Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1910-03-12
Gen. Sherwood Recounts Deeds of
valor on Many Battle
fields.
Declares Phil sheridan Was Greatest
Cavalry General of the
Civil War.
RECALLS AN OLD TIME SPEECH

Gen. Isaac Sherwood, of Toledo,
Ohio, and Representative in Con-
gress from the Ninth district of the
Buckeye State, has paid a handsome
tribute to the Irish soldier, and it is
particularly appropriate at this
season of the year. Recently some
of his Hibernian friends in Toledo
asked him to say something about
the Irish in America, and he did.
Among other things Gen. Sherwood
said:
Among the first of new acquaint-
ances l met on my return from the
war in July, 1865, was that broad
minded and scholarly and patriotic
Irishman, Stephen j. Meaney, then
editor of the Toledo Morning Com
mercial. / became intimately assoc
ciated with him on that paper, and
through him first met Father Han
min, one Of the most enthusiastic and
devoted patriots 1 have ever met. He
had more energy and vitality than
any human being / have ever known,
all the enthusiasm and intensity of
devotion of my valued comrade of
the war, Father O'Brien, of the
Church of the Good Shepherd And
as evidence of the fact that Father
Hannin was a devotee of the Union
soldiers, he never missed inviting the
writer and others of the war to his
patriotic entertainments. l remem-
Der his famous celebration of st.
Patrick's day in Whites Hall, Sum
NIT street, March II, 1866. On that
occasion Father Hannin assigned me
to the toast, "The Irish Soldier" In
an old scrap book / find the follow
ing printed report of that speech:
IF | should say the Irish race is
the most beiligerent race in the
world you would concede it without
argument, but when l say that the
Irish race is the strongest race in
the world in blood, strength and ma
tional vitolity you may call for the
evidence. Let us see. The Phoeni-
clans, the Spaniards, the French, the
Danes and the Britons--all invaded
Ireland by war-and each in turn
was absorbed and assimilated by the
Irish. The green isle is still Ireland
and the Irish heart and impulse are
still true to the traditions of the
Irish race.
"And here is another characteristic
of the Irish racel No race ever
crossed the Atlantic or the Pacific
that has so rapidly and thoroughly
assimiliated with our free institu
tions. For instance, Patrick Henry,
half Irish in blood and all Irish in
spirit, the foremost orator of the
decade preceding the war of the
was the first to eXclaim
in public, Give me liberty or give
me death
"The Irish Catholics in Maryland
led by the Irish Bishop of Baltimore
were ahead of the Puritans of New
England in the Revolutionary move
ment The Irish of South Carolina
were bolder and more aggressive
than the patriots of Massachusetts,
Bay. And now, let me recall some of
the great wars in which / was all
lowed to take an humble part. No
battle was ever fought without
heroic Irish blood Redeemed the field
of carnage. The last successful fight
of the war was led by that Ohio
born Irish soldier, Gen. Phil Sheri- /
dan, at Five Forks, Va. 1t is con-
ceded that Sheridan was the greatest
divided the honor with Hancock and
field General
THE soldier who led the most des-
perate and hopeless cavalry charge
of the entire war was an Irishman-
Col. keenan,, of the Eighth Pennsyl-
vania cavalry. At charlottesville
he led a charge of four hundred
Stonewall Jackson's ten thousand
{a- II. 4
and scattered the advance and in the
confusion 'Stonewall' Jackson, next
to Robert Il, Lee, the greatest Gem
eral of the Confederate army, was
killed.
.rhe famous Irish Brigade, immor-
talized by the Irish poet-soldier, Col
Charles g. Halpine, did more des-
perate fighting and lost more men
than any other brigade of the Union
army Gen. Phil Kearney, the hero
of four wars, was an Trishman. He
was desperately wounded in the bat
tie of Cherebusco, Mexico, where he
lost his left arm. Kearney first
served in the French army in
Algiers, Africa. He fought on the
French side in the famous battle of
Solferino, in the Crimean campaign
of 1850, in which the allied French
and Sardinians, under Napoleon III,
signally defeated the Austrians.
Owing to Kearney's splendid courage
at Solferino Napoleon conferred
upon him the Cross of the Legion of
Honor the first American who ever
received that decoration for military
service. Gen. Shields, another Irish
soldier, a famous fighter, lost his
left arm. shattered by shell in the