The first time I ever heard of this member of the O’Kane clan, (the O'Cathain's of the Roe valley in Co. Derry a subsept of the Ulster O'Neills) was in late 2003. Subsequent research has proven to be fascinating and is on going. This website simply tries to put together information on the Irish born soldiers of the 69th. Pa. Volunteers who fought for the Union Army in the American Civil War. Most people here in Ireland who have knowledge of the American Civil War when they hear the term "the 69th" automatically think of the New York 69th. unit.
I will try and include information on the circumstances associated with their life in Ireland and America. I hope also to obtain information on other soldiers with Irish links in the 69th. who fought in this war. So little is known of them in Ireland and I hope to at least give credit to the ones I can identify and link.

I am aware that quite a lot has been researched in America on the 69th. Pa. and many articles and books written on the unit and the militia units in the Philadelphia area from which the 69th. evolved. However little is known about the "ordinary" soldiers from Ireland who took part in this war. Few of the people who now live in the parishes of Co. Derry, Tyrone, Donegal and other counties of Ireland would know much about the American Civil War and less about any of their ancestors who took part in it. The mindset of the Irish who flocked from Ireland in their hundreds of thousands after the famines especially those around 1847 basically closed their minds on the dreadful event. Few of the succeeding generations in America though they would have great interest and wanted to learn much about what happened would have little handed down history. It was very painful for the emigrants into America at the time to relate their experiences of the Ireland from which they fled. So often I have heard the story of Americans simply saying that their ancestors did not want to talk about the Ireland they left behind.

The information gathered for this site has been obtained from many sources. Where possible it has been checked or at least the circumstances of the events have been rationalised on a probability basis. I do not claim that it is all totally correct. That would be impossible to guarantee. However my intention is to make as accurate as I can. No doubt as time goes on other pieces of information on Colonel O'Kane and the soldiers of the unit will turn up and will be noted and appropriate corrections made. The hills and valleys of the Sperrin hills of Co. Derry and Co. Tyrone are beautiful. In all honesty the landscape will have changed but little from the era in which O'Kane lived in the Learmount - Upper Cumber parishes. The roads and housing have changed for the better but the population density will be little changed indeed it may be lower than the mid 19th century. These areas are basically populated by the descendants of the lowland Catholic farmers dispossessed in Penal and Plantation times mainly in the 17th. and 18th. century. These are the townlands inhabitated by names such as O'Kane, McCluskey, Mullan, McAnally.
Let me try and give some flavour of O'Kane's life in Ireland prior to his emigration.

Where was Dennis 0'Kane from in Ireland?

Most people in America who have read and have knowledge of O'Kane read that he was from Learmount - Upper Cumber parish in Co. Derry. These few details are in the public domain in America. The statement Learmount and Upper Cumber parish was the vital clue when I started looking at this man's history. To the stranger and indeed to the local populace it is still very difficult to sort out just where townlands and parishes are. It is also difficult to pinpoint the whereabouts of the local chapels which may well be known by "local" names and not necessarily as named in maps or survey records. In Dennis O’Kane’s case we know that from information on hand that he was from Learmount - Upper Cumber parishes in Co. Derry. Sounds as if there would be no problem in pinpointing just where he was from. Well maybe. My investigation as to the geography of the parishes led to the following initial information. We are talking about Catholic parishes only. The Protestant ones though they may have the same name will in many cases have different physical boundaries to the Catholic ones. It really depends on the catchment area density of the two religious groups. Claudy parish consists of Upper Cumber and Learmount areas. There are two churches in this parish St. Patricks in Claudy village and St. Josephs at Craigbane which is close to Park village. Claudy chapel covers the Upper Cumber area while Craigbane covers the Learmount area. Altinure chapel is now in the Banagher parish though in Dennis O'Kane's time it would have been in Learmount parish. There is also a chapel referred to as Banagher which is also in the Banagher parish. You understand?. Well if you were a clerk in the local post office you would have to know that Park village is in Banagher parish but its postal address is Claudy. Feeny village and Foreglen township are also in Banager parish but they have a Dungiven postal address!. If you as an American have spent years trying to suss out where your ancestors came from in Ireland and got confused don't let it worry you. We ourselves don't really know the system.
For the purpose of this research we shall look closer at the chaples associated with Upper Cumber and Learmount ie the chapels at Claudy and Craigbane and Altinure. Craigbane chapel is about two miles from Park village on one side of the river Faughan and just across the river Faughan bridge on the other side of the village is Altinure chapel. Park is a smallish village on the northern slopes of the Sperrin hills. It is approx 12 miles from Dungiven. It is quite remote and in the early 19th century would have been served with poor roads and negligible services. The inhabitants of Park village and indeed most of the villages in the Sperrin hills of Derry and Tyrone are the descendants of dispossessed Catholic farmers from the lowlands who basically had to flee off the good quality land in the lowlands during the Plantation era and earlier Penal times.

