Nathanael Greene‘s keel is laid down on May 21, 1962, at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. The construction of the ship is supervised by Commander Lawrence Dennis Ballou. She is launched on May 12, 1964, sponsored by Mrs. Neander W. Wade, a descendant of Nathanael Greene, and commissioned on December 19, 1964, with Commander Robert E. Crispin in command of the Blue Crew and Commander William M. Cossaboom in command of the Gold Crew.
Nathanael Greene departs Portsmouth for shakedown on December 30, 1964, with her Gold Crew embarked. It is relieved on February 1, 1965, by the Blue Crew. Her shakedown period is followed by repairs and alterations at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, after which the submarine, with her Blue Crew embarked, departs the shipyard for ballistic missile loading and her initial Polaris missile deterrent patrol.
In 1970-71 Nathanael Greene is refueled and receives its conversion to launch Poseidon missiles at Newport News Shipbuilding. Following Yard period and shakedown, she proceeds to Cape Canaveral for a test missile launch. In March 1972, she departs for her first deterrent patrol following conversion ending up in Holy Loch, Scotland.
On January 29, 1970, while making a surface run into port in thick fog, Nathanael Greene runs aground in about sixteen feet of water. She is refloated after about seven hours.
On August 11, 1984, Nathanael Greene loses her propeller in the Irish Sea. While proceeding back to Holy Loch at about 3 knots using her secondary propulsion motor, a transit of about 5 or 6 days, she is redirected to Her Majesty’s Naval Base, Clyde at Faslane as the U.S. dry dock in Holy Loch is fully committed and unavailable, while Admiralty Floating Dock No. 60 at Faslane is available. While in the Faslane dry dock, a fire occurs in one of the dock’s enclosed machinery spaces on August 18, 1984. The fire is quickly extinguished and does not affect the Nathanael Greene. While in dry dock, it is established that the main shaft had broken with the loss of about a third of its length along with the propeller. Repairs are completed in about twelve days and the Nathanael Green is undocked on September 3, 1984.
On March 13, 1986, Nathanael Greene runs aground in the Irish Sea, suffering severe damage to her rudder and ballast tanks. Her grounding is a serious accident involving a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. She is deactivated while still in commission in May 1987. Her early deactivation is decided both as a result of the damage sustained in the accident as well as in accordance with the limitations set by the SALT II Treaty.
Nathanael Greene is decommissioned on December 15, 1986, and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) on January 31, 1987. Her removal from service allows the United States to comply easily with the ballistic missile limits of the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty.
Nathanael Greene‘s sail has been restored and is now on display in Port Canaveral, Florida, as a memorial to the original 41 for Freedom fleet ballistic missile submarines.
(Pictured: USS Nathanael Greene (SSBN-636), probably during her sea trials off New England in the mid-1960s.)
Armstrong is born on October 13, 1717, in Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, parents not determined, who married in 1704. He is one of approximately fifteen children born to his parents that included: Margaret Armstrong (1737–1817), who marries Rev. George Duffield (1732–90), and Rebecca Armstrong (1738–1828), who marries James Turner (1737–1803).
Armstrong is educated in Ireland and becomes a civil engineer before emigrating to Pennsylvania, with his brother-in-law, John Lyon, around 1740. He comes to Pennsylvania as a surveyor for the Penn family, the proprietary owners of the colony. In 1750, he lays out the first plat or plan for the town of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and is one of its first settlers. He is later appointed surveyor for the newly established Cumberland County.
James Smith writes that in the fall of 1763, “I went on the Susquehannah campaign, against the Indians, under the command of General Armstrong. In this route we burnt the Delaware and Monsey towns, on the West Branch of the Susquehannah, and destroyed all their corn.”
In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), Armstrong is a brigadier general in the Pennsylvania militia. On March 1, 1776, the Continental Congress appoints him to that same rank in the Continental Army. He is sent south to begin preparations for the defense of Charleston, South Carolina. He contributes his engineering talents to the construction of defenses that enable them to withstand the Battle of Sullivan’s Island later that year. When General Charles Lee arrives to take command, Armstrong returns to his duties with the main army and with the Pennsylvania militia. Pennsylvania names him major general in charge of the state militia. This ends his service in the Continental Army, but not the war or his cooperation with General George Washington.
At the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, Armstrong’s militia holds the far left of the American line. They also guard the army’s supplies. After a hard day’s fighting, the Americans are forced to withdraw, or face being surrounded. He brings the supplies and his militia out from Pyle’s Ford after dark.
In the Battle of Germantown on October 4, Armstrong leads the American right. His mission is to skirt the British left flank and attack there and in their rear. Despite delays and the troubles some units have in moving, the overall attack is going well, until the center is held up at the Benjamin Chew House. The attack then collapses after a friendly fire incident in the fog in which General Adam Stephen‘s men fire on Anthony Wayne‘s troops causing their withdrawal. Armstrong, whose men have advanced nearly to the center of Germantown but are not greatly involved in the fight later complains that it was “…. a glorious victory fought for, and eight tenths won, …. mysteriously lost, for to this moment no one man can …. give any good reason for the flight.”
