Damian Shiels's Blog, page 24

Looking into the Face of a Maimed Irish Soldier

At the close of the American Civil War, a photographer of the Johnson & D’Utassy company paid a visit to De Camp General Hospital on David’s Island in New York Harbor. He was there to capture images of surgical cases then being treated at the site, to preserve a record of the wounds and their treatment for future medical study. The majority of the patients had been hit in the lower extremities, and so were asked to strip as the photographer prepared his equipment. One of those chosen to be ushered in front of the camera was a young man with a lean face and abundant crop of dark hair. When his turn came, he made his way across the wooden floorboards to the blank wall that was to serve as his backdrop, selected so that all focus would be on his form. Facing the apparatus, his hospital shirt was hiked up over his waist to reveal the reason he relied on a thin black cane for support. Deeply pitted and scarred flesh midway up his left thigh betrayed the tell-tale traces of a gunshot wound. Surgical efforts had– at least for now– saved the limb, and were the cause of this image being recorded for posterity. When the cameraman covered his lens, his work done, the dark-haired youth recovered his modesty and limped off into the shrouds of history. Ultimately, his photograph would find its way to the library of the Surgeon General’s Office, preserved with a series of others taken at De Camp. It was recorded simply as “No. 5. Private Thomas Regan, Co. “F”, 2nd Massachusetts Vols.” (1)

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The image of Thomas Regan captured at De Camp General Hospital (Johnson & D’Utassy)

Who was the young man behind this image? Where had he come from, and what was his fate? Thomas Regan was born in Co. Cork around December 1845 or 1846 and was a teenager by the time he emigrated to the United States. He is almost certainly the 13-year-old boy listed as travelling in lower steerage aboard the Ship Underwriter, which arrived in New York from Liverpool on 3rd August 1858. Thomas was the only Regan listed on the manifest, and it seems likely that his passage was remitted to him by other family already in America, possibly his older sisters. Thomas is elusive in his early years, until he made the decision– probably financially motivated– to join the Union cause. In early 1864 he travelled to Chelsea, Massachusetts where he enlisted on the quota of that city. Though he claimed to be 20-years-old, he was at most 18, possibly younger. Prior to becoming a soldier the emigrant had made a living by working as a grocer. His military description bears out much of what we can see in his image, taken a little over a year later. It recorded Thomas as 5 feet 8 inches in height, with a dark complexion, black eyes and black hair (though another description in his file credited him with a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair!). (2)

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Camp of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry at the City Hall in Atlanta, Georgia. Thomas was likely one of those encamped here (Library of Congress)

We can follow Thomas’s military career through his service record. He mustered in on 24th May 1864 at the Draft Rendezvous on Gallops Island in Boston Harbor, receiving an advance payment of $13 of his $100 bounty. From Gallops, Thomas went to join his new regiment in the field. The 2nd Massachusetts were then engaged in the Atlanta Campaign with the Army of the Cumberland, and Thomas joined them that June. The trials of army life soon caused him to fall ill, and he spent July and August 1864 absent sick in hospital. He returned to the 2nd in time for the March to the Sea and the Carolinas Campaign. By March 1865 the 2nd Massachusetts, and Thomas, were in North Carolina as part of the Army of Georgia. It was clear to nearly everyone by then that the war was in its final stages. On the 16th of the month, as William Tecumseh Sherman’s divided forces (the Army of Georgia and Army of the Tennessee) moved towards Goldsboro, the Confederates launched an attack on elements of the Yankee force near Averasborough (or Averasboro). Although the engagement would be overshadowed by the Battle of Bentonville which followed shortly afterwards, it was nonetheless memorable for the 2nd Massachusetts. The unit took just 129 men into the action and lost seven killed and seventeen wounded, at least one fatally. Thomas was one of the most severely hurt. In fact, so badly was he struck that the regimental history initially recorded his injuries as mortal. A little over a month after Averasborough the Rebel Army of Tennessee surrendered, but it came too late to save Thomas Regan– he was now maimed for life. (3)

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Thomas Regan’s 1866 Discharge Certificate (NARA)

The Cork emigrant spent over a year recuperating from his horrific injury, during which time his photograph was recorded to document his recovery. He was finally discharged from the service on 16th April 1866, deemed to be two-thirds disabled. How did he cope? Superficially at least, things initially seemed to go well. We find Thomas on the 1880 Census living on East Tenth Street in Manhattan, working as a printer, and making his home with his older sisters Ellen and Mary, both of whom were seamstresses. A decade later he was living at 541 East Twelfth Street with his sister Ellen when he was enumerated on the 1890 veteran’s schedule, but it would appear that by then things were on a downward spiral for Thomas. On 15th October 1890 the veteran, now in his mid-forties, checked himself in to the Southern Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Veterans at Hampton, Virginia. Down on his luck and apparently suffering from his 1865 wound, he appears to have relied on the Homes for the rest of his life. On 21st September 1904 he was transferred to the Mountain Branch, located in Johnson City, Tennessee. His sister Ellen was still living back in East Twelfth Street, but Thomas was destined never to rejoin her. He died in the Home on 15th January 1906. His cause of death may provide one of the reasons he found himself in the Home– hypertrophic dilatation of the heart, caused by alcoholism. We will never know how major a factor a life lived coping with the physical consequences of his wounds played in his disease, but they must surely have contributed. Today the Cork emigrant’s remains rest in the Mountain Home National Cemetery; but he continues to stare back at us from 1865, when he was just embarking on decades of life as a permanently injured veteran of the American Civil War. (4)

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The grave of Thomas Regan at Mountain Home National Cemetery (Bruce Williams)

(1) Johnson & D’Utassy; (2) Thomas Regan Civil War Service Record, 1900 Federal Census, Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, Chelsea City Council: 149; (3) Thomas Regan Civil War Service Record, Quint 1867: 268-71; (4) 1880 Federal Census, 1890 Veteran’s Schedule, 1900 Federal Census, Southern Branch National Home, Mountain Branch National Home, Find A Grave.

References

United States Federal Census 1880 for Area 324, New York, New York.

United States Federal Census 1900 for District 0008, Chesapeake, Elizabeth County, Virginia.

Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War (1890 Veterans Schedule).

Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York 1820-1987. M237, Roll 186.

Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938, Southern Branch.

Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938, Mountain Branch.

Thomas Regan Civil War Service Record, 2nd Massachusetts Infantry, Company F.

Chelsea City Council 1880. Roll of Honor of the City of Chelsea. A List of the Soldiers and Sailors who Served on the Quota of Chelsea in the Great Civil War for the Preservation of the Union from 1861 to 1865.

Johnson & D’Utassy, n.d. Photographs of surgical cases treated at De Camp General Hospital, Davids’ Island, New York Harbor.

Quint, Alonzo H. 1867. The Record of the Second Massachusetts Infantry, 1861-65. 

Find A Grave Memorial for Thomas Regan.

Filed under: Cork, Massachusetts, New York Tagged: 2nd Massachusetts Infantry, Civil War Photography, Civil War Veterans, Cork Emigrations, Irish American Civil War, Irish in Massachusetts, Irish in New York, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Veterans

Naming Erin Hills: 19th Century Irish Emigrants & the 2017 U.S. Open

Today the eyes of the golfing world are turned to Erin Hills golfcourse in Erin, Washington County, Wisconsin, as the 2017 US Open draws to a conclusion. Though none of the Irish-born golfers remain in contention for the title, there is nonetheless a strong Irish interest in the location of the tournament. As the name implies, Erin is a town with strong links to Ireland, stretching back to some of the first settlers in the county. Given the day that’s in it, I was interested to take a brief look at some of the history behind how Erin got its name.

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Logo of the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, Wisconsin (Wikipedia)

Erin, Wisconsin is so called because of the Irish emigrants who first made their homes there in the 1840s. The 1912 History of Washington County provides some detail:

…the first settlers of this township were Irish– they were Catholics from the Emerald Isle. Michael Lynch on November 27, 1841, was the first one to take up Government land. In the following two years the valleys fairly resounded with the efforts of the Ryans, Quinns, Daleys, Fitzgeralds, Welches, Donohues, Murphys, McCormicks, Gallaghers, McLaughlins and others of distinctly Gaelic lineage to create a home in that most hilly portion of the county. German names among the first settlers are rare exceptions. By 1846 the last patch of arable land was taken. The town was well settled before the first tree was fell in the town of Hartford. Town Erin was incorporated on Jan 16, 1846. On April 6, 1846, the first town meeting was held in the home of Patrick Toland… (1)

True to its Irish links, the town was overwhelmingly Democratic in its early years– so much so that an amusing story was told about the town’s solitary vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860:

…Town Erin was from the very beginning of its existence the stronghold of the Democratic party in Washington county. Until 1859 nobody who was not a Democrat could poll a vote. Lincoln in 1860 was the first one to effect a breach in that solid phalanx. He got one vote. But the election officers thought that it certainly must have been a mistake, and– threw it out. Since then the Republican party slowly gained ground. In the next few elections that solitary Republican vote regularly reappeared. There is the following story to it: An Irishman after landing in New York was taken violently sick, and was taken up and nursed in the home of a compatriot. When he had recovered, he wanted to pay for the shelter and good care he had received, but his benefactor would not take any money, instead, he made his ward promise to vote at the polls no other ticket save the Republican. This Irishman settled in the town, and he kept his promise faithfully. (2)

