruled by London. And
no man would be as consumed by the improbable scheme of holding Canada hostage
as O’Neill.

[image error] A depiction of the 1866 Battle of Ridgeway (Library of Congress)

O’Neill was bred to hate the British. Born in 1838 in the small Ulster parish of Clontibret, (2) O’Neill learned the Irish language and studied the history of his native land and its folk heroes who dared to pick up the sword. “I wept over the speeches of her orators, and asked myself whom of the Irish patriots I would seek to emulate. I decided that eloquence will not do unless it be that which flashes from the cannon’s mouth,” O’Neill recalled of his childhood. (3)

O’Neill’s devoutly republican grandfather
stirred his soul with epic tales of two of Ireland’s most revered rebels with
whom he shared a last name and bloodline. The young boy listened intently to
the story of Hugh O’Neill, the Irish chieftain who in 1595 routed the troops of
Queen Elizabeth I in the hills and bogs not too far from his front door at the
Battle of Clontibret, although his rebellion ended with a devastating defeat in
the 1601 Battle of Kinsale. A generation later, the vanquished chieftain’s nephew,
Owen Roe O’Neill, led another Catholic revolt against English rule.

Beginning in 1845, the young boy watched
his farm and village wilt along with its potato crop. The Great Hunger struck
with particular virulence in south Ulster. Clontibret lost over 17 percent of
its population between 1841 and 1851, and O’Neill was among those forced to
flee to the United States.

After working in a string of jobs, O’Neill
enlisted in the U.S. Cavalry in 1857 and headed west to Utah to serve in a
standoff with Mormon settlers. When the United States turned on itself in 1861,
O’Neill returned east to join the Union Army’s First U.S. Cavalry as a
sergeant. He had a horse shot out from underneath him during the Peninsular
Campaign, and in December 1863 he sustained severe injuries during the siege of
Knoxville as a first lieuten­ant with the Fifth Indiana Cavalry. After being
bypassed—unfairly in his estimation—for a promotion to colonel, the
thin-skinned O’Neill resigned his commission in November 1864 and opened a real
estate and claims office in Nashville, Tennessee.

Even after living upwards of two decades in the United States, O’Neill could neither forgive the British for the unspeakable horrors that he had witnessed as a boy coming of age during the Great Hunger nor forget his grandfather’s soul-stirring tales of ancestors who dared to take up arms against the Crown. Radicalized by his experiences, O’Neill paid his $1 initiation fee and joined the Fenian Brotherhood after learning of its plans to attack Canada. “A firm believer in steel as the cure of Irish grievances, I was attracted to the ranks of the organization for no other reason than it proposed such a remedy,” O’Neill wrote. (4)

At the end
of May 1866, O’Neill received a telegram from General Thomas William Sweeny,
the Fenian Brotherhood’s secretary of war, summoning him to the warfront. He
wavered not a moment in leaving behind his budding business, new wife, and
two-month-old son. When he arrived in Buffalo, O’Neill found himself the right
man in the right place at the right time. With illness and cowardice sidelining
the invasion’s anticipated leaders, O’Neill was the highest-ranking man who
could be found. Only hours before crossing the Niagara River, O’Neill was
chosen as the man to lead the Army of the Irish Republic into Canada.

[image error] Another depiction of the 1866 Battle of Ridgeway (Library of Congress)

Although his
force lacked food, horses, artillery, and even a map, the accidental commander
carried plenty of confidence in his pedigree and ability into Canada. Amazingly,
it took more than 24 hours before the Fenians encountered the first Canadian
defense forces about twenty miles south of Niagara Falls.

From his
perch on a long ridge of limestone three miles north of the village of Ridgeway,
O’Neill watched as the volunteers of the Queen’s Own Rifles marched north at
the head of a column trailed by the Thir­teenth Infantry and the York and
Caledonia Rifle Companies. The enemy force was at least three times the size of
O’Neill’s army. The odds were against the Irish once again.

