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Text originally published in 1961 under the same title.
Pickle Partners Publishing 2015, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Publishers Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
THE VALIANT HOURS
by
THOMAS FRANCIS GALWEY
Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Narrative of Captain Brevet, an Irish-American in The Army of the Potomac
Edited by
COLONEL W. S. NYE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER
FOREWORD
Thomas Francis De Burgh Galwey was born in London, England, in 1846, of an Irish family, one of the oldest branches of the Burkes of Galway. The family came to this country in 1851 and settled on a farm just outside of Cleveland, the site now being on Euclid Avenue. When the Civil War broke out, Galwey enlisted in the Hibernian Guard Company of the 8th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was a slim, beardless youth only 5 feet 4 inches tall, but with a restless, lively spirit which soon won him promotion to corporal, sergeant, and lieutenant. His dark hair and snapping black eyes, as well as his effervescent and courageous spirit proclaimed his Gaelic ancestry, of which he was intensely proud.
During the war Galwey meticulously made daily entries in his diary, a series of small leather-covered notebooks which he carried in his knapsack. From time to time he transcribed these notes into a larger book. Both of these journals have been preserved, and constitute the bulk of this narrative. The editor has simply changed the diary form to that of a narrative, adding a few notes here and there to clarify the background. Galweys original sketch-maps have been reproduced, and a few others of the same type added. In transcribing his notes to the larger journal, Galwey frequently switched back and forth between the present and past tense. Some of this has been retained, to preserve the contemporary flavor and authenticity.
The last chapter contains some additional biographical data contributed by Colonel Geoffrey Galwey, the authors son. It deals with Thomas Galweys life after the war and sheds further light on the character and activities of a fascinating personality.
Thanks are due Mr. Wayde Chrismer, of Bel Air, Maryland, for a critical reading of the manuscript, and numerous helpful suggestions.
W. S. NYE
LIST OF MAPS
All the maps in the book except the endpapers and Maps 1, 14, and 15 are facsimiles of those drawn by the author in the diary which he carried in his haversack.
Endpapers, frontNorthern Half of Theater
Endpapers, rearSouthern Half of Theater
May 1. Area of Operations in West Virginia
Map 2. Garnetts Retreat from Carricks Ford, July 13-15, 1861
Map 3. The First Advance on Romney
Map 4. Action at Balls Crossroads, September 2, 1862
Map 5. Position of the 8th Ohio at the Sunken Lane, Antietam
Map 6. Position of 8th Ohio in Cornfield West of Roulettes on Afternoon of September 17, 1862
Map 7. Location of 8th Ohio Prior to the River Crossing at Fredericks-burg
Map 8. Attack of the 8th Ohio at Fredericksburg
Map 9. Position of 8th Ohio at Gettysburg
Map 10. The Charge of Pickett, Pender, and Pettigrew
Map 11. The Affair Near Auburn, October 14, 1863
Map 12. Battle of Bristoe Station
Map 13. Affair at Robertsons Tavern
Map 14. Mine Run
Map 15. Battle of the Wilderness
Map 16. The Wilderness to Petersburg
MAP 1. AREA OF OPERATIONS IN WEST VIRGINIA.
1OUR FIRST CAMPAIGN
IT IS SUNDAY, April 14, 1861. As I was coming from Mass this morning I saw bulletins posted everywhere announcing the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Large crowds were gathered in front of each bulletin board, people peering over one anothers heads to catch a bit of the news. All seemed of one mind. Everyone talked of war.
Yet most were of the opinion that the war could not last long. The South was sparsely settled, and a good many of the white people were still strongly in favor of the Union. And, besides, if the worst should come the Negroes would take part with the Union Army which, at the very least, would proclaim the liberation of the slaves. So the people talked. The day has been one of continued excitement which has lasted far into the night.
I Become a Soldier
The next day, Alec Cobb and I went to the armory of the Cleveland Grays, thinking of enlisting with them. But they did not seem to me to be the sort of stuff that soldiers are made of, so I went away. They refused to take Alec on the ground that he was too young. I was only 15 myself!
In the evening I went to the armory of the Hibernian Guards. They seemed to like me, and I liked them. So together with Jim Butler and Jim OReilly, I enlisted with them. My name was the first on the companys roll to enlist. I didnt tell them that I was only fifteen.
So I became a soldier.
Two days later we marched from the armory to Camp Taylor, on the corner of Kinsman and Hudson Streets. Jabez W. Fitch, late U. S. Marshal and now a brigadier general of the State Militia, is in command. Our company is mustered into the service of the United States as Company B, 8th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, our period of service to be three months. For the next two weeks we drilled incessantly every day, and continued to organize the units of the regiment. We were issued no weapons. On May 2 we moved by rail to Camp Dennison, 15 miles north of Cincinnati, which was named for the Governor of Ohio. We detrained in a drizzling rain and marched out to a big wheat field in soggy bottom-land, where several regiments were in camp. We had no tents, so most of the companies bedded down in the mud and wet grass and tried to sleep in the rain. Luckily the men of our company were given shelter for the night in some shanties built by an Irish company in the 11th Ohio.
General Jacob D. Cox was in command of this camp.
I was on furlough during the second week of June. When I returned to camp I signed up as a three-year man, upon which I was given another weeks furlough, again spent at home in Cleveland. When I got back to the company I found that I had been made Second Sergeant. In a little over two months I had gone from private to corporal to sergeant.
There was considerable delay in issuing us clothing and equipment. It was not until the second week of July that we were issued wooden guns, wooden swords, and cornstalks with which to drill and mount guard. We went to parade in our shirts, still not being fully uniformed. Soon after this, however, our unit, which had been remustered for three years, was issued Enfield rifles. Our company and Company D were drilled to serve as skirmishers for the regiment.
