The Immortal Irishman

by Timothy Egan

  Yankee girl, quoted in Thomas Francis Meagher: Irish Rebel, American Yankee, Montana Pioneer by Gary R. Forney, Exlibris, 2004.

  “a word of talismanic power,” from the Irish-American, quoted in Bilby, The Irish Brigade in the Civil War.

  Meagher promise to never leave, at Fort Schuyler, from the New York Times, October 14, 1861.

  Meagher, three cheers for Mitchel, from Memoirs.

  McClellan quotes, from McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom.

  Largest army on earth, McClellan attitude toward Lincoln, from Lincoln and McClellan: The Troubled Partnership Between a President and His General by John C. Waugh, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

  Camp life, from Memoirs of Chaplain Life by Very Rev. William Corby, La Monte, O’Donnell & Co., 1893.

  Meagher appointment as general, and his uniform, from Bilby, The Irish Brigade in the Civil War.

  Meagher’s drinking, his highs and lows, ibid., and from Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life.

  CHAPTER 15: SUMMER OF SLAUGHTER

  Union position, from Bilby, The Irish Brigade in the Civil War, and McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom.

  Quote on Meagher’s love of racy humor, from The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns by Capt. D. P. Conyngham, Cameron and Ferguson, 1866.

  Arrival of Kavanagh, from Memoirs.

  Cannon fire while they waited, from TFM letter to Samuel L. M. Barlow, April 24, 1862, courtesy Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

  Background on Kavanagh and details of steeplechase and weapons, from Memoirs.

  Called to battle, from Lyons, Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher, with Meagher’s description of the march and battle.

  Crawling through the mud, sleeping with dead, finding soldiers in morning, all from Meagher’s own account in Memoirs.

  General Sumner, “How Irishmen fight,” from Memoirs.

  Description of initial fighting, from Conyngham, The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns.

  McClellan compliments the Irish, from Memoirs.

  McClellan, to his wife, privately seething, from The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War by David J. Eicher, Simon & Schuster, 2002.

  Irish Brigade casualties, from Report of Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher, June 4, 1862, in Official Records.

  Lincoln fuming about McClellan, from Waugh, Lincoln and McClellan.

  Medical scene, implements, surgery, what Meagher saw, from Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life.

  Malaria, horses burned, hundreds died, ibid.

  Culture clash, Yankees join Irish, and quote, from www.historynet.com/the-irish-brigade-fought-in-americas-civil-war.htm.

  First day of Seven Days Battles, from TFM’s official report, cited above.

  Larger strategy, Robert E. Lee quote, from Foote, The Civil War, Volume 1.

  Irish at Gaines’s Mill, reinforcing Porter, from story in the New York Times, June 30, 1862.

  Captain Lyons’s assessment, from Lyons, Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher. Also, Meagher repeatedly said the Battle of Gaines’s Mill was the high-water mark of the Irish Brigade.

  Union dead stripped of clothes, and Union wounded buried alive, from eyewitness account of Father Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life.

  Battle with Louisiana Tigers, from Memoirs, and general information on that brigade, from “The Terrifying Tigers” by Terry L. Jones, in Disunion.

  Irish brigade at Malvern Hill, other details, from Report of Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher, Series 1, Volume 11.

  Additional brigade details, mutton, summoned to battle, from Lyons, Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher.

  “Not war—murder,” D. H. Hill quoted in McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom.

  Union and Confederate total casualties in Virginia. Figures vary; I used the New York Times, taking into account contemporary scholarship in Disunion.

  Brigade casualties, from TFM official report, quoted in the New York Times, July 26, 1862.

  First time more people killed by artillery, from McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom.

  McClellan, “We want many more Irishmen,” from The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan, edited by Stephen W. Sears, Da Capo Press, 1992.

  CHAPTER 16: REASONS TO LIVE AND DIE

  Meagher at home, from Memoirs.

  Toffs paying $20 to recruits, ibid.

  Protests against draft, including words on the banner, quoted in McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom.

  Meagher speech at 7th Regiment Armory, from the New York Times, July 26, 1862.

  Lincoln, “God bless the Irish flag,” from Bilby, The Irish Brigade in the Civil War.

