An Irish Soldier’S Patriotic Journey: From the Walls of Fort Sumter to the Halls of the Us Pension Bureau

By Richard Wagner

John Doran wrote to the United States Bureau of Pensions toward the end of his life with a pleading message:

I have been compelled to cease all work, and I am unable to support myself and family on the small pension allowed me. I am a broken-down old man and pray for an increase.

It was a sad end for an Irishman who had come to America in 1857 looking for a better lifesomeone who learned the trade of iron molding before enlisting in the First Regiment of United States Artillery.

Doran participated in most Civil War encounters from Fort Sumter to Appomattox, earning promotions from private to sergeant while serving in the fighting first until 1874.

During the war, he suffered starvation, sleep deprivation, extreme fatigue, an eye injury impairing his vision, a foot injury causing a debilitating limp, an ear injury, and numerous other infirmities in the line of duty.

Somehow, he survived to return to his family and iron molding in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1874. But injuries haunted him, and he was forced to give up manual labor and fight for the next twenty-one years for a small stipend for his military service.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Nov 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781480852204

Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner is the former editor of Ad Astra, the journal of the National Space Society. He lives in Northhampton, Massachusetts.

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Copyright © 2017 Richard Wagner.

Cover photo—Battery H First US Artillery cannon located near the place it was involved July 2, 3, 1863. Cover photos by Karen Wagner taken in the Gettysburg National Cemetery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-5221-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-5219-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-5220-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017915253

Archway Publishing rev. date: 10/31/2017

Contents

Introduction

Preface   The thrill ran in our veins.

Chapter 1     Fort Hamilton, New York Harbor, June 8, 1871

Chapter 2     November 1860—The muttering of the storm was heard all around us.

The Tumultuous Setting in Charleston, South Carolina

Chapter 3     December 1860—At this gloomy period of our history

Our force is pitifully small, even for a time of peace and for mere police purposes.

I shall go steadily on, preparing for the worst, trusting hopefully in the God of battles to guard and guide me in my course.1

A discreet and able officer of the Adjutant-General’s Office

He had never ceased to urge upon the Government the necessity of action in regard to Fort Sumter.

The critical moment as to his position had come, he resolved to take advantage of the ‘tangible evidence’ he believed he had.

Noon, December 26, 1860

The dangers of the approaching conflict was a good pretext for the removal of the non-combatants.

None in the garrison, men nor officers, ever dreamed that he contemplated a move until the movement actually began shortly after sundown on the 26th of December.

The little band transferred to a strong position of Sumter.

Chapter 4     A State of Siege, January 1861

The American flag Was flying at Fort Sumter.

The guns of Sumter remained silent and the ship turned toward home.

Chapter 5     February and March 1861—I feel sad for the condition of our country.

While mounting a gun, in the line of duty the wheel fell from the gun truck and smashed Doran’s right foot.

Chapter 6     The Real War, April 1861

Your flag is down … you are on fire, and you are not firing your guns.

The opening of the bombardment was a somewhat dramatic event.

Captain Doubleday fired the first shot in defense of America.

The fort had been burning for several hours.

The scene was wellnigh indescribable.

By 11 A.M. the conflagration was terrible and disastrous … Every one suffered severely.

The flag-staff was shot down, but the old flag was rescued and nailed to a new staff.

Fort Sumter has unconditionally surrendered to the Confederate States.

Exhausted men make mistakes.

We evacuated on the 14th with Colors flying and drums beating ‘Yankee Doodle.’ Company H had 4 officers and 34 enlisted men present.

Upon the evacuation of the fort, the transport Baltic … made its way … North.

Chapter 7     The Transition, April 1861

We would leave Fort Sumter the following day … after saluting our flag.

There was a call for a mass patriotic meeting in New York City.

Chapter 8     May to October 1861—To Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and Beyond

Chapter 9     The Changing Face of the War

The Challenges of the Confederacy

It was admirable that they lasted four years.

The South could ‘win’ the war by not losing.

The Challenges of the Union

The North could win only by winning.

Chapter 10   The 1862 Peninsula Campaign in Fog, Rain, Mud, Cold, and Misery

We are occupying the same ground Washington and Lafayette occupied years ago.

The rainy weather and conditions favored the defenders.

A very ugly place to have an attack.

Into the jaws of death rushed the fighting first, with colors flying we forgot conditions and hunger.

For truer men never stepped on the field of battle.

Major Charles Wainwright reported, Webber is to move back to Yorktown, and there await an entire new outfit.