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Holy Hill Basilica, visible from the Erin Hills course, is an important Catholic shrine in the region that was frequented by the 19th century Irish community in the area (Shoelace414 via Wikipedia)

Why had these Irish communities moved to Wisconsin? The 1840s and 1850s saw large numbers of Irish settlers move west, often seeking to form distinctly Catholic and Irish communities while taking advantage of the significant amounts of land on offer. The eastern Irish press regularly featured descriptions of the opportunities available for farmland in Wisconsin and elsewhere, and New York was even home to a “Wisconsin Emigration Agency” that sought to promote relocation. Readers of newspapers such as the New York Irish-American Weekly were told to “come out west”, with promises there were “fertile fields to greet your brawny arms with cereal plenty, a quiet home, and happy contentment.” Wisconsin was not only being promoted to Irish emigrants in the east, but in Ireland itself. In 1849 the Cork Examiner re-printed the following correspondence, which had originally appeared in the Boston Pilot:

WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

Sir, I propose Wisconsin as a settlement to all Irish emigrants, with or without a capital. I worked there myself during the last year, and up to the first of December, and although fifty-six years of age and not in the habit of doing much labor in the old country, I independently went through all kinds of common labour up to that time practised in that State, together with sawing, ploughing and harrowing, raising and saving all kinds of crops, and found no difficulty in their mode or habit of working any more than if I went from one parish in the old country into the next one. Hire of labourers varies from one dollar and fifty cents to seventy-five cents per day, and found. No labourer will be at a stand for a moment to get work there. Women, girls, and boys, will be employed even before the men. If a person can afford to carry his children there, they will, after the age of seven years, be able to make a living for themselves, together with the advantage of being educated without any interference whatever with their religion. If a labourer commences there without one cent in his possession, he will of his own individual earning, in two years, be able to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land, free from all other charges except a mere trifle to maintain the army, and the dignity of the State. He could additionally purchase a yoke of oxen, a waggon and different other framing utensils, and build a log-house sufficient for any middling man to live in for years, and which would answer for an out-house when it would be found convenient to build a better one. The laboring man will find another way to go ahead, and become immediately happy if he only have sufficient help and pays attention to industry. The farmer will give him a part of his farm to work, for what they call their “shares,” that is, the farmer gives his labourer or a neighbouring labourer twenty, thirty, fifty acres, more or less, of his tillage land to cultivate, providing him with horses or oxen to plough the ground, together with seed and all kinds of implements of husbandry, and a house to reside in…The emigrant will find there [Wisconsin] cows, horses, and hogs, of as good breed, quality and appearance as ever he had or saw in his country. He will find plenty of sheep there but not of that superior quality, that he would find in Ireland when I knew it…The goose, the turkey, the duck, and the hen, will be found there, and the same species of those formerly so well known in Ireland. The settler will recollect that on the moment he makes his purchase he is the undisturbed lord of the soil, henceforth, and for ever, that he need not fear rent, rate, or taxes, bailiffs, drovers or rectors, agents, bribe men, or canters….I have had through life the better chance of knowing the unavoidable necessity, and the incalculable utility of the mechanic, in an agricultural territory,– therefore I invite the smith, the carpenter, the joiner, the boot and shoemaker, the tailors, the mason, the bricklayer, the plasterer, the slater, the painter and glazier…Irish emigrants of every class, I again call upon you to go, as they say in the height of their distress in the old country, “by hook or by crook, or by creeping or crawling,” to Wisconsin, where if you are fortunate enough to go, and that you industriously work and not mispend your earnings for two years, you will have made a property for yourself and children, of which you and your posterity cannot be deprived, as long as the independence of the United States of America holds. (3)

Many of those who gave Erin its name would have been enticed to Wisconsin by such promises of a better life. The naming of the town itself is credited to John Whelan, one of the early settlers who was apparently from the Aran Islands. A review of the 1850 census demonstrates just how Irish this settlement was, with almost 50% of the population Irish-born in 1850; when their American-born children are included it is clear the vast bulk of Erin was Irish-American. (4)

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John Whelan and his family in Erin on the 1850 Census. John is credited with coming up with the name Erin. Like many Irish settlers in the west, the birthplaces of his children demonstrate that he and his wife had first settled in the east (in their case Massachusetts) before moving into the interior of the country (NARA)

The town and surrounding area has maintained a strong Irish and Catholic identity into the 20th and 21st centuries. From a Catholic perspective, many of the pictures from the Erin Hills course feature the dominant visage of the Holy Hill National Shrine in the background, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and has been an important site since the 19th century. The town named many of its streets for places in Ireland, and this together with the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day has seen the Wisconsin settlement make its way into the news in Ireland, for example in the Irish Press in March 1961, when the paper featured some of Erin’s street signs. That the connection with Ireland was well-remembered into the 20th century can be demonstrated by a poem written by Estelle Maher (née Fitzgerald) in 1923. A native of Erin, Estelle was the daughter of one of the area’s first settlers. She penned a poem, entitled “Toast to Town Erin Settlers”, which is reproduced below. The hosting of the 2017 U.S. Open in the town has provided an opportunity for those in Ireland to explore something of the locality’s fascinating history, and longstanding connection stretching across the Atlantic.

TOAST TO TOWN ERIN SETTLERS

A poor but honest people

From far across the sea,

Heard tidings of a new land,

And a world that was to be;

So some of them took passage

On a shop that left their shore,

And the friends they left behind them,

They never saw them more.

 

There’s one small unseen person

On every ship afloat,

And this proved no exception,

Cupid was on the boat.

Some of them had been married

Ere they left the County Cork,

Others were joined in wedlock

In the city of New York.

 

On sailboat, stage and ferry,

They traveled with a will,

Walked many miles through forest

Till they came to Kuhn’s mill.

Here they lived and worked together

Till each a patch had cleared,

And in that tiny clearing,

A log cabin had been reared.

 

Though not of costly splendor,

Though not a palace grand,

‘Twas the faith and hope within them,

Made this seem a magic land.

 

No lord with liveried servants,

No king upon his throne,

Ever felt the deep contentment

Of the settler in his home.

 

When they came to name the township,

They all were of one mind.

Resolved to call it Erin

For the land they left behind.

To one cabin in the forest

Following in the paths they trod,

Came a priest, and here they gathered

For to know and worship God.

 

Here the women brought their children,

As Mary did of old,

To be baptized by Christ’s deciple

And received into the fold.

Soon they felt a church was needed,

For religion they did thirst;

Of the honored saints of Ireland

St. Patrick’s name came first.

 

Here they lived and worked and prospered,

Loyal to home and church and state,

Till rebels fired upon Fort Sumpter–

It’s a well remembered date.

Their country called, they answered,

For they knew that in God’s sight

The could of the black man,

Was just as dear as the white.

 

In the churchyard, across the roadway

Where you see the small flags wave,

Lie the bodies of our heroes,

Who gave their lives, that flag to save.

Some died of a dread sickness,

Ere they heard the cannon’s roar,

In unknown graves they’re sleeping,

Upon the southern shore.

 

Some returned, and took their places,

With wives and children dear,

And lived to tell the story

For many and many a year.

The pioneers have gone to their Redeemer,

Their voices here are stilled;

They lived to see prosperity,

Ambitions attained, and hoped fulfilled.

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Street signs of Erin, Wisconsin, shown in the Irish Press of 22nd March 1961 (Irish Press)

(1) Quickert 1912: 27; (2) Ibid.; (3) New York Irish American, Cork Examiner; (4) 1850 Census; (5) Hartford Times;

References

1850 United States Federal Census, Erin, Washington, Wisconsin.

Hartford Times 31st August 1923. Toast to Town Erin Settlers. Preserved by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

New York Irish American Weekly 11th April 1857. Emigration to the West. 

Cork Examiner 19th November 1849. Wisconsin, United States. 

Quickert, Carl 1912. Washington County Wisconsin Past and Present. Volume 1.

Filed under: Wisconsin Tagged: 2017 US Open, Erin Wisconsin, Irish American Civil War, Irish in Wisconsin, Settlement in the West, US Open Erin Hills, Washington County, Wisconsin Settlers

The International Pension Crisis of 1893

I was very honoured recently to be asked to provide a guest post for the blog of the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum in Washington D.C. The request gave me an opportunity to explore a topic on which I have wanted to write for a long time– the crisis that struck many international Civil War widows and dependent parents in 1893, when the United States Government suspended pension payments to non-residents unless they could provide proof of citizenship for either themselves or their associated serviceman. The majority of these pensioners were elderly, and had little choice but to engage in desperate correspondence to try and have their pensions reinstated. I took a look at the issue with reference to the cases of pensioners in Ireland, France, Switzerland, Sweden, the German States and England. You can read the post on the Clara Barton Museum blog here.