  Meagher quote on “equal to him in his allegiance,” from “The Fighting Irish Brigade,” the New York Times, December 12, 2012, later collected in Disunion.

  Archbishop Hughes declaration on abolition, from Foote, The Civil War, Volume 1.

  Soldier writes home on how sacrifice made them American, from an unsigned letter that ran in the Irish American, October 5, 1862.

  Quotes from Meagher’s speech at the armory come from a transcript that ran in the New York Times, July 26, 1862, except for the reading of Donovan’s letter and the description of the Irish prince, which comes from Conyngham, The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns.

  Meagher letter to Lincoln, July 30, 1862, quoted in Forney, Thomas Francis Meagher.

  Death of Emmet, and Meagher’s reaction in a letter, from the New York Herald, August 11, 1862.

  Lee’s master plan, from Foote, The Civil War, Volume 1.

  Ate well at Richmond, ate poorly on march north, and the dust, all from Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life.

  Battle plan at Antietam, from Foote, The Civil War, Volume 1.

  Irish at Antietam, from Meagher’s report, September 30, 1862, in Official Records.

  Father Corby administering blanket absolution, and within twenty minutes half shot down, from Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life.

  Death of John Kavanagh, from the New York Times, September 25, 1862.

  Additional details of Antietam, and description of the area, from author visit to Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland.

  Number and timing of all casualties in the battle, and quotes from Lincoln and McClellan before the battle, from the National Park Service, http://www.nps.gov/anti/historyculture/upload/Battle%20history.pdf.

  Details of deaths, by bayonet, drowning, etc., from witness, Conyngham, The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns.

  Meagher on “acres of slain and dying,” letter to Samuel L. M. Barlow, October 1, 1862, from Samuel L. M. Barlow Collection, Huntington Library.

  Irish casualties, Meagher’s account, from Report of Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher, September 18, 1862, in Official Records.

  Meagher letter to Libby, October 1, 1862, quoted in Keneally, The Great Shame.

  CHAPTER 17: THE GREEN AND THE BLUES

  Men cold and stealing turnips, from Conyngham, The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns.

  Opening scene, TFM drunk, and drinking in general, from My Life in the Irish Brigade: The Civil War Memoirs of Private William McCarter, Savas Publishing Co., 1996. This is a great and much-overlooked firsthand account of the war, edited by Kevin E. O’Brien from McCarter’s unpublished ms.

  Grant viewed as a drunk, and Lincoln’s response, from Foote, The Civil War, Volume 1.

  Lincoln’s message to Congress on slaves, December 1, 1862, from The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler et al., Rutgers University Press, 1953.

  McClellan loses command of Army of the Potomac, and letter to his wife on his feelings about fighting to end slavery, from McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom.

  McClellan praising the Irish Brigade after Antietam, from Report of General George B. McClellan, September 17, 1862, in Official Records.

  McClellan’s farewell to Irish Brigade, from McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, and Memoirs.

  Deserter’s execution, from Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life.

  B
artering along the river, from Conyngham, The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns.

  Meagher’s gift, from McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade.

  Artillery pounding Fredericksburg, other details leading up to battle, from “The Battle of Fredericksburg” by Wilson A. Green, a National Park Service historian’s account, from author visit to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

  Population of Fredericksburg, description of town and field, from author visit.

  Troops at night in Fredericksburg, the fires and the battle itself, from Meagher, Official Report, Series 1, Volume 21. Meagher said the men didn’t have a fire. But Corby and the National Park Service’s history say otherwise, mentioning the town plundered and furniture burned.

  Meagher and green sprigs, his speech, from Memoirs.

  Lee’s comment, from the National Park Service battlefield, author visit.

  Pickett’s comment, from Bilby, The Irish Brigade in the Civil War.

  McCarter wounded, and his prayer, from McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade.

  Wounded soldier, water coming out neck, from Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life.

  Nagle on Irish blood–covered field, from Bilby, The Irish Brigade in the Civil War.

  Slaughter pen, from Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life.

  Whitman, on the bloody scene, from Disunion.