O’Neill advanced two companies in
skirmishing formation along the ridge. They formed a battle line behind a
temporary breastwork, constructed with pieces harvested from the split-rail
fences that dis­sected the fields parallel to the enemy line and the road to
Fort Erie. As the enemy skirmishers came into view, sharp fire cracked the air.
O’Neill watched as the white puffs of smoke from his forward skirmishers
blossomed, followed a split second later by the reverbera­tion of their
gunshots. Biting into the end of their cartridges, the battle-hardened Irishmen
once again tasted that familiar acrid gunpowder before loading the shot into
their rifles.

Officers with swords raised in the air
shouted orders to fire over the din: “With ball cartridge, load.” With every
gunshot they heard, the inexperienced Canadians instinctively ducked. Although
more than a year removed from the Civil War, the Union and Confederate veterans
were used to the whistle of bullets flying over their heads.

The Canadians, however, maintained a steady
advance to dislodge the Fenians from the thick timber that protected the center
of their line. O’Neill feared that the enemy flanks had become so prolonged
that his men could be enveloped. Knowing that he was outmanned, the Fenian
colonel decided to undertake a risky maneuver, one that could only be tried
with experienced troops. O’Neill ordered his men to slowly fall back a few
hundred yards to coax the Canadian center and form a new line. Believing the
Irish in retreat due to the relatively small size of their force, the Canadians
became bold with their attack. They charged ahead until they found themselves
practically in a valley at the base of the limestone ridge.

With their center uncovered, O’Neill waited
until the Canadians were within one hundred yards. “Charge!” he suddenly
shouted. The Fenians took the Canadians by surprise, unleashing a terrific
volley. They sounded a chorus of wild Irish whoops as they advanced behind a
green flag. Seeing O’Neill on top of a stolen horse, the inexperienced Canadian
commander ordered his men to form a square, a
textbook defensive position against a cavalry attack.

There was no cavalry, however. All the
maneuver did was leave the Canadians exposed to withering fire because the
Fenian infantry had a target on which to focus. A succession of soldiers fell
to the ground with bullet wounds. Officers made futile attempts to rally their
forces until the bugle sounded their retreat. After nearly two hours of
fighting, the Canadians ran for their lives, throwing aside muskets, overcoats,
knapsacks, and anything that could slow them down.

The victory at the Battle of Ridgeway incited joy among the Irish diaspora and in Ireland itself. The Nation in Dublin exulted in the news that “the red flag of England has gone down before the Irish green” and reported that the news “fills our people with tumultuous emotions impossible to describe, impossible to conceal.” (5)

[image error] Cartoon depicting the Battle of Ridgeway (Library of Congress)

Following the battle, O’Neill doubled back
to the Niagara River, prevailed at another firefight through the streets of
Fort Erie, and discovered that American warships had cut the Fenian supply
lines. Reluctantly, the Fenian commander evacuated his troops back to the
United States. Before leaving British soil, however, O’Neill ordered the nearly
two dozen Canadians taken prisoner by the Fenians lined up. The Canadians
feared they were about to face a firing squad. O’Neill, however, proceeded down
the line, greeting each man with a handshake and informing them they were again
free men. He also promised to return to Canada—soon. O’Neill would be a man of
his word.

Hailed as the “Hero of Ridgeway,” O’Neill became one of the most famous Irish-Americans of the post-Civil War era. Few speakers on the Fenian fund-raising circuit proved to be as popular as O’Neill, and he eventually became president of the Fenian Brotherhood in 1868 and put his full effort into attacking Canada again. “Were it not for the almost insane enthusiasm of O’Neill himself, I should consider the affair almost at an end,” British minister to the United States Edward Thornton wrote to Secretary of State Hamilton Fish about the Fenians in August 1869. (6)

O’Neill struck Canada again on May 24, 1870,
as he led several hundred Fenians down a country road in northern Vermont
toward the international boundary. The resulting Battle of Eccles Hill would be
a disaster for the Fenians. As soon as the Irish army crossed into Quebec,
shots rang out from a Canadian home guard stationed on a promontory overlooking
the border. Two Fenians were shot dead, and the rest of O’Neill’s men ran for
cover. As O’Neill tried to rally his men, a U.S. marshal arrested him on the
battlefield for violating American neutrality laws.

