Fr. Abram Ryan, Catholic Chaplain and Poet of the Confederacy

Father Ryan as Chaplain

He Was Under Fire in Fifty-Two Battles and Forty Odd Skirmishes.

Abram Ryan was born at Norfolk, VA.When Father Ryan was asked to become a chaplain in the Confederate army says a Southern journal, there was not a Corporal’s Guard, zero men of his own faith or race in the regiment, but he accepted the post, and served until the end of the war. He was under fire in fifty-two battles and in forty odd skirmishes. The stone of which his memorial cross is made was quarried from a place where, for ten hours, he was under fire while ministering to wounded and dying Federals and Confederates. To all appeals of the soldiers and officers to go to the rear during battle he turned a deaf ear. Wheresoever the fighting was the heaviest there was Father Ryan, with his well known rubber lined and canvas covered canteen, which held two gallons of water, and his pack containing lint, ligatures and medicines.

It never made any difference to Father Ryan whether the close of the day’s battle found him within or without the Confederate lines. He cared nothing for the political aspect of the war; he simply did his work as a priest of God. He was the faithful priest the good Samaritan first, last and always. The men of both sides loved him with a fervor which is undiminished to this day where wearers of the blue and the gray meet together to tell of the sad days when everything was topsy-turvy in Virginia. It generally turned out that the forlorn hopes sent to charge impregnable positions by the Federals were Irish soldiers. Father Ryan soon found this out, and therefore he was always present at the outer line of the Confederate defense in order to administer the last rights to the dying Irish Catholic.

He saw the desperate charge of the Irish Brigade at Marye’s Heights - a feat that dwarfs the glories of the Six Hundred “into the mouth of hell.” Amid the awful cannonading of General Burnside’s artillery aimed at those heights, after the Irish Brigade had charged into the very mouths of sixty-seven cannon, Father Ryan, with long hair flying in the breeze, knelt amid the bodies of more than a thousand Irish dead and ministered to the dying. This act of saintly heroism was observed by General Burnside, who immediately ordered his troops to cease firing whilst Father Ryan stood on the battle line.

Reprinted from the Connecticut Catholic Transcript 6/22/1900. Additional information added by JC Sullivan. Originally Courtesy Phillip Gallagher, CN

ENSIGN WILLIAM IGNATIUS HALLORAN, U.S. Navy

by

JC Sullivan

     “The telegram of his death arrived at 2:30 a.m., Friday, December 12^th, by a Western Union kid in an olive drab uniform riding a bike in the dark.” That’s how Lawrence Halloran described receiving notice that the family’s son and brother, Ensign William Ignatius Halloran, U.S. Navy,  was dead, the first Ohioan and Clevelander to fall in World War II.

     December 7^th, 1941, in the words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was a day that will “live in Infamy”. On that day the Japanese navy attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was also the birthday of Stella Halloran of West 111^th St., Cleveland. At Pearl Harbor, 1,177 sailors aboard the USS Arizona died when ship was bombed and capsized. Among those entombed is Bill Halloran, Lawrence and Stella Halloran’s  twenty-six year old son.

     Bll Halloran was a 2^nd generation Irish-American, grandson of Irish-born (Galway) John and Edna Halloran. He attended Cathedral Latin High School, then located on E. 107^th St. off Euclid Avenue, and later transferred to John Marshall High School. He went on to Ohio State University where he majored in Journalism.  In campus affairs, he was president of the Catholic Newman Club, president of the Interracial Council and an important member of the Lantern staff, the school newspaper. After graduation he worked for United Press in Columbus and Cleveland as a sports editor.

     In 1940 Halloran volunteered for active duty in the Naval Reserves.  He attended  the Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School at Northwestern University where he received his  commission as Ensign in June the following year. His first assignment was to the battleship West Virginia. Classmates at Ohio State received a postcard from him that was mailed at sea from the USS Arizona, three days before the attack at Pearl Harbor.  Today, the ship is still a commissioned vessel in the  US Navy because  her crew is still aboard.

   His younger brother Lawrence, Beverly Hills, Michigan, now 84 years old, said  athough Bill Halloran had never seen war, he had described it as "…impractical, crazy and un-Christian’.  Lawrence  remembered him as  "a great guy, a lot of fun," who loved sports and organized local teens into baseball teams.