  Meagher weeping uncontrollably after the battle, from Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg! by George C. Rable, University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

  The Death Feast, including Meagher quotes, from Memoirs.

  More on Death Feast, reported in Conyngham, The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns, with matching details.

  CHAPTER 18: A BRIGADE NO MORE

  Looking for Hogan’s body, Meagher’s account, from Memoirs.

  Background about Hogan, from the New York Times, December 28, 1862.

  Horrible conditions of winter camp, letter from Captain Elliot C. Pierce to Mary Baker, January 22, 1863, courtesy Massachusetts Historical Society.

  Number of AWOL, from The Civil War by Geoffrey C. Ward, Ric Burns and Ken Burns, Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.

  Medical report of Dr. Laurence Reynolds on Meagher, reprinted in Lyons, Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher.

  Boston Pilot on Irish spirit for war is dead, from A City So Grand: The Rise of an American Metropolis, Boston, 1850–1900 by Stephen Puleo, Beacon Press, 2010.

  Lincoln family reaction to death of son, from “Civil War 150: Ripples of War,” Washington Post, October 7, 2011.

  New Year’s Eve jubilee of blacks, from the New York Times, January 1, 1863.

  Grand Requiem Mass, http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2013/01/19/the-dead-of-the-irish-brigade-the-music-and-message-16th-january-1863/.

  Meagher meeting with Lincoln at White House, and Lincoln’s letter, from Basler et al., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln.

  McCarter details in hospital, from his book, My Life in the Irish Brigade.

  Meagher back at camp, writing letters to War Department, from Memoirs.

  Details of St. Patrick’s Day feast, from Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life, and ibid.

  Battle of Chancellorsville, from Bilby, The Irish Brigade in the Civil War.

  More Chancellorsville, Meagher letter to Lyons, reprinted in Lyons, Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher.

  Death of Jackson, from Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S. C. Gwynne, Scribner, 2014.

  Meagher’s letter of resignation, May 8, 1863, reprinted in the New York Times, May 14, 1863.

  Meagher’s farewell speech, reprinted in Memoirs.

  Draft riot, how it started, from the Washington Post’s 150th anniversary retrospective, April 29, 2013.

  Draft riots, blacks targeted, from In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626–1863 by Leslie M. Harris, Historical Studies of Urban America, 2002.

  Draft riots, details, stores targeted, individuals hanged, from the New York Times, July 14–19, 1863.

  Draft riots, mayor’s plea, troops arrive, from the New York Times, July 16, 1863.

  Letter from a rioter, published in the New York Times, July 15, 1863.

  Melville poem, from the New York Times’s 150th anniversary retrospective, July 14, 2013.

  Sacking Nugent’s home, slashing Meagher’s portrait, from Bayor and Meagher, The New York Irish.

  Meagher praise by mayor, from Memoirs.

  Meagher, commenting on rioters and his belief they would have killed him, from Thomas Francis Meagher and the Irish Brigade in the Civil War by Daniel Callaghan, McFarland & Co., 2006.

  CHAPTER 19: A SECOND BANISHMENT

  Thomas Nast depictions, from Harper’s Weekly, August 1, 1863.

  Comments of George Templeton Strong, from The Diary of George Templeton Strong, University of Washington Press, 1988.

  Meagher to Smyth, views on slavery, one letter of September 5, 1863, and another of September 26, 1863, from Meagher, Letters on Our National Struggle.

  Meagher’s disgust at fellow Irish, published in the New York Times, October 9, 1864, from a private letter written October 7, 1863. Reaction from the Irish American, November 12, 1864.

  Lincoln visit, as reported in The Irish General by Paul R. Wylie, University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.

  Lincoln’s illness, smallpox diagnosis, from “Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Illness,” Journal of Medical Biography 15 (2007).

  Meagher takes Fenian oath, from Memoirs. Note: There is a dispute over whether Meagher was ever a Fenian, but as Bilby points out in his history of the brigade, one of the founders of the Brotherhood, John O’Mahoney, claimed late in life that he had initiated Meagher into the organization in the summer of 1863, which matches the time given in Memoirs.

  Fenian oath, from Memoirs.

  Michael Corcoran’s death, ibid.

