FISTICUFFS at Notre Dame (and St. Mary's!) During the Civil War

Anyone who think the connection between wars and campus unrest began with the Vietnam Era needs to read about the American Revolution!

Campus unrest of all types also occurred during the Civil War: opposition to conscription, prewar debates over slavery and secession, tussles between working-class "townies" and (presumably) elite "gownies," etc.

At Notre Dame, founder Fr. Sorin did his best to keep the peace, but as he wrote in 1864: “In times of war, and especially of national or civil war, all the passions of the poor human heart are to be dreaded.”

And with enrollment increasing each year, including an influx of Southern students, he recognized that “so much more serious did the danger” of those passions become. Indeed, Fr. Sorin admitted to his superiors that, among the student body, “there was far from anything like unity of views…in political matters: the two camps were, on the contrary, clearly divided.” He credited the school’s heavenly patron for the fact that the young men at Notre Dame “lived in harmony even whilst their fathers and brothers were slashing one another some hundreds of miles away.”

Despite Fr. Sorin’s representations of "harmony," however, there were in fact some unpleasant incidents as heated sectional arguments began in the classroom and on the playground and led to fisticuffs. Some examples:

• In one instance, John B. Walker – “a stout, handsome youth, aggressive and foremost in expressing his loathing for Southerners” - had a bitter dispute with Billy Welsh, which Billy reciprocated with a kick to John’s head.

• In another, the St. Joseph Valley Register reported

"An affray occurred between two students named Parker and Donovan…Donovan is from Vicksburg, Mississippi, and, like many other students at Notre Dame from the Rebel States, entertains and expresses views not in harmony with the Union sentiments at the North, or with those held by Parker, who resides in Lafayette [IN]. Out of this political difference, a previous quarrel had arisen between these two and very unfriendly feelings had continued to exist. [On]...a holiday for the students...Parker and Donovan simultaneously approached the swing, each in a bad humor, trying to take possession and neither willing to give up to the other. Finally, they were induced to yield the swing to a third party, and retired. Threats passed between them, and Donovan picked up a club and threw it at Parker, but not hitting him. Parker picked up the same club and struck Donovan with it twice, first on his shoulder, then on his head, fracturing his skull."

• But my favorite:

Even the Sherman family couldn’t avoid fisticuffs, as shown in this episode of the general's daughter, Minnie, who was a student at St. Mary's Academy:

A celebration was planned for Washington’s Birthday in 1864, but the sisters had forbidden the wearing of any partisan colors. Minnie, however, had pinned a small flag to her dress and - so decorated - met a southern girl in the hall. The southerner snatched the flag from Minnie’s dress and stomped on it. Nothing happened for an hour, but then:

"A carriage drove up at furious speed. Hardly waiting for the horses to stop, Mrs. Sherman jumped out, rushed into the recreation room, pinned a fresh [flag] on Minnie, and wanted to know why her daughter could not wear the flag her father offered his life for."

The other northern girls; more brought out their own colors and small decorations...the southern girls took exception, and as one sister recalled:

“Words soon led to blows, and almost in an instant the whole school with few exceptions were engaged in a pitched battle.”

You can read all about these "passions of the poor human heart" in Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press) later in 2010!

Notre Dame Students Fighting for the Rebs?! (Part II)

The other day I posted on an interesting research thread that seems to indicate a student enrolled at Notre Dame in 1860-61 left that spring, returned to Virginia, and enlisted with the Confederate army.

Today, I add to that story, but first I want to introduce you to someone: Linda Cunningham Fluharty.

Linda maintains an amazing website with more than 500,000 genealogy and history files, especially related to Civil War soldiers from West Virginia as well as "pioneer nurses" of West Virginia. She is also the author of several books on the Civil War, which you can find here. Linda is extremely generous, answers ALL her e-mails, and when I did a search for "Michael Quinlan" and "27th Virginia," her excellent webpage on the "Shriver Grays" (the local company that Quinlan joined) was the first "hit." I explained my research thread to Linda and she responded in less than a day with an amazing amount of information, newspaper clippings, etc., on Michael Quinlan!

