Major event marking the american civil war continues today

Paul Neilan

Cavan's impact on the American Civil War will be explored as part of a series of talks to take place in a major historical event today in Cavan town.

The Civil War was fought between April 1861 and May 1865 and upwards of 200,000 Irishmen took part in the bloody conflict, the effects of which still reverberate through to American society today.

The Cavan County Council organised event got underway yesterday with an exhibition from Mary Sullivan in Cavan Genealogy, a performance of songs from the period by Cavan Singers and a key-note lecture by Dr Patrick Fitzgerald. 

Tom Sullivan, librarian at Johnston Central Library in the town discussed today's events with the Celt: 
“In the library, we’ll have Dr Brendan Scott talking about Cavan’s involvement in the Civil War, Aidan O’Hara will talk about Matthew Brady, who is the acclaimed photographer of the period - with a name like Brady he must also have some Cavan connections - then Dr David Murphy will talk about the battle at Gettysburg, the most significant battle of the war, where 51,000 people lost their lives. In the afternoon we have Damien Shiels, who is really the Irish authority on the war and Ian Kenneally will speak on Ireland and the war and we finish up with Myles Dungan on the life and career of Oldcastle man Graham Halpine, who created a fictional pen name Myles O’Reilly to write about the war,” says Tom.

General Phillip Sheridan
Cavan has a close association with the American Civil War in that one of the most celebrated Union generals was General Philip Sheridan who, if he was not born in the parish of Killinkere, then some of his family certainly were.
“He was a very prominent Union general, an enforcer and very much the man on the ground, he fought a decisive battle in Virginia - he was instrumental in the surrender of General Robert E Lee but the other thing he did, which was new, was that he instigated the first ‘scorched earth’ policy in 1864. He burned crops as he went along to starve the opposition of food - that was the first instance of it. He’s also supposed to have said ‘the only good Indian is a dead one’, but I’m not sure he actually said it.
“When we talk about the Civil War we talk about slavery but it really was to do with what was happening between the north and the south of America in that the north was becoming industrialised while the south was holding on to the old ways, meaning cotton-production.
“The was a boom at the time and the south needed workers to pick the cotton and of course, the workers were black slaves. The slaves were regarded as sub-human, you owned one. The economic situation was a big factor in the Civil War.
“Another factor was that at the time the population of America was 32 million, compared to today when it is 322 million - 10 per cent of what it is now. It was a horrendously vicious war in that there were two million who fought in the Union army and around a million in the South and over 620,000 were killed - a really vicious war; as vicious as any there has ever been.”

Fr Thomas O’Reilly
Another close Cavan connection with the conflict is Fr Thomas O’Reilly, who was a native of Drumgora in Lurgan parish, near Virginia. Fr O’Reilly served in the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia, was appointed a Confederate chaplain and tended wounded from both sides who arrived by train to Atlanta before being transferred to hospital.
He is known as ‘the man who saved Atlanta’ because of his intervention with the Union general William Sherman which resulted in upwards of 400 buildings in the city being saved from burning.
“He was the parish priest during the conflict when the union army were on the outskirts of the city intending to sack or burn it but O’Reilly got a message to General Sherman because he was friendly with him - he would have tended to both union and confederate soldiers. Naturally, there would have been a lot of catholics in the union army and he sent the message to the general that if the churches in Atlanta were burned the catholics in his army would mutiny and churches, courthouses and other buildings were saved due to his intervention,” explains Tom.
“He really is a hero out there, there were people here from Atlanta last year saying he is still held in very, very high esteem.”

‘Fighting Irish’
“People will be able to get the whole background and development at the exhibition in the library in as little as half an hour if they want to come along for a great overview of the war.”
In addition to the free exhibition there is also an event in the Town Hall on Thursday night.
“We have brought together a range of speakers who will enlighten and entertain you on the history of the war and Myles and Matthew Gilsenan, from the Celtic Tenors, will team up to perform their ‘Fighting Irish’ show in the town hall on Thursday, which tells the story in words and music of the emigrant Irish who engaged with both sides during one of the most ferocious wars ever fought,” says Tom.