I have circled on the above current map the approx position of the two parishes of Upper Cumber -centered on Claudy village- and the lower section being Learmount parish bordering on Park village and close to Altinure chaple. Be aware that to this day Catholic communities basically all have a focal point within their parish or group of towlands and this is the local chapel.
As a matter of interest if you look at the above map slightly to the right and to the right of the name Burnfoot are the townlands of Straw and Camnish. It was from Straw townland on the banks of the river Roe that Colonel John Haslet came, one of George Washington's better commanders and a close friend of Caesar Rodney of Delaware The First State of the Union came. Haslet was killed at the battle of Princeton and is buried at Dover Delaware. On the adjacent townland of Camnish bordering on Straw John Mitchel the radical Young Ireland politician was born. His three sons later joined the Confederate forces. His eldest son Capt John C. Mitchel of the S. Carolina Artillery was commander at Fort Sumter and was killed there. He is buried in the Magnolia cemetery at Charleston. Another son Captain James Mitchel of the S. Carolina Infantry survived the war went north the New York city married and his son Purroy Mitchel was Lord Mayor of N.Y.C. in 1914. The youngest son Willie Mitchel was killed in Picketts charge at Gettysburg on that fateful day of July 3rd 1863. He was killed probably by shelling close to the Cadori house. He was just 17 years of age. He has no known grave. It is recorded that a note was pinned on his coat saying that he was "the son of John Mitchel". However we shall never know exactly what happened to him. He would no doubt have been aware that he was that day facing fellow Irishmen of the 69th. Such is war.
On a lighter note the town of Limavady is the town where a Miss Jane Ross in 1861 noted down a tune being played by an old Irish travelling musician playing in the town. The tune was the The Derry Air or Danny Boy a tune that resonates in the Irish psyche to this day. Miss Ross is buried in the Anglican church graveyard at Limavady. Also note the town of Strabane on the left of the image. Strabane is where John Dunlap served his time to the printing trade. The old print workshops are still there. John emigrated to America and set up business in his trade. He was the printer of the Declaration of Independence at the end of the War of Independence.

Note: The mauve square indicators are O'Kane families who had the head of household named as Denis Kane in the Tithe Applotment Books of 1823-38. On the assumption that children are named after their father or grandfather and that Denis would not have been too common a name I feel that the Dennis O'Kane we are looking at would have come from one of these townlands. I cannot find any Christian name as Dennis as opposed to Denis in the listings. Also it would appear that it is possible that when Dennis went to America in order to flag up his Irishness he would possibly have added the letter O in front of his name Kane. As to why Dennis with two letter N's I don't know. The dropping or adding of the O to Kane is common to this day, as to why I will let you puzzle out!. The blue square indicators show other O'Kanes named in the survey ie not with the Christian name Denis. Be aware that this survey was not a catch all names, there could be numerous other O'Kanes in the area. It is too difficult to identify exactly what townland and family he was from at this stage. At this juncture I tend to think that he was from a townland close to either Altinure or Craigbane chaple. This map is taken off a 70 year old map of this part of Ireland. It is unique and worth noting amongst those of you who are studying this history. There are many moves afoot to remove the townland names and use postal or zip codes in their place.

The story of most Irish emigrants in the early-middle 19th century is a story of poverty, emigration, success and indeed failure. American has had two main wars on its own territory which had major connections with Ireland though there would to this day be few units in the American Army, Air Force or Navy who did not have an Irish connection. These two wars were the Revolutionary War or War of Independence and the Civil War also known as the War between the States. All wars have all sorts of complicated reasons for their happening but I shall simply give very basic reasons. In the case of the War of Independence as the new American Colonisers saw it as independence from London and being allowed to run their own affairs or as a Revolutionary war as seen through government eyes in London, a revolution by the colonies against London rule. The causes of American Civil War are many but basically as we have seen so often when a country throws off a colonial power there is after a period of peace forces looking for control under various guises in this case the freeing of African slaves, the break up of the Union, etc.
How do we link these American wars to the good folk of the Learmount - Upper Cumber - Dungiven area.? Well from 1600 there was a great number of incoming settlers coming into the N.E. area of Ireland primarily from Scotland. This "settlement" was basically an enforced one and the "native" Irish had little choice but to leave their good land to the newly arriving settlers and make as good an existence as they could it the poor areas of in this case Co. Derry and in the hills of the Sperrin range. The situation was greatly compounded by the religious upheavel in England due to the Reformation and subsequent Penal laws applied ruthlessly in Ireland. It should not be forgotten that the English Catholic church was also affected by the Reformation when the Catholic monasteries were destroyed and or their lands confiscated. The incoming settlers were in many cases leaving their own country in search of a better living having themselves been under political and religious pressure. However not all were fleeing persecution and many soldiers and government officers were well paid off in Irish land. This is a complex subject and I will leave the reader to investigate further though I have given a brief outline on my page on Irish history. This event of incoming settlers is commonly and loosely referred to as “The Plantation of Ulster”. Though many thousands of these settlers decided to stay and their descendants are still with us many thousands decided to move on the the newly opening nation to the west, the newly forming United States. These emigrants would go on to become know as the Scots-Irish ie from Scotland to America via Ireland. Hundreds of these families predominantly Presbyterian would leave the Dungiven area in the pre and post Revolutionary war period. They would emigrate primarily through Derry to the newly opening up towns such as Philadelphia. The folks of Philadelphia would be on the whole welcoming to them primarily the both people would be of the Protestant faith. Catholicism had not really reached N. America in the era of the War of Independence. The number of Catholics at this stage emigrating would be small in number. However subsequent famines in Ireland changed all this. Prior to the 1847 famine Presbyterians or Protestants arriving in America would have no problem in identifying themselves as Irish and were proud to do so. This would all change after about 1840 when thousands and thousands or poor and mostly illiterate or indeed perceived illiterate Catholic Irish would flock to the east coast cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, New York and other towns and cities. This is the time when the term Scots-Irish and Catholic-Irish would appear. Each side now identifying from whence they came.
There were numerous famines in Ireland in the early 1800’s none too terrible as they were short in duration and after say a bad year there could be two good years with good harvests. However the Great Famine of 1847 would see things change dramatically. The emigration from all over Ireland increased massively. Due to the social structure and land ownership in Ireland meant that the Catholic population suffered massively. Due to their great reliance on the potato for subsistence any loss of this source of food would be disasterous and it was. Coupled with poor basic schooling and reliance on the Irish language, still a major active language the famine migrants arriving in such developing towns like Philadelphia would not be well received. This was the era in east coast America when “no Negro’s or Irish need apply” notices were seen in newspapers billboards etc. This was the era in Philadelphia when a young Dennis O’Kane would have arrived. This was the time when the Irishmen in and around the city joined the local militias and some of these men went on to join the later to be formed 69th Pa. Volunteer Inf. They had something to prove, something to give back to the country that had accepted them.
Was Dennis O'Kane an ignorant non English speaking Irishman of the type that the citizens of Philadelphia would take pleasure in berating and throwing bricks and stones at as they marched off to war?. Not for a moment do I see this. The school system in and around the area from which he came in Ireland was exceedingly good. Though speaking Irish was something he could probably do reasonably well he would no doubt have spoken English with the quaint Scots softness of his Presbyterian neighbours still heard in the area. When he was growing up Irish would be spoken mostly in the Sperrin hills but the population would be capable of speaking English when required eg to communicate with the plantation settlers in the lowlands of the area. Had he a trade or a profession?. Well a trade maybe such as a carpenter or builder. Was he a farmer?…possibly his parents had a small farm. Was he a general labourer? more than likely. If one looks at the trades of the Irish immigrants into America the greatest percentage will be noted as being "from Ireland and their trade as labourer". Had he a profession?. Unlikely this was something that only the much better off Catholics could afford as all higher education had to be paid for and there would be few openings except perhaps to becoming a cleric or a doctor. The local landlord Henry de La Pore Beresford started to build Learmount Castle circa 1830 on a site overlooking the river Faughan close to Park village. This would have thrown work for some of the local people and it is just possible Dennis O'Kane worked on the site.
If we assume that he lived reasonably close to the village of Park then he would in the period of his growing up stand a reasonable chance of employment. Around 1830 the village of Park was described as a well slated village of about 20 families. There was a facility for changing horses in the village as the coach road ran from Derry to Cookstown through the Sperrin hills. There was also a Post Office and a Police station. The local school was run by the Church of Ireland and had all denominations as pupils. The headmaster noted in the 1830 census was a Mr. Hugh McLaughlin.
There was also another school at the time at Shanagalwilly which had about 60 pupils and the headmaster was a Mr. Nicholas. If Dennis was from close to the Craigbane area it is probable he attended one of these schools. An important point to note is that the parish of Learmount which appears to be the parish associated with Dennis O'Kane was formed in 1831 when he would have been aged about 12. Learmount parish was reformed in 1831 by taking 10 townlands from the nearby Banagher parish and one of these was Altinure townland. Eight townlands were taken from Cumber Upper Parish and one from Cumber Lower at the same time. As recently as 1979 Park village and the townland of Tereighter Lower opted out of Cumber Upper and joined Banagher parish.
From the above you will realise just how impossible it is to identify the exact townland O'Kane was from or what chaple he was linked to. The balance at this point is that it was either Craigbane or Altinure.
Dennis O'Kane emigrated to Philadelphia in the era when the Irish in the city and nearby towns ran taverns, sold coal. worked in the steel mills and scraped a living in a fairly anti Irish society. However it should be kept in mind that not all the emigrants were "famine poor".There were small numbers in amongst the emigrants who were people of substance and who perhaps sold their farms and businesses in Ireland and went looking for a better life in the newly opening up America. It is just possible O'Kane was one of these people. It is possible that his particular O'Kane family group were a so called "Native Freeholders" family left with a proportionately larger area of land after the Plantation.
The ribbon on the left above is a Survivors Association Ribbon which old soldiers who survived the Civil War were proud to collect and wear. As far as the ribbon goes, many regiments after the war had annual reunions where the veterans would get together. Many became life long friends after the war. The reunions were mostly took the form of a dinner or a banquet and at these events the veterans would be issued with these ribbons to wear. These ribbons, depending on the regiment, are scarce and are now collectors items and men who have been able to obtain one are extremely proud to own them.
Looking at the ribbon image above what is perceived to be an Irish shamrock on which the numerals 69 are overlaid most people would see this as a shamrock. However it is said to be a trefoil and the Corps insignia. Some people seem to stress that this is simply a "trefoil" and not necessarily an Irish symbol. I personally disagree. If one looks at the defination of "trefoil" in the dictionary it states that "it is a three leaf clover". If one then looks at the word "shamrock" is states that it is "the National symbol of Ireland - a trefoil" The 69th. Pa was part of the 2nd. Corps 2nd Division who used a white trefoil. The 69th. New York was the 2nd. Corps 1st. Div. and they had a red trefoil for their Corps insignia. All these units had a very large Irish linkage and we again see the word "trefoil" but of different colours. The colour to me differentiated the corps not the shape. It is known that other corps had different designation symbols eg a cross, a diamond, etc etc. We could take the logic for the diamond shape further in a similar manner by saying "Ah, its not really a diamond shape, it is a rhombus etc". I rest my case. Personally I feel that it is less than coincidental that the trefoil was allocated to the 69th. The representation of the shamrock would rest well with Irishmen then as now.

