PATRICK JOSEPH HEALY LATER BECAME PRESIDENT OF MEAGHERS IRISH BRIGADE ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK
Patrick Healy was born in Tullamore in 1842 and emigrated to US as a boy with his parents. His Father would die in New York leaving Patrick and his Mother to build a life in their newly adopted home.
At the outbreak of the civil war a then 19 year old Patrick would enlist initially in Meaghers 69th Irish Brigade which later consolidated into the 88th Infantry Regiment. This regiment would be involved in all the major engagements of the war including The Battle Of Gettysburg where the regiment would fight bravely on the Wheatfield.
88th New York: Gettysburg 2nd July- 5th July 1863 – Irish in the American Civil War
Later in life Patrick Healy would serve as President of the Meaghers Irish Brigade Association and was a prominent figure in New York political life. Patrick Healy died in 1891 while on a visit to Chicago and is sadly buried in an unmarked grave in Calvary Cemetery, Queens County, New York.
Meagher’s Irish Brigade :: New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center
88th Infantry Regiment :: New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center
88th Regiment Flag
Thomas Francis Meagher – A Leader of the Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848. Originally sentenced to death for his part in the rebellion but later his sentence was commuted to transportation for life to Van Diemen’s Land.
He escaped and made his way to US and at the outbreak of the US Civil War he joined up eventually rising to the rank of Brigadier General. Meagher would recruit and lead the famous Irish Brigade.
Following the Civil War, Meagher was appointed Montana’s Territorial Secretary of State and acting territorial Governor. Meagher would die in suspicious circumstances in 1867.
