Forum Host- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Location
- Central Massachusetts
At the annual reunions of the 17th Mass. Volunteers, Thomas Kirwan, official historian of the regiment, was always ready with his pen to put down in writing the reminiscences of his comrades. One such he put into writing about 1898, was the story of
"During the afternoon the command reached the Haw River, which they forded, some of the men being compelled to swim part of the way. While they halted on the other side there came along a man, carrying a basket on his arm. While waiting for all the men to cross and get in condition to resume the march, the colonel engaged the man in conversation. He was a respectable appearing person, with light flaxen hair and sandy whiskers. When asked if he belonged up at the big house on the hill, he said that he did. He was then asked if he was superintendent or foreman. He said he was neither. He was asked if he was steward, butler or mechanic, and he returned the same answer. 'Then what are you?' — 'I am a slave.' The colonel was surprised, and said, 'Why, man, you are as white as I am.'
"The men, now marching in route step, pushed up around the colonel's horse, and the stranger, eager to get some news or hear the conversation. The colonel then inquired how the man became a slave, and he answered, 'Well, you see, sir; my mother was an octoroon and my father a white man.' — 'Your mother was a slave, then?'— 'Yes, sir.'— What was your father's name?'— "Burns, sir.' — 'And what countryman was he?' asked the colonel, unprepared for the revelation that followed. 'He was an Irishman, sir.'
"On hearing this answer, there was a roar of laughter from the men, and one, bolder that the others, shouted, 'Colonel, that's one on you!'
"The colonel retorted by saying, 'Only the half of him belongs to me; the other belongs to you, for his mother was a, good American.' This sally from the colonel created lots of merriment, and the laughter became general when the boys in the rear were made acquainted with what had taken place at the head of the column."
"The big house on the hill" was, it seems the home of Judge Thomas Ruffin, a famous North Carolina jurist. Kirwan thought he was the father of Edmund Ruffin, who fired the first shot at Ft. Sumter, but the two men are not closely related.
THE COLONEL'S IRISH-AFRICAN FRIEND:
"During the afternoon the command reached the Haw River, which they forded, some of the men being compelled to swim part of the way. While they halted on the other side there came along a man, carrying a basket on his arm. While waiting for all the men to cross and get in condition to resume the march, the colonel engaged the man in conversation. He was a respectable appearing person, with light flaxen hair and sandy whiskers. When asked if he belonged up at the big house on the hill, he said that he did. He was then asked if he was superintendent or foreman. He said he was neither. He was asked if he was steward, butler or mechanic, and he returned the same answer. 'Then what are you?' — 'I am a slave.' The colonel was surprised, and said, 'Why, man, you are as white as I am.'
"The men, now marching in route step, pushed up around the colonel's horse, and the stranger, eager to get some news or hear the conversation. The colonel then inquired how the man became a slave, and he answered, 'Well, you see, sir; my mother was an octoroon and my father a white man.' — 'Your mother was a slave, then?'— 'Yes, sir.'— What was your father's name?'— "Burns, sir.' — 'And what countryman was he?' asked the colonel, unprepared for the revelation that followed. 'He was an Irishman, sir.'
"On hearing this answer, there was a roar of laughter from the men, and one, bolder that the others, shouted, 'Colonel, that's one on you!'
"The colonel retorted by saying, 'Only the half of him belongs to me; the other belongs to you, for his mother was a, good American.' This sally from the colonel created lots of merriment, and the laughter became general when the boys in the rear were made acquainted with what had taken place at the head of the column."
"The big house on the hill" was, it seems the home of Judge Thomas Ruffin, a famous North Carolina jurist. Kirwan thought he was the father of Edmund Ruffin, who fired the first shot at Ft. Sumter, but the two men are not closely related.
Bringing the