O'KANE'S LIFESPAN

O'Kane was 45 years old when he was killed at the battle of Gettysburg in 1863. This would have him being born in 1818. Did all his family emigrate together or did some of them stay at home? Again we can only speculate at this stage. In 1818 Ireland was recovering from the troubles associated with the 1798 rebellion, landlordism was at its height. The Anglican landlords in the area where he was born would have been in total control. One of the main landlords in the Park area would be the Beresfords. At best the O’Kanes if small farmers would have had a small holding of perhaps at most 10-20 acres. They may well also have simply worked on the landlords estate for a pittance wage. The pecking order of society in the area would have been the landed Anglican linked gentry, the Presbyterian tenant farmers and the “native Irish” dispossessed in earlier times. As to what social group within the Catholic community O'Kane belonged to we do not really know. Perhaps his family had one of the few larger farmers or had a tavern and relativley well to do. Only a few Catholics would own large farms or businesses. This is basically true to this day as the greater percentage of the small farmers in the parishes of the area both farm and work as tradesmen or labourers. There are also those who own taverns or "pubs" as they are known. However all have very entrepreneurial abilities. In the mid 19th. century the greater percentage of the Catholic population would have been at subsistence level living. This was the era when the local landlord could be ruthless and if anyone fell behind in rents then the bailiff would soon arrive and eviction would be the result. Some landlords choose a slightly different method of what was a "benine" eviction by paying the passage of a family or perhaps a group of people in a townland he wanted cleared to graze extra sheep on to go off to America, Australia or wherever they could reach. Growing up in the townlands and parishes of Learmount and Upper Cumber his close friends would most certainly have been 100% Catholic. There would be little contact except perhaps in some of the "mixed" schools with the small Protestant population in the area. His schooling would have been at a local single storied school. Overall the quality and awareness of the need for good primary schooling was something all members of society agreed. Even landlords provided buildings and funds to run these schools. Parents were of course expected to help with the funding. Though by today’s standards these schools could be seen as very basic they achieved incredible results and the ability to teach the students to read and write would be their main achievement. However if the parents of the children were so poor that they could not give support money to the schools or if the children were needed to work to help the family survive then that was a different story and many children never did get a good basic education.
A young Dennis O’Kane growing up between 1818 and 1840 when he would be 22 years of age would see an Ireland of grinding poverty. He probably left school at about 10 or 12 years of age though he would have worked from younger age helping with general agricultural labouring work to supplement his family income. He would have seen scores of his neighbours emigrating mostly to America and particularly to Philadelphia. Emigration would be mostly through the nearby port of Derry though some went to America via Liverpool. This would be the era when “the letter from Amerikay” was eagerly awaited bringing news of previous emigrants and perhaps more importantly money and perhaps the fare to the New World and a chance of a better future. It was fairly common for a member of a family to go to America or perhaps Australia or New Zealand and establish themselves and then start funding their family back home and perhaps and frequently sending their passage-out money back home. This was the era when after the American and N. Atlantic winter the Spring sailing to Philadelphia from Derry was eagerly awaited. The fare would have been about £4. When Dennis O'Kane was about 16 in 1834 he would in this year have seen numerous friends and families emigrate. In 1834 some 123 families emigrated from the area he lived in to America, and this was before the 1847 famine! In 1847 the year of the Great famine "An Gorta Mor" some 12,000 families emigrated from Derry alone. Not all made it to America or Canada and thousands died in Ireland . Very few graveyards in the old chapels of Co. Derry would not have areas dedicated to burial areas for the famine dead.
The famine memorial on the left is to those who did not make it in one small part of Co. Derry. It has been erected in the graveyard of Glen chaple close to Maghera in Co. Derry probably on the site of the burial pit of the famine victims.
The memorial in the shape of a large Celtic Cross was erected by the local branch of the Glen A.O.H. Div 367 in 1995.
If he contemplated migration O'Kane would contact the local emigrant agent in nearby Dungiven run by a Mr. Mitchel who was agent for the firm of Cooks in Derry. Many ships sailing from Derry were owned by a company called McCorkells. An example of such a vessel on the N. American passenger trade in this era was the Hannah Crooker which sailed from Derry to Philadelphia on May 6th 1853. She was 499 tons and carried 250 passengers! Perhaps this illustrates the awfullness of the journey across the N. Atlantic and why so few came back!.
As to exactly which townland O'Kane was born in we do not know at this stage. Dennis is noted as being married before he left and had two girls Mary and Sarah born in Ireland and third daughter Hannah born in Philadelphia. Hannah was baptised on March 2nd 1844. He probably would have married circa 1840. His wife named as Hannah Kane. Because there were so many people of the same name surname in the area is was very common for an O'Kane or Kane to marry an O'Kane or Kane. This is the case to this day. Because of the related history over the generations this has in many cases caused problems due to intermarriage in many cases unknowlingly.