Filed under: General Tagged: Civil War Pensions, Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Museum, Global Civil War, Irish American Civil War, National Archives, Widow's Pension Files

A Milestone for Irish in the American Civil War

The last post represented the 500th on Irish in the American Civil War. I estimate that the site in its totality is now composed of c. 1,000,000 words. I established the site in May 2010, over seven years ago, little imagining where it would lead. The site is now averaging some 10-15,000 views per month, and between 80-100,000 unique visitors per year. Since the early days, I have strived to make the posts both engaging and reliable, adopting a policy of making sure each is appropriately referenced. The aim in this is to make the site a repository that is useful to as wide a range of people as possible. I have also sought to combine the writing on the website with a campaign in Ireland to bring the stories of local emigrants in mid-19th century America to as many locations as I can, and to that end have now delivered dozens of talks around the island in an effort to bring home the American Civil War’s position as the only comparable conflict to World War One in modern Irish history.

The website has led to many opportunities; the chance to lecture abroad in the United States, England and Scotland, speak at conferences, share the story of the Irish in the American Civil War in the media, and to publish on the topic– not only The Irish in the American Civil War and The Forgotten Irish: Irish Emigrant Experiences in America but also a number of papers. Attempting to maintain a website of this scope has brought with it some challenges. Both the website itself and associated activities such as lecturing have a significant cost, not only in terms of free-time but also financially. Operating what is essentially an academic website outside of academia and the access, support and potential sources of funding that brings has proved challenging, as has a commitment to telling the emigrant story in person as widely as possible. I hope in future years to be able to explore the development of the site in conjunction with an institution or association that will allow me to not only ease the financial burden of maintaining and developing the mission of http://www.irishamericancivilwar.com but also to widen its scope with respect to the exploration of the mid-19th century Irish in America. Whatever the future holds, I will be doing my utmost to make sure that there are many more posts to come at Irish in the American Civil War. This site, the people I have met through it, the opportunities it has presented, and most importantly the stories it has allowed me to explore, have become a major part of my life. Thank you to all the readers who continue to visit and form part of the community that make it such a rewarding endeavour.

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The viewing statistics for Irish in the American Civil War since 2010 by country (click to enlarge)

Filed under: Update Tagged: Civil War Blogs, History Blogging, Irish American Civil War, Irish Blogs, Irish Diaspora, Irish emigration, Irish History, Irish Studies

Mexican War Veteran, Civil War Veteran, Indian Officer: An Athlone Man’s Quarter Century on the American Frontier

During the height of the 1880 Presidential Election Campaign, a reporter from the Democratic Cincinnati Daily Enquirer visited the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Veterans in Dayton, Ohio, to find out “What the veterans think about General Hancock.” The legendary former commander of the Army of the Potomac’s Second Corps was the 1880 Democratic Presidential candidate. The majority of the men interviewed were Irish, and unsurprisingly– given the newspapers leanings– were  all strongly pro-Hancock. One of the men the Enquirer spoke to was Francis J. Fox, a native of Athlone, Co. Westmeath. Francis, who in 1880 was approaching his 60th year, had known Winfield Scott Hancock personally, and had a letter from the great man to prove it. Their acquaintance had come years before the Civil War, when the United States had turned its gaze on Mexico. The accessibility of records allow us to trace Francis’s military career, an extended story of service that was far from unique for many career Irish soldiers. That service encompassed almost 25 years of American military efforts in the west, covering two major wars, numerous campaigns, and time as an officer in the first Native-American Union volunteer regiment formed during the Civil War.

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National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Dayton, Ohio (Library of Congress)

The year Francis– who often went by Frank– left Athlone for America is unknown. He makes his appearance in the historical record on 18th October 1845, when he enlisted in the United States Regulars for the first time at Albany, New York. A laborer by trade, he was described as 24-years-old with hazel eyes, black hair and a ruddy complexion. Relatively tall at 5 feet 9 3/4 inches in height, the Irishman began his quarter century association with the military with the 6th United States Infantry, having signed up for a five-year term. (1)

Francis spent his first five years in the army in Company K and F of the 6th U.S. In these early days of service Francis rubbed shoulders with many officers who would subsequently achieve fame; his first Colonel was Zachary Taylor, later hero of the Mexican War and President, and among the junior officers were his later correspondent Winfield Scott Hancock, and future Confederate Generals Lewis Armistead, Richard Garnett, Simon Bolivar Buckner and W.H.T. Walker. It wasn’t long into his service before Francis got his first taste of the west, the region that would dominate his military career. January 1846 found him at Fort Towson, Oklahoma, where he clearly impressed his superiors as a natural-born soldier. By June 1846 he was serving at Fort Smith in Arkansas, but by now he was serving as a Sergeant. The outbreak of the Mexican-American War saw Francis and his comrades move south. By August 1847 they had become fully engaged, fighting at locations such as Contreras, Churubusco and Molino del Rey before the Battle of Chapultepec, where Francis was shot in the left thigh while the regiment stormed the Mexican works. It would be to prove this service and wounding that caused Francis to write to Winfield Scott Hancock all those years later. (2)

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The storming of Chapultepec, where Francis Fox was wounded (Library of Congress)

Francis recovered to return to his unit, and mustered out on 18th October 1850 while on the Oregon Trail at Fort Kearny in Nebraska. Within three months he had returned to what he knew best, rejoining the 6th United States at St. Louis, Missouri on 22nd December, this time mustering into Company E. On this occasion he never advanced beyond the rank of private, and after five years left the army once more at Fort Riley, Kansas. Sometime in the previous years Francis had married, interestingly wedding a fellow Irish emigrant, Mariah. Francis Junior was born in Iowa around 1852, William in Minnesota in 1855, and Mary around 1859 in Kansas Territory. The later 1850s had seen Francis seek to carve out his future in civilian life, but he stayed in the west, the area most familiar to him. He and his family were in Ogden, Kansas in 1860, where Francis worked as a freighter near where he had left the army, an occupation that would have seen him travel widely around the frontier. Aside from his family, Francis also had another Irish emigrant, James Welsh, living with him– another indication of how he retained his Irish identity and connections despite his commitment to the United States. Francis stayed away from the army for five years, until the coming of the American Civil War, when he answered a call that was irresistible for an old soldier. (3)

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Freighting in the Black Hills, a profession followed by Francis Fox in civilian life (Library of Congress)

Francis enlisted as a volunteer in the Union army at Leavenworth, Kansas on 7th August 1861. He ultimately mustered in to Company G of the 10th Kansas Infantry. The 10th spent their early service in Indian Territory, as part of the “Indian Expedition,” aimed first against Cherokees allied with the Confederacy and later Missouri rebels. Francis’s active service with the 10th Kansas proved brief. Over the years he had accumulated a vast amount of experience, both in military and civilian life, in dealing with Native Americans. As a direct result of this, he was offered an opportunity in September 1862 that he couldn’t refuse. (4)

The formation that became known as the 1st Indian Home Guards were raised in Kansas from among Creek and Seminole refugees. The organisation of this fascinating unit began in April 1862, the first officially authorised Native-American Union regiment of the war. They officially mustered into Federal service that May with over 1,000 troops. Though largely composed of Creeks, there were also Seminole and Yuchi companies, with other tribes including Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw also represented in the ranks. Many of the interpreters in the unit were African-Americans who had learnt the native languages. The Indians were allowed to select their own officers, including company Captains. However, in September 1862 the Federal commander in Kansas, General James Gilpatrick Blunt, ordered the First Lieutenants of each company to resign in order to replace them with white officers who could complete the unit paperwork. One of the white men selected to replace one of the unfortunate First Lieutenants was Francis Fox, who on 10th September 1862 took up his new role as an officer in Company E at Fort Scott, Kansas. (5)

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A Native-American soldier in Union uniform during the Civil War (National Park Service)

Before long a 2nd and 3rd Indian Home Guards were formed; the 1st would serve for much of the war as one of the units who made up the Union Indian Brigade. Francis first went into action with his new comrades at the Battle of Newtonia, Missouri on 30th September 1862 and was also engaged at the notable engagement of Prairie Grove, Arkansas that December. Through the following years the 1st spent much of their time serving in Indian Territory, playing a major role in preserving Union interested there. Francis served throughout, although he did not always see eye to eye with his Native American Captain. In March 1865, while stationed at the Tallahassee Mission in the Creek Nation, he put forward charges against Captain No-ko-so-lo-chee claiming that he had been mocking him as he drilled the company. However, within a couple of days the matter had been resolved, with Francis reporting “All is well at the mission. Captain No-ko-so-lo-chee is getting good. I got him to head his company at dress-parade yesterday evening for the first [time]; also to super-intend his roll calls…” A report that Francis wrote of operations that March provide a window into something of his and the 1st Home Guards service at this time:

HEADQUARTERS TALLAHASSEE MISSION, CREEK NATION, March 16, 1865

Col. WILLIAM A. PHILLIPS,

Comdg. Third Brigade, Third Division, Seventh Army Corps:

I have the honor to inform the brigade commander that I have on this instant, at 11 a.m., received intelligence that a band of Osages, supposed to be led by white scoundrels, for the purpose of robbery, to gather up the stock of the nation and drive it off, are now operating in or about Conchanty. Two refugee men, who were on the way to Conchanty Town, about twenty-five miles from here, discovered the marauders encamped about sunset yesterday, the 15th instant, on this bank of the Arkansas, Conchanty being on the other side opposite their camp. The refugee men say that they were much scared when they came in sight of the camp, but they dismounted for a few minutes, lay down and took a good sight, and think there are white men amongst them. The band, altogether, about fifty or sixty strong. The shortest route in pursuit would be this way by the Mission. Pardon the suggestion. I remain your obedient and humble servant,