     Today, a blue star in a home’s window still signifies a  family member in the service. After December 7^th, the star in the Halloran home’s window was replaced with a gold star, signifying a family member had perished in the war. After the loss of her son, Stella Halloran became active in the affairs of the Gold Star mothers. As President she attended many war bond drives on Cleveland’s public square.

     All three of the Halloran boys, William, Lawrence and John, joined the Navy during the war. Lawrence served aboard the USS Halloran, a destroyer escort named for his brother William and later decommissioned at Charleston, S.C. Naval Base. It took kamikaze hits during the battle for Okinawa that killed four, wounded twenty-three and put 304 holes in the ship. “Halloran House”, a dormitory at Ohio State University, is named for him, as is Halloran Park on West 117th Street south of Lorain Ave.

     Besides his brothers and parents, Lawrence and Stella, a sister Estelle also survived him.

Irish Units in the Confederacy

IRISH MEN IN THE CONFEDERACY

 by

J.C. Sullivan

    

     Much has been written about the Irish in the military service of the United States. Irish Medal of Honor recipients, too, are well documented. However, a lesser known aspect of the American Civil War is our service in the Confederate States of America (CSA).

In 1861, several cities in the American south and Midwest had large Irish populations, namely New Orleans, Savannah, Galveston, Mobile, Memphis, Charleston, Nashville, St. Louis and Louisville. Many Irishmen joined local militia units that were also social in nature. Members drilled, marched and learned to use firearms.  In Border States, such as Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee, Irish served in both the Federal and Confederate armies and navies. Sometimes brother fought against brother. In some units, Irish-born soldiers, if not wholly composing the units, numbered at least two thirds of the unit.

     During the evening just prior to the battle of Fredericksburg it was reported CSA musicians played “The Bonnie Blue Flag”. During the battle itself, Meagher's Irish Brigade was decimated as they attacked Marye’s Heights.  A Confederate Irish Unit (possibly the 2nd Georgia) was opposing them.  An officer in that unit was Willie Mitchell, who was the son of John Mitchell, General Meagher's friend, fellow prisoner in Australia and fellow Young Ireland member. Following the war, Mitchel was imprisoned with Jefferson Davis. Upon release he later edited a Pro-Southern newspaper in Richmond. 

 In his diary, later published as The Valiant Hours, Cleveland’s Thomas F. Galwey, Co. B, 8^th OVI, reported that after the battle of Fredericksburg both USA and CSA troops ceased-fire so the dead could be collected and buried. ”Jim Gallagher told us that he had met a man from the 16^th Mississippi Regiment (an Irish regiment, it seems). They all, Confederate and Federal parted on good terms and bade one another a sincere goodbye.”

     The state of Alabama fielded several units. Montgomery was the terminus of the Louisville & Nashville railroad. Traditionally, Irish worked the railroads and it should not be surprising to find Irish communities in Montgomery and Mobile during these times. Irish units reportedly were the Alabama Light Dragoons and Mobile Dragoons.  Co. B, 24th Alabama Inf. (Emmett Guards); 24th Alabama Cavalry Battalion

The 24th Alabama Cavalry Battalion was organized on 31 December 1863, with three companies. Like their Federal counterparts, young men staffed the units. Most served under General Joseph Wheeler in the Cavalry Corps, assigned to the Brigades of Philip Dale Roddey and Moses Wright Hannon. In January, 1865, they were transferred into James Hagan's Brigade. The battalion was involved in the Atlanta Campaign at Resaca and the siege of the city. As they withdrew southward they continued to confront Union forces throughout Georgia and the Carolinas. They eventually surrendered with the Army of Tennessee at Durham Station, Orange County, North Carolina, 26 April 1865.

Another unit, Co. I, 8th Alabama Infantry (Emerald Guards), was from Mobile. The 8^th was the first Alabama unit to enlist “for the war.” Co. I had 104 Irish-born out of 109. Patrick C. Loughry, who was killed in action at the battle of Seven Pines, commanded them. C. P. B. Branegan, later killed at Gettysburg, succeeded him. John McGrath assumed command, only to be wounded at the battle of The Wilderness, Spotsylvania. He was forced to retire on 27 December, 1864.