Derry port apart from acting as a the "funnel" port of emigration to America from Co. Derry also catered for emigrants from Co. Donegal and Tyrone and this is a point to remember when tracing your ancestral paths.
When did he arrive in America?. It is known that the O'Kane family were members of St Pauls Church in 1844. His daughter Hannah was born 17th March 1844 and baptised there on March 29th 1844 by Father Sheridan and the baptismal sponsores were a John O'Neill and Sarah O'Kane the latter probably being the baby's older sister whose birth date can be worked out from the 1860 census as being 1842. Thus we see that the window of entry into America for the Kanes would be 1842-1844.Probbaly the nearest date we will ever get. O'Kane would have been in Philadelphia during the 1847 famine and witnessed the thousands of Irish streaming into Philadelphia and the other east coast ports and also into Quebec in Canada. The name of Grosse Isle would soon be known to the Irish. What he would have been hearing from Ireland was very distressing. No doubt money was being despatched by him and his brother to relatives back home for their survival. It is known that Dennis O'Kane is named as Dennis O. Kane in the Philadelphia Public Ledger in 1850.
It is interesting to note that Dennis O'Kane married in Ireland. This would possibly suggest that even though times were bad in Ireland he had enough money to support a wife an two children however badly in Ireland.
In the Federal 1860 census for Penn. it shows the following.
Dennis O'Kane m. aged 41 born in Ireland. Tavern keeper.He was recorded as being worth $300.
Hannah f. (his wife) aged 37 born in Ireland.
Mary f. aged 19 born in Ireland. Milliner.
Sarah f. aged 18 born in Ireland. Saleswoman.
Hannah f. aged 14 born in Penn. 17th March 1844.Baptised St Pauls church 29th March 1844.
From the ages of Sarah and Hannah we see that O'Kane emigrated in the window between 1842 and 1844. However a very interesting note is that he is named as a tavern keeper.
There is also a very interesting entry is found in the 1860 records.
In Philadelphia's 8 Wd. microfilm Series M653 Roll 1158 Page 188 there is an entry:
John O'Kane m. 38 b. Ireland, Occ. bottler b. Ireland. He is recorded as being worth $2,000. He was the the well off member of the extended family.
Margaret f. 39 b Ireland.
Mary A .f 14 b Penna. John m. 12 b Penna.
Margaret f. 10 b Penna.
Henry m. 9 b Penna.
Charlotte f. 6 b Penna.
Joseph m. 5 mths b Penna.
Michael Maroney m. 28 b Ireland.
Henry O'Kane m. 22 bottler b Ireland.
This is a very interesting entry. He is listed as a bottler. John would have been born in 1822 in Ireland. He was therefore 2 years younger than brother Dennis. All his children were born in Philadelphia. The oldest is Mary aged 14 in 1860. Thus we know John was in Philadelphia by 1846 aged 24. As to who Henry was we do not know what we do know that Henry is a name used by the O'Kanes a lot. He could have been a nephew of the family from back home and brought to the States with the two brothers. As to who Michael Maroney was it is likely he was perhaps a bar tender who lived with the family. This is not a typical Co. Derry name. Looking at the above information one scenario was that both Dennis and his Irish born children left along with John and his wife Margaret as yet without a family together or shortly after each other. Personally I feel all together.
In the 1861 McElroy's Guide to Philadelphia there are the following entries:
O'Kane Dennis Restaurant 226 S. 10th.
O'Kane John Tavern 615 6th.
O'Kane John Bottler 215 Quince St.
It is noted that in the old city center in the Philadelphia of the mid 19th. century 615 6th. and 215 Quince St. were within blocks of each other and 226 S. 10th. was a block away from 215 Quince St. What are the deductions from the above information. Quite a lot really. Lets assume that both brothers were in Philadelphia circa 1846. It is just possible they already had relatives there to get them " started" in their new lives. What we do know however that in the period between about 1846 and 1860 Dennis and John had got themselves well established. Dennis with his tavern and John with his bottling business. I would not differentiate too much between a tavern and a bottling business. I feel that both businesses could carry the same label.
Not too long after they arrived I feel that Dennis and John to a lesser extent got involved in the political scenario of the time. To me it suggests that joining up in Irish militias springing up in the city could reap rewards, not too much financial award but kudos and contacts and no doubt militia men would find their way to share a few whiskies in the O'Kane taverns. Politics would be the order of the day especially the incessant news coming in from famine and post famine Ireland. From reports on the events back home there would be a lot of anger and bitterness. This was a very politically aware society and news from and about Ireland was probably coming in in the main to the Irish taverns in the city. Finding Dennis and his brother in the local militias is understandable. Again as to why they took this line I don't really fully understand. They would be powerless to do much directly about Ireland but there could just be political clout against British rule in Ireland which could reflect through such organisations as the Fenian movement very active at the time. Their joining and forming up "Irish" ethos local militias would also help protect themselves against the anti Irish "Nativist" Americans. There were also advantages in their trading circumstances possible having Irish based political groups meeting in their taverns and that could boost their trade. Many of the men such as O'Kane would go on to become officers in the 69th. were tavern keepers in Philadelphia. Men such as Duffy and Lovett also tavern keepers would take up command positions. Lovett became notable more for his exploits after his service in the 69th. as a Lieut. Wounded badly on the 30th. June 1862 he ended up in a VCR unit. As a member of this group he arrested Dr. Samuel Mudd who had set the broken leg of J. W. Booth after he Booth had killed President Lincoln.