The Fenian attack fizzled after making it mere yards into Canada. O’Neill spent months in a Vermont prison until he was pardoned by President Ulysses S. Grant after pledging to never again attack Canada. “That we have been a source of trouble and expense to you for nearly five years I need not tell you,” he wrote in a message to all Canadians, “but your trouble is now at an end.” (7)

[image error] The arrest of John O’Neill at Eccles Hill (Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News)

Perhaps O’Neill actually believed the words
he wrote, but within months his eyes again turned northward. Without the
sanction of the Fenian Brotherhood, which stripped him of the presidency,
O’Neill and three-dozen men attempted an invasion of Manitoba in October 1871.
Not only did the Hero of Ridgeway fail to conquer Canada, this time he failed
to even enter it. O’Neill’s men seized a Canadian customs house and Hudson’s
Bay Company outpost that they thought was a quarter-mile north of the border
between Manitoba and North Dakota. Unbeknownst to the Irishmen, though, the
border had been recently re-surveyed and the two buildings they occupied were actually
three-quarters of a mile south of the border—on American soil.

O’Neill spent the last years of his life planting Irish-American colonies on the plains of Nebraska. (The first of these towns is now named in his honor—O’Neill, Nebraska.) A possible return to Canada, though, seemed to retain a hold on his imagination. He cryptically mandated that one-eighth of the land for each of his colonies be “devoted to the cause of Ireland.” (8) O’Neill would not lead another army into battle, however. He passed away in Omaha, Nebraska, on January 7, 1878.

On his tour of the United States in 1919, Eamon de Valera placed a wreath of roses at O’Neill’s grave inside Omaha’s Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. The Irish rebel leader spoke of O’Neill’s connection to Irish independence. “The Fenian Brotherhood for which General O’Neill fought is the backbone of the Irish republic,” de Valera intoned. “We have vindicated O’Neill by establishing the republic.” (9)

Christopher Klein is the author of four books including When the Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Ireland’s Freedom. Click here to learn more about the book and to purchase copies. For more about the author, visit www.christopherklein.com or follow him on Twitter @historyauthor .

[image error] Chris’s book When the Irish Invaded Canada (click on the link to purchase)

References & Bibliography

(1) Noonan, Gerald R. “General John O’Neill,” Clogher Record 6 (1967): 318.

(2) Thomas Fox, author of the forthcoming John C. O’Neill: The Irish Nationalist and U.S. Army Officer Who Invaded Canada, has recently found evidence that O’Neill was born in 1838, not in 1834 as long thought.

(3) An Phoblacht, January 27, 2000.

(4) O’Neill, John. Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, President of the Fenian Brotherhood: On the Attempt to Invade Canada, May 25th, 1870. New York: John J. Foster, 1870: 3.

(5) Wilson, David A. Thomas D’Arcy McGee. Vol. 2, The Extreme Moderate, 1857-1868. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011: 279.

(6) D’Arcy, William. “The Fenian Movement in the United States, 1858–1886.” Ph.D. diss., Catholic University of America, 1947: 318.

(7) O’Neill, John. Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, President of the Fenian Brotherhood: On the Attempt to Invade Canada, May 25th, 1870. New York: John J. Foster, 1870: 30.

(8) O’Neill, John. Northern Nebraska as a Home for Immigrants. Sioux City, Iowa: Sioux City Times Print, 1875: 4.

(9) Omaha World Herald, October 29, 1919.

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Volunteers Wanted: Identifying the Origins of Irish Veterans of the American Civil War

I recently had a conversation with Mike Feerick, the founder of the Irish Diaspora website Ireland Reaching Out. An Irish-based charity, it has 120,000 members worldwide, and provides a free service helping the Irish Diaspora aboard to connect with their parishes/local communities of origin in Ireland. Mike (like myself) was born abroad, but grew up in Ireland with a fascination about the Irish who emigrated–and also a keen interest in those who fought in the American Civil War.

Mike and I discussed a project which I wanted to share with readers, and to canvass potential interest in being involved. Ireland Reaching Out is hoping to set up a team of volunteers that will seek to identify the parishes of Irish origin for Irish veterans of the Civil War. It is hoped that it will provide a means of highlighting their participation, as well as promoting awareness of what they did among their relatives and descendants in Ireland. 