Chapter 11   Post-Peninsula to November 1862

Pope promptly led his army to a humiliating defeat.

Chapter 12   The Spring of 1863, Chancellorsville, Virginia

Our troops fought bravely, but in a disconnected manner, while Lee, by rare generalship … turned what threatened to be a defeat into a victory.

Discipline was a dead letter. Men were as sheep huddled together, each intent on saving his own precious head.

The role of John Doran’s Battery H

A day filled with … variable incidents.

The enemy made good his retreat by the very fords which Jackson would have seized had he not been cut down by that deplorable accident.

Human life ought to be worth more than old bones.

Chapter 13   An Overview of Gettysburg

Chapter 14   Sergeant Doran during the Summer and Fall Seasons of 1863

We have the ridge and are on the defensive.

As continuous and loud as that from the falls of Niagara

The experience of the terrible grandeur and that rain of missiles and chaos of strange and terror spreading sounds … must remain undescribed but can never be forgotten for those who survived it.

Chapter 15   A Strategy of Exhaustion with Sheridan’s Cavalry, 1864

Trust God and use our ammunition to the best advantage.

In the predawn hours of May 4, 1864, Grant’s ambitious offense began.

The importance of horses and their care

I have taken the greatest care of the horses … grazing the animals.

Chapter 16   To the Village of Appomattox Court House, 1865

There was nothing tidy about the end of the civil war.

The grand campaign, from the Rapidan to the James, opened on the 4th of May, 1864.

Fort Sumter, April 14, 1865

We now regard the war as over.

Chapter 17   May 23, 1865—The heroes of the Republic welcomed.

Chapter 18   Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1865

Those attending the ceremony

Chapter 19   The End of One Life and the Beginning of a New One

Meriden, Connecticut, 1874

Potholes in the journey to receive an invalid pension

The process of receiving an invalid pension was multilayered, time and cost consuming, and reminiscent of the systematic structure of the military.

Finally, it happened!

He knows much anxiety from his numerous health struggles.

Two soldiers who had searched for security

Comparisons of the two cases present a unique contrast.

Doran’s final hours and last trip through Meriden

Chapter 20   The Doran Family Legacy

Good habits and faithful to his large family

It was given to us in our youth to be touched by fire. We really knew what passion was.

Crawford reminisced alone at Fort Sumter.

Mark Twain looked back and tried to put it all in perspective.

John Doran’s Pension Summary

Photo Credits

Endnotes

Bibliography

Introduction

J ohn Doran wrote little about his war experiences; as far as can be determined, he did not have an individual photo taken.

To piece together the role of Doran in the First Regiment of US Artillery, the information had to be gleaned from the official reports, muster rolls, and descriptive books. His personal experiences were found in his pension records and in local newspaper articles in Meriden, Connecticut. The Meriden Historical Society provided a valuable source for his family and community history.

Until one begins a project like this, it is impossible to know where the research will lead. A special thanks to the librarians, archivists, and dedicated individuals who gave me much assistance along the way; although I am unable to personally thank you, please accept my sincere gratitude.

It would be unconscionable of me not to thank the two ladies who were with me each step of the way. The book would have been impossible without the guidance of Barbara D’Arienzo and Karen Wagner, my soul mate, who shared computer skills, knowledge, and incredible patience. She is now my book mate.

Preface

The thrill ran in our veins.

¹

I was at fort Sumpter when it surrendered in the beginning of the war but am now a broken down old man, unable to support myself … I therefore pray for an increase. The injury to my right foot occurred at Fort Sumpter … while in the line of duty mounting a 10 inch Columbiad gun … in raising the gun truck the wheel of the truck dropped out crushing my foot and disabling me for a long while. The hurt affects me more as I grow older.²

—John Doran

A rriving in New York from Ireland in the late 1850s, John Doran traveled to Meriden, Connecticut, to meet two friends who had encouraged him to begin life anew in America. After receiving his American citizenship, he was hired as an iron molder in industrial Meriden. He enjoyed the challenge of the work. The nineteen-year-old became a dedicated and resilient worker.

In his free time John and his friends, the Irish trio, reminisced about life in old Ireland, learned American mores, and searched for female companionship. He began courting a young Irish lady in Hartford, Connecticut, who years later became Mrs. Julia Doran.

The first few years of John’s new life in the United States were fascinating and exhilarating, but as time passed, his job became boring and monotonous. He longed for an adventurous lifestyle and joined the United States Artillery in October 1860 to fill the empty void.