In any case however after arrrival circa 1846 the O'Kanes did not lose any time in getting into the local militias. Back home in Ireland the emigration posters in the shop windows of Park and Dungiven would have been a common site to O'Kane. In Philadelphia similar posters would be seen but with a very different agenda, the recruiting posters for the various units for the upcoming Civil War. They promised a lot, pay and rations when enrolled. Serving with units in which there were many Irishmen and many Irishmen in the officer ranks. No doubt he was as many others were influenced by them. Records show O'Kane as being in the Irish Volunteers by 1850 and by 1855 being Captain of his Company. It is known that the business that Dennis was running in Quince St. ( the name of ownership seems to vary so I assume the brothers were joint owners of both the tavern, restaurant and bottling business ) was transferred to his brother in 1859. Whether on a managerial basis or a full ownership we cannot be sure. However this most certainly flags up that Dennis was making a full time committment to soldiering. However did he realise in 1859 that he might be required to do a little more serious soldiering that being in the local Militias?. The Civil War was not too far down the line.
In the newspaper The Irish American of 4th Dec. 1852 we see an entry which states.
"The Second Regiment of Philadelphia Volunteers consists of six companies five of which are Irish. The 1st. Company which has amongst it members Capt. P. W. Conroy, Lieuts. D. O'Keane, M. O'Keane, and Orderly Sergeant John O'Keane.....etc." The name would most certainly be O'Kane.
In 1860 O'Kane was elected as a major in the 2nd. Regiment of the Philadelphia County Militia. He was elected unopposed to the rank. He was moving up the ranks.
Dennis left the Irish Volunteers in 1860 having handed over company to James Duffy and moved on to Captain the The Emmett Guards. He helped reorganise the two new militia companies.
Dennis would appear to have developed a liking for soldiering for whatever reason either with the high principle of giving something back to his adopted country or perhaps for the pecuniary award or perhaps he liked the life style.However things were getting more serious and recruiting " patriotic" adverts such as the example shown above would soon be appearing. This one by no less a person than Joshua Owen of the 24th Regt. who would later command the forming up 69th. This notice in the Irish American31st Aug. 1861.
I am aware that any Irish tavern owners in the Philadelphia area would in those days have had political clout and be heavily supportive of the Democratic Party. If any of these tavern owners were young enough, well enough educated and enthusastic for military service they could no doubt get enough votes to get officer rank fairly quickly. It was a slightly different system to that of the British Army of that period when commissions could be bought.
O'Kane was never a wealthy man and is noted in the 1860 census as being worth $300. I am not sure of this is the assets of Dennis or John or was it their combined wealth. Be aware that Dennis had passed his business to John in 1859. Was it Dennis's wealth as then minus his own assets?. I feel it might just have been. I think John was by this time the one who was financially much stronger. However we will never really know.
At a time the O'Kanes were bottling their own liquor having bottles manufactured with the name O'Kane embossed on the bottles. The image on the left is very interesting. It is an bottle marked: J. O. KANE and the line underneath PHILAD. As a matter of interest this was a practice in Ireland even up to the mid 1950's for a pub owner to have bottles embossed with their names. A lot of the more successful pub owners would have taken great pride in their embossed bottles. It had a kind of status up to the late 1940's. Later as costs rose they simply used their own stick on labels. The image to the right is of a label used by a well known watering hole on the Derry - Donegal border in 1951, McGurk's bar in Carrigans. The brand of the brew will be well known to many of you!
Dennis O'Kane was soon to be involved in the Civil War ending up as Colonel of the 69th. Penn. Volunteers. I will leave the reader to follow the numerous accounts of this regiment. Colonel O'Kane was noted as being a hard nosed military man who probably treated his men fairly but did expect discipline and bravery in battle. A very proud unit that gave great service to the Union Army. But war is a dangerous business.
Colonel Dennis O'Kane was shot on the morning of July 3rd 1863 defending the Union Lines on Cemetery Hill against the famous Picketts charge. He died the following morning 4th July 1863. Willie Mitchel son of the Young Irelander John Mitchel was killed in Picketts charge on the 3rd. Willie was just 17 years of age a Confederate soldier and a standard bearer in the S. Carolina Infantry.
Colonel O'Kane was buried in a corner of The Old Cathedral Cemetery in West Philadelphia on 9th. July 1863. A Father Michael Fox Martin who came from Beragh Co. Tyrone said the funeral Mass for Colonel Dennis O'Kane. Father Martin had been chaplain to the 69th. and had joined the regiment on the same day as O'Kane and had just returned from serving with the 69th - he had been discharged on a surgeons certificate on June 19th. 1862. He most certainly was known to Colonel O’Kane.