After Germantown, Armstrong is granted permission to give up active command. At aged sixty, his health is declining, and old wounds are troubling him. He serves until April 4, 1778.
After his service in the War ends, Armstrong returns home to Carlisle, where he is elected to the Continental Congress by the Pennsylvania Assembly. As a delegate from 1779 to 1780, he is a strong supporter of Washington and the army. He is firm in his support for a new United States Constitution and is returned to the Congress of the Confederation during its final days in 1787 and 1788.
Throughout his life Armstrong serves in a number of local or civic offices. One of these, the Carlisle school board, leads him to originally oppose Dr. Benjamin Rush‘s proposal to start a college in the town. He later relents and becomes a member of the first Board of Trustees for Dickinson College from 1783 to 1794.
In 1747, Armstrong marries Rebecca Lyon Armstrong (1719–97), daughter of Archibald Lyon and Ann Lyon. Together, they are the parents of:
James Armstrong (1748–1828), who marries Mary Stevenson (1766–1813), daughter of George Stevenson, Esq.
Armstrong dies at his home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on March 9, 1795, and is buried in the Old Carlisle Cemetery. In 1800, when Pennsylvania creates a new county with its seat at Kittanning, it is named Armstrong County in his honor.
Earley first joins the Roscommon minor football team in 1963, at the age of fifteen. In that year, his side reaches the Connacht minor final, losing to Mayo. Two years later, in 1965, he lines out in a second Connacht minor decider. Five-in-a-row hopefuls Mayo are beaten by Roscommon, giving him a Connacht Minor Football Championship title. Roscommon are later defeated in the All-Ireland semi-final. He also plays under-21 hurling with Roscommon. In 1969, he plays in the All-Ireland under-21 final where Roscommon faces Kildare, however Kildare wins on the day.
Earley is only seventeen years-old when he makes his senior debut for Roscommon in 1965. Over the next fifteen years, Roscommon wins four Connacht Senior Football Championship titles. In 1985, he sustains a fractured jaw in the Connacht semi-final against Galway, with many expecting it to end his career. He confounds everybody and lines out in the Connacht final against Mayo two weeks later. In spite of kicking six points, Mayo still triumphs by 2–11 to 0–8. At the age of thirty-seven, he decides to retire from inter-county football.
After completing his Leaving Certificate in 1965, Earley joins the Defence Forces as a cadet and is commissioned in 1967. His first posting is as a platoon commander in the Recruit Training Depot at the Curragh Camp and, in 1969, he is appointed an Instructor at the Army School of Physical Culture (ASPC). Two years later, in 1971, he obtains a specialist diploma in physical education at St. Mary’s College, Twickenham.
Earley’s service record includes overseas service with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in 1975, Adjutant to the 52nd Infantry Battalion of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). From 1987 to 1991, he serves as deputy military adviser to UN secretary general Javier Pérez de Cuéllar and Battalion Commander of the 81st Infantry Battalion UNIFIL in 1997. While serving with the UN up to 1991 he is a member of negotiating teams dealing with the Iraqis and Kuwaitis and is a key adviser during the setting up of the UN’s mission in Kuwait – Unikom. He is involved in negotiating an end to the Angolan Civil War. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies, London (2001), and holds a Master of Arts (Hons) in peace and development studies from the University of Limerick (1999). He undertakes the Ranger Course in the Defence Forces, which leads to the establishment of special operations training and the establishment of the Army Ranger Wing (ARW). He is the last serving member of that course.
Earley is appointed school commandant of the ASPC. In 1991, he is appointed an instructor at the Command and Staff School of the Military College and in 1994-95 he helps establish the United Nations Training School Ireland (UNTSI) in the Military College.
Earley is promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1995. He commands the 27 Infantry Battalion on the Irish border. He is promoted to colonel in 2001. In December 2003, he is made brigadier general and is appointed major general in March 2004 when he receives his final appointment. He replaces Lieutenant GeneralJames Sreenan. He becomes chief of staff in April 2007, leading the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service.
On April 18, 2010, Earley indicates he plans to retire from the Defence Forces due to ill health. He is awarded a Distinguished Service Medal with Honour from TaoiseachBrian Cowen. His resignation is accepted on June 9, 2010, and one of his previous deputies, Major General Sean McCann, is appointed Chief of Staff.
Earley dies of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) on June 23, 2010, at the age of 62. His Newbridge funeral on June 24, 2010, is attended by Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Irish government ministers and leading GAA figures, while former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave issues a statement calling him “one of the great figures of this country.”
Daly is born in Dublin in 1888. He fights in the 1916 Easter Rising under the command of his namesake Edward Daly, leading the unsuccessful attempt to destroy the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park. He is later wounded in the particularly vicious fighting near the Linenhall. He is subsequently interned in Frongoch internment camp for his part in the rebellion until 1918, when he is released as part of a general amnesty for Irish prisoners.
During the Irish War of Independence, Daly serves as leader of the “Squad,”Michael Collins‘ assassination unit.
