Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-01-19
JOLLY IRISH TIM.
"reminiscences of Eccentric Member
of q Michigan Battery.

of q Michigan Battery.
Timothy McGarigle was a private in
Battery K. First Michigan Artillery.
He was distin guished by being the
only Irishman of a company composed
entirely of Germans. and by being
killed at Marietta. Ga, according to
the field surgeons report and yet COM
ing home with his battery and landing
in Detroit as fresh and spry as when
he left the city for the Potomac as
mem Der of Battery x.
He was an embodiment of the senti-
ment so Justify sung by all the soldiers
that could raise tune in those stir
ring times of war and hard tack:
Let the wide world wag as it will
III be gay and happy still.
Tim was always gay and happy. He
apparently cared for nothing. As a
soldier, in the general meaning of the
term, he had not the least qualifiea-
ton; but as a comrade and general
dispeler of the blues he was brill
liant success.
Had he been charged with all the
clothing he wore and lost and the cost
deducted from his pay he would at
this day been in debt to the Govern
ment, even had his wages gone on
since his discharge. AT least that is
the test imony of his officers. Even
his haversack was not sacred to him.
When it was well filled with provis-
ions a comrade came to him and said:
Tim, that is my haversack you
have" lin looked at him moment
and said: "Begorra, if that is so just
take it and welcome" at the same
time unslinging the sack and handing
it to his comrade. Then he went
straightway to his Lieutenant TO ask
for another haversack. That officer
replied: ''You shall have none. /
have given you dozen already"
"All right" said Tim, and walked
away contented. A few minutes after
ward when the battery was ready to
march Tim took his accustomed place
and with haversack slung over his
shoulder. But such havers ack! He
had taken off his drawers. tied the
bottom of the legs together, stuffed his
rations into them. and after tying the
top, hung the garment around his neck
bottoms upward.
Rather than set up tent or be bur-
dened with carrying it Tim slept on
the open ground. literally no canopy
but the sky. no covering but his blank
ct. One night at one o'clock he rap
ped gently on the tent-pole of his
Lieutenant who's there?' called
that officer. ..It's me!'' What now,
Tim?' "Shure. SIT, it's going to rain
and want pick and shovel to dig a
trench around me so I will not get
wetr' you intolerable nuisance,
said the officer, '.if it does rain crawl
under my tent"
When going by water from Cincin-
natl to Nashville, Battery K having
been ord cred from the Potomac to the
West at one place the boat was UNI
loaded to pass shoal of several miles,
the men and horses going overland to
the deep water below. Tim was in
trusted to lead two mules. The air was
chilly and the animals were frisky.
When reloading the officer demanded
of Tim where his mules were: 'Shure
and they wanted TO exercise little
about six miles back and l left them
there. / didn't want 10 be left, when
the boat picked us up, back there in
the wilderness for no dun Mules
Tim was killed at Marietta, Ga, in
an artillery duel between Batteries K
and /, of the FIRST Michigan. on one
side and Battery ], First Missouri,
on the other. Tim was holding the
Lieutenant horse when shell went
through the animal and tore off part
of Tins side and back. The surgeon
looked at him as he lay wounded and
turned away saying: He is virtually
dead. No man woun ded that way can
live ten minutes" Whe the skirmish
was over. Tim was still alive. After
three days riding in the ambulance
with his battery he was taken to the
hospital. He recovered and rejoined
the battery and was mustered out
with it and came back to Detroit.
He may be dead now. poor fellow,
or he may be living, for surely if the
shell at Marietta could not kill him
nothing but blast from dynamite
bomb could end him. One thing is
certain, he is alive yet in the hearts
and memories of the First Michigan
No two of them meet with |
out exchange of "reminiscences of Irish |
Time. B. Holding. in Detroit Free |
Press.