HE FIRST ENLISTED IN 1850 AND SERVED IN THE US ARMY UNTIL 1875.

HE WAS BASED AT FORT TEJON, CALIFORNIA DURING THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE OF 1857.

HE FOUGHT IN THE CIVIL WAR 1861-1865 AND WAS PRESENT AT THE FINAL SURRENDER OF LEE AT APPOMATTOX.

AT DIFFERENT TIMES HE WAS BASED AT THE SAME FORTS AS LEGENDARY AMERICAN NAMES SUCH AS WILD BILL HICKOCK, BUFFALO BILL & GENERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER.

HE FOUGHT IN THE INDIAN WARS OF THE 1870s.

In the early months of 2024, while searching through US Army Enlistment Books for the US Civil War period, I came across the name of William Creevy. The record was from the year 1860 and my interest was initially drawn to the fact that it confirmed this recruits birthplace as “Kings County, Ireland”. This was the name given to County Offaly in Ireland prior to 1922. His occupation was recorded as “Dragoon” which was effectively another name for a Cavalry Soldier. Dragoons traditionally were mounted soldiers who would dismount to fight engagements while the later Cavalry soldier fought on horseback.

I checked further back in the records to see was it possible to see when this man first enlisted. Sure enough William Creevy first registered into Company K of the 1st US Army Dragoons on December 7th 1850 at New York when he was just 21 years of age. This record again confirms his birth place as “Kings County, Ireland” and states that he was then working as a Laborer. On moving forward in the enlistment books I continued to find this soldier listed in the US Army right up the to year 1873 when he re-enlisted for the final time. This last record also tells us when this career soldier completed his service in the US Army. William Creevy was finally discharged from service on July 30th 1875. Amazingly, this man from County Offaly in Ireland had served for 25 years as a Cavalry Soldier during a period of American history that was probably the most volatile in its entire existence. Luckily the records of William Creevy years of service had left the vital clues needed to piece together this forgotten story.

United States Army Enlistments 1798-1914 Image | findmypast.ie – 1850

United States Army Enlistments 1798-1914 Image | findmypast.ie – 1860

United States Army Enlistments 1798-1914 Image | findmypast.ie – 1873 FINAL ENLISTMENT

When William Creevy enlisted as a US Army Dragoon in 1850 it was during a period when this section of the Army was mostly involved in the protection from Indian attacks of the long wagon trains moving along the Oregon Trail and of new settlers heading west to California. It was an extremely dangerous and bloody time as many attacks and outrages were committed during this period by both the US Army and the more militant Indian tribes and one report states that on 17 January 1855, Companies B, G, and part of K of the Dragoons (Williams Company) were attacked at night by a band of Apache Indians while camped near the Penasco River in New Mexico. William now found himself very much in the thick of the ongoing bloody battle of the native American indigenous people versus the rapidly expanding United States.

At the end of 1856 Willam Creevy and the First Dragoons, were transferred to a new base at Fort Tejon, in California along with other army companies that had been scattered throughout the West. William’s records for this period confirm his presence at Fort Tejon, and also confirm his Company K again seen action against the local Indian tribes. In particular on 8 January 1859 against the Mojave and again in April of 1860 in Yermo against the Paiutes tribe. These encounters were often very violent with heavy casualties on both sides but William Creevy survived all these engagements.

Two Mohave braves, – Timothy O’Sullivan –

Another historic and equally violent event would take place in early 1857 and William Creevy would again be a witness. What is known as the Fort Tejon earthquake occurred at 9:20am on the 9th January. It is still one of the largest recorded earthquakes in the United States history and is estimated at 7.9 on the Richter Scale. The quake ruptured the San Andreas fault along a line of almost 225 miles and caused damage to almost all the buildings at Fort Tejon where William was stationed. That area of California was sparsely populated in 1857 and for this reason casualties and building damages were light although reports state that several men at Fort Tejon were injured. William again survived this event but other even more major events were on the horizon for William Creevy and his fellow members of the Dragoons. By August of 1860 William’s service term had come to an end but he re-enlists and commits to another 5 year period in the Army. The record shows he was re-enlisted by Lieutenant Eugene Carr who would himself be a significant figure in the coming years. Neither men knew it but they would soon be leaving Fort Tejon and heading east and into the fire that was the US Civil War.

While William was serving at Fort Tejon in California during those late months of 1860, on the other side of America, the political situation and in particular the election of Abraham Lincoln was about to bring to a head divisions that had been simmering over the previous decades in the up to then “United States of America”. Civil War would begin on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces opened fire on the Union held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. America was now at war with itself.

The First Dragoons were quickly reorganized and by an act of Congress in August of 1861 were designated as the “First Regiment of the US Cavalry”. The other difficult task was to sort out who was now loyal to the United States and who was loyal to the Confederates with soldiers being allowed to leave if they were sympathetic to the Southern cause. Among the Officers who left the Union Army at this stage was Robert E. Lee. He was a man who had been a Senior Commander in the US Cavalry and no doubt was someone William Creevy would have been aware of and Lee would eventually become overall commander of the Confederate Forces. William would cross paths with him again in the coming years under different circumstances.

During November and December of 1861 most Companies stationed in the west, including Michael’s, were transferred by steamship from the Pacific Coast through Panama and eventually, on to Washington, arriving at the end of January 1862. From the enlistment records for Michael we know that at some period between 1862 and 1863 he was transferred to Company K of the newly designated 5th Cavalry where he was made Sergeant.

During the following years of the Civil War, Williams 5th Cavalry Regiment fought at such notables engagements as The Battle of Gaines’s Mill, Fairfax Courthouse, Williamsport, Gettysburg, and the  Battle of Wilderness. Their performance at Gaines Mill is considered their most notable action where the regiments attack at a vital moment saved the Union artillery from being completely overrun. They suffered heavy casualties at Gaines Mill but William once again survived a difficult moment.

