Myles Keogh - Career

Career

Myles Keogh was born in Orchard House, Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland on 25 March 1840. The farming carried out at Keogh's home place in Leighlinbridge was arable, barley being the main crop. This meant that the Keogh family were largely unaffected by the hunger and poverty that accompanied the Irish Potato Famine and ravaged the country between 1845 and 1850 – Keogh's childhood days. However, two, or possibly three, of Keogh's siblings did die young, apparently from typhoid – a disease associated with the famine and an illness that Myles also suffered as a boy.

He attended the National School in Leighlinbridge where he was enrolled under the spelling 'Miles Kehoe'. – “At Classics” was recorded as the reason for leaving in 1852. He was long thought to have attended St. Patrick’s College in Carlow but that college has not found any proof of his attendance. It is possible that he attended St. Mary's Knockbeg College where, from 1847, young lay pupils from St. Patrick's were sent to be educated.

By 1860, a twenty year old Myles Keogh had volunteered, along with over one thousand of his countrymen, to rally to the defence of Pope Pius IX following a call to arms by the Catholic clergy in Ireland. By August 1860, Keogh was appointed second lieutenant of his unit in the Battalion of St. Patrick, