Connecticut's Irish Ninth. Know-Nothingism Sought to Keep it Under; but the Valor of a Strong Patriotic Race Triumphed. PART I. DURING the earlier days of our Civil War no regiment left the State of Connecticut under more distressing circumstances than the Irish Ninth, Col. Thomas W. Cahill commanding. There was none which, however, rendered more willing service in any part in which it was called upon to perform soldierly and exemplary duty. The inherent valor, devotedness, and indomitable perseverance of our race, developed in the long-protracted struggle with a foreign oppression in their native land, were not wanting in the esprit du corps of this gallant organization of the sons of the Gael. They were of the men that sustained humiliation and reverses without succumbing, and preferred famine and being put to the sword rather than apostasy,-in fact of a race tenacious and haughty, unconquerable and unyielding where a principle was at stake. They went forth at the call of their imperilled adopted country to sustain its glorious constitution, and to preserve the union of its States from disruption. The flag of the Republic had sheltered them when exile and persecution-like the rest of their exiled countrymen -became, as it were, their common lot. They therefore went forth with elastic step and brave spirit, not mercenaries for lucre, but patriot soldiers, ready to do or die for the great nation to which they were bound by vested rights equally with its native born. Many of them gave up business and lucrative situations, left wives and children and their hearts' bethrothed - fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, all that they might be of the shield and bear on their breasts the patricidal blows in the rude, terrible, and mighty shock of war that then threatened the disruption of the land. True to the aspirations and traditions of their own noble but unfortunate native country, it was around the green and gold standard of the Emmet Guards at New Haven they rallied when rebellion raised its head. They were received coldly by the constituted authorities of the State. Like their fellow-countrymen in Massachusetts and other States under the sway of Know-Nothingism they had been ostracised; their arms and uniforms stripped from them; the State and national colors snatched from their hands as being untrustworthy-to save them from being tarnished, or not capable of defending them in the hour of danger or of peril; their organizations were disbanded, and the seal of State disgrace was stamped upon every member, and he was thus sent forth to mingle with his fellow-citizens as one repudiated. The highest civic and military authority of the Commonwealth, at the beck of a malignant faction, a faction of bigotry, ignorance, and cowardice,- put the brand of disgrace upon men who were ever ready to defend with their manly honor and their lives the just protection of their fellow-citizens and the maintenance of the laws, as well as the constituted officials who had thus so bitterly assailed them and trampled upon their rights. But when President Lincoln called for the 75,000 volunteers in the spring days of 1861, Connecticut was slower than Massachusetts in undoing a part of the indignities which had been heaped in the most formal way upon Catholic adopted citizens. These latter had the double duty of proving how loyal they were to their allegiance, and of asserting their citizen manhood, thus flinging back in the teeth of their slanderers proud proofs of the shamelessness of the base charges and official acts of which they had hitherto become the almost helpless victims. We quote from a record made after the return of this gallant Ninth Regiment of Connecticut from the war, and when patricidal destruction had ceased, and the supremacy of the general government was again established over every foot of land within the boundaries of the Union. This record alluded to says: Although Irish-Americans were numerous, and many of them prominent, in all the Connecticut regiments, the Ninth was the only exclusively Irish regiment raised in that State; and no other regiment left the State so poorly equipped, this regiment not having been provided with arms until after it had reached Ship Island, in the South; even then many of its members were forced to mount guard in citizens' dress. This seeming neglect did not deter the men of the Ninth from acting throughout the war in a manner that reflected the highest credit upon themselves, the State they represented, and the race to which they belonged. . . . In the department of the Gulf, the Ninth was selected for every hazardous enterprise and to fill the more important positions. Before entering more minutely into the details of the proposed sketch of the history of this organization, which so heroically sustained the reputation of our race for gallant deeds in foray and field, let a prominent United States officer bear testimony and give authenticity to the facts just spoken of in regard to their trustworthiness in upholding the honor of their adopted country's flag. The testimony was developed under the following circumstances: In April, 1862, a boat under a flag of truce was fired upon from the Mississippi shore. General Butler immediately organized an expedition to enter the enemy's country, and selected the Ninth Connecticut and the Sixth Massachusetts Battery for that purpose. The expedition was successful. Having routed the enemy, taken possession of two villages, and captured a stand of colors, it returned to its quarters on Ship Island, when the following order was issued: HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, April 12, 1862. GENERAL ORDER, No. 10.