FRANCIS J. FOX,

First Lieutenant. (6)

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Map of the Battle of Prairie Grove (The Union Indian Brigade in the Civil War)

Francis mustered out with the 1st Indian Home Guards on 31st May 1865. Around the time of his volunteer enlistment in 1861 his wife had given birth to another daughter, Lucy, in Kansas. When Francis came home, he first went back to his life as a freighter around Fort Riley. A year of civilian life  followed, but perhaps unsurprisingly it wasn’t long before the Athlone man was once again drawn towards the military. On 3rd February 1866 Francis, now recorded as 42-years-old, went into Fort Riley and enlisted in Company A of the 13th United States Infantry. He spent the next four years doing what he did best, serving as a soldier on the frontier. His final stint in the military came to a close on 3rd February 1869 at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, when Francis, now in his late 40s, mustered out as a private. (7)

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Depiction of Native-Americans from the History of the Thirteenth Regiment United States Infantry, 1905

Soon after his discharge Francis was living in Ward 7 of Covington, Kentucky. Within months he was a widower, when Mariah died in childbirth in 1870. The baby she gave birth to, Annie, appears to have followed her to the grave at the age of just 2 months. The 1870 Census recorded Francis with his 15-year-old son William and 9-year-old daughter Lucy in Covington. It was apparent the old soldier was finding it hard to make money, finding employment only as a day laborer. He struggled on for a few years, but in 1876, at the age of 56, the Westmeath man presented himself to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Dayton, Ohio. Aside from the gunshot wound he had suffered at Chapultepec, his years of service had also brought on chronic rheumatism. At his admission on 13th April Francis recorded his residence as Covington, Kentucky and noted that he had two boys and two girls still living, with his next-of-kin being William, then living in Sciotoville, Ohio. He was still there four years later when the reporter from the Cincinnati Enquirer came to do his piece on Hancock’s Presidential campaign. Francis was described as “an old, broken-down veteran of the Mexican War, poor and paupered in all but his honor as a man and his glorious record as a soldier.” The reporter somewhat doubtfully claimed that he didn’t inquire as to Francis’s politics, but he was told “the old man never tired of singing Hancock’s praises.” During their meeting, Francis presented the letter he had received from General Hancock penned on 19th May 1870, when the Irishman was seeking a pension. The Enquirer reproduced the correspondence in full:

NEW YORK, MAY 19, 1870

MY DEAR SERGEANT- Your letter of the 16th inst., from Dayton (Ohio) National Home, has been received. I was very glad to here that you were living and that you were at least comfortable, if not prosperous. You recall to my recollection many things of the Mexican War which I had ceased to recollect. Some of the things you quoted I have not forgotten, and especially what you say of Cherubusco. I was young and ambitious, and was proud of being in command of my company, which fell to me when the First Lieutenant and Commander Hendrickson had his elbow-joint shot away at the commencement of the action. The Captain was absent, and I believe I was the junior Second Lieutenant in the regiment, and twenty-three years of age.

My recollection is that you were wounded in one of the later battles– I think Chepultepec. The nature of your wound is not now recalled, but I have a recollection of meeting you in the hospital of our regiment when we were in the City of Mexico while you were being treated for your wound.

I hope you may receive all the advantages you are entitled to for your wound, and yet that it may have ceased to trouble you.

Better than my recollection is the official record as taken from the muster-roll of the time, and here it is:

“Francis Fox, Sergeant Company K, Sixth United States Infantry, enlisted October 18, 1845,” &c. [Here follows the full copy of the record in the General’s own hand.]

I am very truly yours,

W.S. HANCOCK. (8)

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1880 Democratic Campaign Poster for Winfield Scott Hancock (Library of Congress)

Despite the support of old soldiers like Francis Fox, Hancock was defeated in the 1880 election by James Garfield. The following year, on 21st May 1881, Francis died in the Home. The official cause was given as erysipelas (St. Anthony’s Fire), an acute bacterial infection. He was buried in Dayton National Cemetery, where he rests in Plot B2, Grave 7. The records that survive relating to his service allow us to build a partial picture of his life, one of the many ordinary Irishmen who embraced a career in the United States Regular service. The juxtaposition between his early life in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, and his later years of sustained service in the west, where he developed an intimate knowledge of Native-Americans and life on the frontier, could not be more stark. It is this type of juxtaposition that is one of the most fascinating aspects of exploring the emigrant experience in America. (9)

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The grave of Francis J. Fox from Athlone at Dayton National Cemetery (Wade Davis)

(1) Army Register of Enlistments 1845; (2) Byrne 1896, U.S. Returns from Military Posts, Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers; (3) Army Register of Enlistments 1850, 1860 Census; (4) Kansas Adjutant General: 289-91; (5) Rein 2013: 5-8, 12, Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers; (6) Rein 2013: 8, Official Records: 1193; (7) Kansas State Census, Army Register of Enlistments; (8) 1870 Census, U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Cincinnati Enquirer; (9) Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Find A Grave;

References & Further Reading

Army Register of Enlistments 1845, 1850, 1865.

U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedule 1870 fo Kenton, Kentucky.

U.S. Federal Census 1860 for Ogden, Riley, Kansas Territory.

U.S. Federal Census 1870 for Covington Ward 7, Kenton, Kentucky.

Kansas State Census, 1865.

U.S. National Archives. Historical Register of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938.

Official Records of the War of the Rebellion Series 1, Volume 48, Part 1.

The Cincinnati Enquirer 13th August 1880. What the Veterans Think About General Hancock. 

Britton, Wiley 1922. The Union Indian Brigade in the Civil War. 

Byrne, Charles 1896. The Sixth Regiment of Infantry.

Rein, Chris 2013. “The U.S. Army, Indian Agency, and the Path to Assimilation: The First Indian Home Guards in the American Civil War” in Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains 36, Spring 2013.

Kansas Adjutant General 1870.Official military history of Kansas regiments: during the War for the Suppression of the Great Rebellion.

Francis J. Fox Find A Grave Memorial.

Filed under: Kansas, Ohio, Westmeath Tagged: 10th Kansas Infantry, 1st Indian Home Guard, Athlone Emigrants, Creeks in the Civil War, Irish American Civil War, Irish in Kansas, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, United States Regulars

“You damned Yankee sons of bitches…can kiss my arse”: A Less than Loyal Irish Union Soldier in California

The site has previously explored Irish motivations in fighting for the North, as well as the widespread views many had towards Republicans, Abolitionists and African-Americans. Although the evidence is clear that many Irish soldiers were not in favour of emancipation, and were often politically opposed to the “black abolitionists”, the majority nonetheless continued the fight. However, Roscommon native Thomas Martin appears to have had his doubts about the cause for which he fought long before preliminary emancipation. Indeed such was the strength of his anti-Union feelings, and his pro-Southern sentiments, that what is truly remarkable is that he ever entered Federal service in the first place. 

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Route of the “California Column” in which Thomas Martin participated (Starwars1977 via Wikipedia)

Thomas Martin was working as a miner when he enlisted in the Union army at Camp Latham, Los Angeles on 7th December 1861. He was described as 28-years-old and 5 feet 10 inches tall, with blue eyes, light hair and a fair complexion. Thomas became a member of Company C of the 1st California Infantry, composed mainly of men from Amador County. In 1862 he and the majority of the men of the 1st became part of the “California Column”, assigned the task of driving Confederates from New Mexico in 1862. It was during the operations of the Column that Thomas’s sentiments about the Union, the Confederacy, and his fellow soldiers, first came to the fore. (1)

The first incident appears to have occurred at Rattlesnake Springs in May 1862, while the Column was marching towards Tucson (then in New Mexico Territory, later Arizona Territory). For Thomas, it appears that drink loosened his tongue, and made him all too ready to express his true feelings to comrades around him– who for their part don’t appear to have been too fond of the Irishman. At Rattlesnake Springs, Thomas apparently shared with his colleagues that “he wished to God he was where the Secession flag floated, he would be damned quick [to] leave this ‘outfit.'” Thomas, who had apparently got into an argument with one of the other men due to his slowness at making their food, also allegedly declared that “when he got on the edge of the Secession country…he intended to go and fight on that side.” (2)

The very next month, in Tucson, Thomas was at it again. Around the 26th June, when he heard that the troops were going to continue the march to the Rio Grande, the Roscommon man declared that “he wished to God he was there now he would desert and join the rebels.” Lest there be any doubt as to his feelings, he is also said to have shared the view that “he was on the wrong side and damn the black abolition sons of bitches.” Not long afterwards he was confined to the guardhouse for “disrespectful language concerning his commanding officer”, though he must have had some redeeming qualities, as his Captain interceded to request the charges be withdrawn, as “the offense was committed when the man was intoxicated [and is] the first time…that he has been either in that state, or in the guard house…” (3)

