First Battle of Bull Run (Kurz & Allison 1889)

John Donovan described his day as follows:

Went into an engagement at Bull Run, Sunday, July 21, 1861, at 10 o’clock, a.m., or thereabouts. Marched up the hill after getting over a fence, and on reaching nearly to the brow I was struck by a rifle ball in the calf of my right leg, outside, passing through to the skin on the other side. In the cars on the way to Richmond the next evening, a young man, looking among the wounded prisoners, wanted me to let him take it out and keep the ball, to which I consented, and he cut it out. 

After being hit as above I stepped back to the fence, sat down and bound up my leg to keep it from bleeding. I then got up and loaded and fired from where I stood. After firing three times, another ball hit me in the left heel, glancing up along near my ankle joint. This ball remained in about eight weeks, when my leg, being badly festered, the prison hospital surgeon lanced it one evening, and in the night the ball worked down, so I got it out the next morning.

After being hit the second time I still kept loading and firing as fast as I could. In about ten minutes, as near as I can judge, a third ball struck me in the right side, which still remains somewhere within me. This disabled me somewhat for a short time, but I again loaded and fired two or three times as well as I could, when I was struck in the right arm (while in the act of firing) about midway between my elbow and shoulder joints, the ball running up towards my neck. The ball was taken out about nine weeks afterwards by the hospital surgeon at Richmond, about half away from my shoulder joint to my neck bone. I fired my musket but once after this, as the recoil of it hurt my shoulder so, I was unable to bear it.

I then left the fence to get behind a tree standing some two hundred and fifty yards off, and picked up a revolver which lay on the ground, just after I left the fence, at which time a bullet struck on my right wrist glancing off from the bone. I went a little further towards the tree, when some twelve or fifteen Confederate soldiers came out of the woods directly towards me.

I fired the revolver at them three times, and just as I fired the third barrel, a bullet fired by one of this company struck me just below my left eye, going into my head. I knew nothing more until about noon the next day (Monday). When I came to I found myself lying right where I fell the day before. I tried to get up, but could not. After this I made several ineffectual attempts to crawl away to the shade of a tree, the sun shining very hot. About four p.m., a couple of soldiers came along, picked me up, and carried me to the cars, and I was sent to Richmond, afterwards sent to Alabama, and finally released on parole. The bullet still remains in my head; the hospital surgeon says it lies somewhere near my right ear (the sense of hearing being entirely lost in that ear), the drum, or typanum having been injured by it. The slightest touch on my chin, or near it, causes a sever pain in my right temple and over the ear. I cannot see at all with my left eye. I cannot bear to be out in the sun; it makes me dizzy and my head pains me severely; so also does more than ordinary exercise. Ordinarily, when sitting quiet, my head only occasionally troubles me- a little dizziness and heaviness is about all- except when out in the sun or heated, as before stated; and also when I attempt to lift anything, it puts me in severe pain in my head, and my eyes pain me exceedingly, as well then as when heated or out in the sun. I am obliged to keep out of the sun as much as possible on account of this excruciating pain in my head and eyes, and when I read my eyes fill with water, and I have to rest. I cannot write a letter of ordinary length. I have to stop several times for this and from dizziness. There is occasionally a dimness comes over my right eye even when quiet, but not very often. The surgeon said the bone around my left temple was shattered, and that pieces thereof would work out; none has to my knowledge. The bullet which entered my right side has not yet given me any great trouble. (1)

Records confirm that John Donovan enlisted as a Private in Company B, 2nd Wisconsin Infantry, on 22nd May 1861. At that time he resided in Houston, Minnesota. The Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers states that he was wounded five times at Bull Run, made a prisoner, and discharged due to disability on his release. His survival despite receiving so many wounds is remarkable; despite this, the severe impact these injuries had on his life highlight the legacy of suffering that many American Civil War veterans had to endure long after the guns fell silent. (2)

(1) Irish American; (2) Roster 1886: 351;

References

Irish American, 9th September 1862: ‘A Man Wounded Six Times in One Battle’

Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office 1886. Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861- 1865, Volume 1