-The Major-General commanding desires publicly to testify his appreciation of the gallant courage and good conduct of the Ninth Connecticut Vols., Col. Cahill commanding, and a section of the Sixth Massachusetts Battery, under Capt. Everett, in the recent expedition to Biloxi and Pass Christian, as exhibited by the report of the staff officer in command of that expedition. Of their bravery in the field he felt assured, but another quality more trying to the soldier claimed his admiration. After having been for months subjected to the privations incident to camp-life upon this island, the well-disciplined soldiers, although for many hours in full possession of two rebel villages, filled with what to them were most desirable luxuries, abstained from the least unauthorized interference with private property and all molestation of peaceful citizens. This behavior is worthy of all praise. It robs war of half the horrors, and it teaches our enemy how much they have been misinformed by the designing leaders as to the character of our soldiers, and the intention of our Government. It gives them a lesson in humanity and in civilized warfare much needed, however little it may be followed. The general commanding commends the action of the men of the expedition to every soldier in the department. Let it be imitated by all in the towns and cities we shall occupy, a living witness that the United States soldiers fight only for the Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the laws. By Order GEO. C. STRONG, A. A. General. MAJOR-GENERal Butler. Here, at least, surely was testimony that should have made the stay-at-home officials of the State of Connecticut wince with shame. and remorse for their ill-treatment of such worthy and valiant citizen soldiers. In a subsequent paper we shall be able to show how heartily the veteran survivors were taken to the hearts of the people on their return home after peace had been proclaimed. When Know-Nothingism was rampant in Connecticut, and the official decree went forth that Irishmen were unfit to be a portion of the State militia, the Emmet Guards, as an independent Irish-American company, was organized at New Haven. This because, as already stated, the nucleus of the Irish regiment, so important a portion of which was formed in that city, was receiving quotas from Hartford, Norwich, Waterbury, Meridan, Bridgeport, and many other cities and towns in the Nutmeg State. The prominent officers of its original roster when mustered in Nov. 1, 1861 were : Colonel, Thomas W. Cahill, mustered out Oct. 26, 1864. Lieut colonel, Richard Fitzgibbons, mustered out Oct. 2, 1864. Major Frye, mustered out Oct. 26, 1864. Chaplain, Rev. Daniel Mullen, mustered out Aug. 1862. Surgeon, Charles A. Gallagher. Company A.- Captain, John Duffy of New Haven, who was succeeded by Lieut. Michael A. Williams as captain. Company B.- Captain, Patrick Garvey. Company C.-Captain, Michael McCartin, who was succeeded by First Lieutenant John G. Healy, who was subsequently promoted colonel, commanding the battalion Aug. 3, 1865. Company D.-Captain, T. C. Coates. Company E.- Captain, Jas. P. Hennessy, who was succeeded in the command by Capt. Terence Sheridan of New Haven. Company F.- Captain, John Foley. Company G.- Captain, W. Wright. Company H.-S. W. Sawyer, who was succeeded by Lieut. A. E. Payne in the command. Company I. Captain, E. M. Curtis. Company K.-Captain, J. A. Nelson. The Ninth was, according to the official record, recruited at "Camp English," Hartford, and got encouragement only after the disaster to the Union cause at Bull Run. It was then, in the language of a recent writer, that the Connecticut Irishmen "put aside all resentment." The time was past in which "to retaliate for past intolerance." Hitherto at the first note of war many of their countrymen-hundreds of them — entered the ranks of the regiments that had gone to the front. But even then, when the country stood on the crumbling brink of great peril, the men threw their means and their efforts into the work of organizing this regiment, received no encouragement from the State, nor its citizens in general, and while other regimental organizations were fostered and fêted the project of the formation of the Ninth found considerable opposition. But it succeeded, because there was a grand principle behind it, and there were men of indomitable will and firm purpose in it to sustain the principle. It is stated on excellent authority, in proof of the fine material which composed the nucleus of the Ninth Connecticut - the Emmet Guards, independent company, of New Haven, furnished twenty-two commissioned officers to the Union army. How the regiment suceeded in bivouac and battle will be told in a succeeding chapter of the MAGAZINE, and one or more portraits of the field officers will illustrate it. A Spectacle to Men and Angels. The Catholic, Pittsburg, Pa.: Away back in the first quarter of this century, the corner-stone of Trinity Church, Protestant Episcopal, was laid by the Free Masons. On Thanksgiving Day, the Masonic fraternity was out in force in full regalia, aprons and