The Irish standard., 1895-10-26

than one Ii ten; of n1e 1nbersI who were
not In the secret bod WIZ Outside the mem
hers De the Emmett Guards, there were
Iperhaps twice the 11ylmb Der OF members Of
the Emmet Monument Associate n, who,
| without buying arms or uniforms for
themselves, drilled zeal usly at the head
lsquarters of the guards. One of the most
useful and active men Ia the guardsr was
Richard Burke, father of Robert Emmett
Burke, better known: I'D present day poli-
tics5as Bob Burke who had, served in
| the British army and devoted the milf
: tarV knowledge thus acquired to the ser
vice Of the feYolu a1a movement.
The two armpHiess were on the north
side, that OF the Shields Guards across
| the street from the North Market Hall,
where the criminal court building now
stands, and that Of 1.-The Emmett Guards
closely adjacent. Captain Patrick O'Con-
nor, the first captain Of the Emmets, was
succeeded by GapsainSD. C Skelly. The
organization remained intact until 1858,
when the men began to grow apathetic,
and 1t existed in name only when the call
to arms came in 1861. However, the call
| was answered promptly when it came.
The Shields Guards had still thirty-six
men on its rolls in 1861, when 1t was the
first corps to volunteer to defend the
union. Its first officers were Captain
Charles E. Moore, Captain James Quirk,
Lieutenant d. Crowley and Lieutenant
James II. Lane. Captain Bart Quirk
claims the credit of introducing Colonel
James Mulligan to the corps. He was
then a young lawyer, Having Joined, he
became at once general favorite, and
no position in the gift of mis- comrades
was deemed too good for him.
Jan. IA, 1861, the Shields Guards with
a large number of citizens, met to CON
slider the state of the country. Follow
ing is the text of the resolutions they
adopted:
Resolved, That we, the Shields Guards,
of the City of Chicago, laying aside for
the present our individual political pre-
objections, and having in view only the
interests and demands of our common
country, tender our services as citizen
soldiers to the c0mmander-in-chief Of
the Army Of the United States, to be by
him placed in whatever position our
country calls upon us to fulfill.
Immediately upon this announcement
the war spirit seized on the Irish of Chi
cago. Old companies were organized and
new ones imporvised. The Shields
0uS1l Up 5SOu uCu W NC lUSu lllCO Two
companies, Captain James Quirk COM
manding one and Captain Daniel Quirk
the other. The Emmett Guards were re-
vived upder Captain G. r. Walch. Cap
tain Michael Gleason rallied the Mont
gomeries. The O'Mahoney Rifles were
organized by Captain j. G. Phillips, and
to all these local corps was added the
jackson Guards from Detroit under Cap
tain Francis McMurray. The greatest
trouble experienced was in procuring
arms and equipments. BY April 26, how
ever, the Irish brigade was fully organ
lied under Colonel James A. Mulligan as
the Twenty-third Illinois infantry.
At the same time they instructed Col
onel Mulligan to proceed to Washington
and intercede with the president to strain,
the rules and admit them into the army
Of the union. Fortified by practically
unanimous vote Of his men, $50 to 4,
Conolel Mulligan hurried off to Wash
ington and pleaded his cause so we'll that
on May IL the president as a special favor
accepted the Twenty-third Illinois into
the federal army. The heroic services
of Colonel Mulligan, and his Irish brigade
at Lexington and subsequently through
the war, the death of their gallant leader
and the terribly disproportionate losses
of the regiment are a part, and no in
significant part, of the general history Of
the war. t