Daly and the men under his command are responsible for the killing of many British intelligence officers, in particular District Inspector Redmond, who had been putting increasing pressure on the Squad. Daly himself personally kills several people, including Frank Brooke, director of Great Southern and Eastern Railway, who serves on an advisory council to the British military, in June 1920. He does not directly lead any of the attacks on Bloody Sunday but is on standby in one of the Squad’s safe houses. In the aftermath, November 23, 1920, he is arrested and interned in Abercorn Barracks in Ballykinler, County Down.
Daly is released on parole from Ballykinler in March 1921, the British apparently being unaware of his senior position within the Dublin Brigade of the IRA. After his release, he, along with Emmet Dalton, is also involved in the attempt to free Seán Mac Eoin from Mountjoy Prison on May 14, 1921. He and his men hijack a British Army Peerless armoured car in Clontarf at the corporation abattoir, while it is escorting a consignment of meat to a barracks and shoot dead two soldiers in the process. The plan involves Dalton and Joe Leonard impersonating two British army officers and using forged documents to “transfer” MacEoin to Dublin Castle. They gain entry to Mountjoy but are discovered before they can free MacEoin and have to shoot their way out. They later abandon the armoured car after removing the Hotchkiss machine guns and setting fire to what they can. Toward the end of the war, in May 1921, the two principal fighting units of the IRA’s Dublin Brigade, the “Squad” and the “Active Service Unit” are amalgamated after losses suffered in the burning of the Custom House. Daly is named Officer Commanding (OC) of this new unit, which is named the Dublin Guard.
After the Anglo-Irish Treaty splits the IRA, Daly and most of his men side with the pro-treaty party, who go on to found the Irish Free State. He is appointed to the rank of brigadier in the newly created Irish National Army, which is inaugurated in January 1922. When the Irish Civil War breaks out in June 1922, he commands the Free State’s troops who secure Dublin, after a week of fighting.
In August 1922, during the Irish Free State offensive that re-takes most of the major towns in Ireland, Daly commands a landing of 450 troops of the Dublin Guard at Fenit, County Kerry, which goes on to capture Tralee from the anti-treaty forces. Acting with severe brutality in Kerry, he comments that, “nobody had asked me to take kid-gloves to Kerry, so I didn’t.” As the Civil War develops into a vicious guerrilla conflict, he and his men are implicated in a series of atrocities against anti-treaty prisoners, culminating in a series of killings with land mines in March 1923. Daly, and others under his command, claim that those killed were accidentally blown up by their own mines. Statements by the Garda Síochána, two Free State lieutenants on duty, W. McCarthy and Niall Harrington, and one survivor, Stephen Fuller, maintain the claims are fabricated.
Daly resigns from the Free State army in 1924 after an incident in Kenmare, County Kerry, concerning the daughters of a doctor. A court martial is held but collapses as no one is prepared to give evidence. He volunteers his services for the Irish Army again in 1940 and is appointed as a Captain to the non-combatant Construction Corps.
Daly is a carpenter by trade. He marries Daisy Gillies in 1910. His brother James (Seamus) marries Daisy’s sister Nora, a Cumann na mBan activist, in a joint wedding ceremony. After Daisy’s death in 1919, Daly marries Bridget Murtagh, also a Cumann na mBan activist, in 1921. Murtagh and Nora O’Daly carry out intelligence gathering for the planned attack on the Magazine Fort in 1916. She is a sister of Elizabeth Murtagh, the first wife of Commandant Michael Love who serves with Daly in the Collins Squad of the IRA, in the Irish Free State Army of the 1920s and during the Emergency period. Murtagh dies in childbirth in 1930. Daly subsequently marries Norah Gillies, his first wife’s niece.
On his death on January 16, 1957, Daly is buried with full military honours in Mount Jerome Cemetery. He is survived by his brothers, Comdt Seamus O’Daly and Capt Frank O’Daly, his sons Patrick and Colbert, and his daughters Brede and Philomena.
In January and February 1689, Butler votes against the motion to put William of Orange and Mary on the throne and against the motion to declare that James II has abdicated it. Nevertheless, he subsequently joins the forces of William of Orange, by whom he is made colonel of the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards on April 20, 1689. He accompanies William in his Irish campaign, debarking with him in Carrickfergus on June 14, 1690, and commands this troop at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690. In February 1691 he becomes Lord Lieutenant of Somerset.
Butler serves on the continent under William of Orange during the Nine Years’ War and, having been promoted to major general, he fights at the Battle of Steenkerque in August 1692 and the Battle of Landen in July 1693, where he is taken prisoner by the French and then exchanged for the Duke of Berwick, James II’s illegitimate son. He is promoted to lieutenant general in 1694.
Butler plays a dramatic role at the notorious meeting of the Privy Council on March 8, 1711, when Antoine de Guiscard, a French double agent who is being questioned about his treasonable activities, attempts to assassinate Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, against whom he has a personal grudge for drastically cutting his allowance, by stabbing him with a penknife. Harley is wounded, but not seriously, due largely to the fact that he is wearing a heavy gold brocade waistcoat in which the knife gets stuck. Several Councillors, including Butler, stab Guiscard in return. Guiscard implores Butler to finish the deed, but he replies that it is not for him to play the hangman. In any case, he has the sense to see that Guiscard must be kept alive at least long enough to be questioned, although as it turns out Guiscard’s wounds are fatal and he dies a week later.
On April 23, 1712, Butler leaves Harwich for Rotterdam to lead the British troops taking part in the war. Once there he allows himself to be made the tool of the Tory ministry, whose policy is to carry on the war in the Netherlands while giving secret orders to him to take no active part in supporting their allies under Prince Eugene. In July 1712, he advises Prince Eugene that he can no longer support the siege of Le Quesnoy and that he is withdrawing the British troops from the action and instead intends to take possession of Dunkirk. The Dutch are so exasperated at the withdrawal of the British troops that they close the towns of Bouchain on Douai to British access, despite the fact that they have plenty of stores and medical facilities available. Butler takes possession of Ghent and Bruges as well as Dunkirk, in order to ensure his troops are adequately provided for. On April 15, 1713, he becomes Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk.
Ormonde’s position as Captain-General makes him a personage of much importance in the crisis brought about by the death of Queen Anne and, during the last years of Queen Anne, he almost certainly has Jacobite leanings and corresponds with the Jacobite Court including his cousin, Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye, who keeps barrels of gunpowder at Kilkenny Castle. King George I, on his accession to the throne in August 1714, institutes extensive changes and excludes the Tories from royal favour. Butler is stripped of his posts as Captain-General, as colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards and as Commander in Chief of the Forces with the first two posts going to the Duke of Marlborough and the role of Commander-in-Chief going to John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair. On November 19, 1714, Butler is instead made a member of the reconstituted Privy Council of Ireland.
Accused of supporting the Jacobite rising of 1715, Butler is impeached for high treason by Lord Stanhope on June 21, 1715. He might avoid the impending storm of Parliamentary prosecution, if he remains in England and stands trial but instead he chooses to flee to France in August 1715, and initially stays in Paris with Lord Bolingbroke. On August 20, 1715, he is attainted, his estate forfeited, and honours extinguished. The Earl Marshal is instructed to remove the names and armorial bearings of Butler and Bolingbroke from the list of peers and his banner as Knight of the Garter is taken down in St. George’s Chapel.
On June 20, 1716, the Parliament of Ireland passes an act extinguishing the regalities and liberties of the county palatine of Tipperary; for vesting Butler’s estate in the crown and for giving a reward of £10,000 for his apprehension, should he attempt to land in Ireland. But the same parliament passes an act on June 24, 1721, to enable his brother, Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran, to purchase his estate, which he does accordingly.
Butler subsequently moves to Spain where he holds discussions with Cardinal Giulio Alberoni. He later takes part in a Spanish and Jacobite plan to invade England and puts James Francis Edward Stuart on the British throne in 1719, but his fleet is disbanded by a storm in the Bay of Biscay. In 1732, he moves to Avignon, where he is seen in 1733 by the writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. He dies at Avignon in exile on November 16, 1745, but his body is returned to London and buried in Westminster Abbey on May 22, 1746.
On July 20, 1682, Butler, then called Lord Ossory, marries Lady Anne Hyde, daughter of Laurence Hyde, who is then Viscount Hyde of Kenilworth but becomes Earl of Rochester in November. The couple has a daughter, Mary, who dies young in 1688.
Following the death of his first wife in 1685, Butler plans to marry again in order to secure a male heir. He gains permission from the House of Lords for the arranging of a jointure for another marriage in May 1685, and in August of that year, he marries Lady Mary Somerset, daughter of the Duke of Beaufort and Mary Capel. The couple has a son, Thomas (1686–1689), and two daughters, Elizabeth (1689–1750) and Mary (1690–1713). His second wife is a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Anne. Their younger daughter, Mary, marries John Ashburnham, 1st Earl of Ashburnham.
(Pictured: Portrait of James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, by Michael Dahl, National Portrait Gallery)
Hickie attends the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from 1882 to 1885. He is commissioned into his father’s regiment, the Royal Fusiliers at Gibraltar, in 1885 and serves with them for thirteen years in the Mediterranean, Egypt, and India, during which time he is promoted to captain on November 18, 1892. In 1899 he graduates as captain at the Staff College, Camberley, and is selected when the Second Boer War breaks out as a Special Service Officer in which capacity he acts in various positions of authority and command. He leaves Southampton for South Africa on board the SS Canada in early February 1900 and is promoted from captain of mounted infantry to battalion command as major on March 17, 1900. He is subsequently in command of a corps until eventually at the end of 1900 he is given command of an independent column of all arms. He holds this position for eighteen months. He serves with distinction at the Battle of Bothaville in November 1900 and receives the brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel on November 29, 1900. He serves in South Africa throughout the war, which ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging in June 1902. Four months later he leaves Cape Town on the SS Salamis with other officers and men of the 2nd battalion Royal Fusiliers, arriving at Southampton in late October, when the battalion is posted to Aldershot Garrison. In December 1902 he is elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS).