For a few months Thomas managed to keep his head down. February 1863 found him in the town of Mesilla on the Rio Grande, where perhaps his proximity to the Southerners stirred up old sentiments. He again allegedly stated that he was “on the wrong side in this war” and apparently called the men of his company and regiment “damned black abolition sons of bitches.” In the words of on his comrades (and in what appears something of an understatement) “I never thought he talked very loyal from the jump.” (4)

Thomas appeared unconcerned about the potential issues that his repeated loose talk may cause him down the line. At El Paso, New Mexico on 24th May 1863 he called Private Thomas Johnson of Company G “a damned Northern son of a bitch” and stated that he “was in a place now where he could express his true sentiments, and that his principles were with Jeff Davis.” Johnson himself gave a detailed account of the encounter:

In the first place I heard him say that he was where he could express his sentiments now without any danger. He said he was coming over on this side no more. I told him that he ought not to talk so after swearing into the service of Uncle Sam– by that he called me a damned Northern son of a bitch, and said he could whip me…he said that his principles were with Jeff Davis. (5)

There seems little doubt that both Johnson and Martin were drunk at this juncture, and Martin also later claimed he didn’t remember anything other than he had been robbed of some money when intoxicated. Far from giving Johnson a whipping, it seems it was Martin who was on the receiving end. According to Johnson, the next morning Martin asked him why he had beaten him up:

He wanted to know what I gave him a whipping for, and I told him because he had come over here and was blowing about the Secessionists over here, and that that was partly the reason I gave him the whipping… (6)

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The Rio Grande in West El Paso (B575 via Wikipedia)

After his litany of ill-advised comments stretching across California, Arizona and New Mexico, things finally came to a head at Franklin, Texas on 26th May 1863, when the Irishman engaged in a blazing row with fellow Company G man Theaphilus Metzger. According to Metzger (whose account may not be reliable):

I called him to one side, and told him that he was not much of a man to go over the river, and call himself Secesh. He denied it. I told him I could prove it. He then rushed into the room and got down his gun… (7)

In his rage, Thomas had charged into the hut to retrieve his gun, going so far as to fix his bayonet. Another witness took up the story:

They [Martin and Metzger] came to the door quarreling. Martin came in, took down his musket and fixed his bayonet, and as he was coming to the door, Metzger remarked at him “you hurrahed for Jeff Davis in El Paso yesterday.” Martin denied it at first, and as he came toward the door he said “I did, and any of you damned Yankee sons of bitches that don’t like it can kiss my arse.” I got up and left the room immediately, Martin was very much excited. (8)

According to another version, Martin had said “I am a Jeff Davis man; and if any of you damned Yankees sons of bitches don’t like it you can go to hell”, while another man remembered he said “that he could whip any one Union son of a bitch there was in the column.” Yet another witness stated that “he rushed into the room and got down a gun and said something about Yankee sons of bitches, and something about Jeff Davis, I could not hear all of it.” As Martin went out the door, Metzger had apparently got a pistol, followed Martin, and fired off his pistol near him. This time, the Irish emigrant soldier had gone too far. Arrested, he was brought up on charges. On 10th June 1863 he faced a court-martial, accused of “expressing sentiments of disloyalty to the Government of the United States.” (9)

Thomas Martin’s court-martial at Franklin, Texas, had (perhaps unsurprisingly) no shortage of witnesses, with at least six of his fellow soldiers testifying against him. As the mornings proceedings wore on, Thomas occasionally asked a number of questions of his own in an effort to defend himself, at one point inquiring of one of the men: “did you ever hear me express sentiments disloyal to the Union when I was sober.” By the time all the evidence had been heard at 1.10pm things were looking bleak. The officers decided to take a recess, which developed into an adjournment until the following day. The court-martial never reconvened. The following reason was recorded: “the prisoner Martin, having, during, the recess, made his escape from the Guard.” (10)

Thomas Martin seems to have run out of Franklin, and the Union Army, and become lost to history (if any readers know any more of his story I would love to hear from you!). Did he join up with the Southern cause, or was he more concerned with leaving the hardships of military life behind? The harsh realities of campaigning in the west, along with the dual threats posed by both Confederates and Cochise’s Apaches, no doubt had a bearing on Thomas’s dislike for service. But he appears to have made too many statements on the matter not to have had deep-lying sympathies for the Southern cause. Without knowing more with respect to his background, such as when and where he emigrated to, we are unlikely to uncover what led him to that mindset, though it seems probable he had affinity for and possibly links with southern California’s pro-secessionist movement. What we can say with certainty is that Thomas Martin was definitely not one of the many Irishmen who donned Union blue armed with the ideological comfort that he was fighting to save his country.

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Californian Bear Flag. Originally a symbol of the Republic, bear flags were flown by some Californian supporters of Secession in the early part of the war (Wikipedia)

(1) Thomas Martin Service Record; (2) Ibid.; (3) Ibid.; (4) Ibid.; (5) Ibid.; (6) Ibid.; (7) Ibid.; (8) Ibid.; (9) Ibid.; (10) Ibid.;

References

Service Record of Thomas Martin, Company C, 1st California Volunteer Infantry.

Filed under: California, Roscommon Tagged: 1st California Infantry, California Column, California Secession, Cochise Apaches, Court Martial, Irish American Civil War, Irish in California, Roscommon Emigration

An Interview on John Banks’ Civil War Blog

For anyone familiar with the excellent John Banks’ Civil War Blog you will be familiar with how he makes extensive use of the widow’s pension files to tell the stories of those impacted by the American Civil War. I recently did an interview with John, discussing both my background and my ongoing work on the Irish in the American Civil War. If you are interested in reading the conversation you can do so on John’s site here.

Filed under: Media Tagged: Forgotten Irish, Irish American Civil War, Irish Veterans, John Banks Blog

Last Chevalier of Mulligan’s Irish Brigade: A Poem for Decoration Day

James E. Kinsella was born in Ireland in 1865 and emigrated with his parents to America in 1872. Settling first in New York the family later moved on to Chicago, where James eventually took a position as a clerk in the Registry Division of Chicago Post Office. James’s true passion appears to have been poetry, and he published numerous pieces, often being referred to as the “Chicago Post Office Poet” due to his position. Sometime around 1905 he penned a tribute to Irish veterans of the American Civil War for Decoration Day, or Memorial Day as it is now known. He took as his central theme an aged former soldier in “Mulligan’s Irish Brigade”, the 23rd Illinois Infantry, commanded by James A. Mulligan. It appeared in a number of publications at this time under the heading “Shakespeare of the Slums”, but a decade after its first appearance it was also to be found in Ireland. The newspaper it appeared in, The Irish Volunteer, was of note, as it was the organ of the Irish nationalist military organisation of the same name. Removing some of the more American verses, they printed the piece under the title “Last Chevalier of Mulligan’s Irish Brigade.” To mark Memorial Day I have reproduced the poem below, reinstating the verses that were omitted from the published Irish versions. 

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Orphans decorate the graves of their fathers, 1873 (Library of Congress)

 

LAST CHEVALIER OF MULLIGAN’S IRISH BRIGADE

VETERAN OF AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

 

“You see, my boy, I lag behind; I’m growing very old;

Just let me lean upon your arm, and hear an old man scold.

Old Father Time has thinned my thatch and left it grizzly gray,

But all the same I’ll meet the boys on Decoration Day.

 

‘They call me a ‘Back Number’ now, I guess I’ve lost my grip,

My old-time friends avoid me, as the rats desert a ship,

I am a good “Old Has Been” and I haven’t far to go,

But lend an ear and you shall hear how Hogan trimmed the foe.

 

“Have patience with an old recruit; bear with me for awhile,

And spare me all your shallow slang, and drop that pitying smile.

Sometimes I prattle like a fool; I know not what I say,

That’s when I hear those rumbling drums on Decoration Day.

 

‘This old gaffer’s kinder slouchy and he’s somewhat out of place,

You youngsters make the running now and set too swift a pace,

But in these piping times of Peace, you front no frenzied foe,

Just hark ye to the old man’s tale of forty years ago!

 

“Slow up a bit; don’t walk so fast; you still have lots of time,

I like to hear the children’s song, yon belfry’s aerial chime.

I like to see ‘Sam Starsandstripes’ stalk by in soldier way;

You see they yield the old man place on Decoration Day.

 

‘I like to see those striplings pass with supple, panther stride,

Ah! youth has all the right to walk with careless, haughty pride.

I like to see some pure-eyed girl strew flowers upon the dead,

It seems to me it does ’em good and soothes their coffined bed.

 

‘Pull up a bit, for don’t you see my starboard leg is lame?

‘Twas punctured by a boy in gray–confound his deadly aim!

The Southern soldiers fought us well, though vanquished in the fray,

Staunch Robert Lee and Stonewall kept us many a month at bay.

 

And when we clashed and grappled we shook the grassy plain,

Our cannon forged the thunderbolt that brought the gory rain.

The silvery saber’s sanguine sweep that bared the flashing steel,

The neighing steeds, the headlong charge that made the foeman reel.

 

“I took the field with Mulligan, the first to reach the front;

We heard the coughing of the guns, the cannon’s ugly grunt,

On the green fields of Virginia the Rangers laid him low,

‘Oh, save the flag and let me be, and charge again the foe!”

