Damian Shiels's Blog, page 5

Deadeye in Drag – A Mystery Solved?

In the latest post, Brendan goes sleuthing to uncover the story behind some unusual Civil War images. With the help of photographs captured by wartime Irish American photographer Timothy O’Sullivan, he reveals the fascinating story behind a wartime amateur theatrical club, revealing the identity and wartime experiences of a “Deadeye in Drag”.

[image error] “Civil War camp theatrical skit”- Eastham Historical Society Local History Collection, via Digital Commonwealth

It’s not your typical Civil War image–two figures, presumably men, one of them in a baggy, crumpled overshirt, and the other wearing a dress, posed for a nineteenth century photographer. The caption reads simply “Civil War camp theatrical skit.”

While the image might fly against some prevailing assumptions about the Civil War era’s notions of masculinity, it was not uncommon for men of the period–particularly military men–to dress as women. Soldiers’ memoirs and diaries often contain references to “stag” or “gander dances” in which men sometimes donned women’s garb to dance in female roles at a camp ball. And soldiers in winter quarters or on garrison duty frequently passed the time by performing plays, which typically required male soldiers to play female characters. In an environment in which women were scarce, men simply found creative ways to amuse themselves amid the drudgery of a soldier’s life.

So who are these particular theatrical performers? The first clue is that the photograph, in the possession of the Eastham Historical Society, comes from the collection of Atkins Higgins, who was a member of Company B of the U.S. Engineer Battalion. An accompanying photo, identified as Atkins Higgins himself, appears to match the man in the overshirt in the first image. That part was easy enough. Identifying his fabulous companion proved more difficult, though not nearly as much as I imagined. As luck would have it, the Engineer Battalion, particular members of Company B, were photographed extensively by Irish American photographer Timothy O’Sullivan in August-September 1864. I perused the images in the Library of Congress’s collection, and, with the assistance of the Civil War Photo Sleuth’s facial recognition software, I’m now confident I’ve found a match. Not only was this soldier in Company B, but he was also photographed as a member of the Engineer Battalion’s Essayons Dramatic Club, which, as it turns out, formed the basis for what used to be one of the oldest amateur theatrical production companies in the United States. (1)

[image error] Timothy O’Sullivan’s photograph of the Essayons Dramatic Club of the U.S. Engineer Battalion included in Gilbert Thompson’s journal. Thompson’s notes identifying its members not only sheds light on our mystery belle, but also reveals multiple Irish immigrants and first generation Irish Americans (of which more in a later post!). Our “mystery belle” is seated in the front row, third from right, while Thompson himself sits in the center row, fourth from right. Gilbert Thompson journal, Library of Congress.

This discovery led me further down the rabbit hole–I was thrilled to learn that the battalion’s official history and the journal of Major (then Private) Gilbert Thompson include a variant view of the Essayons Dramatic Club with captions identifying its members. Moreover, Thompson’s beautifully written journal includes a treasure trove of information about the day-to-day lives of the men of the Engineer Battalion, including details about dramatic performances, popular music, dances, and other ways Thompson and his fellow soldiers kept themselves entertained when they weren’t campaigning. Using the Essayons image and an identified CDV (also from Thompson’s journal) as a guide, I was able to identify our likely “mystery belle” as Private John Haven Brown, Company B, Battalion of Engineers. (2)

[image error] A composite image comparing the “mystery belle” with two identified images of John H. Brown (bottom left and bottom center) from the Thompson journal and three other details of Brown from Timothy O’Sullivan images in the Library of Congress’ collection.

Thompson recorded that in February 1864, the Essayons Dramatic Club hosted its very first performance–the play Toodles, in which John H. Brown was cast as Mary Acorn and Atkins Higgins as First Farmer. While it’s hard to say for certain, it is possible that our mystery image shows these two men costumed for their roles in this very play. The Essayons performed several other plays during that winter, including Irish Assurance and The Limerick Boy, whose titles alone hint at the Irish influence upon American Civil War era theater. They also held at least one “gander dance” of their own. (3)

[image error] Gilbert Thompson’s sketches of the Essayons Theatre building constructed by the U.S. Engineer Battalion at their winter camp at Brandy Station, Virginia, 1863-64. Gilbert Thompson journal, Library of Congress. [image error] The program for the opening performance of Toodles at the Essayons Theatre, Brandy Station, Virginia, 26 February 1864. Gilbert Thompson journal, Library of Congress. [image error] Another remarkable image of a member of the Engineer Battalion dressed in women’s clothes. Gilbert Thompson journal, Library of Congress.

So who was John Haven Brown? Records show that Brown worked before the war as a cordwainer and storekeeper in his native Stoneham, Massachusetts. He enlisted at the age of 19 in the 1st Company, Massachusetts Sharpshooters, also known as Andrew’s Sharpshooters. Composed of about 100 elite marksmen recruited from Eastern Massachusetts, Andrew’s Sharpshooters were armed with hefty target rifles complete with telescopes over the barrels for long-distance aiming. Brown saw heavy service with his company through the Peninsula and Second Bull Run campaigns. By September 1862, their target rifles were swapped out for breech-loading Sharps rifles, much to the chagrin of many of the sharpshooters. On September 17th, 1862, at the Battle of Antietam, the unit was attached to the 15th Massachusetts Infantry and was, in the words of one soldier, “badly cut up.” Private John H. Brown was among the wounded. After recovering from his injury, Brown transferred to the U.S. Engineer Battalion, where he was designated an artificer, a specialized role for an enlisted engineer. Brown’s new unit served with the Army of the Potomac through all its major campaigns; it played an important role bridging the Rappahannock under Confederate fire at Fredericksburg, and helped in rebuilding roadways, clearing obstructions, constructing bridges, and building fortifications. Brown mustered out in September 1864 at the end of his term of enlistment. After the war, he became a manager of the Gutta Percha and Rubber Manufacturing Company and was active in the Grand Army of the Republic. John H. Brown died in Berkeley, California, in 1922, survived by his wife Martha and daughter Mary. (4)

[image error] John H. Brown (right) photographed beside Gilbert Thompson by Timothy O’Sullivan. Library of Congress.

Gilbert Thompson, whose work was so invaluable in identifying Brown and his comrades, became a well-known topographer after the war, participating in the landmark Wheeler Survey of the American West in 1872. In 1888, he co-founded the National Geographic Society, providing the first map supplement for National Geographic Magazine the following year. Thompson died in 1909 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. (5)

[image error] Atkins Higgins. Eastham Historical Society Local History Collection, via Digital Commonwealth.

Corporal Atkins Higgins, a.k.a. “First Farmer,” was a native of Eastham, Massachusetts, and a carpenter by trade. He enlisted in Company B of the U.S. Engineer Battalion in 1861 and mustered out at the expiration of his service in December 1864. He was likewise involved in the GAR and other veteran organizations, and died in Reading, Massachusetts in 1915. He was survived by his wife Althea and at least three children. (6)

References

Eastham Historical Society Local History Collection (via Digital Commonwealth); Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division; Civil War Photosleuth (www.civilwarphotosleuth.com)Thompson, Gilbert, The Engineer Battalion in the Civil War; Gilbert Thompson journal (Library of Congress)Gilbert Thompson journal (Library of Congress)Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War; Banks, John “’Badly cut up ‘ at Antietam, Sharpshooters have striking story” in John Banks’ Civil War Blog (http://john-banks.blogspot.com); U.S., Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914, John H. Brown obituary in San Francisco Examiner, 22 Aug 1922Gilbert Thompson journal (Library of Congress), Gilbert Thompson entry in WikipediaEastham Historical Society Local History Collection, U.S., Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914, Ancestry.com

Andersonville Irish Project: The First 650

The Andersonville Irish Project has hit another milestone, with 650 Irish Americans now identified who perished at the prison in 1864 and 1865. Many thanks to all those who have contributed and those who have supported the project thus far. The database of the 650 men has now been uploaded and is available at the Andersonville Irish Project Page, together with the interactive map showing over 280 locations in Ireland associated with Andersonville victims. To mark the project reaching this 650 figure, we have created a new project infographic (below) to highlight some of the key pieces of data. On to 700!

[image error]Andersonville Irish Project First 650 Infographic (Click to Enlarge)

Object Focus: A “Living” American Civil War Pension Certificate from East Cork

As regular readers of the site will know, I have spent many (maybe too many!) years studying the Widows and Dependents pension files of Irish immigrants. For successful applicants, the most important document they possessed was their Pension Certificate, the piece of paper that allowed them to physically claim the money provided to them by the United States. Of the thousands of Certificates I have looked at, one stands out for me as the embodiment of a “living” document. In its appearance it carries an impression of long, constant use, conjures images of its place in the family home, and of the very act of claiming the pension funds themselves. It is a document that has been on a major journey of its own. Originally issued in the 1880s United States, it spent decades in rural East Co. Cork before ultimately retracing its steps to Washington D.C. in the 1920s. It remains there today, safely preserved in the stacks of the U.S. National Archives. I want to share some images of it with readers, and to provide some detail as to the events that led to its creation and ultimate use.

The Pension Certificate in question belonged to a woman called Nora Beaty (née Leahy). The story of how Nora came to be in possession of it began with a 22-year-old emigrant labourer in Syracuse, New York by the name of Michael Beaty. On 25th August 1862 he presented himself to a recruiting officer in the city to become a U.S. Volunteer. Eventually Michael marched of to Virginia in the ranks of Company C, 149th New York Infantry. It’s first major engagement- and Michael’s last- came at Chancellorsville, Virginia in May 1863.

[image error] The men of the 149th New York Infantry in which Michael Beaty served (Battles & Images)

It was on the 3rd May 1863, during one of the most furious engagements of the Civil War, that Michael and his comrades first came face to face with Army of Northern Virginia. The fresh-faced New Yorkers were quickly given an education in the horrific toll Civil War-era artillery could take on the human form. While lying down to take cover from incoming shells, one of their comrades was “nearly cut in two by a shell and was still living as two of his companions bore him away; one holding his head and shoulders and the other his heels…”. Not long afterwards they were struck in front and flank by a gray tide of advancing Rebel infantry. Overwhelmed, the regiment was soon fighting for its life, and those not killed or severely injured had little option but to tumble back in headlong retreat. Michael Beaty was not amongst them. Instead he was one of the 186 casualties the regiment suffered, left lying where he had fallen when a minie shattered into his right leg. Michael’s time as a Confederate POW was brief; his wound was severe enough that he was marked out for quick exchange. Back in U.S. lines, the Cork immigrant’s leg was amputated six-inches below the knee.

[image error] The Certificate of Disability for Discharge of East Cork’s Michael Leahy (Damian Shiels/NARA). [image error] One of the entires for Michael Beaty in the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Veterans (Ancestry)

Michael Beaty spent the next 10 months in hospital before final discharge in March 1864. As a manual labourer who relied on his body for employment, the years that followed brought a reliance on his U.S. pension and the shelter and care provided by the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Veterans. By the late 1870s Michael had finally decided to return home to Ireland. It is here that Hanora (Nora) Leahy enters the story. She and Michael were married in the Roman Catholic Church of Youghal, Co. Cork on 25th October 1878. The couple settled near the village of Castlemartyr, where their surname was most commonly rendered as “Batt”. Four children followed and were baptised there- William (b. 1879), Mary (b. 1880, and known as Minnie), John (b. 1883) and Richard (b. 1884). In subsequent years the family seem to have moved around their local area, living variously in Castlemartyr, Ballymacoda and eventually in Killeagh.

