Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 4, April, 1886Various
Religion
Donahoe's Magazine, Volume 15, No. 4, April, 1886
Various
Periodicals
charged the enemy's right, located in a most advantageous position, and
drove them, sustaining a loss of twelve killed and thirty-six wounded.
About one month after this, Col. Richard Byrnes,[1] on October 18,
assumed command of the Twenty-Eighth at Nolan's Ferry, and on the 23d of
November, it was transferred to the Second Corps and assigned to
Meagher's Irish Brigade, which was in the division commanded by that
much lamented and knightly soldier, Winfield Scott Hancock. At the close
of the year 1862, some two weeks after fateful Fredericksburg, the
reckoning showed that the Faugh-a-Ballaghs lost five hundred and twenty
in killed, wounded and missing. The second Christmas Day for the boys of
the Twenty-Eighth brought many sad reminders. Poor Kitty H---- and her
babies had to mourn the loss of her brave Tim, the Irish patriot of Camp
Cameron, and the poor heart-broken mother of his young chum drooped and
pined in Ireland for the son who was the solace of her hope and heart.
She had the premonition of his death, at the battle of Chantilly, so
weirdly given in Gerald Griffin's "wake." She saw the blood-red cloud in
the west far out on the Atlantic's tide and while--
"Her door flings wide, loud moans the gale;
Wild fear her bosom fills;
It is, it is the Banshee's wail
Over the darkened hills!
Ululah! Ululah!
A youth to Kiffiehera's taken
That never will return again."
The Christmas of 1862 in the camps of the Union Army on the left bank of
the Rappahannock, confronting Fredericksburg, was rather wanting in good
cheer, although so near the Potomac, and it was only until Gen. Hooker
superseded Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac, that rations
of potatoes could be had to serve out to the half-famished troops. What
a delightful supplement to a soldier's mess is even one good potato and
a piece of onion, when for weeks his only change has been from hard tack
with fat pork to pork (fat) and hard tack! The regiment performed the
usual duties of beleaguers when St. Patrick's Day got round to them in
the camps of the Irish brigade at Falmouth, Va. If not very active
participants with their New York fellow soldiers in the sports of the
steeple chase, race-course, and other parts of the programme, yet the
boys of the Twenty-Eighth could not have failed to enjoy with enthusiasm
the hilarity and frolics of that occasion. At least ten thousand had
assembled from the camps cantoned in winter quarters for miles between
the Potomac and along the Rappahannock Rivers. The grand stand contained
the commander-in-chief and other distinguished generals and officers,
and a number of ladies. Besides Hooker, the commander, there were
conspicuously present Generals Slocum, Hancock, Charles Griffin,
Sedgwick, Franklin and others. Together with the races of the
thoroughbreds, there were also long prize lists, programmes of
amusements, such as catching a soaped pig, and competing for money, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account