Some of the information confirms what (little) I had already discovered and much of the great new information has to do with Quinlan's early years, his family, and his death. While neither of us have yet been able to confirm this is the same Michael Quinlan enrolled at Notre Dame, 1860-61, it certainly seems more likely he could be!

Some of the highlights of her excellent and generous research findings:

• He was associated with the most affluent families in Wheeling.
• By 1850, Michael (and three other Quinlans) were orphans living in the home of a local and wealthy merchant.
• In the 1860 census, Michael (along with three brothers) are shon as residing in the home of Mary Zane; each of the boys had estimated personal estates valued at $6000.
• Michael is listed as a printer (remember this from Post I)
• Michael is found in the roster of a community militia group in Wheeling in 1859 called the Virginia State Fencibles.
• He was diagnosed as having Valvular Heart Disease (remember the disability discharge I showed in Post I) and Michael and his siblings were all dead by 1878.

The next step is to follow up with Notre Dame to see if they still have any period records that show he is the same Michael Quinlan described above. I'll post any additional information I get!

THANK YOU LINDA!

Readers - PLEASE visit her excellent website and tell her I sent ya!

Notre Dame Students Fighting for the Rebs?! (Part I)

I've recently come across a really interesting research thread for my "Notre Dame in the Civil War" book project which I hope pays off!

After the firing on Ft. Sumter, approximately 60 Notre Dame students left school to join the Union ranks, most of them with units from Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Some of these are well known (and you'll learn more about them in future posts!) while others were happy to do their duty and come home.

I had not heard of any Notre Dame students that joined the Confederate ranks...until now!

In my survey of the student enrollment records from 1860-1865 I came across a single student from Virginia: one Michael Quinlan, Wheeling, VA (now WV, of course), who was at Notre Dame from 1860-61 and did not return the following year:

I didn't think it would be unusual - given the "sectional difficulties" - for Michael to have either been called back home or want to go back home himself. However, on a lark, I entered "M* Quinlan" into the National Park Service Soldier and Sailor System (using "Virginia" and "Confederate" as qualifiers) just to see if he *might* have been a soldier and received a few hits:

By clicking on the regiment links, I learned that the "Irish Bn" was formed in the city of Richmond and Hanover County, so it seemed less likely. The 27th Virginia, however, was formed from Alleghany, Rockbridge, Monroe, Greenbrier, and Ohio counties...and Wheeling, VA, is in Ohio County(!)

Next, I used my subscription at footnote.com to explore the Compiled Service Records of the two Michael Quinlans in the 27th Virginia Infantry. One of the two actually enlisted with the 27th in Covington and was listed as a "laborer." The other, though, enlisted in Wheeling (!) and is listed in one document as a "printer" but in a subsequent disability discharge certificate he is listed as...a "student"(!)

So far, things are looking up! Stay tuned for my next post...I received some excellent assistance from a genealogist specializing in soldiers from West Virginia - including the 27th Virginia - and learned even more!

Admittedly, the fact that Michael Quinlan (may have) fought for the Confederacy is a small part of Notre Dame's epic story in the war, but it is a very interesting (and new!) fact, indeed!

His Last Full Measure - Notre Dame Student Frank Baldwin Falls at Stone's River

The University of Notre Dame gave freely of its priests, sisters, and students during the Civil War, and several ended up losing their lives in the cause.

As this week marks the anniversary of the Battle of Stone's River, it's a good time to write about a Notre Dame student who gave his "last full measure" during the war at the battle: Frank Baldwin.

Frank (Francis) Baldwin was a student for just one year at Notre Dame: 1860-61...he left school that spring - at only 16 - to join "Mulligan's Irish Brigade" (23rd Illinois Infantry); other Notre Dame boys had joined the unit as well. He was captured at the Battle of Lexington (Missouri), paroled, and sent back home to Elkhart, Indiana.

In November 1861, back at Elkhart, Frank - with his friends Norman Strong and C. W. Green - left Elkhart by train and boat and joined the 44th Indiana at Paducah, KY. He participated in the battles at Ft. Donelson, Ft. Henry, Shiloh, and Corinth.