After the end of the war in South Africa there follows various staff appointments, the first from December 1902 as deputy-assistant adjutant general for district staff in the Cork district. In 1907 Hickie is back in regimental service in Dublin and Mullingar with the 1st Royal Fusiliers, where he is in command of the regiment for the last two years. From 1909 to 1912 is appointed to the Staff of the 8th Infantry Division in Cork where for four years he is well known in the hunting field and on the polo ground. In May 1912, he is promoted to colonel and becomes Quartermaster General of the Irish Command at Royal Hospital Kilmainham for which he is appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
When war is declared, the Staff of the Irish Command becomes automatically the staff of the II Army Corps and accordingly with the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Hickie is promoted to brigadier general and, as part of the British Expeditionary Force in France, takes charge of the Adjutant and Quartermaster-General’s Department during the retreat of the II Corps after the Battle of Mons, to Paris, and during the First Battle of the Marne. In mid-September 1914, he relieves one of the brigadiers in the fighting line as commander of the 13th Brigade (5th Infantry Division) and then commands the 53rd Brigade (18th Infantry Division) until December 1915, when he is ordered home to assume command of the 16th (Irish) Division at Blackburn.
Promoted to major general, Hickie takes over from Lieutenant General Sir Lawrence Parsons. It is politically a highly sensitive appointment which requires the professionalism and political awareness he, fortunately, possesses as the division is formed around a core of Irish National Volunteers in response to Edward Carson‘s Ulster Volunteers. He is much more diplomatic and tactful than his predecessors and speaks of the pride which his new command gives him but does not hesitate to make sweeping changes amongst the senior officers of the Irish Division. After putting the division through intensive training, it leaves under Irish command of which each man takes personal pride. It arrives in December 1915.
In the next two years and four months during which Hickie commands the 16th (Irish) Division, it earns a reputation for aggression and élan and wins many memorials and mentions for bravery in the engagements during the 1916 Battle of Guillemont and the capture of Ginchy, both of which form part of the Battle of the Somme, then during the Battle of Messines, the Third Battle of Ypres and in attacks near Bullecourt in the Battle of Cambrai offensive in November 1917.
During this period the Division makes considerable progress in developing its operational techniques but at a price in losses. The growing shortage of Irish replacement recruits, due to nationalist disenchantment with the war and the absence of conscription in Ireland, is successfully met by Hickie by integrating non-Irish soldiers into the division.
In February 1918, Hickie is invalided home on temporary sick leave, but when in the hospital the German spring offensive begins on March 21, with the result that after his division moves under the command of General Hubert Gough it is practically wiped out and ceases to exist as a division. Although promised a new command, this does not happen before the Armistice in November. He typifies the army’s better divisional commanders, is articulate, intelligent and is competent and resourceful during the BEF’s difficult period 1916–17, laying the foundations for its full tactical success in 1918. He is advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1918.
Hickie retires from the army in 1922, when the six Irish line infantry regiments that have their traditional recruiting grounds in the counties of the new Irish Free State are all disbanded. He identifies himself strongly with the Home Rule Act and says that its scrapping is a disaster and is equally outspoken in condemning the activities of the Black and Tans. In 1925, he is elected as a member of Seanad Éireann, the Irish Free State Senate.
Hickie holds his seat until the Seanad is dissolved in 1936, to be replaced by Seanad Éireann in 1937. He is President of the Area Council (Southern Ireland) of the Royal British Legion from 1925 to 1948. He never marries.
Hickie dies on November 3, 1950, in Dublin and is buried in Terryglass, County Tipperary.
Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing, begins landing troops below the city on September 12, and begins moving in by September 16. Confident of victory and believing that British Lieutenant Colonel John Maitland‘s reinforcements will be prevented from reaching Savannah by Major GeneralBenjamin Lincoln, he offers Major General Augustine Prévost the opportunity to surrender. Prevost delays, asking for a 24-hour truce. Owing to miscommunication about who is responsible for preventing Maitland’s movements, the waterways separating South Carolina‘s Hilton Head Island from the mainland are left unguarded, and Maitland is able to reach Savannah hours before the truce ends. Prevost’s response to d’Estaing’s offer is a polite refusal, despite the arrival.
On September 19, as Charles-Marie de Trolong du Rumain moves his squadron up the river, he exchanges fire with Comet, Thunder, Savannah, and Venus. The next day the British scuttleRose, which is leaking badly, just below the town to impede the French vessels from progressing further. They also burn Savannah and Venus. By scuttling Rose in a narrow part of the channel, the British effectively block it. Consequently, the French fleet is unable to assist the American assault.
Germaine takes up a position to protect the north side of Savannah’s defenses. Comet and Thunder have the mission of opposing any attempt by the South Carolinian galleys to bombard the town. Over the next few days, British shore batteries assist Comet and Thunder in engagements with the two South Carolinian galleys. During one of these, they severely damage Revenge.
The French commander, rejecting the idea of assaulting the British defenses, unloads cannons from his ships and begins a bombardment of the city. The city, rather than the entrenched defenses, bear the brunt of this bombardment, which lasts from October 3 to 8. “The appearance of the town afforded a melancholy prospect, for there was hardly a house that had not been shot through,” writes one British observer.