[image error] Official Marriage Certificate issued in 1887 recording the marriage of Michael Beaty and Nora Leahy in Youghal in 1878. Hidden beneath it is the endorsement of the United States Consul of Queenstown (Cobh), Co. Cork. (Damian Shiels/NARA).

Despite managing to get on with his life, Michael’s health was severely compromised by his wound. Among his physical ailments were carbuncles on his amputated leg, heart disease and rheumatism. Michael finally passed away-still just in his mid-forties- on 30th August 1886, having lived with the effects of Chancellorsville for almost 25 years. It was that event which caused Nora to apply for a widow’s pension. The well-worn Certificate pictured below was granted to her as a result.

[image error] The Widow’s Pension Certificate of Nora Beaty issued following her husband’s death. It also records the ages at which her children would reach the age of 16. Click to Enlarge (Damian Shiels/NARA). [image error] The Death Certificate of Michael Batt (Beaty) provided to the U.S. Government to prove his death. Note it records his as an “Army Pensioner”. (Damian Shiels/NARA).

Nora was not granted the certificate easily. The Pension Bureau sought additional information from her to validate her claim, and so she turned towards some local notables for support, men like Father O’Connell the Parish Priest of Castlemartyr, and Joseph Doherty the Rector of Killeagh. Here is what Father O’Connell wrote for her on 29 September 1887:

This is to certify that the widow of Michael Beaty with her young helpless family is living in this parish. Regarding her claims on the American Government for pension the statements put forward by her are perfectly accurate and truthful. As to what Doctor attended him or who were his companions when he received the wound which deprived him of his leg, it is utterly impossible for her to make out. Indeed, it is hardly fair of the pension Commission to require such information from a poor illiterate creature at this side of the Atlantic. It is a well known fact that her deceased husband received his pension regularly and that the wound received in the American Service so undermined his constitution as to bring on the fatal sickness which brought him to an untimely grave. Under these circumstances I have no difficulty in saying that the pension commissioner is not only bound in honour but in justice to come without further delay to the relief of the afflicted widow and helpless children.

[image error] The rear of Nora’s pension certificate, which bears numerous examples of crossed out writing, most of which appear to be accounting for money paid. It was presumably created by the Beaty family in East Cork. Click to Enlarge. (Damian Shiels/NARA)

The pension certificate that Nora Beaty received was used by her to collect an American pension for the remainder of her life. As such, it bears all the marks of a heavily used document, which is unsurprising given that it represented her primary income source. She must have kept it carefully folded away (as the heavy fold lines indicate) in a safe place within her home. Every three-months or so as she would have brought it out, as she made her way to the local Post Office to claim her payment.

[image error] A detail of the back of the certificate, showing some of the accounting the blank space was used for. A number of the payments can be made out, such as “debts”, “chairs” and “shoes” on the top left, and “rent of a house” on the top right. Click to Enlarge. (Damian Shiels/NARA).

Aside from the well-worn nature of the document, perhaps the most intriguing element are the accounting notes scribbled all across its back in both pen and pencil. These appear to record payments made for various items in pounds, shillings and pence. Among the words that can be made out are things like “bread”, “debts”, “shoes”, “chairs”, “trunk”,”rent of a house” and “all expenses.” Were these created at different times during Nora’s latter years, or are they an attempt to make account at the time of her death? It is difficult to know for sure. They may well have been crossed out when the Certificate was being returned to the United States. What we do know is when Nora died. She passed away in Killeagh on 7th September 1921- only a few short weeks after a Truce had been declared in the War of Independence that had been raging in Ireland, and Cork in particular. On her passing, Nora’s daughter Minnie requested a final payment of the pension (could some of the scribbled notes on the Certificate be Minnie’s?), enlisting the aid of another notable local, William Arthur Ryall of nearby Ballyglassin House. The letter he wrote on her behalf is pictured below. Minnie’s efforts do not appear to have been successful.

[image error] The letter written to the U.S. Government on headed-paper by William Arthur Ryall on behalf of Nora and Michael’s daughter Minnie in 1922. (Damian Shiels/NARA).

Among other things, the file relating to Nora and Michael Beaty offers insight into the wealth of documents relating to life in Ireland that exist within the American Civil War pension files. But few present us with the instant visual story that is told by the Pension Certificate which helped Nora to survive through her later years, years in which the county she called home experienced major turmoil of its own, in the shape of both the First World War and War of Independence. News of those conflicts dominated the thoughts and conversations of everyone in the locality, but this Certificate conjures other images from that time; the home of a poor American Civil War veteran’s widow; a carefully folded American Certificate secreted away in the home’s safest corner; preparations for the regular journey to the Post Office; the interaction between widow and postal staff, and conversations along the way. The Pension Certificate’s battered form also served as a reminder of the cost and the consequences of the American Civil War for the people of East Cork and its diaspora.

The Last Letter of Patrick Coffey, 69th New York State Militia, Before Bull Run

Patrick Coffey was a labourer in his 30s when he went to war. In the summer of 1861, he marched off to Virginia as part of Company D, the “Fitzgerald Guard” of the famed 69th New York State Militia. Like many other dedicated Irish American servicemen, his family’s personal story was one of gradual step-migration, first to England, and then on to the United States. His parents had married in Ireland in 1815, but had ultimately settled in Manchester, where Patrick’s father died in 1852. His mother and he afterwards removed to New York. There Patrick had married fellow Irish immigrant Bridget Gilligan in Manhattan’s St. James’s Church on 1st March 1859.

