VICTOR HERBERT.
Of New York.
The Eminent Composer and High Authority on Music.
A New Member of the Society.
Mr. Carter’s intelligent liberality has rendered possible in Providence a charity of peculiar value. The handsome building is a better monument to his son’s memory than the most costly sarcophagus would be. It bids fair for many years to come to minister to the needs of great numbers of children of tender age whose parents cannot care for them during the working hours of the day; and the community would have double reason to congratulate itself if the example set by these donors were to inspire other citizens of Providence to similar generous gifts. There are twenty-three thousand women in this city who are employed in gainful occupations, and many of them are married, with small children to provide for. It is difficult to think of a more useful institution than one that helps to lighten the domestic anxieties of these workers during their enforced absence from home.
Mr. Carter is a member of the American Irish Historical Society and of its Executive Council and served on the Reception Committee at the events in Washington January 16, 1909.
WAR RECORD OF COLONEL JAMES QUINLAN.
One of the Earliest Members of the American Irish Historical Society.
BY FRANCIS J. QUINLAN, M. D., L. L. D., PRESIDENT-GENERAL.
In Volume VI of the Journal appeared a short sketch of Colonel Quinlan’s life, in which his military record was incomplete and the date of birth and receipt of certain commissions were incorrectly stated. The data having been carefully collected and verified, a revised sketch is hereby submitted:
James Quinlan was born in Tipperary, Ireland, September 13, 1833, and came to New York in 1850 and there studied engineering. In 1853 he joined the National Guard and became a member of the Sixty-Ninth Regiment, being commissioned a Lieutenant in 1855, under Charles S. Roe, and commissioned Captain in 1856.
On April 23, 1861, a few days after the fall of Fort Sumter, he left New York with the Sixty-Ninth as Captain of Engineers. He was present at the battle of Blackburn’s Ford, July 18th, and Bull Run July 21st, where he was severely wounded. After this battle Acting Brigadier-General T. F. Meagher recruited the celebrated Irish Brigade, and he was commissioned Major of the Eighty-Eighth New York Infantry, one of the regiments of that organization, in 1861, and ordered by General Meagher to proceed to Fort Schuyler and take command there until further orders. (As far as we know, he was the first volunteer officer to take command of a Fort in the Civil War.) He was present in all the battles of that famous Brigade in the Peninsular Campaign and commanded the regiment all through the Seven Days’ fighting. He won his Medal of Honor by leading a charge on a Confederate battery at Savage Station, Va., June 29, 1862. The battery in question was one of six guns, and had been very annoying to the Union troops. Several other regiments had made efforts to silence it, but without avail. General W. W. Burns, U. S. A., who was in command on that memorable day, wrote at the time Major Quinlan received his Medal of Honor as follows: “The Medal of Honor won by your gallant charge which silenced the enemy’s battery at Savage Station and closed that desperate attack upon the rear of the Army of the Potomac, June 29, 1862, is a just reward and memento for conspicuous bravery due from a grateful Republic to the brave leader of the gallant Eighty-Eighth New York. No one can feel more satisfaction for this signal proof of distinction and glory than your old Commander of that day. The Eighty-Eighth saved the lives of many gallant soldiers by that forlorn-hope charge, and cleared our way to victory that day. It commemorated the charge of the Irish Brigade at Fontenoy.” In the Circular “Medals of Honor” issued by the War Department October 31, 1897, the ground of award of Major Quinlan’s medal is as follows: “Led his regiment on the enemy’s battery, silenced the guns, held the position against overwhelming numbers, and covered the retreat of the Second Army Corps.” He was honorably mentioned by General McClellan for bravery at Malvern Hill and Antietam. He was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel on September 22, 1862, and received his honorable discharge for disability on medical certificate February 4, 1863.