When the bombardment fails to have the desired effect, d’Estaing changes his mind and decides it is time to try an assault. He is motivated in part by the desire to finish the operation quickly, as scurvy and dysentery are becoming problems on his ships, and some of his supplies are running low. While a traditional siege operation would likely have succeeded eventually, it would take longer than d’Estaing is prepared to stay.
Against the advice of many of his officers, d’Estaing launches the assault against the British position on the morning of October 9. The success depends in part on the secrecy of some of its aspects, which are betrayed to Prévost well before the operations are supposed to begin around 4:00 a.m. Dillon’s regiment is sent to the right of the main assault, but their guides prove to be unreliable, and the column goes down the wrong path into a swamp. The British have already learned of the assault and the bagpipes of a Highland regiment begin playing at daybreak, unnerving the allies since it signals that surprise is lost. It is nearly daylight when the attack finally gets underway.
The redoubt on the right side of the British works had been chosen by the French admiral in part because he believed it to be defended only by militia. In fact, it is defended by a combination of militia and Scotsmen from John Maitland’s 71st Regiment of Foot, Fraser’s Highlanders, who had distinguished themselves at Stono Ferry. The militia includes riflemen, who easily pick off the white-clad French troops when the assault is underway. Admiral d’Estaing is twice wounded, and Polishcavalry officer Casimir Pulaski, fighting with the Americans, is mortally wounded. By the time the second wave arrives near the redoubt, the first wave is in complete disarray, and the trenches below the redoubt are filled with bodies. Attacks intended as feints against other redoubts of the British position are easily taken.
The second assault column is commanded by the Swedish Count Curt von Stedingk, who manages to reach the last trench. He later writes in his journal, “I had the pleasure of planting the American flag on the last trench, but the enemy renewed its attack, and our people were annihilated by crossfire.” He is forced back by overwhelming numbers of British troops, left with some 20 men, all being wounded, including von Stedingk. He later writes, “The moment of retreat with the cries of our dying comrades piercing my heart was the bitterest of my life,”
After an hour of carnage, d’Estaing orders a retreat. On October 17, Lincoln and d’Estaing abandon the siege.
The Irish Brigade of France suffers more than 40 killed and close to 150 wounded. Among the dead is Captain Bernard O’Neill, a 5th generation officer in Dillon’s regiment. Dillon’s regiment is the only one of the Brigade units to remain in command of one family for its entire service. Count Arthur Dillon, commander at Savannah, is the grandson of Colonel Arthur Dillon, who brought the regiment into French service in 1690. The Count later becomes a victim of the French Revolution. He is condemned for alleged participation in a prison conspiracy and executed by guillotine on April 13, 1794.
On the afternoon of September 8, 1863, Union Navy Lieutenant Frederick Crocker (“Acting Captain”) is in command of the advance squadron composed of four gunboats. Crocker is a veteran officer of considerable recent experience in Union river-gunboat actions and blockade duty. His ship is the USS Clifton, a steam-powered side-wheeler. Besides the USS Clifton, Crocker’s advance squadron includes USS Granite City, USS Sachem, and USS Arizona, all recently commissioned ironclad warships. Less than three miles southeast downriver, well out of range of the Confederate fort’s cannons, are anchored seven U.S. Navy transports carrying most of the Union Army soldiers of the landing force. The USS Suffolk, hosting invasion force commander Union Army Major GeneralWilliam B. Franklin and his staff, heads the seven-vessel squadron. Outside the principal Gulf shore sandbar, an additional two miles downstream of this squadron, lay at anchor the remaining ships of the 22-vessel invasion fleet. The total number of Union infantry assault troops in the landing force is given as 5,000 infantrymen, which includes 500 listed as aboard the USS Granite City, those aboard the six troop transports in the seven-ship squadron headed by USS Suffolk, plus an artillery company somewhere among them. The first wave of 500 men aboard USS Granite City, which steams as close behind USS Clifton as possible but out of range of the fort’s guns, are to land in the open space adjacent to and downstream of the fort. This is a flat, often muddy area already cleared of brush by the Confederate garrison as a clear field of fire for the canister and grapeshot of the fort’s artillery. The Union Army’s invasion plan, therefore, absolutely requires that the Confederate guns be silenced before any troops are debarked. This engagement is to be the largest amphibious assault on enemy territory in the history of the U.S. military to date.
Confederate CaptainLeon Smith, who is at Beaumont, Texas, immediately orders all Confederate troops in Beaumont, some eighty men, aboard the steamer Roebuck and sends them down the river to reinforce Fort Griffin. Smith and a Captain Good ride to the fort on horseback, reaching the fort some three hours before the steamer, arriving just as the Union gunboats USS Clifton and USS Sachem come within range, and assist in the defense of the fort.