collars, and took charge of the laying of the corner-stone of the new St. Luke's Protestant Episcopal Church, Sixteenth Ward. Our Episcopalian friends, who are clamoring so frequently about Christian union, are evidently bound body and soul to this dark-lanterned sect of Masonry. The Protestant Episcopal bishop of these parts wears a Masonic apron, an "Apostolic" mitre, and a very stiff collar, put on by the di, do, dum brethren. He makes a nice appearance in his full regalia. We suppose that this "Rt. Reverend" believes there is more Christianity in Masonry that in the so-called Christian body of which he is the local head-if any body of Protestants can be said to have a head. The Masons laying the corner-stone of a Christian church was a spectacle to make men and angels weep! When Protestantism of the Baltimore Council are in force, every priest should insist that the marriage ceremony should be performed in the morning, and with the Nuptial Mass, as the Church prescribes. Young people entering on the married state cannot be too seriously impressed with the importance of the step they are taking. Marriage, writes the apostle, is a great sacrament, and Catholics should always so regard it. It should be with due preparation and fitting dispositions, and the danger of profanation made as remote as possible. Davitt in Boston and Vicinity. THE advent of the arrival in Boston of Michael Davitt has been a series of demonstrations very seldom accorded to men in our age. No man of our race has ever been more honored than he. "The next will be the fifty-fifth struggle of Ireland with coercion since the act of therefore, that it is fifty-five to one that union. This means, in sporting language, the people of Ireland will win the next contest. Mr. Parnell is away somewhere in quiet retirement, watching closely the situation in Ireland. So far our Tory opponents have only encountered two sick men,- John Dillon and William O'Brien in the days of the omnipotence of the press and the telegraph. The press of one land tells daily of the struggles of the people of other lands against class legislation and monopoly. The Irish question embraces the two greatest propositions of human liberty,- the right of free access to the natural agents which the Creator has designed for the use and sustenance of mankind, and the right of every civilized country to govern itself. On his arrival in Boston he was met by a special committee appointed for that purpose. He was conveyed to the rooms prepared for him at the Parker House. -(applause), and I think the opinion of On that day, Sunday, Nov. 28, he the American citizen is that Dillon and was conveyed to the residence of Hon. O'Brien have so far had the best of the fight. Mr. Parnell will soon be found at P. A. Collins, in South Boston, after the front, and all his lieutenants at his which he was hospitably entertained at side, and I pledge you my word that the the parochial residence of Rev. Father fifty-fifth struggle with coercion will be O'Callaghan. After dinner the reverend short, sharp, and decisive. We are living pastor of St. Augustine's invited Mr. Davitt to the Sunday-school, where an address of welcome was presented to him by a little fellow not more than knee high, after which Mr. Davitt made a brief address to the children,- some twelve hundred,-who had assembled to do honor to Mr. Davitt, who remarked that he had not seen since his arrival in America such a body of young hearts to cheer on the workers in the cause of Ireland. Hon. P. A. Collins was also "To those of my own race I appeal, near present, and addressed the children. In the end of this tour of mine, to give Mr. the evening he was entertained by John Parnell and his policy a patient trial for Boyle O'Reilly, in the Bunker Hill Dis- a brief period longer, and I am satisfied trict. He was engaged every evening of if you do this victory will soon be inthe proceeding week in the principal cities scribed upon the banner of the Irish of the Commonwealth. His lecture on people. Have no fears for the future of Sunday evening, Dec. 5, was well at- the cause: Ireland could not if she chose tended, notwithstanding the severity of forget the lesson of freedom. The stars the storm. Mr. Davitt himself remarked of heaven as they look down upon her that he did not expect two or three hun- hills and vales to-night, the winds as they dred to be present. But there were more whistle across her moors and glens, all than one thousand persons present, in- sing and speak and teach to the people of cluding a goodly portion of the female Ireland nature's law of liberty. (Apsex. The appearance of Mr. Davitt on plause.) The winter fires which blaze the stage caused a scene of wild excite- to-night on tens of thousands of Irish ment. Gentlemen cheered, the ladies hearthstones are Ireland's watchfires, waved their handkerchiefs, and the choir and by those household bivouacs thouof one hundred voices resounded with sands of dauntless hearts resolved to win "See the Conquering Hero comes." The back the freedom of their fatherland. speaker was introduced by Hon. P. A. The same spirit of truth and patriotism Collins, in a brief address, after which animates them which dictated to Ireland's Mr. Davitt spoke for an hour and a half greatest poet the words: to an attentive and appreciative audience. He concluded his able address: 'Make sure, the great God never planned |