  Meagher’s comments after Corcoran’s death, from “The Irish in the Ameri- can Civil War,” http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2013/12/22/our-orphan-children-will-not-soon-forget-him-the-death-of-general-michael-corcoran/.

  Sherman quote, war is war, from Memoirs of William T. Sherman.

  Jefferson Davis quote, from McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom.

  Confederates executing captured black soldiers, from Gallagher, Fighting for the Confederacy.

  Jefferson Davis attitude at end of war, from McPherson, Embattled Rebel.

  Sherman’s insanity, from “Sherman’s Demons” by Michael Fellman, in Disunion.

  Meagher “do come visit” letter to W. F. Lyons, September 22, 1864, cited in Lyons, Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher.

  Blacks and Irish, from McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom.

  Pepper recalling Meagher the orator, from “Personal Recollections of General Thomas Francis Meagher,” Donahoe’s Magazine 41 (1899).

  Meagher’s night of poetry, ibid.

  Praise from General Steedman for Meagher’s new assignment, from Memoirs.

  Meagher’s movements by rail with the provisionals, summarized in the New York Times, January 24, 1865.

  Howell Cobb biographical details, from New Georgia Encyclopedia, http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/howell-cobb-1815-1868, and the quote about making soldiers of slaves, from McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom.

  Lincoln in Richmond, from a 150th anniversary story in the Washington Post, March 29, 2015.

  Members of Irish Brigade at Lee’s surrender, from Bilby, The Irish Brigade in the Civil War.

  Meagher at the Astor House, and plans for honor guard, from the New York Times, April 23, 1865.

  War casualty numbers: The long-accepted figure was 620,000 total deaths. But new research, accepted by many Civil War scholars, has placed the figure at well above 700,000, and perhaps as many as 800,000, as reported in the New York Times, April 2, 2012.

  Number of Irish who served the Union, from Bayor and Meagher, The New York Irish.

  Irish Brigade’s high casu
alty rate, from “The Fighting Irish Brigade,” in Disunion.

  Meagher and the letter from his son, as recounted by the witness Lyons, in his Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher.

  Meagher quote in letter to son, July 17, 1865, courtesy National Library of Ireland.

  CHAPTER 20: NEW IRELAND

  Five Points highest murder rate of any slum in the world, from the New York Times, August 22, 2009.

  New Ireland suggestion of American consul to Seward, from Keneally, The Great Shame.

  Meagher’s thoughts on colony, and getting out of tenements, from his essays in his newspaper, the Irish News, and from Indians and Whites in the Northwest, 1831–1891, by L. B. Paladino, S.J., Wickersham Publishing, 1922.

  Meagher speech to the Immigration Society, from the Irish American, August 19, 1865.

  Meagher’s travels, and words of praise and warning from editor, from the Montana Post, September 9, 1865.

  Population of Montana, 1865, from Territorial Politics and Government in Montana, 1864–1889 by Clark C. Spence, University of Illinois Press, 1975.

  Fenian plans, from The Fenians: Irish Rebellion in the North Atlantic World by Patrick Steward and Bryan P. McGovern, University of Tennessee Press, 2013.

  Meagher “whip my carriage,” quoted in Thomas Francis Meagher: An Irish Revolutionary in America by Robert G. Athearn, University of Colorado Press, 1949.

  Diary of James P. Miller, June 16 and September 9, 1865, from www.virginiacity.com.

  Diary of Cornelius Hedges, September 13, 1865, courtesy Montana Historical Society.

  “Recognize a bad man when he saw one,” quoted in A Decent, Orderly Lynching: The Montana Vigilantes by Frederick Allen, University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.

  Vigilante pledge, courtesy Montana Historical Society.

  The vigilante killings, from Plummer to the end of the month, from Allen, A Decent, Orderly Lynching.

  “Burn the Mexican,” account of Pyzanthia’s death, as recorded by Thomas Dimsdale, the vigilante chronicler, quoted in A History of Montana, 1739–1885, edited by M. A. Leeson, Warner, Beers & Co., 1885.

  No money for the territory, from Montana, the Land and the People by Robert George Raymer, Lewis Publishing Co., 1930.