Dowling’s well practiced Irish-Texan artillerymen, whose chosen and officially approved unit name is “Jefferson Davis Guards,” had placed range-stakes in the two narrow and shallow river channels. These are the “Texas channel” near the southwest shore and the “Louisiana channel” against the Louisiana shore. The white-painted stakes are for determining accurate range of the fort’s six old smooth-bore cannons. Each “Davis Guards” gun crew during gunnery practice thereby works to predetermine the approximate amount of gunpowder needed for each type projectile (ball, canister, or grapeshot) available for their specific gun and which specific guns, charges, and loads have the best potential to hit each range-stake.
Crocker’s squadron has no local river pilots, only general knowledge of the river’s channels, no assurance of locations of the constantly varying depths especially of large oyster-shell “reefs” or “banks” between the river’s two channels. There is no mention in official U.S. Navy reports of whether Union sailors were making observations and taking depth soundings from the gunboats now dangerous top decks, while the Confederate cannon shots pounded and shook their ships. The few maps to which they have access are old and outdated and cannot account for recent changes in river-bottom conditions. On Captain Crocker’s signal the USS Sachem, followed by USS Arizona, advance up the right channel (Louisiana side) as fast as they dare, firing their port-side guns at the fort. USS Clifton approaches in the lead, ascending the Texas channel at full speed. USS Granite City hovers out of range behind USS Clifton, having orders not to risk debarking the 500 assault troops until the fort surrenders or its guns are silenced. As USS Sachem enters among the range-stakes, the Confederates open fire. Then USS Clifton comes into range, followed by USS Arizona. Despite their old smoothbore cannon, one of which has just become inoperable, after only a few rounds it is obvious the Confederate artillerymen’s months of training and target practice is an astounding success as their aim is deadly accurate.
The Confederates capture USS Clifton and USS Sachem with a total of 13 heavy cannon, including at least two new potent Parrott rifles, which are handed over to Leon Smith’s Texas Marine Department. The Union casualties amount to two dozen killed and badly wounded, about 37 missing, and 315 Navy men captured. The combined Union Army and Navy invasion force withdraw and return to New Orleans. The Confederates have no casualties.
In recognition of the victory, the Confederate States Congress passes a resolution of special thanks to the officers and men of the Davis Guard. In addition, Houston residents raise funds to provide medals to the Guard. The Davis Guards Medals are made from silver Mexican pesos by smoothing off the coins, then hand-stamping and hand-engraving on one side the battle name and date and on the other side the initials “D G” and a cross pattée. The medals are hung on green ribbons, and presented to the members of the Davis Guard. The official Confederate silver medals are presented in a public ceremony a year later and are the only such medal ever awarded by that government.
The Battle of Sabine Pass is of moderate tactical or strategic significance to the American Civil War. It is successful in ensuring that the anticipated overland Union invasion of Texas is delayed indefinitely. A Confederate supply line from Mexico to Texas had existed out of the Port of Bagdad since the outbreak of the war but is held by the increasingly isolated Mexican Republicans. By the time Imperial French and Mexican forces capture Baghdad in 1864, a supply line to anywhere in the Confederacy east of the Mississippi River is no longer feasible on account of the Union victory at Vicksburg in July 1863. The Confederacy is therefore forced to continue its reliance on blockade running to import valuable materials and resources.
In 1937 a statue of Dowling is unveiled on the site of the fort. In 1998 a bronze plaque honoring Dowling is unveiled at the TuamTown Hall in County Galway.
(Pictured: Richard William “Dick” Dowling, circa 1865)
On July 3, Father John Patrick Dunn of the Church of St. Philip Neri in the Southwark District is warned that the church might be attacked during an upcoming parade held by the Native American Party. The Native American Party, a nativist political party, plans to hold a large parade the next day on Independence Day.
Five of the muskets placed in St. Philip Neri’s Church are discovered to be defective and are sent back to the Frankford Arsenal to be repaired. No violence occurs before or during the parade, but on July 5, a nativist mob numbering in the thousands gathers at the church after some observe five defective muskets being returned to the church. They then demand that the sheriff remove the weapons, while Father Dunn and volunteers rally to protect the church. Sheriff Morton McMichael and two aldermen search the church and remove twelve muskets. After leaving the church, the sheriff urges the crowd to disperse and leaves a volunteer posse to guard the church. The mob remains, and a man injured in the May riots makes a speech to the crowd, calling for a second search of the church. The sheriff, an alderman, and seventeen nativists enter the church and find three armed men, fifty-three muskets, ten pistols, a keg of gunpowder and ammunition. To avoid inciting the mob, the sheriff decides not to remove the armaments, and the search party stays in the church. Just after midnight, July 6, Major General Patterson orders a company of city guards to clear the streets. After the crowd disperses, the arms found within the church are removed.
By midday, the crowds return around St. Philip Neri’s Church. GeneralGeorge Cadwalader orders the crowds to disperse, but they do not. By the evening, the sheriff arrives with a 150-strong posse. Throughout the evening, the military presence grows, and three cannons are stationed on the streets. The soldiers clear the streets near the church, despite being pelted with rocks by the mob. Responding to the rock throwers, General Cadwalader orders a cannon to be fired at the crowd on Third Street. Former U.S. CongressmanCharles Naylor begs the general not to fire. He and several others are arrested and held within the church. By the morning of July 7, most of the soldiers have left, but the crowds, led by an alderman and the sheriff, return and demand that the remaining guard release Naylor. Everyone except Naylor is released. The crowds grow, and a cannon is brought from a nearby wharf and used to threaten the church. After further negotiations, Naylor is released and carried home to cheers on people’s shoulders.