[image error] Healy Hall at Georgetown. Though now the most famous building associated with the College this was built in the 1870s, and would not have been on the site when Patrick Coffey and the 69th were present (though a number of antebellum buildings so survive) (Damian Shiels).

Patrick and his fellow Irishmen of the 69th left New York towards the end of April 1861, first stopping in Annapolis, Maryland before moving on to Washington D.C. in early May. Encamped at the famous Georgetown College, Patrick wrote home on 10th May:

Georgetown College D.C.

Friday May 10th 1861

My Dear Wife

I received your kind and welcome letter yesterday evening an I am pleased to hear of you all being in good health as I am at present thanks be to God for it.

I am now stationed at the College of Georgetown where we have our quarters, it is about 3 miles from Washington and is a beautiful place. There are some 8 or 10 Clergyman here besides Father Mooney. We have mass every morning and a great number approach the sacraments every other day. We have however no beds as yet, but have to lie on hard boards and our food is not of the daintiest kind. Yesterday morning we were received by President Lincoln and in the afternoon we took the oath for 3 months, we are not far away from our enemies at present and we know not the moment that we may be called into action. I would advise Mr Poer to remain at home for there are many here who are sorry for coming but who would not go back as they have taken the oath and it is the last thing in this world that would want to do to break it. There were 19 men yesterday who would not take the oath and they were stripped and turned out of the Regiment in the presence of all the soldiers and a crowd of officers & people from Washington and other places. Dr Wife I know not the moment when the Regiment may be called away from this place. I think we will next go to Alexandria- a place about 7 miles from here and where the Secessionists have strong forces. In case that you write however to Georgetown all letters will be sent to us wherever we go. We had an alarm in the dead hour of last night that Washington was on fire and in less than 10 minutes the whole regiment were out of bed dressed into line and ready for march when it was found out that the rumor was false and we all returned to our bunks greatly disappointed that we had no chance to fight or show our courage as we are waiting patiently for a chance to show the Southerners what we Irishmen can do when we get a going. I have no chance of getting any money here so you may get all that you can in New York for the papers all write that the wives and families of the volunteers will be provided for until the war is over.

Remember me to my mother & sisters, tell the boys Mrs Dougherty & family and all enquiring friends and well wishers and tell Ellen that the only dance we have here is to the music of the fife and drum in a hot sun with a big musket on our shoulder.

Write as soon as you get this and send me the Herald once in a while. Direct your letter to me at Georgetown College Co. D. 69th Regt District of Columbia.

No more at present but I remain your loving husband till death.

Patrick Coffey.

The 69th New York State Militia spent the following weeks forming part of the defensive force around Washington, specifically in the area of Arlington. In July they formed part of Sherman’s Brigade, Tyler’s Division during the Battle of Battle Run. Patrick was wounded and taken prisoner during the fighting of 21 July. Sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, he died of his wounds on 17th August.

[image error] The historical marker in Arlington marking the site of Fort Corcoran, initially built and occupied by the 69th New York State Militia in 1861 (Damian Shiels).

Following Patrick’s death Bridget, who often went by Delia, claimed a pension based on his service. By then she was living at 35 Mott Street in the 6th Ward’s notorious Five Points. The couple had no children. It seems there was probably an acrimonious family split, as Patrick’s mother Margaret, in her 70s at the time of Bull Run, also sought a pension, claiming her son had no wife. Bridget’s pension was suspended for nearly two years while the claim was investigated, but it was eventually reinstated, mainly because she could produce the letter quoted above. Bridget ultimately remarried in 1869.

Andersonville Irish Spotlight: Grave 3284. Owen Moloney. The Story of Famine Works and Famine Relief in West Clare, Preserved through a Victim of Andersonville

Owen Moloney was 26-years-old when he was mustered into Company C of the 6th New Jersey Infantry on 7th November 1861. Over the years that followed, the young Co. Clare emigrant saw his fair share of war. He was there every step of the way as the Army of the Potomac grappled with the Army of Northern Virginia across 1862 and 1863, losing company comrades at famed battles such as Williamsburg, Second Bull Run and Gettysburg. Having survived all the Rebels had thrown at him, Owen finally fell into Confederate hands at a little-known skirmish fought at McLean’s Ford, Virginia, on 15th October 1863. Initially incarcerated in Richmond, Owen was an early arrival at Andersonville Prison, being first sent there on 21st March 1864. Across almost four months he witnessed a near constant stream of U.S. prisoners enter the camp, and the continual degradation of conditions as numbers swelled. He finally succumbed in the midst of that awful summer, dying on 14th July. The hardship and want Owen experienced during those last weeks are difficult to imagine. But what is particularly devastating about his story is that Andersonville was not the first time he had faced them. His records lay bare the extent to which he and his family had already suffered across the sea in Ireland- when they had faced the full rigours of the Great Irish Famine.

[image error] The grave of Owen Moloney from Tromora, West Clare at Andersonville National Cemetery, Georgia (Damian Shiels).

Owen hailed from rural Tromora in West Clare. Born in 1833, he was one of Catharine McCann and Myles Moloney’s six children, the couple having married in the townland of Cloonlaheen in February 1831. Owen and his family’s home was and remains one of the most picturesque parts of Ireland, but it also had the misfortune of being among the localities most severely impacted by the Great Famine of 1845-52. During that period West Clare was the scene of immense hardship, suffering and death. Between 1846 and 1851, the area of Kilrush Poor Law Union alone lost in the region of 50% of its population to death and departure. As a young boy, it was Owen’s lot to witness this devastation first-hand. While we usually have little or no information about such individual experiences, Owen’s eventual death thousands of miles away in Georgia caused something of his family’s Famine struggles to be preserved.