The recruit of Battery H First Regiment of United States Artillery was assigned to Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor where he was shown stern military routine of structure and strict discipline. There, he discovered a changed purpose for his life.

As Private Doran learned his military responsibilities, a new world was emerging outside Fort Moultrie. The issues of slavery and the appropriate role of the federal and state governments were festering. He would see the two views conflict economically, socially, politically, and ultimately militarily.

As the public state of mind in Charleston became more inflammable and impulsive,³ life in the fort became increasingly more uncomfortable as the anti-Lincoln, anti-Yankee sentiments flourished. A threatening state militia, increasing in size and intensity, fortified the hopes of the demonstrators.

After Private Doran’s first couple months of service, a new commander at Fort Moultrie, Major Robert Anderson, recognized the growing Carolinian aggression. In December, the major decided it was the crucial moment to make a significant change; thus, in the early evening of December 26, 1860, the Union troops methodically left Fort Moultrie—burning the gun carriages, spiking the cannons, and removing the United States flag. The undersized command transferred to Fort Sumter, an island fort a mile away. The change in venue was made in the hope that it would provide a safer haven and possibly avoid bloodshed. Captain Samuel Crawford, the assistant surgeon at Fort Moultrie, called the decision to transfer a masterly move—militarily, strategically, and politically.⁴ John Doran’s hopes and desires for a stimulating lifestyle were escalating—little did he know how much his future was about to change!

When the two batteries arrived in their new home, one soldier declared it was in a state of admirable confusion.⁵ This group of seventy troops and some civilian workers were a gutsy bunch who went to work with a will⁶ to improve their daily lives and security. Months later during the placement of cannons in Fort Sumter, a cannon wheel fell, crushing Doran’s right foot.

The greatest concerns of the soldiers in their island fortress were situations where they had little or no control—sickness, possible starvation, or an unsuspected night attack.

From the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April 1861 to the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in April 1865, John Doran would be involved in many of the major battles of the Eastern Theater. He would suffer two injuries and dozens of illnesses related to the life of a soldier who camped, marched, and fought for four years.

As a career member of Battery H, he fought in the battles known in the lexicon of the 1860–1865 conflict. He would take part in the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, where he received an eye wound, and fight at Chancellorsville in May 1863, where his battery played a significant role that led to the wounding of General Thomas Stonewall Jackson. In July 1863 at Gettysburg, he was positioned on the prominent location of Cemetery Hill, and in 1864 he became a member of General Phil Sheridan’s horse cavalry. In 1865 his unit pursued the retreating Army of Northern Virginia through small Virginia towns until the climatic end of the war on April 9, 1865.⁷

Throughout the conflict, he advanced in rank from private to sergeant serving under the command of some of the Union’s most notable commanders: General Robert Anderson, General Truman Seymour, General Abner Doubleday, General George McClellan, General Joseph Hooker, General George Meade, and General Phil Sheridan.

Some of the soldiers from the small Sumter garrison would serve with him throughout most of the conflict. The pressures of battle created a unique brotherhood of camaraderie. John Doran watched some of his Sumter buddies die on the battlefield, in hospitals, and fight disease and sickness. A few ran from pending disaster, but most of them admirably performed their duty from the first shot to the last.⁸

Before the Gettysburg Campaign, John was awarded a furlough. During this time, he married his pre–Civil War sweetheart, a relationship that produced nine children in a twenty-four-year span and lasted until John’s death.

After 1865, Quartermaster Sergeant Doran served in many capacities.

In 1871 while stationed at Fort Hamilton, he received a letter requesting a special favor from his 1860 company commander, Truman Seymour. The note brought new spirit to the old veteran. Seymour, now a general, was collecting information to aid in the writing of a history of the old company.⁹ Along with three other Sumter buddies who now served with him in Fort Hamilton, New York, Sergeant Doran provided information about his former cohorts.

Sergeant Doran ended his military career in 1874 and returned to his prewar occupation of iron molding. The Doran couple purchased a house on Centennial Avenue in Meriden where they resided for the remainder of their lives. As the post–Civil War years passed, John found the duties of iron molding challenging due to medical maladies received in the line of duty. He walked with a limp caused by his crushed foot, his vision was clouded as a result of a burned cornea, and his hearing was impaired from the sounds of the constant explosion of cannons. Additionally, bronchitis, tonsillitis, arthritis, and pneumonia continued to plague him. After a decade, he was obliged to give up the work of iron molder.¹⁰ His local doctor encouraged him to apply for an invalid pension, but pride prevented him from complying until 1887. In his forty-seventh year, he began the pension application process. His submissions were denied due to a variety of circumstances: some due to personal indiscretion and many due to an entangled bureaucracy. With his family’s encouragement and the aid of lawyers, doctors, and friends, he continued to pursue his goal to receive a pension. It was a long journey from the walls of Fort Sumter to the halls of the US Pension Bureau.

