A Widow's Problems When Her Irish Husband Enlists Using an Alias

[Pat Young]

Damian Shiels has another great one here about an Irish immigrant who enlisted in the Union army using an alias. When he died in 1864, his wife faced the problem of proving that she was entitled to his pension. This is really a fascinating post.

https://irishamericancivilwar.com/2...e-identity-in-the-words-of-an-old-irishwoman/

 

[Northern Light]

Damian Shiels has another great one here about an Irish immigrant who enlisted in the Union army using an alias. When he died in 1864, his wife faced the problem of proving that she was entitled to his pension. This is really a fascinating post.

https://irishamericancivilwar.com/2...e-identity-in-the-words-of-an-old-irishwoman/

That is very interesting reading, Pat. That poor woman must have felt so desperate and frightened.

 

[Pat Young]

That is very interesting reading, Pat. That poor woman must have felt so desperate and frightened.

I thought that Damian made an interesting conjecture that she may not have wanted to submit the letters from her husband that would have cleared things up because she would have had to part with them. Even though they were not written in his hand, she must have felt that they had been touched by him.

 

[Pat Young]

Here letter to him is a tough one to read:

Ansonia April 4th 1864

Dear husband

it is three long weeks since I received a letter from you what is the reason that you dont write the same as always Kerin I though[t] you would send me some money before now the men all got paid down thear for all the women around hear got thear money from thear husbands how do you suppose that I can get along or do you care for three little children and a woman left to the waves of the world if i could get any one to mind the children i would go to work but I cant get no one to mind them for me

Willy is being sick two weeks with the lung fever and doctor has but poor hopes of him i aint got as much wood as will do me a nother week staying up mights it went verry quick and what ill do i dont know if you dont send me some money verry soon

I cant write much now Willy is so sick I cant stay but write as soon as possible

from your wife

write quick (3)

 

[Rank and File]

I'm sure that this is not an isolated incident. People suffered for decades after that **** war, and in some respects it is still fought today.

 

[FarawayFriend]

Oh my ... that poor woman. Imagine her desperation, her husband gone to war, she not knowing if he was well or not or maybe even killed, one of the kids severely ill ... what fears she must have had! Although there is not one word of love in that letter ... she seemed to be totally consumed by her economic problems and the concern for her sick little one. She might have been angry that he enlisted and left her alone with the kids... what a tragedy opens up in these few words!

I couldn't open the first source from my desk in the library, therefore I don't know: was the reason he did not write that he had been killed already? Fate is a mean traitor!

 

[Pat Young]

Oh my ... that poor woman. Imagine her desperation, her husband gone to war, she not knowing if he was well or not or maybe even killed, one of the kids severely ill ... what fears she must have had! Although there is not one word of love in that letter ... she seemed to be totally consumed by her economic problems and the concern for her sick little one. She might have been angry that he enlisted and left her alone with the kids... what a tragedy opens up in these few words!

I couldn't open the first source from my desk in the library, therefore I don't know: was the reason he did not write that he had been killed already? Fate is a mean traitor!

We don't know why he had not written her. We know that he went home on leave shortly afterward. Damian believes that the child Willy died of his illness because he is not spoken of again.

 

[Northern Light]

I thought that Damian made an interesting conjecture that she may not have wanted to submit the letters from her husband that would have cleared things up because she would have had to part with them. Even though they were not written in his hand, she must have felt that they had been touched by him.

I wondered if it had not occurred to her until her legal counsel suggested it.

 

[E_just_E]

Why would anyone enlist under a fake name and why the authorities would allow such a thing to happen?

Sounds like there might be more parts in this story.

 

[Northern Light]

Why would anyone enlist under a fake name and why the authorities would allow such a thing to happen?

Sounds like there might be more parts in this story.

I imagine it would be quite easy to do so. Most people wouldn't have any written documentation of who they were and, from what I have read, the recruiting officers were all that concerned with anything except warm bodies with enough teeth and fingers to be useful. As to why he did it, I think he and his buddies were out on a spree, and just joined for a lark, using fake names" just in case".

 

[Pat Young]

Why would anyone enlist under a fake name and why the authorities would allow such a thing to happen?

.

What do you mean by "why would the authorities allow such a thing?" They were likely either deceived themselves or didn't care.

 

[E_just_E]

As to why he did it, I think he and his buddies were out on a spree, and just joined for a lark, using fake names" just in case".

I suspect that his pregnant wife with an one year old kid was not too happy with that little escapade

 

[E_just_E]

What do you mean by "why would the authorities allow such a thing?" They were likely either deceived themselves or didn't care.

I mean why the authorities did nor require proof of identity (papers) before they enrolled people. Of course they were deceived and they apparently did not care. Bad practice.

 

[Pat Young]

I mean why the authorities did nor require proof of identity (papers) before they enrolled people. Of course they were deceived and they apparently did not care. Bad practice.

In the 1850s we allowed unlimited immigration with no visas or green cards. There was no Federal inspection of arriving immigrants and no records kept on them after their arrival. Many immigrants joining the army would have no documents to show.

 

[E_just_E]

In the 1850s we allowed unlimited immigration with no visas or green cards. There was no Federal inspection of arriving immigrants and no records kept on them after their arrival. Many immigrants joining the army would have no documents to show.

They had Ship Passenger Arrival and Land Border Entries records that they could have cross checked...

Imagine 500 confederate spies with assumed identities infiltrating a brigade or five...

 

[Pat Young]

They had Ship Passenger Arrival and Land Border Entries records that they could have cross checked...

Imagine 500 confederate spies with assumed identities infiltrating a brigade or five...

The recruit would not have had those, though. Can't imagine a recruiter carrying them around. Also, this was the time before copy machines, so there was only one copy in the government's records.

Even if a recruiter had this info, it was not indexed by name of immigrant.

 

[ErnieMac]

The Pension Index Card of Kearn Phalen, also listed as Kearn Fitzpatrick (alias) lists his widow as Elizabeth Fitzpatrick.

 

[MaryDee]

A lot of similar incidents are documented in Judith Giesberg, Army at Home: Women and the Civil War on the Northern Home Front. Husbands using an alias (as here), husbands enlisting in another state that had bigger enlistment bounties, but the wife's being unable to get relief aid because she wasn't a resident of the state in which the husband enlisted--on and on. Plus women not being able to get aid because some official decided they were not of "good character."

 

[mcfb50]

I thought that Damian made an interesting conjecture that she may not have wanted to submit the letters from her husband that would have cleared things up because she would have had to part with them. Even though they were not written in his hand, she must have felt that they had been touched by him.

I just received a dependent mother's pension file and it contained copies of two letters by the soldier-son. One was written in 1851 when he was 15 and had already lived apart from her for six years. The other was written in 1860, three years before his death due to wounds received in battle. Both were sweet, affectionate letters, confirming his willingness to help her.

I'm thrilled that they were preserved, but I can only imagine how difficult those were for her to give up.

 

[Pat Young]

A lot of similar incidents are documented in Judith Giesberg, Army at Home: Women and the Civil War on the Northern Home Front. Husbands using an alias (as here), husbands enlisting in another state that had bigger enlistment bounties, but the wife's being unable to get relief aid because she wasn't a resident of the state in which the husband enlisted--on and on. Plus women not being able to get aid because some official decided they were not of "good character."

Thanks for that info. Elizabeth had at least two of those problems since her husband was in a Ct. regiment while she lived in New York. That may also account for the sentence in her letter where she notes that the other soldiers' wives had told her they had been paid. They may not have been in the same regiment.