Brigade bereavement notice. July 8th 1863. (PPL)

Col.O'Kane's grave lay unmarked until the 69th Pa. Volunteers re-enactment group placed a stone marker on his grave in 1992.

The grave of Colonel Dennis O'Kane.

Plot U. Range 3. Lot 27.

Colonel Dennis O'Kane's funeral was recorded in the Catholic Herald Visitor of 18th. July 1863. Here is a transcript of the article. The funeral of Col. Dennis O'Kane, of the 69th regiment, who fell at Gettysburg, took place on Thursday morning, 9th. Inst. from his late residence, No. 575 Florida Street. It was attended by many officers of the First Division P. V. and a large concourse of friends, preceded by Beck's Brass Band.
The following named officers officiated as pallbearers:- General John D. Miles, Colonels W. D. Lewis and Turner G. Morehead; Lieutenant Colonel James Harvey; Captains Furey, Holbrook, Moran, Dillon, Rodgers, McCuen and Doyle; Lieutenants Ashe, Taggert, Dougherty, Woods, and McIlwayne. The funeral cortege was directed by Mr. Simon Gartland, undertaker, and slowly moved to St. James Church, West Philadelphia, where a High Mass was celebrated, and an appropriate discourse subsequently delivered by the pastor, Rev. Michael F. Martin. The service was solemnly sung by the choir. Miss Ashe presiding at the organ and at the Offertorium A solo was sung by Mr. Harkins of St. John's choir, entitled "Ecce! Deus Salvator Meus". The interment took place in the Cathedral cemetery.
The above image is of the old St James church west Philadelphia from which O'Kane was buried.It was built in 1850 and the nearby St. Agatha's was built in 1865. In 1976 the both parishes were amalgamated. The original St. James was demolished in 1881. There would have been three or four churches built on the spot since the original 1850 church. The new St. James and St. Agatha is about two miles from the Old City Cemetery. Florida St. as it was named in 1863 was then named South Marvine St. The Church is as now at 38th. and Chestnut. It is possible that St. James church was chosen for the funeral Mass because the Rev. Michael F. Martin named above had been recently appointed to that church and he already knew O'Kane well from his army days. Martin from Beragh Co. Tyrone an adjacent county to Derry and O'Kane both Irish born would have known each other's history very well and were probably very well known to each other in Philadelphia before the war.
Colonel O'Kanes would be the largest military funeral to take place in Philadelphia during the duration of the Civil War.