As Mike explains, by profiling Irish participants in the Civil War through the “Chronicles” section of the Ireland Reaching Out website, this free genealogical record can be built upon by volunteers in both America and Ireland – with the latter in a position to connect and profile veterans’ families and descendants on the island. For the full story to be told, the narrative from both countries has to be uncovered.

Ireland Reaching Out are proposing to create a steering committee for the project and are looking for volunteers. Ireland Reaching Out is an Irish government funded project with a full-time staff of five dedicated to developing programmes celebrating the lives of Irish people and those of Irish heritage abroad.If you think you might be interested in coming on board, please email info@irelandxo.com and they will be in contact.

I think this has the potential to be a really exciting project, and would be interested to hear reader’s thoughts. Please do contact Mike and his team if you think you would be interested in becoming involved– and feel free to share word of this far and wide!

The post Volunteers Wanted: Identifying the Origins of Irish Veterans of the American Civil War appeared first on Irish in the American Civil War.

Podcast: Ireland’s First World War American War Brides

In 1917 more than 6,000 American sailors arrived in Ireland, the first United States troops deployed to front line service during the First World War. From a social perspective, all was not plain sailing. This podcast tells the story of the fiery clashes that took place between locals and the American Tars, and delves into the personal experiences of the many local Irish women who wed Yank sailors. It explores who these women were, and the hardships many of them faced before they could begin their new lives across the Atlantic.

You can listen to the new podcast below; The Forgotten Irish Podcast is also available on Soundcloud, iTunes and Spotify so please do follow there and leave a review!

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John Joseph Coppinger: The Irish Letter that Launched An Illustrious American Career

I recently came across a series of 1861 letters written between three notable members of nineteenth century Irish America. The authors were the Archbishop of New York, “Dagger” John Hughes; Father Bernard O’Reilly, who had served as the 69th New York State Militia’s Chaplain at Bull Run; and a young Irish veteran of the Italian wars, in search of a new career in America. These letters–and the background to their fascinating story–are detailed below.

In September of 1861 John Joseph Coppinger landed in the United States. The Midleton native, who hailed from one of the most prominent Catholic families in Co. Cork, was fresh from active service with the Irish Battalion during the 1860 Papal War. Unlike the majority of his fellow Irish immigrants, Coppinger knew precisely where his future lay when he stepped off the boat. He was one of a number of former Papal officers who had spotted opportunity with the coming of the American Civil War (read more about them by clicking here). The rapidly expanding United States Army was desperate for experienced men, and was willing to offer permanent regular commissions in order to obtain them. For ambitious young men like Coppinger, this was a godsend. When he arrived in America, it was in the expectation that his much-needed combat experience would bring him just such a position, and with it an opportunity to carve out a career. So it was little surprise to the newly arrived Corkman when on 30th September 1861 he was commissioned as a Captain in the 14th United States Infantry. It sparked a career that would end 37 years later, at the rank of Major-General of Volunteers, and in command of the IV Corps during the Spanish American War. Following his death on 4th November 1909, John Joseph Coppinger was interred in a prominent position in Arlington National Cemetery. For those of you interested in a detailed account of Coppinger’s career, you can read my piece on him over at my Midleton Heritage site by clicking here.

[image error] John Joseph Coppinger pictured during the American Civil War while serving on the staff of General Torbert (Library of Congress)

What is fascinating about this series of letters is that they reveal the moment when Coppinger decided to embark on an American military career. They also provide pointers as to how he went about securing his commission. I have reproduced each of them chronologically below. The first letter in the sequence reveals how Coppinger decided to broach the topic of service in the United States. His first port of call was not with America, but rather was a letter directed to the Ecole Libre de l’Immaculée-Conception a Paris Vaugirard, the Jesuit College of the Immaculate Conception in Paris. In the late summer of 1861 one of the residents there was Father Bernard O’Reilly. Born in Mayo in 1820, O’Reilly had emigrated to Canada at sixteen. Ordained in Quebec in 1843, he had ministered to Famine victims stricken by disease in 1847, before becoming a Jesuit and moving to New York and St. John’s College in Fordham. When war came in 1861 he had served as chaplain for the 69th New York State Militia during the Bull Run campaign, leaving for Europe shortly after his duties at the front had ended. On 27th August 1861, Father O’Reilly sat down to compose the following, which was clearly a response to a letter sent to him by John Joseph Coppinger in Midleton:

Paris, 27th August 1861

My dear Sir,

I have just received your note of the 22d with Father Ryan’s letter, and without losing a moment, I hasten to comply with your request.