[image error] Tromora Castle in West Clare, a landmark that would have been instantly recognisable to Owen Moloney and his family who lived nearby (Damian Shiels).

Owen’s military service during the Civil War had been based on more than just a desire to preserve the integrity of his new home. His decision to enlist can also be viewed as an extension of efforts he had first begun back in 1847, when he had become his family’s primary earner. He was still performing that function when he perished at Andersonville, causing his mother Catherine to apply for a U.S. pension. It was the evidence the 58-year-old woman gathered from her Co. Clare home (where she still lived) in the late 1860s that revealed the horrendous Famine trauma she, Owen and their family had experienced.

[image error] An abandoned cottage in Tromora East, Co. Clare. Owen Moloney and his family lived in Tromora during the Great Famine (Damian Shiels).

Owen had been around 12-years-old when the potato blight Phytophthora infestans made landfall on Ireland’s shores. As the country became overwhelmed by hunger in the months and years ahead, the British administration made a number of inadequate responses to the catastrophe befalling the Irish population. One initative was to provide the growing numbers of destitute poor with employment on special public works projects, often called “relief schemes.” Between late 1846 and late 1847, it has been estimated that a staggering average of 100,000 men a day worked on such schemes. In the Moloney’s case, the local scheme was the construction of a coastal road, known as the “Seafield Line”. On 20th October 1846 local farmer Anthony Corry was appointed overseer on these construction works. He led a team of 120 men, among whom was Owen’s father Myles. The relief schemes may have been all well and good had those working on them been fit and hearty, but such was not the case in the midst of Famine. Desperate for work, increasingly weak and sick men sought to drag themselves out on the schemes to provide for their families, but many broke under the strain. So it was with Myles Moloney. On the 3rd April 1847 he was struck off the Seafield worker list “in consequence of ill health.” By the 15th of the month he was dead- yet another victim of the year that became known as “Black ’47.” But the desperate situation of the times left little room for sentiment, and the surviving Moloneys had to act fast. Owen had no choice but to take his father’s place on the works. At the time he was at most 14-years-old.

[image error] The Seafield Line in West Clare, a relief work constructed during the Great Famine. Owen Moloney, who later died at Andersonville, worked on the construction of this road- his father Myles died having laboured on it in 1847. With thanks to the Kilrush & District Historical Society and in particular Dr Paul O’Brien for assistance in identifying it (Damian Shiels).

Owen’s labour on the Seafield Line was vital in helping to support his now widowed mother and his five young siblings (we do not know how many survived the Famine- by 1867 Catherine had “only one son living”). But Owen’s efforts alone were not enough. So it was that the surviving Moloneys were forced to rely on “Outdoor Relief”, a type of assistance (mainly in the form of food) provided to the destitute poor. It seems to have helped them stave off admission to the dreaded Workhouse, but there still appeared to be no end in sight. Owen, his mother and his siblings needed the relief all the way through until May 1849.

[image error] Graveyard of Kilmurry near Tromora, another site that would have been known intimately by Owen Moloney and his family in West Clare (Damian Shiels).

It was well into the 1850s before Owen and his family slowly began to rebuild their lives. During those years their fate became tied to that of Morty Haren, a farmer in Tromora. Morty took Owen on as an agricultural labourer. Catherine lived very close-by, continuing to be supported in part by the efforts of her boy. Though undoubtedly a hard-existence, slowly and surely Owen appears to have been able to gather together the means to seek an escape from the cycle of poverty that had characterised his life in West Clare. Finally, around 1860, he got his coveted ticket to the United States. It seems highly probable that his intent, as with so many others, was to first establish himself and then to send for his mother. Things looked promising early on, and he was quickly able to send a sum of £4 to Catharine back across the Atlantic. Then the war came. Owen seems to have viewed the conflict as an opportunity, as shortly after his enlistment another £3 made its way to West Clare, together with the fateful news that he had taken up the U.S. cause. His gamble failed to pay off. The young man who had already seen so much found his final resting-place in the red clay of Georgia, while his mother never left the fields and lanes of her Co. Clare home.

[image error] Another view of Tromora Castle and the Clare coastline beyond, where the Moloneys made their home (Damian Shiels).

Across more than a decade of researching Civil War pension files, few stories have matched that of Owen Moloney for so starkly illustrating the links between the impact and consequences of the Great Irish Famine and Irish service in the American Civil War. Owen Moloney would likely never have been in the United States had it not been for the catastrophe that struck his homeland. The years of hardship he had experienced as a boy-which included the Famine taking his father’s life- must surely have influenced how he viewed and responded to life and military service in America. There is an awful irony in the fact that he struggled and survived such hardship, only to meet his end in a prison laden down with similar want and disease to that which had carried off so many during his youth. It serves also as a reminder that for thousands of Irish, the Famine did not stand in isolation as a traumatic experience. Catharine Moloney was far from alone in facing into her final years seeking to cope with personal losses brought on by both the Great Hunger and the great Civil War- the conflict that carried off so many who had survived it.

Thanks are due to the Consulate General of Ireland in Atlanta, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the Friends of Andersonville, Andersonville National Historic Site and Professor Nicholas Allen of the Willson Center for Humanities & Arts at the University of Georgia for their ongoing support of the Andersonville Irish Project.

References

U.S. National Archives Pension Files.

U.S. National Archives Compiled Military Service Records.