The 17th Wisconsin were organised in Madison and mustered into service on 15th March 1862. The men were largely drawn from the state’s Irish community, and Corinth was to be their first major action. When the battle opened the 17th had initially been kept in the rear to guard the brigade camp. However, as the Federal situation deteriorated, the regiment was ordered to the battlefield just after 1pm. Colonel Doran remembered that as they approached the front they were greeted with ‘as hearty a cheer as was ever raised for the sons of Erin.’ (2)

Federal troops in Corinth Mississippi during winter 1862 (Photographic History of the Civil War)

The 17th Wisconsin took up a position beyond the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and faced north on a ridge of high ground. Scotsman Brigadier-General John McArthur arrived to take control of events and began to form other regiments to the Irishmen’s left, creating a new Union line that ran between the 17th and Battery F, one of the earthen redoubts defending the town. Doran detailed Companies B, F and G forward to act as skirmishers and feel for the enemy. Firing erupted as they encountered the thus far victorious Confederates, and they took their first casualties; Captain Hugh McDermott of Company B fell severely wounded with a gunshot wound in the chest. (3)

As the Rebels drove in the 17th’s skirmishers fire began to intensify on the main Union line. The gunners of Lieutenant Mitchell’s Battery F, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery took the brunt of the punishment, and cannoneers began to fall. It was now just after 2pm. Brigadier-General McArthur determined that it was necessary to drive the Confederates back in order to save his artillery, and so asked Colonel Doran if he could ‘charge successfully on the brigade doing such execution.’ He replied that he could, and he turned to his men to prepare them to assault the Rebels. (4)

The green-flag regiment prepared their ranks and surged towards the enemy crying ‘Faugh A Ballagh’, a gaelic war-cry meaning ‘Clear the Way’. The remainder of the Union line charged forward in echelon with them, and the Rebels were driven back some three-quarters of a mile. At this juncture the Confederates regrouped and were reinforced, and it became necessary for the Federal troops to fall back to avoid envelopment. Tragedy then struck the Badger State Irishmen, as they came under fire from a wholly unexpected direction. Two exhausted Union regiments, the 14th Wisconsin and 15th Michigan, had been ordered back into the fray having fought with heavy loss earlier in the day. Coming upon their retreating comrades they mistook them for Rebels, before ‘discharging their muskets into the Seventeenth’, after which they ‘turned and ran.’ (5)

Federal troops overlooking the tracks in Corinth, Mississippi, 1862 (Library of Congress)

The 17th Wisconsin successfully withdrew to the main entrenchments around Corinth, where a series of strong fortifications and batteries protected the town. McArthur commented on the field that the men had ‘made the most glorious charge of the campaign’ and also complemented Sergeant-Major John Nichol who had commanded a party of skirmishers. The battle was renewed the next day, but the unit was not heavily engaged. The 4th October assault ended in slaughter for the Confederates as they attempted to penetrate the strong defensive positions; they were left with no option but to withdraw. (6)

The 17th Wisconsin Infantry would go on to serve in the Vicksburg and Atlanta Campaigns, and ended the war taking part in the Grand Review in Washington D.C. The regiment lost five killed and twenty wounded during the fighting of 3rd October, although a number of of the latter category succumbed to their wounds. The impact of the Battle of Corinth on the survivors and their families could be lifelong, as was the case for those men disabled as a result of their injuries. The names of the killed and wounded in the 17th Wisconsin at Corinth are as follows:

Company B: Captain Hugh McDermott (wounded), Private Hugh Greenwood (wounded, discharged disability), Private Thomas Gaffney (wounded, later died), Private Otto B. Thomas (wounded, later killed at Vicksburg), Private Edwin Sykes (wounded), Private Carroll W. Gifford (wounded), Private John Fahey (wounded, transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps)

Company C: Private Anthony O’Brien (killed)

Company D: First Sergeant William Maas (wounded, discharged disability), Sergeant James Dempsey (killed), Private Terence McElroy (killed)

Company E: Private Andrew Holcomb (wounded, later died)

Company F: Sergeant John Keenan (wounded, discharged disability), Corporal Peter Gallagher (wounded, later died), Private Timothy Scanl0n (killed), Private Patrick Tiernan (wounded, transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps)

