On this day in 1861, Tipperary-born Daniel Hough became the first person to be killed in the American civil war- a conflict which cost over 620,000 lives.
Daniel Hough (pronounced ‘how’), whose exact birth date is unknown, was born in Tipperary but emigrated to America in 1849. Once there, he enlisted in the US army as it was a sure way of earning a steady income. In January of 1861 Hough’s E Company was relocated to Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
On 12 April 1861, Fort Sumter became the setting for the first battle of the civil war when Confederate artillery forces fired at the Union garrison. The union soldiers put up a determined defence but were outnumbered and cut off from their supply lines. By the next day Major Robert Anderson decided to surrender, saving the lives of all his men. Confederate General Beauregard permitted the vanquished Union troops to conduct a 100-gun salute as they lowered the American flag and prepared to leave the fort. It was during this salute to the flag on the 14th April 1861 that Hough was killed when a round exploded prematurely, killing him instantly.
The location of Daniel Hough’s burial site remains unknown. He may have been buried at Fort Sumter or perhaps his body was reinterred sometime later at Fort Moultrie cemetery which was nearby. No records of any kind exist to confirm either possibility.
Over the years there has been some mystery surrounding the birthplace of Daniel Hough. Historian Tom Hurley, wrote a book on Hough and based on the evidence he found he believed Daniel was born in Borrisokane in 1829. While research by historian Damien Shiels suggests that Hough was born in Nenagh.
All told, tens of thousands of Irish Americans perished between 1861 and 1865, inflicting immense loss on innumerable Irish families in America and Ireland. As an example of the remarkable Irish involvement in the American civil war, when Confederate guns let loose on Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861, they did so against a garrison that contained more soldiers born in Ireland than in the United States. For many, the American civil war added still further to a catalogue of trauma that had begun with the Great Famine more than a decade earlier.
Sources:
https://www.historyireland.com/irelands-forgotten-great-war/
https://www.herocards.us/hero90
Washington D.C. but did you know that between 1863 and 1865, the Doorkeeper to Lincoln’s office in the White House was a somewhat mysterious and possibly unscrupulous character from Tipperary named Cornelius O’ Leary?
According to whitehousehistory.org, the doorkeeper to the president was ‘one of the most prominent positions in the White House’ in the late 19th century and O’Leary would have reported directly to the President.
After serving in the Irish Papal Brigade which tried to defend the Pope and his Papal Sates from attacking armies which sought to unify Italy, Cornelius O’ Leary emigrated to America in the early 1860s. There he fought in ‘Meagher’s Irish Brigade’ in the American Civil War on the Union side. He was discharged after being wounded at the Battle of Bull Run and he was subsequently appointed Doorkeeper to President Lincoln although the exact circumstances of how it unfolded remain unclear.
However, once in the job, it appears that O’Leary abused his position by soliciting bribes in a ‘cash for access’ scheme. In order to ensure quicker delivery of certain documents to the President, O’ Leary may have commanded up to $50- a princely sum at the time. It has also been suggested that he was in league with the President’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, who had her own financial difficulties at the time.
Whatever the circumstances, O Leary was immediately dismissed by President Lincoln when he discovered what had been going on. Following his sacking, he intended to return home to Ireland to help the Fenian cause there. He was apprehended by the British back in Ireland and incarcerated in Clonmel Gaol. He was later released on condition that he return to America. He died in New York in 1926.
Sources:
https://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/.../employees-and.../
https://www.newspapers.com/.../times-union.../144041910/
https://turtlebunbury.com/.../the-irish-and-the-white-house/