National Archives of Ireland: The Office of Public Works.

New Jersey Adjutant General 1876. Records of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, Volume 1.

Christine Kinealy 2012. “The Operation of the Poor Law during the Famine” in John Crowley, William J. Smyth & Mike Murphy (eds.) Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, 87-95.

Irish in the American Civil War Documentary

This week Ireland’s state broadcaster RTÉ (Raidió Teilifís Éireann) dedicated an episode of its show Nationwide to the Irish experience of the American Civil War. Over the years there has been a disappointing lack of Irish programming looking at emigrants to the U.S. during this period, so this marks a very welcome addition. The 25-minute programme visits both the American Civil War Museum in Richmond and the Fredericksburg battlefield, where they conducted a great interview with National Park Service historian Frank O’Reilly. Damian from this parish also features in a couple of segments. All in all they did a pretty good job, hopefully there will be more like it in the future! The show is freely available to view in most countries via the RTÉ Player, where it will be available for the next 30 days or so. You can find it at this link.

Irish in the American Civil War Campfire Chat, Episode 1: Civil War Thanksgiving, Christmas & the Battle of Fredericksburg

We hope all our readers are having a good December and getting ready for Christmas! This month we are launching a new initiative here at Irish in the American Civil War. In the months ahead we will be recording video discussions where we chat about topics relating to the Irish and immigrant experience, both among ourselves and with invited guests. The format will probably be tweaked as we get into it- as might the name, which at present is just tentative! In this first installment, we had a look at how the Irish during the Civil War celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas, and also had a chat about the Battle of Fredericksburg on the occasion of the 160th anniversary. We hope you enjoy it- all feedback and/or suggestions regarding potential topics are most welcome!

YouTube: Civil War Bluejackets & Irish Sailors, Irish American Civil War Songs

It was a busy November for the Irish in the American Civil War team with not one but two online talks for the Irish American Heritage Museum! Both of the talks are now available on the Museum’s YouTube page, but you can also view them below. Damian discussed the Civil War Bluejackets Project and the Irish in the Union Navy, while Catherine discussed Irish American Civil War Songs, the topic of her recent book. We hope you enjoy them!

The Civil War Bluejackets & the Irish in the U.S. NavyIrish American Civil War Songs

“Through:” The Emigrant Hamiltons of Tyrone. Part 3. “Persons Exposed”

On October 15th, 1861, as the young Army of the Potomac was busy preparing for future campaigning, Brigadier General John H. Martindale rode out to Hall’s Hill, Virginia, to inspect a regiment that had recently been added to the brigade under his command. As he passed other units in their fresh uniforms and neatly organized camps, the officer was likely ill-prepared for the chaotic spectacle that awaited him at the encampment of the 25th New York Infantry, also known as Kerrigan’s Rangers. 

There seemed to be no means of preserving order. Officers and men were quarreling in a boisterous manner. They were not soldierly. Many men had their pants unbuttoned or wore drawers instead of pants. Many were without shoes. Their persons were dirty and their weapons foul, very foul. Their drill and marching was irregular.

[image error]Unidentified New York soldiers in camp (US Army Heritage and Education Center)

Even when the soldiers finally lined up on parade, they were still “in a state of unseemly disarray and filth–their pants unbuttoned and their underclothes and persons exposed.” My great great grandfather, Private William Hamilton, was one of these ragged soldiers, though–thankfully–I have no insight to add as to the state of his “person.” The flummoxed General Martindale called for the 25th’s officers to assemble for his instructions. When the regiment’s commander, Colonel James E. Kerrigan, stomped off without permission and didn’t return, Martindale ordered him arrested. The arrest and subsequent court martial of Colonel Kerrigan marked the beginning of the end for the 25th New York’s gangland officer cadre–and the start of its metamorphosis from a ragged rabble into an effective military unit. (1)

[image error]The 25th New York in camp near Upton’s Hill, Virginia, as sketched by Dublin-born artist Arthur Lumley in September 1861 (The Becker Collection, Boston College)

The summer of 1861 had been a tumultuous one for this new regiment. After being officially mustered into Federal service at Staten Island, New York on June 28th, the 25th traveled via train to Washington, DC, departing on July 3rd and arriving on the 5th. It was soon assigned to the garrison of Fort Albany near Arlington, Virginia, part of the emerging network of fortifications guarding the capital from potential Confederate attacks. The soldiers of the 25th spent most of July guarding various posts near Arlington. An inspection report from this period found them drinking heavily, and soldiers were seen urinating within their camp instead of utilizing a latrine pit just twenty-five feet away. Diseases spread rapidly within such crowded encampments, aided by the swarms of mosquitoes prevalent in the area near the Potomac River. Fevers, diarrhea, and rheumatism were all reported in the regiment during this time. The lack of discipline within the regiment was also a problem from early on. Private Barney McGaffney was arrested in early August for assaulting an officer with a Bowie knife. Around the same time, Private Andrew McDonald (or McDonough) died under mysterious circumstances after turning himself in for desertion and theft. McDonald was discovered in the guard house with a slit throat and multiple bayonet wounds to the abdomen, yet, as the New York Daily Tribune dryly reported, the “theory of the officers” was that his death was a suicide. (2)

[image error]Cousin Aaron Hamilton and his son Kameron visiting the site of Fort Albany, where their ancestor, William Hamilton, was stationed with the 25th New York in 1861.