Company H: Corporal George Winkle (killed), Private Maurice Kerins (wounded, discharged disability), Private Ansel J. Bugby (wounded, discharged disability)

Company I: Captain Julius G. Nordman (wounded), Private James Conners (wounded, later died of disease at Vicksburg), Private Henry Closson (wounded, discharged disability in 1864)

Company K: First Sergeant David S. Bishop (wounded, discharged), Corporal David Converse (wounded, transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps), Private Andrew Conley (wounded, transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps) (7)

(1) Cozzens 1997: 181-3; (2) Quiner 1866: 644, Official Records: 350; (3) Cozzens 1997: 181-5, Quiner 1866: 644, Official Records: 350; (4) Cozzens 1997: 182-3, Official Records: 350-1; (5) Love 1866: 516, Cozzens 1997: 183, Official Records: 351; (6) Love 1866: 516; (7) Quiner 1866: 646, Roster 1886: 49-82;

References & Further Reading

Cozzens, Peter 1997. The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth

Love, William DeLoss 1866. Wisconsin in the War of Rebellion

Quiner, E.B. 1866. Military History of Wisconsin

Official Records Series 1, Volume 17 (Part 1), Chapter 29. Report of Col. John L. Doran, Seventeenth Wisconsin Infantry, including operations October 3-11

Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office 1886. Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861- 1865, Volume 2

Colors of the 17th Wisconsin Infantry in the Wisconsin Veterans Museum

Civil War Trust Battle of Corinth Page

Corinth Civil War Interpretive Centre

Wisconsin Historical Society: Wisconsin in the Civil War

Siege of Vicksburg, 1863 by Kurz and Allison (Library of Congress)

The 17th Wisconsin Infantry was formed mainly from men of the Badger State’s Irish community. It spent its war in the Western Theater, fighting at engagements such as Corinth, Champion’s Hill and Atlanta, and participating in the March to the Sea and Carolinas Campaign. The Irishness of the unit was manifested through flags like that carried by Company B, emblazoned with the Maid of Erin harp and ‘Wisconsin’s Irish Brigade’. One of the members of Company B was a Drummer Boy called Francis Keegan from Chicago, Illinois. He enlisted on December 10th 1861 and went off to war with his older comrades. On the 3rd October 1863 The Big Blue Union paper from Marysville, Kansas ran a story about the boy, which in turn it had drawn from the Memphis Bulletin. This related a chance encounter that Francis (or Frank) had with his regiment following the siege of Vicksburg:

AN INCIDENT OF THE CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG

When the 17th Wisconsin Regiment left for the seat of war in the West, a lad named Francis Keegan joined it at Chicago, in the capacity of a drummer boy. He was the son of  a poor mother, who, by her own industry was endeavoring to support a family of four little children. Too small for a soldier, or to earn a living at any other business, he yet desired to relieve his mother of his support, and determined to go to the war as above mentioned. He was with his regiment during the siege and at the surrender of Vicksburg. As the prisoners were paroled and marched out, in the first man to pass the point where Frank was station [sic] he recognized his father, whom he supposed to be dead- he having left home for California several years ago, since which time he had never been heard from. The surprise of each may be imagined.

Through the intervention of Frank, who was a favorite among the soldiers, the father was very kindly treated, and on renouncing his false allegiance, and taking his oath to support the government, was furnished with money to visit his family at the north. Thus the little drummer boy not only relieved a hard working mother, and served his country bravely, but was the means of uniting again a long separated family. Strange incidents occur in this unhappy war. 

It remains unclear what elements of this tale are true or have been embellished for the sake of providing readers with a ‘good news’ story during wartime. Frank did not continue to serve in the ranks of the 17th Wisconsin, and is listed as having ‘deserted while on furlough’, perhaps to provide further assistance to his hard pressed mother. Regardless of the circumstances, this story of the chance encounter between father and son during the height of the Civil War is indeed a poignant one.