Instead of butternut and gray, the men of the Emerald Guards wore dark green uniforms. Their banner was unique as well. On one side was a Confederate First National flag ("Stars and Bars") on one side with a full-length figure of George Washington in the center. On its opposite side was a green field, with a harp surrounded by a wreath of shamrocks, and the slogans, "ERIN GO BRAGH!" (Ireland Forever!) and "FAUGH A BALLAGH!" (Clear The Way!). An enlistment banner for the unit at that time proclaimed: “Men of the Auld Sod! Sons of Erin!  The deep green uniforms of Company I, 8th Alabama Emerald Guard should be seen again on the Field of Honor! Good men of Irish origin or ancestry are needed to command and fill the ranks. March under the green banner once again.  Contact Major Michael Kelley for information.”

At the Battle of Frazier’s Farm they engaged Meagher’s Irish Brigade. The 8^th Alabama fought in some of the bloodiest and most savage battles of the Civil War - Sharpsburg (Antietam), 2^nd Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. When rumors of surrender reached them they became indignant and “tore their battle-flag into shreds to retain as mementos. Of 1,377 men on its roll, the 8th lost 300 killed or mortally wounded, over 170 died of disease, and 236 were discharged or transferred; 16 officers and 153 men surrendered.”

More on the unit can be found on two websites - http://www.tarleton.edu/~kjones/wilcox.html#8th-Inf

http://www.37thtexas.org/html/CoI8thAla.html

     The state of Louisiana fielded several Irish volunteer units, among them:

 13th Louisiana Infantry - Capt. O'Leary's "Southern Celts", Co. B, St. Mary's Volunteers;

 1st Louisiana Infantry - "Emmett Guards", Co. D, E. The First Louisiana was one of two brigades of Louisiana infantry which served with the 2nd Corps Army of Northern Virginia.  7,534 officers and men served in the various regiments during the war. 1,743 1st Brigade, sons of Louisiana, gave their lives for their country, in the war. A larger number of the Brigade was captured when they were overrun at Rappahannock Station, Virginia, November 7, 1864.

 7^th Louisiana Infantry – Co. C - "Sarsfield's Rangers"; “Irish Volunteers”. Of the 974 men in the 7^th, 331 were born in Ireland. Mustered into service for the duration of the war on June 5, 1861. Though composed mainly of farmers, laborers, and clerks, Gen. Richard Taylor referred to the 7th as a "crack regiment". The original colonel of the regiment was Harry T. Hays, who went on to become a

distinguished general with the 7th coming under the command of his lieutenant colonel, Davidson B. Penn for the remainder of the war. The unit’s major engagements were:

Sharpsburg (Antietam). Brigade at this time did not number over 550 men. The command was reduced, losing more than one-half (323 killed and wounded);

Gettysburg. Total loss: 7 officers and 29 men killed, 22 officers and 178 men wounded, and 4 officers and 91 men missing;

Winchester. 2 officers and 10 men killed, 8 officers and 59 men wounded, making a total of 12 killed and 67 wounded. On June 13, 2 men killed 3 officers and 8 men wounded, and 3 men missing. Total of the two days' operations: 14 killed, 78 wounded, 3 missing.

      Of the total wartime rolls of 1,077 men, 190 were killed and 68 died of disease. The regiment suffered only a ten percent desertion rate, a trivial number when compared with other regiments with such diverse ethnic backgrounds.

6th Louisiana Infantry - "The Emeralds", Co. B, F. Commanded by Colonel Isaac Seymour;

    The 6th was composed of almost all Irish laborers from New Orleans. Organized at Camp Moore, Louisiana on June 2, 1861 the unit was almost immediately sent to Virginia, where it participated in the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run). After the battle the 6th was placed in an all-Louisiana brigade that included the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Louisiana and Wheat's Special Battalion. The brigade, initially commanded by Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor, became known throughout the Army of Northern Virginia as the "Louisiana Tigers." When it surrendered to the US government on April 9, 1865, less than 60 of the original 1,146 that fought throughout the war were present.