After Naylor is brought home, the mob attacks the church, damaging a wall with the cannon. A second cannon is brought from the wharfs and fired at the church, after which the mob pelts the building with rocks and break in through a side door. The soldiers fire on the men breaking into the church, who promptly retreat. After retreating, the nativists negotiate with the guard, who agrees to withdraw, allowing the nativists to guard the church. The crowd pelts the soldiers with rocks and some soldiers fire back, which only incites the mob further. The mob forces its way into the church, causing extensive damage to the interior. After about an hour, a group of twenty men organizes themselves to guard St. Philip Neri’s, and the mob leaves the church.
By the evening, a large number of soldiers arrive with orders to clear the streets, only to be stoned in the process. After a captain is attacked, the order is given to fire on the mob, which results in seven fatalities and nine injuries. Not long after, people with muskets and cannons arrive and fierce fighting breaks out between the soldiers and the mob. The fighting lasts for several hours, with the soldiers being fired upon from alleyways and the windows of nearby buildings. The soldiers bring in two cannons of their own and fire on the mob. The mob returns fire using their own cannons, armed with items such as nails, chains, knives and broken bottles. In an attempt to capture the mob’s cannons, soldiers charge one cannon’s position, only to be knocked off their horses by a rope tied across the street. The cannons are all eventually captured, and by early morning on July 8, the fighting has ended.
At least fifteen people, including rioters and soldiers, are killed in the riot, and at least fifty people are injured. Under Governor Porter’s orders, state troops continue to arrive in the city in the days afterward, but no further violence takes place. An estimated 5,000 militia are used to stop violence. Troops begin to withdraw from the city on July 10, and the church takes over responsibility from the district of Southwark of protecting the church on July 11. As with the May riots, a grand jury blames the Irish Catholics for the riots but supports the military’s response to the violence.
The riots gain national attention and condemnation. The riots are used as an issue in the 1844 U.S. Presidential election, the Democratic Party condemning the growing Native American Party and the Whig Party, which the Democrats accuse of involvement in the nativist movement. In Philadelphia, the Native American Party ends up making a strong showing in the city’s October election.
On July 11, 1844, Philadelphia passes an ordinance that gives the city a battalion of artillery, a regiment of infantry, and at least one full troop of cavalry to preserve peace within the city when necessary. The difficulty of quelling the riots and other crime leads the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass an 1845 act that requires Philadelphia, the township of Moyamensing and the unincorporated districts of Spring Garden, Northern Liberties, and Penn to maintain a police force of one man per 150 taxable inhabitants. In 1850, another act is passed that establishes that the Philadelphia police force will police the city and seven surrounding districts. The inability to maintain order effectively in Philadelphia’s suburbs is an important argument for the consolidation of the city in 1854.
After the riots, Bishop Kenrick ends his efforts to influence the public education system and begins encouraging the creation of Catholic schools, with 17 being founded by 1860. The friars of the Church of St. Augustine sue the city of Philadelphia for not providing the church with adequate protection, claiming $80,000 in damages. The city argues that the friars cannot claim their civil rights were violated, as the Order of Saint Augustine is a foreign organization under the Pope. Furthermore, the city argues that the friars took a vow of poverty and cannot be property owners. The Augustinians end up proving the Order is incorporated in 1804 and is awarded $45,000. The church is rebuilt in 1848.
(Pictured: “Riot in Philadelphia,” lithograph by H. Bucholzer, 1844, Library of Congress)
At the Athyby-election on June 12, 1741, following the death of Sir Walter Dixon Borrowes, James FitzGerald, styled Lord Ophaly and later 1st Duke of Leinster, is returned. In the course of the election there is a duel between William Paul Warren and Jack Hardy, which leads to Hardy’s right hand and arm being shattered. It is thought that it might have to be amputated.
In 1761 FitzGerald is created Earl of Offaly and Marquess of Kildare in the Peerage of Ireland and in 1766 he is further honoured when he is made Duke of Leinster, becoming by this time the Premier Duke, Marquess and Earl in the Peerage of Ireland.
FitzGerald dies at Leinster House, Dublin, on November 19, 1773, aged 51, and is buried in the city’s Christ Church Cathedral. He is succeeded by his second (but eldest surviving) son, William, Marquess of Kildare. The Duchess of Leinster causes a minor sensation by marrying her lover William Ogilvie in 1774, but continues to be known as The Dowager Duchess of Leinster. She has a further three children by him. She dies in London on March 27, 1814, aged 82.
In 1999, Irish Screen, BBC America and WGBH produce Aristocrats, a six-part limited television series based on the lives of Emily Lennox and her sisters. FitzGerald is portrayed by Ben Daniels.
seamus dubhghaill 