Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1911-05-20
Old Resident of Louisville Tells
Story of Those Stirrina
Times.
One Time When Famous sixty
ninth Regimet DisObeyed
Orders.
THAT MASON.SLIDELL AFFAIR

Several days ago a group of Louis.
willie Irishmen were discussing Gen
Nelson A. Miles tribute to the
gallant members of the famous
Sixty-ninth Regiment of New York
The new members of the regiment
and the veterans recently celebrated
the fiftieth anniversary of these
Irish soldiers starting for the front
in the civil war. Gen. Miles is the
first medal of honor soldier in the
United States and is probably the
highest authority in the military his
tory of our country. Among other
things he said to the assembled sol
diers:
"You carry on your flag this
motto, that the Sixty-ninth never
disobeyed an order and never lost a
flag To my certain knowledge ii
helped to capture many. The corps
captured something like thirty at
Gettysburg, nearly dozen at Antie-
tam, more at Spottsylvania-in fact,
the Irish Brigade captured more
flags and more guns in that cam
paign of ga than we're captured by
the rest of the Union army"
All accepted the tribute as mer-
tied until jeremiah Kavanagh, a
veteran Fenian, interrupted to say:
Had | been in New York on that
occasion l might have contradicted
Gen. Miles on one point. The mem
bers of the Sixty-ninth, through their
Colonel, Michael Corcoran, did dis
obey an order" The younger mem
bers of the group gazed open
mouthed. It could not be possible
that Mr. Kavanagh intended de-
tracing from the merits and fame
of this fighting Irish regiment. He
soon set their fears at rest.
"Yes, they disobeyed an order, +"
he said. "The Prince OF Wales, who
many years later became Edward
VII, King of England, visited New
York in 1860. The Adjutant Gen
|eral of New York ordered out the
Sixty-ninth Regiment with other
troops to act as an escort to the
British Prince. Col. Corcoran,
who was holding a clerical position
refused to call out his Irish soldiers
to honor a scion of the house of
Guelph. The Adjutant General or
dered him to be tried by court mar
tial for disobedience of orders.
Other members of the regiment felt
like Col. Corcoran, but the war
broke out soon after and before the
court-martial had concluded its
work. There were some level heads
in New York in those days, and one
of them went to Horace Greeley,
then in his prime as editor and polit-
ical leader, told him to see that the
court-martial was stopped and
Corcoran and his regiment would go
to the front. Mr.. Greeley tele-
graphed the Governor of New York,
the court-martial was abandoned and
within week Col. Corcoran was
marching down Broadway at the
head of 1900 Irishmen that were
willing to die for the Stars and
Stripes, but who were unwilling to
appear on dress parade for the
Prince of Wales. This is some his
tory that Gen. Miles has forgotten
or never knew.
cat that time | was in San Fran
CISCO" continued Mr.. Kavanagh,
''and when the telegraph brought
the news of Corcoran's refusal to
order out his regiment. there were
enough of us there to collect a sum
sufficient to buy and send him a
solid gold medal three inches in
diameter and one-fourth of an inch
thick and appropriately inscribed.
Corcoran was proud OF that medal. II
happened to be the secretary OF the
committee that collected the funds
to buy that tribute OF California
gold, and | have now a steel en-
graved portrait of Col. Corcoran
with that medal pinned on his
breast"
Mr.. Kavanagh also gave a brief
account Of the arrangements made in
San Francisco Tor sending back to
Ireland the remains Of Terence
Bellew McManus. a Fenian patriot,
who had been assassinated in that
city. Mr.. Kavanagh was secretary
of the committee that accompanied
the remains TO Ireland. About that
time the Mason-Slidell matter was
occupying the attention Of nations
on both sides of the ocean. Mr.,
Kavanagh actually saw the British
troops embarking that were intended
to a'd the Confederacy against the
Union. He was called upon to ad-
dress a meeting OF lrishmen who
were American sympatbizers at the
Dublin Rotunda on the night o.
December 8, 1861. At that meeting
The O'Donaghue presided. He was
a granddaughter of Daniel O'C0nneil
Resolutions were adopted opposing
Englsnd's Intervention between the
warning sections OF the American
reDubllc. On that night there were
5000 people crowded into the
Rotunda, and there were 10000 who