On July 12th, 1861, Kerrigan’s Rangers came close to an all-out mutiny when they were ordered to exchange their new, British-made Enfield rifle muskets for outdated U.S. Model 1842 Springfield smoothbore muskets. 71 soldiers from the 25th were hauled off and jailed by the Ringgold Artillery of Pennsylvania before military leadership could force the remainder of the regiment to comply with the order. It is likely that the detained soldiers were soon allowed to return to the ranks, for there is no evidence of a mass detention on the regimental roster. As for the unit’s arms, by the time of the Peninsula Campaign in the spring 1862, they were once again carrying their cherished Enfields. (3)

Attached to Colonel John H. McCunn’s Reserve Brigade on the evening of July 20th, the 25th New York was not present at the Bull Run the following day. They marched in the direction of the battle, fully expecting to be engaged, only to run straight into the disordered remnants of the Union Army of Northeastern Virginia already in full retreat. Lieutenant Henry W. Salisbury of Co. G described the vision that greeted him as his comrades in the 25th New York:

As far as the eye could reach, the roads leading to this place were filled with broken fragments of regiments, baggage wagons, ambulances, and everything appropriate to complete the finale of an army. The men were covered with dust and begrimed with smoke and powder. Many of them were wounded and bleeding at every pore; some were supported by their generous comrades, and some, disdaining all assistance, dragged their slow and weary way along, uncomplaining. It was a sight to make the heart bleed…

The dejected troops of the 25th New York turned around and returned to the defenses of Washington. In the following months, they and the other remaining Union forces in the region were reorganized and rebuilt by a new commander, General George B. McClellan, who shaped them into what would become the Army of the Potomac. That the regiment soon received special attention from the military brass is not surprising–they had developed such a reputation for trouble that the authorities considered disbanding the unit and sending its members right back to New York. As described in the previous article in this series, they appeared at an August 1861 inspection looking like “miserable scarecrows in rags and tatters” and refused to cheer for President Lincoln and the Union. (4)

[image error]An unidentified New Yorker wearing a first issue jacket made by Brooks Brothers of New York City. Early NY state issue uniforms were notorious for their poor construction (note the frayed cuffs and missing buttons). Clothing such as this, left unrepaired–and not promptly replaced by quartermasters–would explain how a regiment like the 25th New York ended up in such a destitute state so early on. CDV by Bailey’s Photograph Gallery in Manhattan’s Five Points neighborhood. Author’s collection (with appreciation to Guy William Gane III for identifying the jacket).

After his altercation with Martindale in October, Kerrigan was court martialed on a whopping 42 charges and specifications, including habitual neglect of duty, disobedience of orders, and drunkenness on duty. Various witnesses, including other officers and enlisted men from the 25th, took the stand. One of them, Major Henry F. Savage, testified that Kerrigan “never instructed us in drill or tactics.” Regarding General Martindale’s account of the regiment’s October inspection, he verified some aspects, while insisting that such behavior, while commonplace in the regiment, was typically the product of a few bad actors and not characteristic of the troops as a whole:

I would not say there was anything unusual in the conduct of the men at that time; there had been disorderly language and disturbance; I saw some men drunk and fighting, which had frequently been the case before; I would not call that an unusual occurrence; I wish the court to bear in mind that there were only a few men in the regiment who acted so…

[image error]Major Savage (standing, with his hand raised) testifying at Colonel Kerrigan’s court martial. Kerrigan is seated in right (with the long hair and goatee). Sketch by Arthur Lumley (New York Public Library).

Captain Archibald Ferguson testified similarly, although he made no such effort to relegate the troublemakers to a small minority:

There was loud, drunken singing in the officer’s tent, and much quarreling in the camp. A sergeant and a lieutenant had a conflict and the lieutenant hit the other man in the head with a pistol. The colonel took no action. Our regiment lagged behind in discipline and knowledge. There was much drunkenness, and gambling on dog fights. At the Grand Review, in October 1861, our regiment was in rags and very much in want of pantaloons. About five men in every company had no shoes.

That said, he made sure to clarify that, “None of them appeared with their persons exposed, to my knowledge.” Kerrigan was ultimately convicted of 12 of the 42 charges and specifications and sentenced to be dismissed from the military. (5)

Many of the regiment’s original slate of officers resigned while Kerrigan was on or awaiting trial. General Martindale had them replaced with a combination of men transferred from other New York regiments and promotions from within the ranks of 25th New York itself. In William Hamilton’s Company H, for example, Thomas W. Maxwell, who had previously served as the regiment’s sergeant major, replaced Captain Daniel McManus. Maxwell was born either in Ireland or New York (the records vary). He was a clerk by trade, and lived in Manhattan’s 14th Ward, but may have spent time prospecting and mining in the Colorado Territory during the 1858 gold rush. The company’s new first lieutenant was Washington B. Fairman, who was promoted from the rank of private in the 44th New York (or “People’s Ellsworth Regiment”). Fairman was a career sailor who lived in San Francisco, California at the time of the 1860 Census. Brooklyn stationer John W. Sibell, who served as a private in the 7th New York State Militia, was promoted to second lieutenant. (6)

Charles Adams Johnson was appointed to command the 25th as its new colonel. An attorney, Yale graduate, and descendant of President John Adams, Johnson had previously been a major in the 17th New York (“Westchester Chasseurs”) and served as a lieutenant in the 10th US Infantry during the Mexican American War.

[image error]Colonel (later Brevet Brigadier General) Charles Adams Johnson (Collection of Robert Mayer III).

