Walking in Footsteps of the 69th New York State Militia

By Steve Reilly · Originally published August 2019 · p. 37

Like many of you, I have always been interested in where my family walked during the Civil War. This past May, the well-known private tour guide and Bull Run historian Harry Smeltzer, put together a free tour, walking in the footsteps of the 69th N.Y. State Militia. My twelve-year-old great grandfather Philip Reilly was a member of “B” Company and his twenty-one-year-old brother Bernard, was in “C” Company. Along with Harry Smeltzer, there was John J. Hennessy, another widely respected historian and author of First Battle of Manassas. Added to them, was Damian Shiels, who probably has a, is the world’s leading expert on the Irish in the Civil War. He was over from the old country, doing research for his university. Then there is Joe Maghe, who I feel, has a collection that would match my family’s regiment’s, the 69th New York National Guard. Joe set up a small part of his collection in the Henry House for our tour. Many men serving in the 69th New York State Militia were Fenians. Their hopes were of someday returning to Ireland and kicking the British out. In May 2010, Damian Shiels dedicated his life’s work to telling the people of Ireland about a generation of Irish emigrants who fought in our Civil War. I think we all know by now that many Irish emigrants came to America because of the famine and the British occupation. Damian told our group there were three types of poor in Ireland; the ones with the most money in their pockets went to England for work, the second came to America, and the third, the poorest of the poor, died of the famine. One of our group, Professor Pat Young of Hoffstra Law School, reminded us all, that many Irish families agreed that those who went to America would send money back to their families in Ireland. He gave an example on how the Irish worked that out; in 1850 they started their own bank in New York City, the Emigrant Saving Bank that is still an active bank in New York. The current 69th N.Y.N.G. has many members whose families fought together during the Civil War. One such officer is Colonel Sean Michael Flynn, the former Commanding Officer of the 1/69. Colonel Flynn’s uncle, Edward Butler was Captain Thomas Francis Meagher’s Executive Officer in the 69th’s Zouaves Company. My son Richard commanded a 1/69 company and both our families come from Kilkenny, Ireland. They are now both staff officers in the 42nd Division. Colonel Flynn sent me the following, with permission to include it in this report. To bolster their skills, many Fenians enrolled in organized units of the State Militia. By 1861 the largest concentration of Fenians were found in the 69th Regiment N.Y.S.M. The 69th was one of three N.Y. Irish regiments during the 1850s. These units merged in 1858 under the 69th’s flag, unifying the bulk of Irish soldiers serving in New York’s military forces. When President Lincoln called for state militias to suppress the southern rebellion in April 1861, Irish American leaders in New York saw the conflict as an opportunity to further enhance the military skills of the Fenians. The 69th Militia was among the first New York units to volunteer its service. The 69th N.Y.S.M. was part of a brigade commanded by Colonel Willian T. Sherman. The units were the 13th, 69th, 79th New York, and the 2nd Wisconsin, plus Company E, 3rd U.S. Artillery. Our first stop was Farmer’s Crossing. Both Harry Smeltzer and John Hennessy talked about how General Sherman’s Brigade crossed here. Farmer’s Crossing is about one-half mile north of the Stone Bridge, if you were marching from Centreville. Harry and John told our group that General Sherman moved his brigade onto what is now, the Bull Run Winery where we had an after tour debriefing. As Colonel Sherman watched the battle unfold and looking for a way to cross, he saw two riders cross from the Confederate side. Harry told us how they rode within yelling distance and started to call the men of the 69th damn abolitionists. Harry felt that the men of the 69th were far from abolitionist; they were there to preserve the Union. Colonel Sherman followed the Confederate riders and watched where they crossed back to the Confederate side and he had his crossing. The men of the 69th broke out of the wood near the Van Pelt house, behind the Confederate lines of Colonel Nathan Evans. Here is where Damian, John, and Harry told the story of acting Lt. Col. James Haggerty. John Hennessy reported that Colonel Haggerty was reported killed a few days before, at Blackburn Ford. Haggerty joked to a reporter that he “felt very war like for a dead man.” Using the words of Colonel Sherman, Damian told us what happened to Lieutenant Colonel Haggerty of the 69th. When, without orders, he rode out and yelled for the retreating Confederates to surrender. Damian, John, and Harry agreed that a Confederate from the 7th or 8th Georgia shot Haggerty dead at close range. Several men of the 69th were wounded at this location. What happened next was that the 69th opened fire on the retreating Confederates. At this point, Sherman ordered the firing to stop as he wanted his brigade to disengage from the rear of the retreating Confederates and join the main attack, pressing against their front of the retreating Confederates. Sherman had four regiments and Evans had five, but Evans, also had Colonel Burnside with five regiments to his front forcing him back. Off our group went, to join the main attack against the Confederate line on Mathews Hill. There was not much to report, as we marched back into the wood. Colonel Burnside was pushing Evans back toward the Warrenton Turnpike. John Hennessy noted that about 2:30 p.m., General McDowell ordered Sherman forward toward