Here is a list of the pallbearers at Colonel O'Kane's funeral. Also shown their rank and regimental background.
Miles Brig. General of the Militia.
Lewis Colonel of the 18th and later 110th Pa.
Moorehead Colonel of the 106th Pa.
Harvey James Lt. Colonel. Co. D. 27th Pa. and later the 69th. Pa.
Furey Thomas Capt. Co. B. Hibernia Greens then the 24th later the 69th Pa.
Holbrook Capt.of the 99th. Pa.
Moran Patrick 1st. Lieut. Co. A. 69th.Pa.
Dillon Capt. Hibernia Greens, 24th and later the 115th.
Rodgers. Shields Guards,24th and later the 115th.
McCuen Capt. 72nd Pa. Fire Zouaves.
Doyle Lieutenant of the 99th. Pa.
Ashe Capt. of the Patterson Light Guards then the 24th. and later the 115th.
Taggart. J. J. 2nd. Lieut. Co. E. Meagher Guards, 24th and 69th. Pa.
Dougherty Capt.
Woods Thomas Capt. Co. E. Meagher Guards. 24th and 69th. Pa.
McIlvane John 1st. Lieut Co. B. Shields Guards, 69th. Pa.

His brother John back home in Philadelphia at the time of Dennis's death was running the family business. It is noted that John was running a business as late as 1876 at Vine St. Philadelphia. John's young family were all American born and I have no doubt that there are O'Kane descendants from this man in the Philadelphia area as now.

Graves in Section U Range 3 Lot 27. Old Cathedral Cemetery.
We know that Col. O'Kane is buried in this plot. However this is basically a family plot which was owned by Hannah O'Kane his wife. Here is a list of some of the names and identified people buried there.
Colonel Dennis O'Kane aged 45 interred 20th. May 1874 Grave 2N Removed from F. 2. 48. (This was I assume his initial burial position).
Mary E. Byrne (Burns?) aged 1 year interred 20th. May 1874. Grave 2N. Removed from F. 2. 48.
This young child was removed the same day as Colonel O'Kane from the same grave and reburied with him. I have no knowledge why this happened but there must have been kinship.
Hannah O'Kane aged 57 interred March 10th. 1876. Grave 2S. This is Colonel O' Kanes wife.
Mary Burrows aged 59 interred 9th. Feb. 1909.
(Mary was Colonel O'Kanes daughter)
Israel Burrows aged 70 years interred 7th Jan. 1908.
(Israel was Colonel O'Kanes son in law.)
Lizzie Lynham aged 9 months interred 18th. Jan. 1876.
Joseph Burrows aged 16 years interred 20th. Oct. 1891.
Mary E. Burrows aged 75 years interred 5th. May 1948 grave 2N. Lived at 4804 Springfield Ave. Philadelphia.
Hannah Donnelly aged 30 years interred 7th. June 1878 grave 2S.
These are obviously family members.

Though this website looks primarily at the 69th. Penn Vol. Regt. is should not be overlooked that there were other regiments in the Irish Brigade of the Army of the Potomac or should the fact be overlooked that there were thousands of other Irish soldiers in the many other regiments of the Union Army or indeed in the Confederate units.
The main Irish Brigade regiments apart from the 69th Pa. Vols. were:
The 9th. and 28th Mass. Regts.
The 37th. 63rd. 69th. 88th. 155th. 164th. 170th. 182nd. Regts.
The 116th Penn. Regt.

The psyche of the Irish Brigade soldiers and Irish soldiers in general.

Though much history has been written about the exploits of the various units of the Irish Brigade as far as I am aware mostly written in America in many cases by Irish American descendants who have never been to Ireland. Would they be able to see into the mindset of the Irish soldier in the Civil War? Well maybe. Let me illustrate my point. The great deeds of bravery of the officers and men are legendary and well recorded. They would be ruthless enemies and great friends but there was another side to them. Let me illustrate my point and leave you thinking.
On that fateful day of Aug. 3rd. at Gettysburg when the chips were down Colonel Dennis O'Kane ( a Derry man) the colonel of the 69th. Penn. was no doubt leading from the front. Private Hugh McKeever in Co. D. ( another Derry man) was defending his spot in the middle of the 69th. line when in a lull in the fighting some of his comrades started to shout for food. Hugh was as we say here "his own man" and had decided on that fateful day to wear a deep large wide brimmed hat to protect him from the sun and perhaps get a better view of the Confederates. He however used it as a carrier of the provisions he cadged from some other units. He made it back to his position on the wall just as the bombardment started. He survived the war and is noted in some sources as having changed his name to Joseph. Ah! Derry men.

Other Civil War Irish born soldiers of note found in course of my research.