In 1861, the prompt response of Corcoran to the call of President Lincoln sounded a bugle note of readiness electric in its effect. Nearly forty years thereafter, upon the breaking out of the Spanish War, the Government was desirous of obtaining exact information as to the extent the organized militia of all the different states could be depended upon. Major-General Roe, at that time the commander of the National Guard of the State of New York, communicated with the different regimental commanders, inquiring what number of men belonging to the militia would volunteer to serve the Government beyond the territorial limits of the state. The answer of Colonel Duffy, in 1898, rang true as the answer from Corcoran in ’61:
“Every officer and every enlisted man of the 69th volunteers to defend the flag in any part of the world the government may require their services.”
When a French delegation was sent here a few years ago to participate in the ceremonies connected with the unveiling of the Statue of Rochambeau at Washington, its members were entertained in this city by The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick; their escort to the banquet at Delmonico’s was the 69th Regiment, and General Brugere and Admiral Fournier were warm in their praise of the appearance of the regiment; and later, when President Roosevelt was the guest of the same Society at its 121st Annual Dinner on St. Patrick’s Day, 1905, the regiment again acted as escort to the distinguished guest of the Society.
Colonel Duffy, who served in the regiment for a period of over forty years and commanded it during the Spanish War, has recently resigned with the rank of brigadier-general. Lieutenant-Colonel Conley has since been in command, and it was only last night that I received a most interesting item of news from him. In the office of the adjutant-general of the State at Albany, the reports contain practically no record of the war services of the 69th, the reason being, it is presumed, that during that time it was out of the service of the State and constituted part of the National armed force known as United States Volunteers. Every regiment of the National Guard is entitled to have a silver ring upon its lances for each engagement in which it participated and for other meritorious service rendered in times of danger. Owing to the defective state records, the 69th, after participating in all of the battles of the war, from Bull Run to Appomattox, has been denied the privilege of placing these commemorative rings upon its lances. Colonel Conley informed me last evening, and I am happy to be able to announce to you today, that this inexcusable error is about being redressed, and in the next report of the adjutant-general, the full record of the regiment in the Civil War will be published, and the lance of the National Regimental Color will for the future be practically covered with inscribed rings bearing the name and date of the hundred battles in which it has participated.
All these matters will be found more fully set forth in this paper which I have prepared, and I can only express in conclusion the assurance that as long as the spirit which animated the 69th Regiment in the past continues to inspire the manhood of America, we need have little fear of attempted domestic revolution or of the perils of foreign war.
Judge Fitzgerald’s paper is printed in full elsewhere in this volume.
Dr. Quinlan: The next paper is by Michael X. Sullivan, Ph. D., formerly of the faculty of Brown University and now of the Bureau of Soil, Washington, D. C.
Doctor Sullivan read his paper, which is printed in full elsewhere in this volume.
Dr. Quinlan: Before we proceed to the next paper, I would like to introduce to you the vice-president-general of our Society, Mr. Thomas B. Fitzpatrick of Boston.
Mr. Fitzpatrick: I am very glad to meet the members of the American-Irish Historical Society here today. It has been of special interest to listen to the excellent papers read and the speeches delivered by some of our worthy representatives. The facts referred to concerning the proud position held by our race in the past and in the present, are a valuable asset of information to every man and woman of Irish blood.