the Confederate position on Henry Hill and onto Sudley Road. First Sherman sent the 13thNew York toward the Henry House, but they slowed their fire when someone called out that they were firing on Union troops; they were not. Then Colonel Sherman sent the 2nd Wisconsin up the hill in their gray uniforms. Harry told us how the 2nd Wisconsin reported Union troops fired into their rear. Unable to force the Confederates back, the 2nd Wisconsin withdrew toward the Sudley Road. Here, the New Yorkers of the 69th thinking they were attacking Confederates because of their gray uniforms gave them a volley. Then the 79th New York went forward and became lost in the confusion and smoke of the battle. Not knowing who was Union and who was Confederate, the confusion allowed the Confederates to get in two volleys and the 79th came tumbling back down. Up went the 69th and the 38th New York; they forced the Confederates to fall back. Then they found themselves alone, without fresh troops to come to their aid. Some men of the 69th felt they were fired on by Union troops in their rear. I wonder if it was some 2nd Wisconsin men returning the earlier kindness of the 69th. While more and more Confederate troops arrived on the battlefield from the Shenandoah Valley, the 69th and 38th remained alone. The fresh Confederate troops forced both the 69th and 38th off the hill where they began the long walk back to Fort Corcoran, in Arlington, Va. As John, Harry, and Damian described the action on Henry Hill, all I could think about was that it turned into a real donnybrook. As more Union troops arrived, they were sent up the hill and then came tumbling down. At times, the Union had the day, then the Confederates. Union General Robert Patterson failed in his duty, to keep General Johnston in the Shenandoah. He even gave false reports that Johnston was in the valley, even as he was moving his troops to Bull Run. Patterson left the army right after the battle, never to serve again. On our tour, Harry, John, and Damian told us of the 69th’s retreat along the Warrenton Turnpike. I walked back to my car parked at the Stone Bridge; even now, it’s a narrow and mostly without shoulders. At times, it is sunken, other times flanked by Young’s Branch and wetlands. Damian found a letter by James Rorty, of “G” Company, who best described the 69th retreat. Now the letter by Pvt. James Rorty of “G” Company. “Again, when our attack failed, and the retreat began, Col. Corcoran endeavored to cover it by forming his men in square, in which order it moved to the point at which we crossed Bull Run, where on account of the woods and the narrowness of the path down the bluffs that formed the west bank, it had to be reduced to a column. Sherman, who was in the square, told the men to get away as fast as they could as the enemy’s cavalry were coming. This prevented Col. Corcoran from reforming the men on the other side of the Run, a movement which would have not only effectually repelled the enemy but would also have covered the retreat of every battery lost subsequently. It was in his efforts to remedy the disorder and straggling caused by this license to run, that Col. Corcoran (who, from the unfortunate and irreparable loss of Haggerty, and the absence of all his staff, was obliged to be somewhat in the rear) was cut off from the main body of the regiment, by the enemy’s horse, and being able to rally only nine men, moved into a small house, to make a better defense, but was induced by some of his officers to surrender as resistance was hopeless. Meantime about half a dozen men had joined him at the house, of whose arrival he was ignorant. Trifling as the reinforcement was, he surrendered so reluctantly that I verily believe had he known of it he would not have surrendered without a desperate fight. As I shared all his subsequent misfortunes, and witnessed the manly fortitude with which he bore them, the consistent dignity with which he repelled all overtures for any parole that would tie up his hands from the Union cause, and repulsed some Southern friends who endeavored to seduce him from it, it may not be improper to sketch his prison life.” At this point in the tour, one of our members, the Superintendent of Manassas National Battlefield Park, spoke to our group. Superintend Brandon Bies pointed out, that all the Civil War National Battlefield Parks need our active support. He requested that we give that support by joining friend’s associations. To that, I would like to add, that we need to support our Civil War media also, which is the life blood of our hobby. What happened to my great grandfather Philip, my uncle Bernard, and Colonel Flynn’s uncle, Edward Butler? All returned safely to New York City, all three waited for the return of Colonel Corcoran, who was also the New York’s State acting Fenian leader. All three joined the Corcoran Irish Legion, Lt. Butler joined the 69th Artillery and was killed at Cold Harbor, my grandfather and his brother joined the 170th New York. Bernard was wounded at Spotsylvania and shot in the forehead at the North Anna River; he is in section 27, grave 411 Arlington. My 12-year-old grandfather Philip was chased down by his dad, Bernard senior, and taken home. He is listed as a deserter on the rolls of the 170th New York but ran away near the end of the war and joined up again, in time to see General Robert E. Lee hang out the white flag. He entered the marble business and died in his bed at age 75, living where La Guardia Airport now sits. Both he and Lt. Butler are in Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Queens, N.Y.

Steve Reilly has been a longtime member, of the Sons of Union Veterans, Tilden Camp NYC, and is a member of the 69th N.Y.S. Historian (reenactors) Association, which supports 1/69.