Over the later years of the war William’s unit would at different stages come under the command of the dashing General Philip Sheridan, whose parents were from County Cavan in Ireland, and another equally flamboyant commanding officer in George Armstong Custer. William was not to know it then but it would not be the last time he would under the command of these two men.

George Armstrong Custer – Wikipedia

By the Spring of 1865 the Union Army had finally wore down the Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee and on the 5th April he agreed to surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Significantly, on this historic day, it was William Creevy and the other members of the 5th Cavalry who were selected to serve as the Union Honor Guard as the Confederate forces laid down their arms. Reports of this historic moment state:

“The Regiment stood by solemnly as it watched its former commander, General Robert E. Lee, surrender to the Union“

After the end of the Civil War, and on into the early 1870s, William Creevy as a member of the 5th Cavalry Regiment moved West once again as the US Regular Army were used in maintaining law and order in The Plains Wars. The ongoing conflict with various Native American tribes was still a major problem for the US Government at this time and the Army were being used as a mobile police force to protect the local settlers and communities. Once again his re-enlistment records from this period help us to locate William Creevy from Offaly and in particular a December 1873 record shows him to be stationed at Camp Verde, later renamed Fort Verde, in the state of Arizona. Today, Fort Verde, is an Historic State Park but during the period between 1871 and 1873 the 5th Cavalry stationed there fought 95 separate battles with the local Apache tribe and while they were victorious in each one of these engagements it would be a dark period for the US Army. Many of these skirmishes resulted in horrible casualties for the natives. Public opinion in the east was at that time still very much behind the US Army and even the famous Union General Willam Tecumsah Sherman would make reference to these successes when later talking to a committee from the United States House of Representatives  :

“the services of the 5th Cavalry Regiment in Arizona were unequaled by that of any Cavalry Regiment.” 

The last Army record of William Creevy that helps us with the next phase of his story is from the year 1875 and while it confirms his previous place of service as being at Camp Verde, it also tells us where his final discharge from the US Cavalry takes place. In July of 1875 William is stationed at Fort Hays which is in the US State of Kansas and once again he was at a very historic location during a very significant period in the history of the United States of America.

United States Army Enlistments 1798-1914 Image | findmypast.ie – July 1875

The site of Fort Hays was, and still is today, a place of huge significance in US History. It had been built in 1865 and was an important frontier post while the Army again were engaged in fighting the Native American Tribes and protecting new routes to the West. The records indicate that William was stationed here for about 2 years prior to his final discharge and during those years Fort Hays would see some of the most legendary names in the history of the “Wild West” pass through its gates. The famed Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok served as Army scouts at Fort Hays at points during this period and William’s former Civil War commanding officers, General Philip Sheridan & George Armstrong Custer , also used the Fort as a headquarters at different times during campaigns against the local tribes.

Another momentous moment in American history would take place just a few months after Williams discharge and although it looks like he was not directly involved there is no doubt he would have known some of the participants. The event in question was known as “Custer’s Last Stand” or the Battle of Little Big Horn which occurred on June of 1876 when 264 US Cavalry men under the command of Custer died at the hands of the Sioux. In the days after the Battle it was troopers of William’s 5th Cavalry Regiment that were sent in pursuit of the Sioux to avenge the deaths of their fellow soldiers.

The record tells us that William is discharged for the final time on July 30th of 1875 at the age of 46. It also states that William has a “disability” but doesn’t confirm the precise nature of his health problems. No doubt his years of service in the rugged and difficult conditions of army life had taken its toll on him. His pension record from September of 1875 also tells us that William was now categorized as an “invalid” which would tell us he was removed from active service because of injury or illness. His years of dedicated service had come to an end. There is no indication or record of William ever being married or having a family and presumably it was for this reason, combined with his then serious health issues, that he was sent to the U.S. Soldiers’ Home in Washington, D.C. where he would see out the remainder of his days.

William Creevy died on the 22nd of October 1878 at the Soldiers Home in Washington at just 49 years of age. We have no way of knowing how those final few years were for William and if he had any family or friends nearby to visit him. He had given the best years of his life to the Army and it was probably all he ever knew and so it was probably fitting that he ended his days in the company of fellow soldiers.

So who was William Creevy and how do you sum up his amazing and adventurous life ? His is a story that reads like an old Western film we have seen so many times on TV, it could make a script for a Hollywood blockbuster Movie or a Netflix Mini Series. And yet the story of this man only became possible as a result of a hand written name on army documents from 175 years ago. When he died in 1878 his life was summed in a small article of only a few sentences, with some incorrect details, in a Maryland Newspaper. He was laid to rest in a simple grave with a headstone that only makes reference to his life as a soldier. None of this helps in knowing what sort of man William Creevy was and the historic documents cannot give us hints as to his real personality. The newspaper report is short and his grave stone, although elegant, doesn’t even mention where he originated. Ironically it was his acknowledgment of his birth place on those old documents that was the single thing that caused his story to be re-discovered.

I think the actions of this man throughout his life are the clues as to how he should be summed up as a man.

Michael Creevy was from County Offaly in Ireland and was a brave and dedicated soldier who gave his life in the service of his adopted country.

By Kevin Guing

30/04/2025

**While we currently cannot find the exact birth or baptism record of William Creevy, indications are that he was from the Tullamore area in Offaly. There are several Creevy baptisms recorded for the 1820s and 1830 in that area. If anyone has any more details in relation to this story please do let us know. For more details on William Creevy go to his page on americasoffalyheroes.com – William Creevy

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