Colonel Charles de Choiseul, descendant of a commander of the original Wild Geese, was promoted to commander of the Wheat’s “Tigers.” Upon learning of this he said, “I am the victim of circumstances, not of my own will. Whether the Tigers will devour me, or whether I will succeed in taming them, remains to be seen. What is more likely, is that they will remain in their high state of undiscipline. For the officers, at least the majority of them, are worse than the men. " (Letter, Charles de Choiseul to Emma Louise Walton, September 5, 1861} An incident in November of that year appears to validate de Choiseul’s perception.

Two members of the “Tigers” shared a bottle of whiskey with members of the 21^st Georgia Volunteers but the Georgian took off with their bottle. When a fight broke out several “Tigers” were ordered confined to the guardhouse for brawling. A small group of drunken comrades attacked the guard in an attempt to liberate the prisoners and Col. Harry Hayes of the 7^th La. was struck. Privates Michael O'Brien and Dennis Corcoran admitted to being the ringleaders of the attack. In December, military justice had its day.

 According to the papers of Randolph Abbot Shotwell, “The doomed men (O'Brien and Corcoran) maintained a remarkable coolness, never flinching when the priest bade them farewell and stepped aside, never flinching when at the curt word of command, twenty-four muskets came up to a direct level, never flinching when again the command rings out 'Aim!' Nor was there a sound - for I had covered my eyes - when amid the painful silence came the word 'Fire!' and was drowned in the crashing volley that ensued. Both men fell forward riddled with bullets. Death was instantaneous. "

 On July 1 during the first day's fighting at Gettysburg, the 6th Louisiana, now a part of Brig. Gen. Harry T. Hays' Louisiana Brigade, was engaged north of town. At dusk on July 2 the brigade breached the Federal line on Cemetery Hill. Although Hays' attack was successful, it was not supported, and Federals drove them off Cemetery Hill from the Eleventh Corps. The 6^th Louisianans forever resented this lost opportunity.

 Rev. James B. Sheeran, a native of Ireland, was the Chaplain of the 14^th Louisiana Regiment. He published his diary as Confederate Chaplain. A prisoner of war, Fr. Sheeran spent time at Fort McHenry before being released from Fort McHenry. He became an itinerant clergyman after the war and founded Holy Rood Church, Morristown, New Jersey, where he is interned

     In his doctoral dissertation, Catholic Military and Naval Chaplains, 1776 - 1917, Dom Aidan Henry Germain, S.T.L., J.A., J.C.B., called out both federal and confederate chaplains. Among the Irish surnamed Catholic Chaplains in the CSA were the following priests:

Bannon, John, St. Louis;

Croghan, C.J., Hospital, Montgomery, White Sulphur Springs, VA.

Cunningham, James T., 3^rd Mississippi Regiment Infantry

Jordan, William H., 18^th North Carolina

O’Connell, Laurence P., Hospital, Montgomery, White Sulphur Springs, VA

O’Keefe, M. Virginia. Assigned to General Blanchard.

O’Riely, Thomas, Kinston, LaGrange, Marietta, Newman and Griffin, GA.

Ryan, Patrick, Post Chaplain, Charleston;

Sheeran, James, C.SS.R, 14^th LA Infantry;

Whelan, Peter, Savannah, “Montgomery Guards”, 1^st Georgia Volunteers.

               

Just why did we fight? The popular notion that we have all been taught is that it was to end slavery. Author James B. McPherson, however, attempts to answer the question in a much more scholarly light in What They Fought For, 1861 – 1865. Confederates fought for as many different reasons than did Federals. On the southern list was, and remains, the right of a state to secede from the Union. Intertwined in their cause was the moral issue of slavery. Surprising to some is the fact that many on either side did not fight to save the ‘peculiar institution.” What is known, however, is that all thought the fight would be of a short duration – how wrong they were. Many, like Cleveland’s “Hibernian Guards” and Savannah’s “Montgomery Guards” were initially local social and militia units, the latter being popular throughout the nation at the time.

