U.S. ‘Medal of Honor’ Recipient: John Kennedy
Jonathan Smyth's latest Times Past column recalls Cavan born US 'Medal of Honor' winner John Kennedy.
Our story this week concerns John Kennedy an American Civil War soldier who fought on the side of the Union. Firstly, for my American readers, I realise that the word 'honour' should not contain the letter ‘u’ in the US spelling, so for that purpose I will keep the word how it appears on the military award, that is, ‘Medal of Honor’. Since we are talking about military matters, I must say that Gone With the Wind is one of my favourite films. I make no apologies. People complain to me about it these days, but in my opinion, it is likely the closest portrayal of life in the old South. It is a rollercoaster of a story about an Irish American family's fortunes and losses set in a divisive era when the abolition of slavery took centre stage. Slavery, from a human point of view, is without doubt a disgusting concept.
The fighting Irish joined both the anti-slavery Union armies, and the pro-slavery Confederate forces. President Lincoln wanted an end to human enslavement. However, the economic life of the Southern States depended heavily on having slaves to run the plantations. To the Confederate States, the abolition of forced labour would put plantation owners out of business. It was about the preservation of their properties and farmlands of rice, cotton, sugar, and tobacco. That said, abolishing human bondage was morally the right thing to do.
A little admission on my part is that I enjoy the music of the Civil War era. So, if you see me motoring along, in good form, then Ol’ Dan Tucker might be ‘playing’ on the radio. There are so many tunes to choose from. In particular, I think Mitch Miller’s singing of ‘When Johnny Came Marching Home’ is catchy, and the 2nd South Carolina String Band sound good.
Through songs you can explore both sides of the coin. So far, my research into Confederate soldiers has not revealed any Cavan names. However, there are plenty of Cavan born Union soldiers. One outstanding figure in the turmoil, who was not military, was Fr Thomas O’Reilly from Drumgora, in the parish of Lurgan, Co Cavan. When General Sherman threatened to burn Atlanta to the ground, the priest persuaded him to protect the Churches, and Atlanta City survived. In March 2020, on Cllr T.P. O’Reilly’s recommendation, I wrote a column on Fr O’Reilly for Times Past.
‘Medal of Honor’
John Kennedy was born on May 14, 1834, beginning life in Cavan, Ireland, according to a US record. I wondered then if he were related to either David Kennedy, Market Square, or Edward Kennedy, at Market Street, both of Cavan Town, in the 1850s. Later, another of the Kennedys from the town joined the professional classes becoming a solicitor and a Home Rule MP. I wondered, could they be John's relatives? Emigration beckoned and thirty years later, for his bravery, he won the prestigious ‘Medal of Honor’ for his part in the Battle of Trevilian Station, Virginia, USA.
Union artillery man John Kennedy enlisted prior to the Civil War on December 16, 1857. The encyclopaedia of Arkansas shows that he signed up to a five-year term at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He took part in the 1858 Utah Expedition, sometimes referred to as the Mormon War when a confrontation occurred between Mormon settlers and armed forces of the US government.
Units known as Battery M largely consisting of six guns were common on both sides of the Civil War. The 24-year-old Kennedy served in a regiment called the US 2nd Mounted Artillery Unit on the Union side. Of added interest, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services adds that his company served ‘in General George Armstrong Custer’s Michigan Cavalry Brigade'. You may remember that I recently covered another Cavan man, Corporal John Briody, who fought with Custer, at Custer’s last stand.
An account in the Arkansas Encyclopaedia tells of how ‘Kennedy and the Second US Artillery were serving in Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer’s cavalry division when Major General Philip Sheridan’s horsemen conducted a raid to destroy railroad lines in Virginia to mask the movement of General Ulysses S. Grant’s Union army during the Overland Campaign.’
On June 11, 1864, at Trevilian Station, Sheridan’s troops fought the Confederate army. Custer ran into the rear end of the Confederates, and they found themselves surrounded. The Confederate Captain Daniel A. Grimsley led his ‘squadron of cavalry’ against John Kennedy's position. But Kennedy and four fellow soldiers stuck to their artillery guns until they ran out of ammo. They fought with everything that came to hand until all that survived of the unit was himself and Charles O’Neill. Forty four of the unit died. Both Kennedy and O’Neill were captured and thrown in to Andersonville prison, Georgia. O'Neill died in the jail, while Kennedy made it out alive and returned to the army. He retired in 1891, by then a sergeant.
One year later, Lieutenant Carle E. Woodruff nominated Kennedy for a Medal of Honor for gallantry shown at Trevilian Station in 1864. The Military Times website mentions, that on August 19, 1892: ‘The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Private John Kennedy, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 11 June 1864, while serving with Company M, 2d U.S. Artillery, in action at Trevilian Station, Virginia. Private Kennedy remained at his gun, resisting with its implements the advancing cavalry, and thus secured the retreat of his detachment.’
Sergeant Kennedy died on September 28, 1910, at Little Rock, Arkansas and is interred there in Oakland Cemetery.
He was survived by Margaret, his wife. For more details on John Kennedy, check out the encyclopaedia of Arkansas.
Fógra
I highly recommend Damian Shiels’s latest book, ‘Green & Blue: Irish Americans in the Union Military, 1861-1865’.
Grafted Into the Army
Our Jimmy has gone for to live in a tent,
they have grafted him into the Army,
he finally puckered up courage and went,
when they grafted him into the Army.
I told them the child was too young, alas!
At the captains forequarters, they said he would pass,
they'd train him up well in the Infantry class,
so they grafted him into the Army.
Oh, Jimmy, farewell! Your brothers fell way down in Alabammy;
I thought they would spare a lone widder's heir,
but they grafted him into the Army.
Dressed up in his unicorn, dear little chap,
they have grafted him into the Army;
it seems but a day since he sot in my lap,
but they grafted him into the Army.
And these are the trousies he used to wear,
them very same buttons, the patch and the tear;
but Uncle Sam gave him a bran' new pair
when they grafted him into the Army.
Now in my provisions I see him revealed,
they have grafted him into the Army;
a picket beside the contented field,
they have grafted him into the Army.
He looks kinder sickish - begins to cry,
a big volunteer standing right in his eye!
Oh, what if the ducky should up and die,
now they've grafted him into the Army.