 

“The measured roll of throbbing drums falls grandly on my ear;

Shrill neighing of the horses and the rebels’ ringing cheer;

The cavalry’s colossal charge– we clashed in glorious strife;

The surge and shock–the ambuscade– I tell you that was life!

 

“I like to see Old Glory bare her beauty to the breeze,

Facing in pride the lordly sun and trailing o’er the trees;

I like to see yon little lass strew the flowers o’er every tomb,

And dewy roses sigh their soul in rich and rare perfume.

 

The dead sleep sound beneath the turf, they have no grief or pain.

They’ve reached the harbor port at last, through life’s tempestuous strain

Across Fate’s surging sea they’ve sailed, like pilgrims gaunt and gray,

They’ve fought the fight, and kept the faith and conquered in the fray.

 

“Of Mulligan’s Brigade, my son, I guess I am the last;

The sole leaf of an Irish oak, scourged by the wintry blast.

The Irish solders fought like– well, those men were built to stay,

Their fierce delight was stubborn fight, the rapture of the fray!

 

‘Neath alien skies our heroes sleep near Rappahannock’s roar.

Under the dark and bloody ground, their soldier bivouac o’er.

And some lie snug in Calvary in sweet and dreamless rest,

Like tired children who at night still seek the mother nest.

 

“And pretty girls are strewing flowers upon each soldier’s grave,

The tribute blushing beauty pays that heroes only, crave.

The dew drops on each blade o’ grass are memory’s tears that rain

Their tender tribute to the dead, who have not died in vain.

 

“Old times; old friends, where are you now?– a mist has blurred my eyes,

Perhaps you are all mustered out beyond the sapphire skies;

Perhaps you hold your campfire as evening reveille blows

In some soft clime, in peace sublime you welcome former foes.

 

JAMES E. KINSELLA (In the “National Volunteer.”)

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Colonel James A. Mulligan, commander of the ‘Chicago Irish Brigade’, the 23rd Illinois Infantry. The New York born Irish-American was mortally wounded at Second Kernstown in 1864 (New York Irish-American)

References

U.S. Federal Census 1900.

The Chanute Times (Kansas) 26th May 1905. Shakespeare of the Slums.

Kerry Advocate 25th September 1915. Last Chevalier of Mulligan’s Irish Brigade. 

Filed under: 23rd Illinois, Illinois Tagged: 23rd Illinois Infantry, Chicago Post Office, Irish American Civil War, Irish in Chicago, Mulligan's Irish Brigade, Post Office Poet, Shakespeare of the Slums, The Irish Volunteer

“Rather Than Hear My Father’s Tongue”: The Sad Story of Why William Flaherty Fought

In late 1863 the town of Plymouth, New Hampshire needed men. One way or another they had a quota of enlistments to fill, and in anticipation of the draft they determined to add financial incentives in order to meet it. In August Plymouth voted to pay every drafted man– or his substitute– a $300 bounty. These type of financial incentives were commonplace in the latter part of the war, and were intended in part to attract men from out of town, and often from out of State, to enlist as part of their quota. It is apparent that large numbers of Irishmen took advantage of these financial incentives between 1863-65. Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that some even travelled directly from Ireland with the specific intent of availing of these bounties (e.g. see here). Ultimately 22 of the men mustered into service and credited to Plymouth’s late 1863 quota were non-residents. One of them was “William Slate”, who along with three others was assigned to the 6th New Hampshire Infantry. William was an Irishman who lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Clearly he chose to enlist in Plymouth because of the financial reward on offer, but was his decision purely based on money? The survival of some of William’s letter’s home reveal the complexities behind his choice. The material in the widow’s pension files is frequently tinged with sorrow, but the story left to us in William’s words– dwelling as they do on why joined up and what he wanted for the future– are almost overwhelming in their poignancy. (1)

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Unidentified New Hampshire Soldier in the Civil War (Library of Congress)

“William Slate” was a young man of 22 when he decided to help Plymouth fill its quota. His real name was William Flaherty, and prior to the war affidavits confirm he worked as a hatter. It is clear from his 1863-4 letters that when he joined the army he had just been discharged from a ship. A review of Naval Enlistment Rendezvous records reveals that on 30th December 1862, a 22-year-old hatter named William Flaherty enlisted in Philadelphia as a Landsman for a term of one year. Born in Co. Galway, he was described as 5 feet 6 3/4 inches tall, with gray eyes, black hair and a fair complexion. (2)

William’s family had left Galway sometime around the early/mid 1850s. He had been forced to go to work from a young age, first selling newspapers on the Philadelphia streets before taking on his trade. By his own admission, he had somewhat of a wild reputation. However, given his family’s home life, this is hardly a surprise. William’s father Timothy was an alcoholic, who repeatedly spent his money on drink rather than his family. In the words of one family friend, Timothy “did literally nothing” for their support, and according to another he was a man “of grossly intemperate habits.” So bad was the situation that twice William’s mother Mary went to the Guardians of Poor and sought to institute proceedings against her husband because of his “continual drunkenness and neglect.” Although Timothy did spend a few days in prison he could not be forced to pay alimony. In order to keep their heads above water, the rest of the family had to take up the slack; in addition to William’s efforts, Mary also sought to supplement their income by selling apples. With the coming of war, William had decided in late 1862 to try his hand in U.S. Navy, no doubt keen to take the opportunity to escape for a time the issues which surrounded the family back in Philadelphia. (3)

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Unidentified Civil War Sailor (Library of Congress)

William was discharged from the Navy in late 1863, and initially he intended to re-enlist as a Jack Tar in early 1864. All that changed when he had a ferocious argument with his father– who was presumably drunk– causing him to storm out of the family home. In a fit of rage he went into the army, choosing the name Slate, his mother’s maiden name, “because he was ashamed to be known as related to his father.” He was apparently “ashamed of the name…[as] his father had brought discredit upon it.” The next his mother Mary heard from William was a letter written in Concord, New Hampshire, dated 31st December 1863, the day after he was mustered. In the letter William’s anger towards his father is palpable, as is his regret at having taken such a drastic step in the heat of the moment. Over the course of the next few weeks, he would make sure to send his mother what money he could.

Concord December the 31

Dear mother i no you will be supprised to hear that i have enlisted i asure you i did not want to do it but you are well aware that every time i went in to your house that i was insulted by him i call father [.] i had no place to go or if i had i would stay untill new years day but rather than hear my fathers tongue again i would go anywheres [.] i also asure you that no one is as sorry as myself and if if was free again i would beg for my liveing rahter than do what i have done but what is done cannt be undone [.] when i was discharged from the ship i only had thirty dollars comeing to me out of that i had to get some clothes all i had left was twelve dollars and that i was ashamed to give you i intended to ship on the day after new years and give you my advance but now i am in the army God noes if i will ever get out of it [.] … i have felt verey sick ever since i left philadelphia i cannot eate nothin dont be alarmed [.] i will write to you always when i can you cannot say i am ungratefull i always remember you in my hour of sorrow [.] tell no bodey at Mr Sulivan where i am you need not write untill you receive the money i am going to send you… (4)

At the end of the letter, William wrote that in the army “my name is William State.” His next correspondence came almost a month later, from Camp Nelson, Kentucky. His father was apparently filled with regret in the aftermath of his son’s decision to enlist, and this was communicated to William by his mother. Although William claimed he forgave him, it is apparent he was still bitter about the events which he felt had driven him into soldiering and away from his home. Despite this, it appears military discipline was having a positive impact on him, though he was clearly finding the going tough. William refers to his own wild past, which appears to have included rumours that he had married a woman during his last time at home. He concluded his letter by hoping that he would get an opportunity to prove all his doubters in Philadelphia wrong:

Camp Nelson January the 28 1864

Dear Mother i no you will excuse me for not writeing to you sooner when i tell you that i have been sick and to tell you the truth i am verey weak today [.] i am commencing to think that soldiering wont agree with me but i will try to stick it out i am in hopes this war will be over before next winter [.] …i am verey sorry that my father is so low but i must say that it is his fault that i am here but i forgive him for all he done to me [.] …i shall do all i can for you dont be alarmed i will always write to you when i can i am not ungratefull though people may say i am [.] my nature is to noble to forget you although i acted a little wild sometimes i never forget those that are kind to me no dear mother if i was wild and rough in my young days i am commencing to find out that it will not do to be wild always and if God should spare me to return i will try and lead a different life [.] i am learning a new lesson every day oh mother every night i dream of home it almost drives me mad to think i was drove from the only place on earth i love [.] often do i think of philadelphia i have seen a good maney Citys but there is noun like philadelphia but i must try and forget it now i am banished from there for a long while and if i ever return again all the money in the world cant drive me from it [.] i hope you have not heard no foolish reports about me beeing married this last time it is a wonder that they have let my name rest for once perhaps i may fool them all yet at least i hope so… (5)

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The site of Camp Nelson in Kentucky, where William Flaherty wrote two of his letters (C. Bedford Crenshaw via Wikipedia)

The final letter in the file from William Flaherty was written from Camp Nelson in March 1864. Still to the fore is the condition of his father, his apparent efforts to reform, and the anticipation of the heavy fighting to come:

Camp Nelson March the 8

Dear Mother

i received your kind and ever welcome letter on thursday with four dollars which i return you my most sincere thanks [.]…i am verey glad that my father is geting better i hope he has now learnt a lesson that he will never forget [.] i dont no what to make of him for not writeing to [me] i am sure he has as much time as i have camp life is verey dull [.]…i expect we will have some heavey fighting to do this spring and summer if we dont end the war this year i think it will last for four years more… (6)

Shortly after writing this letter, William and his new comrades linked up with the Army of the Potomac in Virginia to prepare for the heavy campaign that the Galwegian had anticipated. The opening clash came at the Battle of the Wilderness. In this, his first taste of action, William fell dangerously wounded in the fighting of 6th May. Another Irish-American, Peter Burns of the 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves, claimed to have seen him on the morning of 7th May. He remembered that William was “wounded in two places, side and chest, the last I heard of him he was on his way to the Hospital at Fredericksburg in one of our ambulances.” Burns heard that these ambulances may have been captured by the Rebels, but either way William evidently succumbed to his wounds– his mother Mary never heard from him again. The young man’s efforts to escape “his father’s tongue” had cost the highest of prices. How Timothy Flaherty reacted to the news is unknown, but given his apparent remorse following William’s enlistment it likely impacted him greatly. Around this time he went into the Almshouse, and in August 1864 he left Philadelphia to take on work in Nashville, Tennessee, digging trenches for the Government. He never came back. According to differing sources, after a few months there he died, either as a result of disease or at the hands of Confederate guerrillas. (7)

The file of William Flaherty is of particular interest with respect to gaining an insight into Irish-American communities and how Irish-Americans saw themselves. William clearly identified as an American, as is apparent based on his commentary regarding Philadelphia. The fact that many of these Irishmen viewed themselves first and foremost as Americans is one of the strongest themes I have found in the pension files. But within that national identity, William (and it seems most other Irish) also saw themselves as members of an Irish-American community, although it often remained unsaid. We can see this in William’s writings, particularly a passage where he asks his mother to send him the life and eulogy for Archbishop “Dagger John” Hughes, the famed Irish-American Archbishop of New York who passed away in January 1864. We also see it in the identities of the people who supplied affidavits for Mary’s pension claim (inconsistencies in a number of these statements suggest some were willing to bend the truth to aid the Galway woman). They are overwhelmingly Irish or Irish-American, from Ann Leonard and Mary Sullivan, who were Mary’s neighbours in Galway and Philadelphia, to ex-servicemen Joseph Murphy of the 42nd New York and Peter Burns of the 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves. When in need, it was the Irish-American community of Philadelphia that rallied around Mary Flaherty. (8)

William Flaherty’s letters are extremely tough to read given what we know about his fate. Men served in the Civil War for many reasons; some did it for patriotism, some did it for money, others for adventure. At a superficial level, the basic facts of William’s enlistment would lead us to believe his primary reason for joining the Union Army was financial. However, the survival of his letters reveal the sometimes complex factors that were at play in the minds of these men. Finances were clearly a secondary factor for William Flaherty. His primary motivation was one of escape– specifically escape from the sphere of a drunken father. The dysfunctional home from where he came directly led him to make the decision that led to his death just a few months later, at the age of only 23. He would never have an opportunity to return to Philadelphia and set his life straight. It is to be hoped that his sacrifice did redeem him in the eyes of some of his Philadelphia community, partially fulfilling the wish he expressed in his letter of 28th January 1864: “perhaps i may fool them all yet at least i hope so.” (9)

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Fredericksburg National Cemetery, where many of those who fell at the Battle of The Wilderness were laid to rest (Damian Shiels)

* None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

(1) Stearns 1906: 501-2; (2) Naval Enlistment Rendezvous, Widow’s Certificate; (3) Widow’s Certificate; (4) Ibid.; (5) Ibid.; (6) Ibid.; (7) History of the Sixth New Hampshire, Widow’s Certificate; (8) Widow’s Certificate; (9) Ibid.;

References & Further Reading

Widow’s Certificate 117088 of Mary Flaherty, Dependent Mother of William Flaherty, Company K, 6th New Hampshire Infantry.

United States, Naval Enlistment Rendezvous, 1855-1891.

Hadley, Amos (ed.) 1891. History of the Sixth New Hampshire Regiment in the War for the Union. 

Stearns, Ezra S. 1906. History of Plymouth New Hampshire. Volume 1: Narratives. 

Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.

Civil War Trust Battle of the Wilderness Page.

Filed under: Battle of The Wilderness, Galway, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania Tagged: 6th New Hampshire Infantry, Alcoholism 19th Century, Civil War Draft, Galway Diaspora, Galway Emigration, Irish American Civil War, Irish in Philadelphia, Irish Substitutes

A Walk Among Storied Tombstones: The Irish of Annapolis National Cemetery

Whenever I get an opportunity to visit the United States I always try to make it to one or more of the National Cemeteries dating to the American Civil War. I walk the long straight rows of white grave markers, looking out for Irish names, and pondering the events that led to the end of these men’s emigrant journey. When I return to Ireland I research some of those I encountered, seeking to uncover something of the real human stories that lie behind the tombstone inscriptions (for a previous post see here). Last March I had a chance to visit Annapolis National Cemetery in Maryland with my good friends Jackie and Ken Budell. The cemetery at Annapolis contains the remains of nearly 3,000 individuals, the majority of whom died between 1861 and 1865. Some were soldiers who died of wounds or disease in one of Annapolis’s hospitals, but many more were paroled former prisoners, who succumbed while waiting to be officially exchanged in the overcrowded conditions of “Camp Parole.” Below readers will find the stories of 12 of these Irishmen. They came from all over the island- from places like Cork, Meath and Roscommon- many leaving their homeland during the Famine. For each of them their journey ended at Annapolis National Cemetery.

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A letter written to the father of an Irish soldier from Camp Parole in Annapolis, Maryland, with letterhead depicting the camp (NARA/Fold3)

James Higgins, 173rd New York Infantry, Ireland.

James had enlisted in Brooklyn at the age of 40 on 3rd September 1862. Serving in Company A, he was captured by the Confederates and confined as a POW. He was presumably exchanged, but died of chronic diarrhoea in the General Hospital at Annapolis on 12th January 1864. He had married Mary McCabe in St. Patrick’s Church, Newburgh, New York on 11th February 1847 and the couple went on to have four children, Katie, John, Edward and Sarah Ann. After James’s death, Mary remarried, wedding James Baldwin in Brooklyn on 20th September 1865. Though she still appears to have had involvement in her children’s lives, their direct care passed to a guardian, Timothy Casey.

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The grave of Irish emigrant James Higgins at Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

Daniel Desmond, 51st New York Infantry, Grenagh, Co. Cork, Ireland.

Daniel, a 42 year-old tailor, enlisted on 14th March 1864. A private in Company E of the 51st New York, he was among a large number of the regiment captured at Poplar Grove Church, Virginia on 30th September 1864. Paroled in North Carolina on 26th February 1865, he died at Camp Parole, Maryland on 26th March 1865 of phitisis. Daniel had married Eliza Walton at Grenagh in Co. Cork on 16th August 1848, and emigrated to the United States soon afterwards. Of their ten children, only three survived. They spent the majority of their time after Daniel’s death in the care of their Uncle William in Roanoake, Indiana, who claimed Eliza had abandoned them due to intemperance. Eliza, who was described as a “confirmed inebriate”, was sent to Blackwell’s Island on at least two occasions due to her addiction. She had the pension returned to her when her youngest child reached 16. You can read a more detailed account of the Desmond family story here.

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The grave of Cork emigrant Daniel Desmond at Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

James Bracken, 48th New York Infantry, Co. Meath, Ireland

James was one of six children of Conor and Mary Bracken, who were married in Meath on 15th August 1834. Conor died in Ireland in 1849. James, a paper stainer by trade, enlisted in the army from Brooklyn on 18th August 1862. He held the rank of Corporal when he was shot at the Second Battle of Deep Bottom on 16th August 1864 and taken prisoner. He was paroled and died from his injuries in the No. 1 Division Hospital, Annapolis on 24th August 1864. His mother Mary received a pension based on his service.

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The grave of Meath emigrant James Bracken in Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

Edward McEvoy, 1st Vermont Cavalry, Randolph, Vermont

Many thousands of Americans who died during the Civil War were the children of Irish emigrants. Edward MvEvoy, who was enrolled on 28th December 1863, was one of them. His Irish emigrant father John, a laborer, had married Vermont native Betsy Rindge in 1840. Betsy died in 1859. Reported missing in action on 13th June 1864 (presumably captured), Edward died of chronic diarrhoea at the 1st Division Hospital in Annapolis on 17th December 1864. John was in his 70s when he received a pension based on his son’s service.

