The US Civil War service of James Dargin was for us initially quite difficult to understand. While we were sure we had found another Offaly born Civil War soldier to add to our list, more information was needed to fully clarify his birth place and connect him back to his native land. The main reason for the confusion was this soldiers surname. When he joined the 1st New Jersey Infantry at Trenton in early April 1864 James Dargin, for some reason, enlisted under the alias of James Molloy. He could not have been aware of the repercussions of that decision and how it would later cause severe difficulties for his wife, Bridget. It is only because of her persistence in pursuit of the pension payments, that she was fully entitled to, after the death of her husband that we can 100% say that it was James Dargin, and not James Molloy, who was the Offaly born soldier who joined the Union Army.

So why would James Dargin enlist under an alias? There were several reasons for this during the Civil War period as men often enlisted under a different name after deserting from a previous regiment. They could then collect a second payment or “Bounty” for enlisting in the Union Army. Other reasons included escaping debt, abandoning their wives and families or simply their name being wrongly recorded due to their Irish accents being difficult for the enlisting officer to understand. The available details in the case of James Dargin would indicate that he was possibly enlisting for a second time but we have no way of being absolutely sure of this. Whatever the exact reasons for his actions his enlistment on the 4th April 1864 would set James Dargin on a path with destiny almost exactly a month later at the infamous Battle of the Wilderness.

In April of 1864 James Dargin and the 1st New Jersey Regiment were part of the Army of the Potomac under its new overall commander, General Ulysses S. Grant. The regiment was by then a very experienced and battle hardened unit having already being involved in a large number of vital moments in the war. In March of 1864 General Grant had devised his Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee making his main objective the destruction of the Confederate armies rather than trying to conquer territory. This would lead to some very bloody battles over the period of that campaign with huge casualties on both sides. The opening confrontation of that period of the war would take place on the 5th May 1864 near Locust Grove in Virginia in an area known as The Wilderness. The dense and heavily wooded terrain where the battle would eventually be fought led to huge confusion during the fighting and later accounts by the men fighting at the Wilderness are all noticeable in how they describe the particular horror of the battlefield. On the morning of the 5th May, as an experienced regiment, the 1st New Jersey Infantry Regiment, including the inexperienced James Dargin, were quickly thrown into the fight.

Genl. U.S. Grant at Wilderness LCCN2004661535 – Battle of the Wilderness – Wikipedia

James Dargin was wounded sometime during that first day of the Battle of the Wilderness and was moved to Armory Square Hospital in Washington DC where he sadly would not recover from his injuries. James eventually died on the 30th May 1864 less than 2 months after enlisting into the 1st New Jersey Regiment. His death was documented by the Washington DC Surgeon General’s Office with his name this time recorded as James Malloy and confirms his death resulted from a leg fracture due to a gunshot wound.

The death record in question includes another fascinating piece of history that is easy to overlook. Doctor Willard Bliss signed off on the death of James and this Doctor would later become a very controversial figure in the world of US medicine. Nearly twenty years later in 1881 Dr. Bliss was the surgeon who treated President James Garfield after he had been shot by an assassin’s bullet. Bliss was not a believer in most of the newer medical methods, including the use of antiseptic, and this would lead to his 3 month long treatment of President Garfield being littered with errors, guesswork and complete incompetence before finally ending with the President’s agonizing death in September 1881. On reading of how Bliss treated President Garfield it would also maybe point to the Doctors methods possibly being a contributing factor in the death of Offaly’s James Dargin. It would seem, even taking into account the relatively basic medical practices used at the time, that a fractured leg caused by a gunshot wound should not have been an injury that would lead to the eventual death of any soldier.

