Union Army officer in the American Civil War
Thomas William Sweeny
(December 25, 1820 ? April 10, 1892) was an
Irish
-American
soldier
who served in the
Mexican?American War
, the
Yuma War
, and as a general in the
Union Army
during the
American Civil War
.
Birth and early years
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]
Sweeny was born in
Cork, Ireland
, on
Christmas Day
, 1820. He immigrated to the United States in 1833. In 1846, he enlisted as a
second lieutenant
in the 2nd New York Volunteers, and fought under General
Winfield Scott
in
Mexico
. Sweeny was wounded in the groin at the
Battle of Cerro Gordo
, and his right arm was so badly injured at the
Battle of Churubusco
that it had to be amputated. For his heroics, his fellow servicemen nicknamed him "Fighting Tom". Despite this usually career-ending injury, he continued serving with the
2nd US Infantry
until the outbreak of the Civil War. Sweeny was active in the
Yuma War
(1850?1853), fighting in several engagements against
native Americans
.
Civil War
[
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At the outbreak of the Civil War, Sweeny was in command of the
arsenal
at
St. Louis, Missouri
. In reply to efforts of
Confederate
sympathizers to induce him to surrender that important post, he declared that before he would do so, he would blow it up. As second in command, he participated in the capture of
Camp Jackson
in May 1861 and later assisted in organizing the
Home Guard
. He was chosen as the
brigadier general
of that organization.
Sweeny commanded the
52nd Illinois Infantry Regiment
at
Fort Donelson
. At
Shiloh
, in command of a brigade, he successfully defended a gap in the
Union
line. He was wounded in the battle, being shot twice in his only remaining arm and once in one of his legs.
[2]
Sweeny kept the field until the close of the fight, exciting the admiration of the whole army. He returned to command his regiment but returned to brigade command when General
Pleasant A. Hackleman
was killed at
Corinth
. He commanded the Second Division of the
Sixteenth Army Corps
in the
Atlanta campaign
. At the
Battle of Atlanta
Sweeny's division intercepted
John B. Hood
's flank attack. Sweeny got into a fistfight with his corps commander, General
Grenville M. Dodge
, when Dodge broke protocol and personally directed one of Sweeny's brigades during the fight. Sweeny received a
court-martial
for these actions but was acquitted. He mustered out of the volunteers in August 1865, and was dismissed for going
AWOL
by the end of the year.
Fenian raids
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In 1866, he commanded the ill-fated
Fenian invasion of Canada
, after which he was arrested for breaking
neutrality
laws between the United States and Britain, but was soon released. He was reinstated with his former rank of
major
later that year, and retired from the
regular army
in May 1870 as a brigadier general.
Death
[
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]
Sweeny retired to
Astoria
on
Long Island
. He died there on April 10, 1892, and is buried in
Green-Wood Cemetery
in
Brooklyn
.
See also
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]
References
[
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]
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Gilman, D. C.
; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905).
New International Encyclopedia
(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- Jack Morgan,
Through American and Irish Wars: The Life and Times of General Thomas W. Sweeny 1820-1892
(Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2005).
External links
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