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The grave of Irish-American Edward McAvoy at Annapolis National Cemetery. His elderly Irish-born father received a pensio based on his service (Damian Shiels)

Thomas Logan, 170th New York Infantry, Corcoran’s Irish Legion, Co. Galway, Ireland

Thomas was described as 5 feet 10 inches tall with blue eyes, a dark complexion and black hair. The baker was 22-years-old when he enlisted in the 170th New York, Corcoran’s Irish Legion when he enlisted on 10th September 1862. The Galwegian was a married man, having wed Mary Ryan in St. Andrew’s Catholic Church, New York on 6th October 1861. Thomas was reported missing in action at Ream’s Station, Virginia on 25th August 1864, one of the many Second Corps men to be captured that day. Thomas was eventually released, but his body was broken. He died of Typhoid Fever in the 1st Division Hospital at Annapolis on 24th March 1865.

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The grave of Galway emigrant Thomas Logan at Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

John Hoey, 13th Connecticut Infantry, Trim, Co. Meath

John and Ellen Hoey were married in Trim, Co. Meath in November 1845. They and a number of their neighbours emigrated to the United States during the Famine. By the time of the war, they had four living children under 16, Richard (b. 1851), Michael (b. 1853), James (b. 1858) and Mary Ellen (b. 1861). Having spent time in Massachusetts, by then they were living in Thompson, Connecticut. John mustered in as a private on 11th February 1862 and was captured at the Battle of Cedar Creek on 19th October 1864. He was paroled, but died before he could be discharged, succumbing to pneumonia on 26th February 1865. Ellen passed away in Thompson on 19th April 1867, leaving the children orphans. James Munyan applied for the children’s minor pensions on behalf of the children.

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The grave of Meath emigrant John Hoey at Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

Thomas O’Connor, 5th New York Cavalry, Ireland

Thomas O’Connor and Jane Crooks were married in Ireland on 30th May 1843. Thomas was 34-years-old when he enlisted on 4th July 1861. He was taken prisoner at Ashland Station, Virginia on 1st June 1864. Paroled, he died from “the effects of prison life” in Annapolis on 31st December 1864.

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The grave of Irish emigrant Thomas O’Connor at Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

Michael Spillane, 27th Massachusetts Infantry, Ireland

Michael married fellow Irish emigrant Margaret Ford in Charlestown, Massachusetts on 18th May 1856. The couple’s two children were both born in East Boston; Cornelius on 29th December 1857 and Mary on 29th December 1859. On 29th December 1863 Michael, a laborer, was enrolled in the 27th Massachusetts Infantry in Boston. Michael was 34-years-old and described as 5 feet 6 1/2 inches tall with blue eyes, light hair and a light complexion. On 16th May 1864 he was reported missing in action at Drewery’s Bluff, Virginia- it was later determined that he had become a Prisoner of War. Initially incarcerated in Richmond, Michael was sent to Andersonville on 23rd May 1864. He was paroled from there in November and was allowed home on furlough for 30 days in December. He reported to Camp Parole in Annapolis on 18th January 1865 to await official exchange. On 22nd January 1865 he wrote from Annapolis to his wife:

Camp Parole, Annapolis

Maryland January 22nd 1865

Dear Wife

I take the opportunity of writing these few lines to you hoping that they will find you in good health as this leaves me at present thank God. I have no blanket since I came here as my blanket was gone before me. I am not exchanged yet so I dont expect to get paid until I go to my regiment. Send me a little change so I can [get] some tobacco and paper to write as I lost my tobacco when I was coming put it in the letter. Tell Jerry Mahony that I got no account about Michael Flavin as I have not seen the man that I could get the account from he was gone off. Give my love to the children Cornelius and Mary Anne. I feel more lonesome now than before I went home after them. Give my love and respect to all enquiring friends dont blame [me] for not mentioning their names as I cant write myself I dont wish to be troubling anybody. No more at present from your affectionate husband Michael Spillane. Write as soon s you get this and direct your letter to

Michael Spillane Company G 27th

Mass Regiment Camp Parole

Annapolis Maryland

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Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

Michael, once again exposed to the risk of disease that was ever present among large bodies of troops, and without a blanket, contracted pneumonia. Eight days after he wrote, a volunteers in the Sanitary Commission penned the following:

Camp Parole Jan 30th 1865

Mrs Splean,

I am truly sorry and distressed to write and inform you of the death of your husband Michael Splean in this hospital. He was taken sick in camp, with pneumonia, and was brought to the hospital on the 28th and died this afternoon of the 30th at about 4 o’clock. He was very severely sick and it was impossible to save him.

He told me that he had a wife and two children and said he wished I would write to you about him. This was about an hour before he died. I asked him if he loved his saviour, and felt that he should be happy with him if he died; he said he should but he was too sick to converse much.

This is very sad news to write you but I hope you know now to go to your dear saviour with all your troubles, he alone can help you to bear him.

Your husband will be tenderly buried in the soldiers lot, where more than two thousand of our brave men are sleeping.

Be thankful that you have so lately seen your husband after his imprisonment, & can bear something of his death; while so many can never know how and where their friends have died.

Truly your friend

Susan L. Phillips

Agent Sanitary Commission

Camp Parole Hospital near Annapolis Maryland

Michael’s widow Margaret remarried in 1868, wedding New Brunswick born David White. The couple’s children Cornelius and Mary made their life with their mother and stepfather- on the 1870 census they were recorded as attending school in Boston’s First Ward, while David earned a living as a shoemaker and Margaret as a washerwoman.

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The grave of Irish emigrant Michael Spillane at Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

Hugh Rooney, 58th Massachusetts Infantry, Co. Roscommon

Hugh Rooney was born in Co. Roscommon. His father James died there during the years of the Famine, in 1849. James’s wife Elizabeth emigrated with her family- including Hugh- to the United States, ultimately settling in Fall River, Massachusetts. The 1860 Census shows the 60-year-old woman boarding with the family of Michael Dolan [Dowling], a day laborer, with whom she had made her home since 1857. Hugh had paid for his mother’s board there, to the amount of some $400 prior to his enlistment. On 22nd February 1864 Hugh was enrolled in the 58th Massachusetts at Fall River. On 17th June 1864 he was wounded at the Second Battle of Petersburg, and was taken to hospital in Annapolis. He survived for almost a month, before dying on 12th July 1864 from his injuries. His mother outlived him by over 15 years.

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The grave of Roscommon emigrant Hugh Rooney at Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

Patrick Carroll, 2nd Rhode Island Infantry, Ireland

Patrick was born in Ireland in 1844. The 1860 census shows him living with his mother Ann and younger sister Catherine in Smithfield, Providence, where Patrick worked as a carder in a woolen mills. Patrick’s father Michael had died around 1851. The young man was enrolled in Providence on 21st August 1862. Clearly a good soldier, he was promoted to Corporal in Company C of the regiment when it was reorganised. Patrick came tragically close to surviving his Civil War service. It was at the Battle of Sailor’s Creek on 6th April 1865 that he received his mortal wound, one of the final major engagements of the war. Struck in the groin, he was taken to the Naval School Hospital in Annapolis where he died on 16th April.

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The grave of Irish emigrant Patrick Caroll at Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

Thomas Donnelly, 164th New York Infantry, Corcoran’s Irish Legion, Ireland

Thomas and Mary MacKay were married in St. Peter’s Church, New York on 12th June 1851. By the time of the war they had one child under sixteen, James, born around 1852. Thomas was 42-years-old and worked as a laborer when he enlisted in Brooklyn on 3rd September 1862. He was described as 5 feet 8 inches tall, with blue eyes, dark hair and a fair complexion. He was wounded by a shell during the Second Battle of Petersburg on 16th June 1864, dying in Divisional General Hospital No. 1, Annapolis on 28th June. At the time Mary lived at 302 Hicks Street in Brooklyn.

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The grave of Irish emigrant Thomas Donnelly at Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

Michael Foley, 5th Wisconsin Infantry, Ireland

Michael and Margaret Foley were married in Ireland on 16th April 1843. They went on to have at least six children, whose places of birth help to chart their emigrant journey- a journey that most likely started with the Great Famine; Mary Ann was born in Canada around 1847, with Michael (b. 1848) arriving in New York, and John (b. 1850), Bridget (b. 1852), Margaret (b. 1855) and Matilda (b. 1857) all coming into the world in Wisconsin. By 1860 the family were in Deerfield in Dane County, Wisconsin, where Michael, then 45-years-old, worked as a day-labourer. Michael was enrolled in the 5th Wisconsin at Madison on 28th August 1862. He died of chronic diarrhoea at the General Hospital in Annapolis on 29th September 1863. Margaret went on to remarry in the late 1870s.

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The grave of Irish emigrant Michael Foley at Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

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Annapolis National Cemetery (Damian Shiels)

* None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

References & Further Reading

The source material for this research was drawn from a combination of the Widow’s Certificate series in the National Archives, the 1860 and 1870 United States Federal Census, regimental rosters and histories, regimental muster rolls and service records. If you would like details of references with respect to any of the stories featured above please contact me.

U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs: Annapolis National Cemetery

National Park Service: Annapolis National Cemetery

Filed under: Cork, Galway, Meath, National Cemetery, Roscommon Tagged: Annapolis National Cemetery, Emigrants in the Union Army, Irish American Civil War, Irish Dead of the Civil War, Irish in Maryland, Irish in National Cemeteries, Irish in the Union Army, Parole Camp Annapolis