I am most confident that the President of the U.S., together with General Scott, will gladly avail himself of services so valuable as yours.

As the fear you express of having to quit the service at the end of three months, this is now out of the question, – no regiment being mustered into the U.S. service for less than three years.

Sure I am that an officer of your tried worth will be gladly accepted in the regular army for ever.

I enclose a letter to the man of all others the most able, and, in the present circumstances, the most anxious to secure to our beloved Country, the efficient aid of of Irish valor and experience, the Most Reverend the Archbishop of New York. He is revered by the President, the Secretary of State, and General Scott, and what man can do for you, he will do–

I add, moreover, a letter to Mr Secretary Seward himself– Nor am I without a hope that my poor name may also serve you in Washington.

You will find in New York Captain Meagher, Judge Daly and others, who will be delighted to see you, and promote the object of your visit to America.

Meanwhile, wishing you every success in your patriotic mission to my adopted country, I remain,

My dear Sir,

your Obedt Servt in Christ

B. O’Reilly S.J.

[image error] The letter Father Bernard O’Reilly wrote from Paris back to John Joseph Coppinger in Midleton. The priest was fresh from the front, where he had served as the Chaplain to the 69th New York State Militia at First Bull Run (NARA)

Although we do not have Coppinger’s letter, clearly he had asked Father O’Reilly for his advice on how to secure a position in the American army, and wanted his recommendation to present to the powers that be. It also exposes some of the Midleton man’s concerns. Coppinger did not want to quit his Papal position for the United States if he was only going to secure three-months service, the term which the 69th had served. Father O’Reilly was able to point towards the recruitment of three-year volunteer regiments to allay these fears. In any event, O’Reilly was confident that Coppinger would secure a permanent position in the regulars. He also undertook to intercede on Coppinger’s behalf with Archbishop Hughes of New York. “Dagger John” was the most powerful and influential Catholic in the United States, and played a central role in securing commissions for the Papal officers. The other letter Father O’Reilly committed to write was to the U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward. Coppinger was set on heading to America, and would do so armed with the Jesuit’s reference. Father O’Reilly told the young officer to call on Thomas Francis Meagher, who he had served with in the 69th, and Judge Charles Daly, one of the most prominent Irish American citizens of New York, upon his arrival. Although the priest forgot to include the letter for Seward in his reply to Coppinger, he did give him a letter to take to Archbishop Hughes. It read as follows:

Paris 27th August 1861

Most Reverend and revired Father,

I know you will be glad to hail the arrival in the U.S. of so distinguished and experienced an officer as Captain Coppinger. After having devoted his sword to the cause of Pius the IXth, he is now anxious to use it in support of that cause which is the most holy after the Pontiff’s, the cause of true liberty in America.

We sadly need military men of Captain Coppinger’s tried worth, and I have no doubt, but that he will meet with a hearty welcome not only in New York, but in Washington. I trust too, that your Grace will add your powerful recommendation to the strong claim of his many merits.

If I be permitted to add a word about myself, I shall merely say to my ever kind Father that I trust to be able to return in about four months from the date of this letter. I am now suffering under an attack of Bronchitis which I brought with me from Virginia.

In France, people entertain the strangest notions about our troubles; – it were worse than useless to try to set them right. There are men however who know us well, and judge us most correctly– such as the Editors of the Correspondant, and among them M. Auguste Cochin, Mayor of Paris, whose late article is a very remarkable one– I am to see him tomorrow.

As to local politics, I know of nothing that can either surprise or interest you.