On December 31, 1862, at Stone's River, the 44th was advanced too far and was flanked by the Confederates. Hearing the order to fall back, Frank Baldwin (now a 2nd Lt.) and Green, his constant companion, crossed a field where they were exposed to a "galling cross-fire."

As they reached a fence, Green thre his firearm over the obstruction and yelled to Baldwin to do the same. Green pressed on but never saw Frank Baldwin alive again. On the Saturday after the 3-day battle, Green took a detail of six men and found Frank Baldwin's lifeless form at the fence.

Twenty-seven year later, a handsome monument was dedicated to the Elkhart men who volunteered, fought, and died during the war. The monument was erected at the expense of Silas Baldwin, Frank's father, a leading man in Elkhart.

I'll post more information on the monument in the near future.

You can read more about young Frank Baldwin and other brave Notre Dame men at the Battle of Stone's River in my forthcoming book: Notre Dame in the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press, 2010).

Perform Bravely the Battle of Life - William T. Sherman and the 1865 Notre Dame Commencement Exercises

President Barack Obama put the University of Notre Dame in the headlines (and vice versa) this past spring when he was invited as the speaker for the 2009 commencement exercices.

The university (such as it was) was much smaller in 1865 but it secured one of the most popular of the country's citizens to speak at its commencement that year: William T. Sherman! The victorious Union general had come to northwestern Indiana to gather up his family (his wife, Ellen, was living in South Bend and his children were attending Notre Dame and St. Mary's as grammar school students).

His remarks were extemporaneous but no less inspiring for the graduates in attendance, including these stirring words:

"So I call upon theyoung men here to be ready at all times to perform bravely the battle of life. We might never have to go to war anymore on this continent but then again we might. War is possible and we must be ready for that contingency. But more than this I want to say that there is a kind of war which is inevitable to all - it is the war of life. A young man should always stand in his armor, with his sword in hand an his buckler on. Life is only another kind of battle and it requires as good as generalship to conduct it to a successful end as it did to conquer a city, or to march through Georgia."

Sherman's speech is the first of many in a wonderful book: Go Forth and Do Good: Memorable Notre Dame Commencement Addresses by Fr. William D. Miscamble (University of Notre Dame Press, 2003). It includes more than two dozen addresses from 1865 through 2001.

Look for Sherman's entire commencement address - and learn more about the Sherman family and Notre dame - in my book Notre Dame in the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory, coming from The History Press in late 2010!

Notre Dame's Civil War Student-Soldier-Poet

Several Notre Dame students enlisted in Union regiments at the outset of the Civil War. Of their record of service, one wartime student wrote, "Many of them became distinguished; many more took their place in the private ranks, content so that they did their duty well."

One of those student soldiers was Timothy E. Howard; one historian has referred to him as the "consummate Notre Dame man."

Howard was born on a farm at Northfield, Michigan, in1837, one of seven children born to parents that were natives of Ireland. He attended the University of Michigan and the University of Notre Dame, from which he graduated in 1862.

On February 5, 1862, he enlisted in the Twelfth Michigan Infantry, and two months later was severely wounded at Shiloh and disabled from further service.

Howard returned to South Bend and accepted a position with Notre Dame, having a distinguished career as a professor and as a lawyer.

Howard was also a poet, and published a small volume, Musings and Memories, in 1905. Among the poems in his collection was "Convalescent," in which he described the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded, and his recovery in the hospital:

“Convalescent”
I

Through the open hall door comes a balm to my pain;
For the fresh winds of morning are fanning my brain;
And hilarity, borne from the groups on the porch,
Tells the wounded and dying there's joy in the world;
As there will be while life has a spark in his torch,
Though ten thousand an hour were to Tartarus hurled.

Ah, now I can see them. Two sit on the step;
And one leans by a column; one plucks at the nep
That is growing beneath; and two, I am sure,
Are talking of home; their voice is so pure,
And so low, that no soldier could ever mistake;
Such tones the loved only and absent may wake.

