Born In Cloncrane, Clonbollogue, County Offaly, Ireland.
Edward Ging Lied About His Age When Enlisting in 1861 At Only 14 Years Old.
Survived Major Battles Including Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Antietam & Chancellorsville.
Later In Life He Was A Hotel & Saloon Owner In Greenport, Long Island.
Edward Ging was born in Cloncrane, Clonbollogue, County Offaly to parents Elizabeth Rourke & Edward Ging Snr. The local Irish Catholic Parish Register confirms his baptism in March of 1847 which means when he enlisted into the Union Army in New York on the 1st December 1861 he was still only 14 years of age! This fact was often later recounted in New York newspaper reports which further state that it was his “unusual size” that easily fooled the enlistment officers at Patchogue,. Edward was assigned to Company C of the 12th New York Infantry Regiment.
Baptism Record – Clonbollogue, County Offaly.
The Ging Family had emigrated to the US in 1852 and by the time of the 1860 US Census had settled in the aforementioned Patchogue area of New York. That same census record confirms that Edwards father, Edward Ging Snr, who was then 42, was working as a fisherman and in particular his profession is recorded as “Clamming” which was a major source of work in the area at that time. This connection to the sea would remain a common thread within the Ging family over the following generations and in particular in the later life of Edward Ging Jnr.
Edward’s service in the Union army comprised of his initial agreed 3 year term in the 12th New York Infantry Regiment and also a short term of enlistment in the 5th New York Veterans Regiment beginning in June of 1864. Edward was barely 18 years of age at that point and was then, ironically, considered a Veteran soldier ! During those years between 1861 and 1865 Edward Ging was present at some of the most historic and pivotal moments of the entire Civil War and, as reported later in some New York newspapers, he “came out of it without a scratch”! The impressive list reads as follows :
April/May 1862 – The Siege Of Yorktown
August 1862 – The Second Battle Of Bull Run
September 1862 – The Battle Of Antietam
December 1862 – The Battle Of Fredericksburg
May 1863 – The Battle Of Chancellorsville
July 1863 – The Battle Of Gettysburg
May 1864 – The Battle Of The Wilderness
After the Civil War Edward returned to his family and resumed working in the fishing business. He eventually bought his own boat which was said to be the “fastest in the fleet“. After several years in the fishing industry Edward became a Saloon and Hotel owner in Greenport, Long Island and was, by all accounts, a well respected member of that community. In 1871 Edward married Alice Burns and the between the years 1872 and 1895 the couple would have 13 children. Sadly for the Ging family 4 of those children would die in infancy.
Map Of Greenport, New York 1890 – Ging Saloon & Hotel Circled in Red (Bottom Right)
We did come across an unusual and amusing story in relation to Edward’s time as a Saloon owner. In May 1904 Edward called the local police in Greenport to come and arrest a drunken man who was outside his premises asleep on the footpath. It was only later that day Edward discovered the man who he had reported to the police was in fact his own brother Neil (Cornelius) Ging !
Edward Ging’s time in the Union army was rewarded with an army pension and those records helped us to further confirm his regiment numbers and period of service. It also gives us the date of his death. Edward passed away peacefully in October 1924 while sitting on the front porch of his house in Greenport, New York. He had been sick over the previous few months but the available newspaper reports at the time state “he was talking to his wife when the end came”. Edward was laid to rest in St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Suffolk County, New York.
Before completing the story of Edward Ging I need to reveal to the reader that Edward Ging is in fact my Great Great Grand Uncle. Furthermore, as myself and the co-creator of this site, Danny Leavy, share a 3xGreat Grandfather it also means that Danny is related to Edward Ging in exactly the same way ! Before beginning research into Offaly’s Civil War soldiers neither of us were aware of Edward Ging let alone his service in the Union army. From Clonbollogue, Offaly to the battlefields of the US Civil War and to his last days in Greenport our Great Great Grand Uncle had truly lived a full and eventful life..
Maybe its still a small world after all !
Kevin Guing
17th July 2026
For further reading on this soldier – Edward Ging – Americasoffalyheroes
Clonbollogue” – Americasoffalyheroes
Sources:
04202/06, Clonbulloge – Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI
Soldier Details – The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service)
Edward Ging (1847-1924) – Find a Grave Memorial
Edward Ging Jnr Obit – Newspapers.com™
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