After a decade of frustration, on the last day of 1897, his willpower and resolve were rewarded with a small monthly stipend. He would continue applying for increases until his death.¹¹

John Doran would leave the bounds of this earth on December 27, 1908, forty-eight years after his Fort Sumter experience. His final resting place was only a few blocks from his and Julia’s home. His obituary read: Mr. Doran, the last defender of Fort Sumter had an enviable record during the Civil War. He told Civil War stories that were the most interesting historical reminiscences that any Meriden man could remember.¹²

He and his wife, Julia, supported each other throughout their turmoil; after her husband’s death, she appreciated the foundation John had provided for her future security.

Fulfilling their parent’s wishes, the Doran children gave back to the Meriden community: one as a councilman, another as a patrolman, and three sons who carried on the tradition of iron and brass molding.¹³

01Seymour.jpg

Truman Seymour

Captain Seymour was Private Doran’s company commander at Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter, 1860–1861. In 1871 they were still in communication.

Chapter One

Fort Hamilton, New York Harbor, June 8, 1871

S ince his transfer to Fort Hamilton in November 1870, Sergeant Doran’s spirits had improved; he thoroughly enjoyed the duties of quartermaster sergeant. ¹⁴ As he walked to his office on Thursday morning, June 8, 1871, he likely detected the warmth of the sun and the breezes that grazed his face. New York weather was changing quickly. The drab winter had passed, and the world was alive with flowers that dressed the landscape in pinks, purples, and soft yellows.

As he absorbed the warmth and the colors, his mind probably drifted to the project that he and three of his old Sumter buddies had been engaged for the last couple months. This labor of love was the result of a letter he had received from his company commander of eleven years ago. The arrival of the letter on an early April day was distinctly fixed in his mind. He had tossed his mail aside, finished some required inventories and other mandated work, and cracked the window to allow nature’s beauty into the room. He then moved to the pile of mail on his desk, some correspondence he possibly laid aside, and continued to look through the remainder. As he did, his eyes abruptly caught a return address that brought a smile to the old warrior’s somewhat leathery face. Why would General Seymour contact him after all these years? The sergeant, in haste and suspense, opened the envelope impulsively without the aid of a letter opener.

His old battery commander hoped Doran could help him determine the status of the members of the old company.¹⁵ General Seymour was nearing the end of his illustrious military career; he was collecting information to be used in Major William Haskin’s book, The History of the First Regiment of US Artillery.

The sergeant was excited and honored that General Seymour, current commander at Fort Preble in Portland, Maine, asked for his assistance. The thought entered his mind that it would also give him a chance to request a special favor in return.

Doran and other members of the 1860 company were actively serving in the First Artillery Regiment in Fort Hamilton, New York. The trio would provide valuable support to Doran in his research:

• Robert Foster had enlisted in the First Regiment as a musician at the tender age of fifteen.¹⁶ His brown hair was now thinning and slightly gray, his bluish-gray eyes still alert. His five-foot stature continued to draw comments about the little man with the big horn.

• John Carmody was a seventeen-year veteran who, like Foster, was born in Kerry, Ireland. At Fort Sumter, he was a twenty-eight-year-old sergeant who was remembered by many as a wild Irish soldier.¹⁷ His fame grew when he was recognized for fighting the Confederates single-handedly during the bombardment at Fort Sumter in April 1861.

• Rounding out the trio was Irishman John McQuillen who had mustered into the First Regiment in 1854. In civilian life, his trade as rectifier was an interesting and unique occupation. The knowledge of diluting whiskey and other alcoholic beverages was the subject of many conversations.¹⁸

The four veterans understood the challenge but were confident they could locate many of the band of 60. Interestingly, their recall became selective when they compared the 1860 company with the existing one. Doran wrote in response to Seymour, The Company has changed very much since the General had command of it and I am sorry to say none for the better. They are not the same kind of men that was in it in 1860, they are deserting and being confined all the time.¹⁹