Of Irish blood, too, is the captain of Company G, who was acting major in the dangerous time, John J. Leonard. So, too, is his soldierly and capable first lieutenant, William G. Hayes. So, too, the second lieutenant, Edward J. Leyden, and Sergeants Scully, Ward, Murphy and Gibbons.
After a long and intimate knowledge of the regiment, and a closer acquaintance with its personnel than any other man could possess just now, its colonel, who is high sheriff of Hampden county and known for his conservativeness and thoughtfulness of speech, thus gives me his estimate, and writes it over his own hand: “If we go back for two generations, I think from one half to three fourths of the members of the Second Massachusetts Volunteers were of Irish blood.”
This regiment had in the war the gratuitous services of a chaplain whose name is a benediction to-day in the Connecticut valley, Father Fitzgerald, chaplain of the Twenty-second Infantry, U. S. A. He is an Irishman born, and may fittingly be spoken of in this connection, and the world will honor us as well as him. Every man of the regiment, Catholic and Protestant alike, loves him, and can scarcely meet a priest to-day without claiming kindly right to speak of him. The gist of the general love is in the words of an enthusiastic captain, who writes me in this manner: “The Rev. E. A. Fitzgerald, chaplain Twenty-second Infantry, U. S. A., was as truly chaplain of the First Brigade, Second Division of the Fifth Army Corps, comprising the Eighth and Twenty-second Regular Infantry and the Second Massachusetts Volunteers.”
Chaplain Fitzgerald had the respect of all the officers and men of the brigade for his earnest devotion to their interests and for his unflinching courage during the progress of the battles at El Caney and San Juan, where he confronted danger at every turn and amid shot and shell attended to the needs of the wounded. He won for himself a name unequaled in bravery by that of any other chaplain in the Santiago campaign. While he was not wounded, his clothing showed the effect of the mausers.
During the time of disease, a horror of war more trying than battle, he was unceasing in his labors for the sick, going from one end of the brigade to the other daily, and reeking with sweat during the heat of the day. His cheerful countenance and kindly disposition in his daily work brought comfort and true sunshine to many a drooping soldier irrespective of creed or race. Colonel Clark, Second Massachusetts Volunteers, says of him: “One of God’s noblemen,” and Adjutant Hall, Twenty-second Infantry, in speaking of him, said that he was the “salt of the earth.” The officers and men of the brigade are unstinted in his praise, and his name will ever be cherished with reverence, respect and good wishes by his comrades in the Santiago campaign, the rank and file of the unassuming volunteers of the Second Massachusetts. I am satisfied that a study of the men who fought on land and on the sea in the war with Spain, will be highly creditable to our people.
MR. JOHN D. O’BRIEN,
Of Minnesota.
Residence, St. Paul.
REV. M. C. LENIHAN,
Of Iowa
Residence, Marshalltown.