***Note Signatures of Dr. Willard Bliss 1866 & 1886 ***

On the death of her husband Bridget Dargin begun the normal procedures then in place for making an application for the soldiers widows pension. Luckily for us these files are available to view online and it is here where we get a lot of very helpful information. The documents reveal the many problems Bridget Dargin encountered in, firstly, trying to prove that James Dargin and James Molloy were one and the same person and, secondly, in providing the necessary documentation to show the she and James Dargin were in fact husband and wife. While she was quickly able to prove the proper identity of her husband the same could not be said for providing evidence of their marriage. It would take 2 more years before she would finally get the required documentation from Ireland that would finally lead to her being granted a Widows Pension.

Among the documents that Bridget Dargin supplied to the pension committee was a small innocuous hand written note sent in May of 1866 by Fr. John Corcoran, then the Catholic Parish Priest of Clara in County Offaly, to the authorities in the USA. The note is a confirmation of the marriage of James Dargin to Bridget Howard at the parish church in October 1851 and also includes a further declaration by a local Justice Of The Peace, Marcus Goodbody, adding the following extra piece of hugely helpful information:

“James Dargin and Bridget Howard lived in this town as husband and wife for a period of 3 years before they left this country for America”. – Marcus Goodbody – 31st May 1866

These amazing historical documents give us the proof that James Dargin and his wife Bridget (Howard) were both from Clara in County Offaly and also tell us that they likely arrived in the USA around 1854. Using the dates indicated in the pension files we were then also able to find the marriage record for James and Bridget in the Clara parish register and it confirms the details sent to the pension committee by Fr. Corcoran in 1866. A further search of the register confirms the baptism of a son named John Dargin in October 1852. Sadly this name does not appear in any of the later pension records as being a dependent of James Dargin which would indicate that baby John died before the family arrived in America in 1854. It would seem at the time of James death at the Wilderness, also indicated by the pension records, that his only child was a daughter named Annie.

Reading through the documents in relation to this story it is obvious that Bridget Howard Dargin was a very determined woman and it was her persistence that finally led to her being granted a pension in August 1866. Her payments were also back dated to allow for the period of time since her husband’s death. It is thanks to that persistence and the documentation she provided back in 1864 -1866 that we can today prove that she and her husband, the correctly named James Dargin, were from Clara in County Offaly, Ireland.

Civil War “Widows’ Pensions”, 1861-1910 – Fold3

Bridget Dargin relocated to Philadelphia where she would live to the ripe old age of 80 years. She remained unmarried for the rest of her days before eventually passing away in April of 1899. Sadly only a year earlier she had to bury her only daughter, Annie, who died in February of 1898. Both Mother & Daughter were interred in the same Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Philadelphia.

So what of her husband James Dargin and his place of burial ? Once again, and for the final time, that odd decision to enlist as James Molloy in April of 1864 leads to more twists in his story.

James Dargin lies buried in Grave 52, Section 27 of the famous Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. This large estate was ironically once the property of the earlier mentioned General Robert E. Lee who was overall Commander of the Confederate forces on the day that James Dargin sustained his fatal wounds. The impressive 640 acre property was confiscated by the Union Government and in May of 1864 was turned into a National Cemetery which today holds the remains of 400,000 people. It is likely considering the date of James Dargins’ death coincides closely with the establishment of Arlington that our Clara soldier was possibly one of the earliest soldiers interred on the estate.

And so to the final chapter in the story of James Dargin, alias James Molloy, alias James Malloy.

As we have shown, all the army and pension records relating to this soldier contain his incorrect surname up to and including his final death cert. It is for this reason when he was being laid to rest in May 1864 in Arlington Cemetery his headstone bears the name of that last recorded version of his alias- James Malloy.

The fateful decision James Dargin made when enlisting into the Union Army in early April 1864 did, in every way, go with him to his grave.

Pvt James Malloy (1864) – Find a Grave Memorial

Kevin Guing – November 21st 2025

For more on this soldier check out his page at – James Dargin – Americasoffalyheroes

** We have sent the information we have uncovered about this Offaly soldier to findagrave.com in the hope that they will make some reference to this soldiers correct name & birth place on his site page– Pvt James Malloy (unknown-1864) – Find a Grave Memorial