Nicholas Pomeroy is one of only two veterans of the American Civil War buried in County Cork. In fact, he is buried beside the Church in Millstreet. Here is a short overview of his story:
Nicholas Pomeroy was born about 1835 at Claramore to Robert Pomeroy and Harriet Justice. He was one of six children. His father worked hard on the farm and the family were brought up very respectably. Time passed, and the children went to school and when his older brother Tom got old enough to travel, he went out to a relation of his father’s in Missouri. When Nicholas was old enough, he followed around the end of 1858 in order to make a living.
As time passed, he got bored, and decided he wanted to see more of the world. So in October 1860 first visited his brother Tom in Ray County, and from there headed to St. Louis and took a steamboat down the Mississippi to New Orleans, where he had a nice time for a few days. From there he crossed the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston, Texas, and then onto Houston where he found employment.
There he fell into the ways of the local people, and their manners and customs became natural to him, and he liked the people and the weather and the nature around him very much, and life was uneventful.
But in Spring 1861, war was brewing, the southerners blood was up and Nicholas was ready for an adventure, and at the end of April 1861 he volunteered to fight for the Confederates at Houston. There they trained in a camp for several months before setting out for the seat of war in Virginia, and it was two months before they arrived at the Potomac River, facing the Federal Army across the river.
There was no fighting due to the winter. The army was reorganised, but and the biggest problem was to get enough food, heat, and shelter until the following Spring, when the action started. Many got sick at this time.
Here is a brief overview of the places that Nicholas saw action during the war as part of Company A 5th Regiment Texas Infantry:
- Yorktown and coming to Magruder’s Assistance (April 1862)
- The retreat from Yorktown and The Battle of Eltham’s Landing (May 3rd 1862)
- The Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks (31st May-1st June 1862)
- The Relief of Richmond and the Battle of Gaines’ Mill (Battle of Chickahominy River) (June 27, 1862)
- Battle of Malvern Hill (1st July 1862)
- The Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas (August 28–30, 1862)
- The Battle of Antietam (the Battle of Sharpsburg) September 17, 1862
- The Battle of Fredericksburg (December 11–15, 1862)
- The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1st-3rd, 1863). There he was shot twice: “at last I was struck by a bullet that glanced along my tight side tearing the flesh and lacerating my ribs, and at the same instant one passed through the lower joint of my little finger of my right hand. Though the wound in my side was not serious, it was very painful and I had great difficulty in breathing for quite a while”. He was taken prisoner that day July 2nd and sent to Fort McHenry (or Fort Delaware?). He met a man there who knew his brother Tom, and he told Nicholas that Tom had died accidentally. On July 31st he was of the month he was paroled in a prisoner exchange.
- Furlough – After his release he was given leave for 30 days, which really didn’t seem like very much.
- Campaigning in Tennessee, where he got very sick with fever/malaria in November 1863
- The Battle of the Wilderness (May 5–7, 1864)
- The Battle of Spotsylvania (May 1864)
- The Siege of Petersburg (June 1864 to April 1865)
- He surrendered with the remnants of General Lee’s army at Appomattox on April 9th 1865.
[read more …] “Nicholas Pomeroy – American Civil War Veteran”
