So this morning I was trying to look at birthdays at Wikipedia and I saw Phil Kearny’s. Then I remembered this post……..only when had finally I remembered that today is June 2nd – oh, well …..here is the post anyway and Happy Belated Birthday Phil Keanry – pronounced Karni – how can I pass it up!!
Exploring Philip Kearny, (June 1, 1815 – September 1, 1862) the Man and the Fort!
Yesterday’s post regarding Horses of the American Civil War left me with a question. I know that Fort Phil Kearny was on the Bozeman Trail in northeastern Wyoming, but, do I remember correctly that the Fort was the site of the Fetterman Massacre? A trip to Wikipedia and my question was answered. Yes, in fact my memory is correct Fort Phil Kearny was the site of the Fetterman Massacre.
Fetterman, while having no experience fighting Indians didn’t have a high opinion of either his commanding officer Colonel Henry B. Carrington or his Indian foes. His boast was “Give me 80 men and I can ride through the whole Sioux nation”. Well, on the morning of December 21, 1866 (Hey that’s today’s date!) Fetterman, in command of a relief party, disregarded Carrington’s orders which were clear. “Under no circumstances” was the relief party to “pursue over the ridge, that is Lodge Trail Ridge”. Fetterman, also, underestimated the strength and cunning of his foe and it cost him dearly. Tricked into an ambush Fetterman, along with the 81 soldiers under his command were killed. At the time it was the worst military disaster ever suffered by the U.S. on the Great Plains, until you know who came along!
So after establishing that my memory was ok, and that the Fort Phil Kearny, named after Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny, was in fact the site of the Fetterman Massacre. I wanted to find out more about Philip Kearny.
Philip Kearny was born on June 1, 1815 into a well-to-do family. Kearny’s father was a Harvard-educated, New York City financier who owned his own brokerage firm and was also a founder of the New York Stock Exchange. Whoa! But tragically, both of Kearny’s parents died when he was young leaving Kearny to be raised by his grandfather. His grandfather died in 1836 and left Kearny a fortune worth over a million dollars!! Kearny rather than becoming a lawyer became a soldier and was assigned to the 1st U.S. Dragoons, who were commanded by his grand-uncle, Colonel Stephen W. Kearny. Fort Kearny in Nebraska is named after this grand-uncle.The adjutant general was Jefferson Davis!
After studying cavalry tactics in France, Kearny returned to the US, and eventually served in the Mexican-American War. After the war he resigned from the Army and returned to New York. Kearny moved to New Jersey and then France. In 1861 he returned to the US and the Army . He was appointed a brigadier general, commanding the First New Jersey.
From Wikipedia….
He led the division into action at the Battle of Williamsburg and the Battle of Fair Oaks. At Williamsburg, as he led his troops onto the field, Kearny shouted (in a notable quote), “I’m a one-armed Jersey son-of-a-gun, follow me!” The general led the charge with his sword in hand, reins in his teeth. He is noted for urging his troops forward by declaring, “Don’t worry, men, they’ll all be firing at me!”
His bravado in tact, on…..
September 1, 1862, at the Battle of Chantilly. In a violent storm with lightning and pouring rain, Kearny decided to investigate a gap in the Union line. Responding to warnings of a subordinate, he said, “The Rebel bullet that can kill me has not yet been molded.” Encountering Confederate troops, Kearny ignored a demand to surrender and, while he tried to escape on horseback, a “half dozen muskets fired” and he was shot with a Minié ball that entered his hip and came out his shoulder, killing him instantly.[5] Confederate Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill, upon hearing the gunfire, ran up to the body of the illustrious soldier with a lantern and exclaimed, “You’ve killed Phil Kearny, he deserved a better fate than to die in the mud.” General Lee sent his body back to Union forces, with a condolence note. At the time, there were rumors in Washington that President Abraham Lincoln was contemplating replacing George B. McClellan with “Kearny the Magnificent”.
Earlier I wrote that Kearny left New York City 1855. Well he left NYC to escape the disapproval of society. The reason for society’s disapproval was that while Kearny was in Paris he fell in love with a New York City woman Agnes Maxwell, but they could not be married because Kearny’s wife would not grant him a divorce (remember that million dollar inheritance, bet that had something to do with it). In 1854 Kearny was injured while riding his horse and Ms Maxwell moved in to take care of him! Subsequently the couple left NYC. Moving to New Jersey , they settled into Kearny’s new mansion Bellegrove, overlooking the Passaic River (in what is now Kearny, New Jersey). The mansion was not far from his family’s old manor in Newark. Kearny eventually married Ms. Maxwell, when his wife granted the divorce in 1858. The marriage took place in Paris.
So now I found out…. Fort Phil Kearny was the site of the Fetterman Massacre, but I also connected Phil Kearny to Williamsburg, Virginia, where my daughter went to college at The College of William and Mary and to Kearny , New Jersey, where I have actually done work. A few years ago my company was involved with the Hess Oil Company’s plan to run a pipeline under Doremus Avenue in Newark to a facility located in Kearny just north of the Pulaski Skyway. I was involved in surveying, drafting and wetlands work for the project! You never know only four degrees of separation between Fort Phil Kearny , Phil Kearny and Me!