References & Further Reading

The Big Blue Union, October 3rd 1863: ‘An Incident of the Capture of Vicksburg’

Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, 1886. Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of Rebellion 1861-1865. Volume II

17th Wisconsin Battle Flags

Civil War Trust Battle of Vicksburg Page

The Battle of Corinth (Second Day) by Currier & Ives

Dennis Murphy joined the ranks of the 14th Wisconsin on 13th September 1861. He had been born in Ireland in 1830 but lived in Green Bay prior to the war, electing to serve with Company F of the regiment, the ‘De Pere Rifles’. By the time October 1862 arrived Murphy had already borne witness to the carnage of the Battle of Shiloh, and now carried his regiment’s national color. He knew what he could expect when Major-General Earl Van Dorn’s Confederate Army of West Tennessee prepared to attack Union positions around the town of Corinth. (1)

On the morning of 3rd October Major-General William S. Rosecrans ordered three of his divisions to advance out of Corinth and occupy old Confederate rifle pits to the north and north-west of the town. Amongst them was the 14th Wisconsin, part of Colonel John M. Oliver’s 2nd Brigade of Brigadier-General Thomas J. McKean’s 6th Division. McKean’s men were holding the left of the line when at 10am Major-General Mansfield Lovell’s Rebels smashed into the Union positions.

As wave after wave of Confederates surged forward, the 14th Wisconsin under Colonel John Hancock were positioned in the old rifle pits atop a hill, with Companies E and K thrown forward as skirmishers. Sergeant Murphy declared his intent at the start of the fight to ‘come out a dead sergeant or a live lieutenant.’ As Caruthers’ Mississippi Sharpshooter Battalion attacked up the hill the advanced companies pulled back and with their comrades unleashed a devastating fire that sent the Rebels reeling backwards. Another attack surged forward with the reformed sharpshooters joining the 22nd Mississippi. This time the Confederates got to within a few yards of the Union line and the two lines began to exchange fire. Suddenly at this critical juncture in the battle the 15th Michigan to the Wisconsinites’ right gave way in the face of pressure from the 1st Missouri and 33rd Mississippi. This left Sergeant Murphy and his comrades facing a withering crossfire and potentially complete destruction. As men began to fall left and right, the entire color guard became casualties. In the terrible hand to hand combat that ensued, the man carrying the regimental colors was bayoneted and the flag almost lost. Denis Murphy was hit again and again but somehow managed to hold onto the national color, covering the flag in his own blood. Eventually the 14th had no option but to withdraw, although it was too late for some of their number who were captured. (2)

The 14th Wisconsin had taken heavy casualties and although briefly called on later in the day they were effectively shattered. Their brigade commander remarked of their performance at Corinth: ‘Though suffering more loss than any regiment in the command, they maintained their lines and delivered their fire with all the coolness and precision which could have been maintained upon drill.’ Dennis Murphy had been wounded three times, but he did receive his commission. He was discharged due to disability on 13th November 1862 and later rewarded with a lieutenancy in Company B of the 24th Wisconsin. He paid a heavy price, however; Dennis was to be crippled for life as a result of the wounds he sustained at Corinth. (3)

Almost thirty years after the battle, on 22nd January 1892, Dennis J.F. Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor. His citation simply reads ‘Although wounded three times, carried the colors throughout the conflict.’ He died on 19th June 1901 and is buried in Allouez Cemetery, Green Bay. The national color that he held aloft in October 1862 survived the war, and is now preserved in the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison. (4)

*Dennis Murphy should be known as Denis- the extra ‘n’ was due to an error in his military records. Many thanks to the Sergeant’s descendant Michael Lee for this information.

(1) Roster 1886: 789; (2) Cozzens 1997: 168-171; (3) Official Records: 356, Cozzens 1997: 170-171; (4) Broadwater 2007: 145

References & Further Reading

Broadwater, Robert P. 2007. Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients: A Complete Illustrated Record

Cozzens, Peter 1997. The Darkest Days of the War: The Battles of Iuka and Corinth

Official Records Series 1, Volume 17 (Part 1), Chapter 29. Report of Colonel John M. Oliver, Fifteenth Michigan Infantry, commanding Second Brigade, including operations October 3-11

Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office 1886. Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861- 1865, Volume 1

Civil War Trust Battle of Corinth Page

Congressional Medal of Honor Society

Corinth Civil War Interpretive Centre

National Color of the 14th Wisconsin