23rd Illinois Mulligans Brigade

Are you sure it was Cosgrove that the Lane sister married, and not my James J. Fitzgerald? Here is his internment card from Calvary Cemetery...and he is buried in an unmarked grave with a James Lane and family. I have quit a bit of information about James Fitzgerald, but only recently discovered that he may have been married due to a pension file on record...but I don't know who his wife was. I have a request in with Gopher Records to get Fitzgerald's pension records for me (hoping that will be faster than waiting in line for the Archives backlog to get cleared)...but of course, the archives are closed to everyone right now. A lot of questions may be answered once I get those pension & medical records?

View attachment 407468
No, he is certainly not in a small or unmarked grave, its quite a big obelisk. But I will look into it.
 
No, he is certainly not in a small or unmarked grave, its quite a big obelisk. But I will look into it.

No, he is certainly not in a small or unmarked grave, its quite a big obelisk. But I will look into it.
Apologies, StraboSE! I was not referring to Cosgrove being in an unmarked grave. I was referring to James Fitzgerald. James Fitzgerald is buried with a James Lane, and James Fitzgerald has no name or marker for his grave. James Fitzgerald's wife appears to be James Lane's daughter, Annie Lane.
 
The James Lane on the burial card who was interred on September 25th 1897 was 102 when he died - not the same James H. Lane who fought in the Civil War who died in 1921.
 
I'm also related to an officer in the 23rd Illinois Brigade - Capt. James Fitzgerald of Co. I (Shield Guards) is my connection. Capt Fitzgerald was born in Co. Limerick, Ireland.
I would recommend reading "Shades of Green: Irish Regiments, American Soldiers and Local Communities in the Civil War Era" by Ryan Keating. That book focuses on the Irish ethnic units from Chicago, Wisconsin and Connecticut. I'm in the middle of reading it myself and am excited to find this resource. I see Keating actually mentions your relation on the chapter re: Mulligan's Brigade..."...Although the company eventually filled their ranks with men from Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee, Ottawa residents Charles Coffee, Thomas Hickey, and James Hume retained command of the unit."...and he also quotes a letter that Charles Coffee wrote home..."Hearing of these efforts, Charles Coffee wrote home that 'the Havelocks which you propose to send us will be a welcome gift our company now numbers ninety men, out of which sixty four are from LaSalle County." Furthermore he noted, 'the ladies of Chicago are now preparing the same article for all the Companys of the Brigade that were organized in this City - and I do assure you sir, and through you the Ladies of Ottowa, that it is with no small pride that we know that the 'Ottawa City Guards' are not forgotten by the fair daughters of the City from which we proudly take our name.'"
I live in Iowa. If you'd like me to go to Butler County to see if I can find Charles Coffee's gravestone, I'd be happy to do that for you.
Ancestry has James J Fitzgerald's birthplace listed as the Parish of Kilboggan in County Kerry, Ireland.
 
Ancestry has James J Fitzgerald's birthplace listed as the Parish of Kilboggan in County Kerry, Ireland.
That is interesting! I'd like to know where the information on Ancestry was collected from. Would you be willing to share details from the family tree where you saw that? The documentation I've seen all go back to County Limerick, but I'm absolutely willing to reconsider my sources if more accurate information surfaces. I am a firm believer in check and check again. :smile:
 
This is all that I have found
This is from the 1922 History of McHenry County, Illinois volume 2, p 510.

Screen Shot 2021-07-24 at 5.40.40 AM.png
 
Back
Top