Lieutenant and Adjutant Henry F. Savage, who provided testimony at Kerrigan’s court martial, was officially promoted to major (he had been elected to the rank but was never appointed by Kerrigan) and subsequently lieutenant colonel. Savage was an Irish immigrant who was, alongside his father and brother, the partial owner of John Savage and Sons, a family-run grocery and wine stand in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Like Sibell, Savage had also served in the 7th Militia prior to the war. Captain Ferguson testified that Savage oversaw drilling and training the 25th in Kerrigan’s stead. (7)

[image error]Lieutenant Colonel Henry F. Savage (Library of Congress)

Another new addition was Thomas E. Bishop. An accountant in Rochester, New York before the war, Bishop was the son of an American native father and an Irish immigrant mother. He grew up in Rochester’s Dublin neighborhood, so named for its concentration of Irish immigrants. Starting out as a private in the 13th New York Infantry, Bishop survived the First Battle of Bull Run before being promoted to second lieutenant and transferred to Co. B of the 25th New York in November 1861. Bishop was the brother-in-law of Colonel Patrick “Paddy” O’Rorke, who was later killed leading a famous counterattack on Little Round Top at Gettysburg. (8)

[image error]Lieutenant (later Captain) Thomas E. Bishop (Author’s collection).

The 25th New York’s diverse new officer slate faced a monumental task–to transform a rowdy crew of New York street toughs into a well-drilled, disciplined fighting force. The upcoming Peninsula Campaign would demonstrate whether they, and the men and boys under their command, could rise above their reputations and stand up to their Confederate counterparts on the field of battle.

Notes and References

Thank you to Aaron S. Hamilton for help with notes, images, and sources throughout.

(1) Lowry, Thomas, Tarnished Eagles.

(2) “25th Infantry Regiment,” New York State Military Museum; Bell, Andrew McIlwaine, Mosquito Soldiers; “A Murderous Soldier,” New York Daily Tribune, 6 Aug 1861; “Sad Death of a Deserter,” New York Daily Tribune, 6 Aug 1861.

(3) “Refuse Their Arms and Are Sent to Jail,” Louisville Daily Courier, 13 Jul 1861.

(4) “A Letter from One of the Fillmore Guard,” Buffalo Courier, 14 Aug 1861; “25th Infantry Regiment,” New York State Military Museum; Russell, William Howard, My Diary North and South (Vol. 1).

(5) Lowry, Thomas, Tarnished Eagles; “The Proceedings of the Court Martial in the Case of Colonel Kerrigan,” New York Daily Herald, 5 Mar 1862; “The Court Martial on Colonel Kerrigan, New York Sun, 18 Dec 1861.

(6) New York Muster Roll Abstracts, National Archives; 1860 US Census, National Archives; 1855 New York State Census.

(7) New York Muster Roll Abstracts, National Archives; “Colonel Charles Adams John,” Antietam on the Web (antietam.aotw.org); 1860 US Census, National Archives; Trow’s Directory of New York City; Ad in New York Herald, 13 Mar 1862; Obituary in New York Times, 29 Oct 1862.

(8) New York Muster Roll Abstracts, National Archives; 1860 US Census, National Archives; 1855 New York State Census; 1850 US Census, National Archives; Brennan, Christopher, “Dublin: Rochester’s Irish Neighborhood,” Local History Rocs (rochistory.wordpress.com).

Irish American Civil War Songs: Loyalty, Identity, and Nationhood Out Now!

After what feels like a labour of love for nearly a decade, I’m delighted to see my first book on the culture and sentiments of Irish American Civil War songs and music now out there in the world having been published by LSU Press at the end of September! Followers of the blog and our Facebook page will know that I’ve written about aspects of this topic before on this site – starting back in 2015 – though the project has its origins a couple of years before when I first asked Damian for help in contextualising a group of Irish-related American Civil War songs held by the British Library. Back then, I was working on a MA internship focusing on digitising wartime sources held there for an online gallery around the time of the conflict’s 150th anniversary, and my Civil War interests lay more in other cultural and social aspects. But those songs captured my imagination, drove my PhD research, and has become a project I’m very proud to champion.

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Those who have read my other posts on this site, or our special Crossfire publication earlier this year, will be familiar with some of the bigger aspects of what the book speaks about. Building on work I’ve written and spoken about elsewhere on the way Irish songs articulated American loyalty to the war cause (on Confederate, and particularly Union, sides), and why we should all listen to the songs of the past as another source of different expressions about wartime experiences, Irish American Civil War Songs: Loyalty, Identity and Nationhood focuses on the history of Irish song use in America up to the mid-nineteenth century; the publication and performance of such ballads; the way Civil War examples sang about wartime service; the role of the 69th New York State Militia and Irish Brigade as being bastions lyrical history; the place of nationalism (Irish and American) and politics amongst sentimental concerns about the loss of the diaspora’s sons on America’s war torn fields; and how songs displayed Irish cultural heritage wrapped up in the Star Spangled Banner.

The book has been put together with the help of the brilliant LSU Press, who have been enthusiastic from the start of the book-making process and who have produced a beautiful cover for it. The shamrock, Irish and American flag border design comes from a music score book for a song about General Michael Corcoran (a big figure in my work) along with a photo of First Battle of Bull Run prisoners at Castle Pinckney sitting underneath a home-made sign for a ‘music hall’. Those of you who have read Corcoran’s wartime memoir about his post-Bull Run capture, or are familiar with Damian’s Andersonville work, will know that prisons became large sites of cultural production for soldiers when they were able. This book cover photo is reflective of that.  

Keep your eyes on our Facebook page for some updates about the book – there are few talks and blog pieces that are coming up between now and Christmas, including my ‘Author’s Series’ Facebook conversation with LSU Press on 3 November. I’m also tweeting a fair bit about the book at the moment, along with news of some new projects I’m researching (more on that in a future post!). We’ll be sure to share the details of other events once they are confirmed! For more info about the book, head to the book’s page in the LSU Press catalogue site, and see the full press release below.

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