Hoping that our good God will preserve you long, and praying on your people and their venerated Father every choicest Grace. I remain, with the most profound respect,

Your Grace’s devoted Servt and Son

B.O’Reilly S.J.

[image error] I took the opportunity a few years back of visiting John Joseph Coppinger’s grave in Arlington National Cemetery–at a time when I had a bit more hair! (Damian Shiels)

Father O’Reilly had taken the opportunity to fill the Archbishop in on his own intentions, which included returning to the United States after he had recovered from an illness contracted during the Bull Run campaign. The “notions” he referenced was widespread pro-Confederate sentiment that he was encountering in France. John Joseph Coppinger received this letter in Midleton, and then wrote his own covering letter to send on to Archbishop Hughes. This fascinating communication amounts to Coppinger’s “pitch” for a position in the American Army. It is all the more interesting given the illustrious military career it helped to launch. Dated 10th September 1861, it reads as follows:

Midleton County Cork

Ireland

10th September 1861

My Lord ArchBishop

I beg leave respectfully to enclose a letter from the Revd Fr O’Reilly which I regret circumstances deprive me the pleasure of presenting in person much as I should desire to do so.

There being no immediate prospect of active service in Rome I should like to serve in America, yet as accepting a commission in the U.S. Army might lead to my leaving that of his Holiness I should like to know if I could reckon on a lengthened or on a permanent service.

In fact were it possible to obtain promise of a Company before leaving this Country it would be very desirable and greatly facilitate my arranging with the Roman War Office for renewal of leave of absence or otherwise as might be most advisable.

Having held a Commission 5 years in the British Service may be of itself a qualification added to which I take the liberty of enclosing a few lines cut from the appendix of General Lamoricieres official report.

Father O’Reilly mentions a letter to Secty Seward this he forgot to enclose.

I make no allusion to the cause nor to the way so many of our poor Country men have so nobly upheld it, both speak for themselves!

Trusting to your Graces kindness to excuse the liberty I have taken in thus troubling you.

I remain with sincere respect

Your Graces Obedt Servt

John J Coppinger Captn & c

His Grace

The Arch Bishop of New York

John Joseph Coppinger again laid out his hopes for a permanent position in the American Army– he wanted to forge a career. He also wanted to try for a rank similar to that which he had enjoyed in the Papal service, and so requested a Company, which would see him commissioned a Captain. Coppinger decided not to wax lyrical about the cause of Union, but did make reference to the large numbers of his fellow countrymen who had already enlisted to help preserve the United States. Perhaps most fascinating are the Corkman’s efforts to underline his credentials, by citing his service in both the British and Papal military. The cuttings from the official report he alluded to also survive, and are reproduced below. The relevant sections noted Captain Coppinger’s “bravery and coolness” and “courage, coolness and judgement” along with his distinguished efforts in repelling an enemy assault.

[image error] The clippings that John Joseph Coppinger prepared in Midelton, Co. Cork from the Official Report by the commander of the Papal Army, Christophe Léon Louis Juchault de Lamoricière. He sent the clippings to Archbishop John Hughes of New York in the hope of gaining a commission in the American Army (NARA0

The final letter in the sequence was written by Archbishop Hughes himself, for the attention of Secretary of State William H. Seward, one of the most powerful people in America:

New York Sept 26, 1861

My Dear Governor,

I enclose you the proposal of Captain Coppinger to join the Federal Army. That he is a brave and experienced officer is unquestionable. He served five years in the British Army–and through the campaign in Italy under the Papal Government. I enclose the papers addressed to me for your inspection. Should the proper authorities be willing to accept his services, as he proposes, a line from you to that effect will greatly oblige, as ever,

Your devoted fa Servt

+ John Abp of New York

Hon Wm H. Seward

Secretary of State

Washington

As we know, four days later John Joseph Coppinger was commissioned as a Captain in the United States Army. The rest, as they say, is history.

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[image error] The conclusion of the letter John Joseph Coppinger wrote in Midleton to Archbishop Hughes of New York (NARA)

References

Catholic Encyclopaedia

Heitman’s Register and Dictionary of the U.S. Army

John Joseph Coppinger Correspondence

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