And some are more boisterous, telling of fight,
And the way that we put the bold foemen to flight.
How their eyes are now flashing, those gallant young boys.
Hear great Indiana and grand Illinois,
Minnesota and Iowa, Kansas afar,
Ohio and Michigan, boasting of war.

And dark-haired Missouri, now joined in the fray,
With a twinkle in his eye, as he sits on the plinth,
Says, we nearly were granted and prenticed that Day
To the Southmen, with Beauregard, hot from Corinth.

So the brave, mellow lads while away the bright morn;
And their stories recounting, their deeds are new born
So they live the brave battle all over again,
Or whisper of firesides, for still they are men.

II

And I am better, too, at length.
Kind heaven daily gives me strength;
And now I long to tread the grass,
To look upon the trees and skies,
To jostle people as they pass,
And catch the friendship of their eyes.

Dear God, how long within this ward
I wait, where death still stands on guard;
Where still o'erhead, and down the stair,
The shuffling feet their burden bear,
— Some farmer boy that bravely died,
With kindly strangers at his side.

And I? Nay, then, I 'll not repine;
But pain shall still my soul refine;
Though long, so long, this cot I keep,
With bandaged wound, and feverish sleep,
And utter weakness, unto death—
The quivering eye, the feeble breath.

Yes, I am thankful. Maimed and dead
Have rested here, on many a bed;
But life and limb to me are spared,
And faithful hands for me have cared.
And now, this heaven-like morn of May,
Comes laughing life from death's decay;
While breath of flowers, and limpid air,
And songs of birds, my gladness share.

The lengthened miles before me lie,
Where the rushing train full soon shall hie.
And I shall walk the well-known street,
Where every sod my foot shall greet;
And I shall lift the dear old latch,
Where glistening eyes for me do watch;
And I shall stand in the open door,
Where welcome waits me, o'er and o'er.

Where Do "Fighting Irish" Come From?

In doing research for my forthcoming book, Notre Dame in the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press, 2010), one of the questions I wanted to answer is where the school's wartime students came from.

Fortunately, the excellent archives at the University of Notre Dame has an online student index tool that covers the years 1849-1912!

The tool allows you to search by last name as well as other keywords. I used the index to mine all the student data by state and country for the academic years 1860-61 through 1865-66.

Typical entries look like this:

Those names - Robert A. Pinkerton and William Pinkerton - are interesting on several accounts. First, they are in the photo below (from Library of Congress), although it was taken a few years before they began their studies at Notre Dame. Second, they are the sons of famed detective and Union spy Allan Pinkerton!

Some summaries of the data are provided below. A full table, listing enrollments by state and year, will be in the book. Some interesting patterns do emerge, though. Consider the total enrollments by year:

1860-61 = 203
1861-62 = 220
1862-63 = 274
1863-64 = 405
1864-65 = 543
1865-66 = 659

Note that enrollment continued to increase during the Civil War years. This was no small accomplishment, as many colleges faced decreasing enrollments or had to close altogether.

Notice also the breakdown by region below. Not surprisingly, Indiana and Illinois account for about half the students; throw in Michigan and Ohio and you are up above 70%. Still, notice that the "Border" states and even Confederate states contributed a fair share of students!

Midwest/Plains = 79%
Far West = 1%
Northeast/New England = 7%
Border States = 7%
Confederate States = 6%
Foreign = <1%

Those sectional differences would lead to some wartime fisticuffs on campus, but that's a story for another day!

This wasn't a "scientific" survey by any means and I did have to make some compromises along the way. For example, the enrollment figures include those for the college proper, the minims in the grammar school, and the orphans and destitute in the trade school. Furthermore, I counted each student for each year they were enrolled. For some students this was single year (they counted once) and for others it could be as many as five terms (and they were counted five times).

The other interesting thing to contemplate are the individual stories: What of the single student from Virginia enrolled in 1860-61 but never to return again? What of the students who were there in 1861 but didn't return until later? Why was there such an increase of students from Tennessee late in the war?