Be that as it may, nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of the union of the states being permanent.  A textbook written by Judge William Rawle, was used at West Point before the war. A View of the Constitution states, “The secession of a State depends on the will of the people of such a State.” Interestingly, no Confederate leader was ever brought to trial for treason. To do so would have a meant a trial and resulting verdict on the issue of the constitutional legality of secession. The verdict   had already been set by popular thought of the time and the decisions of victories in battle.

Why have we Irish historically been so eager to fight? David Walsh, published in the International Workers Bulletin, December, 1994, declared the Civil War era to have been a time “When Great Ideals Gripped The American People.” "In 1863, a 33-year-old Ohio private wrote that he had not expected the war to go on so long, but no matter how long it took it must be prosecuted, "for the great principles of liberty and self government at stake, for should we fail, the onward march of Liberty in the Old World will be retarded at least a century, and Monarchs, Kings and Aristocrats will be more powerful against their subjects than ever."

Perhaps the answer to my question lies in the words of the Ohio private. Irish liberty, indeed, was retarded for centuries when “Monarchs, Kings and Aristocrats” were more powerful than any of us. Reflecting further another question comes to mind. What are the forces of evil that bring brother to fight brother, or in the case of a Federal infantryman named Driscoll, father to kill son? If we could isolate and identify when evil is disguised as good, could we then prevent holocausts from occurring? Perhaps it is up to the voice of the Irish to take the lead. After all, haven’t we earned the right to do so?   

-30-

Bibliography:  The Valiant Hours, Galwey, Thomas F., Stackpole Co., Harrisburg, PA, p.67

Fortin, Maurice S., ed. Colonel Hilary A. Herbert's 'History of the Eighth Alabama Volunteer Regiment, C.S.A. in Alabama Historical Quarterly, XXXIX (1977), 5-321'

Hoole, William Stanley, ed. History of the Eighth Regiment Alabama Volunteers (Infantry). (University, AL:

Confederate Publishing Co., 1985 [reprint of an article first published in Perry & Smith's Directory of the City of Montgomery, Alabama (1866)])

Trueheart, Charles William. Rebel brothers: the Civil War letters of the Truehearts. (College Station, TX:   

Texas A&M University Press, c1995)

A Civil action, 11/11/99, By William Gordon http://www.nj.com/features/ledger/d8e823.html,

Staff Writer

http://archives1.archives.nd.edu/calendar/cal1865a.htm, Notre Dame Archives Calendar, 1865

Dissertation, Catholic Military and Naval Chaplains, 1776 – 1917, submitted to the Faculty of the Philosophy of the Catholic University of America in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Washington, D.C., 1929.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/may1999/mcp1-m19.shtml. James B. McPherson’s What They Fought For: When Great ideals gripped the American people. David Walsh, 5 December e1994.

http://www.geocities.com/pelicanregt/ - Homepage of the 7^th Louisiana.

http://www.users.fast.net/%7eezifra/6thla/

http://home.earthlink.net/%7esdriskell/1stlabrg/1stbhis.htm

                      

Revolutionary War General John Sullivan

A brief story revealing General Sullivan's character. Upon realizing the incongruity of going off to war for freedom, his enterprising slave won his freedom from Sullivan.

http://seacoastnh.com/blackhistory/patriots.html

Fr. Peter Whelan, O.S.B., C.S.A.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

To describe the life and times of one immigrant to the American South could be also be aptly titled "Holy Men in Modern Times." One chapter would describe Wexford-born Peter Whelan. Oh, he was human, to be sure, but his devotion to God and his fellow man is evident in the way he chose to live his life. He was also a Confederate Chaplain to Irish-Americans in the Montgomery Guards, part of the 1st Georgia Volunteers.

     Peter Whelan was born in 1802 in County Wexford, Ireland. He attended Birchfield College in Kilkenny for two years, where he received classical and mathematical education. He may have been influenced by the desperate appeal of John England, the bishop of the new diocese of Charleston, South Carolina. Priests were sorely needed, particularly in the South. He was ordained a priest of the Benedictine Order in Charleston on November 21, 1830. He offered his first Mass in the state of Georgia in 1835 in the home of Robert Semmes. In 1854 a yellow fever epidemic claimed the life of Savannah's first Bishop, Frances Gartland in 1854. Father Whelan was summoned to Savannah and was stationed there for the remainder of his life.

     In September 1861 Bishop Augustine Verot was named the third Bishop of the Savannah Diocese, which was formed in 1850. Arriving at his new post from Florida, he was asked to send a chaplain to Fort Pulaski. The Fort, on the Savannah River, guarded the approaches to the city. It was thought to be impregnable as no artillery shells could be directed at it from any nearby land.   Part of the garrison there were Catholic troops, in particular the Montgomery Guards, mostly Irish from Savannah.

     The militia unit was organized on August 20, 1861. Not having their own banner, Captain Lawrence J. Guilmartin contacted the Sisters of Mercy in Savannah. After Mass on Saint Patrick's Day, 1862, a presentation ceremony was held. Private Bernard O'Neill was appointed standard-bearer and Major John Foley presented it to him.

     Father Whelan was present on April 10, 1862 when Federal forces began an artillery bombardment of the Fort. Using new 'rifled' artillery, the rounds were able to reach the outer walls from Tybee Island, more than a mile away. Thirty hours later, with one wall breached by the shot, it was determined that the entire ammunition magazine was in danger of exploding. If that happened the entire garrison would be killed. Colonel Charles H. Olmstead agreed to surrender. Now prisoners-of-war, Father Whelan and the Montgomery Guards were transported to Governor's Island, New York. Bernard O'Neill hid the banner on his person.

     Wartime conditions persisted for prisoners and Father Whelan, through the office of Father William Quinn, pastor of St. Peter's Church, Barclay St., New York, applied for the position of Prison Chaplain so he could offer daily Mass at Castle William. Through Father Quinn he was discharged and put on parole. Father Whelan could have left but he chose to remain with his men and minister to them. He eventually returned to Savannah where the Vicar General assigned him the task of overseeing the spiritual needs of the confederate military posts in Georgia.

On one occasion another Confederate chaplain, the Reverend James Sheeran of the Fourteenth Louisiana, on leave from Virginia, visited him. In his diary he observed, “He stands nearly six feet with drab hair, coarse ill shaped countenance, round or swinging shoulders, long arms, short body and long legs, with feet of more than ordinary size.... One day he met a brother priest, to whom nature was no more liberal than to himself. "Well," said he, "...your mother and mine must have been women of great virtue....because they did not drown us when the first saw us. None but mothers of great...patience would have raised such ugly specimens of humanity."

     During May of the same year Fr. William Hamilton, pastor of Assumption Church in Macon, accidentally came upon Andersonville Prison and stopped to learn how many Catholics were there. His experience led him to petition the Vicar, suggesting a priest be provided; Father Whelan was asked. He arrived at Andersonville on June 16, 1864. Even though other priests and the Bishop visited briefly, Whelan remained for four months.  Although he never penned his feelings, a pastor from Macon did. "I found the stockade extremely filthy:  the men all huddled together and covered with vermin....they had nothing under them but the ground."

At the fall of the Confederacy, Father Whelan returned to Savannah and served there until 1868. During this time he was called to be a defense witness in the trial of Andersonville Prison Commandant Henry Wirz. At the trial, evidence was not introduced that demonstrated that Wirz had constantly written Richmond to obtain better food and supplies for the prisoners. Testifying on behalf of his fellow Catholic, Whelan said, "He may sometimes have spoken harshly to some of the prisoners but during my time in the stockade I never heard that he had taken a man's life, and I have seen him commit no violence."

At the age of sixty-nine, and in failing health from his wartime tribulations, he administered his last baptism in 1871 and died in February of the same year. The funeral procession was reported in the Savannah Evening News as the longest ever seen in the city. After a 10:00 a.m. Mass a procession of eighty-six carriages and buggies of civilians, religious societies and Irish organizations escorted his mortal remains through Savannah's crowd-lined streets to the Catholic Cemetery. Colonel Olmstead led Confederate Army and Navy veterans. An officer who knew Father Whelan said, "I followed this good old man to his grave with a sense of exultation as I thought of the welcome that awaited him from the Master whose spirit he had caught and made the rule of his life."

Bibliography

Gilliam Bowen, Diocese of Savannah

Father Whelan of Fort Pulaski and Andersonville, Georgia Historical Quarterly, Spring, 1987.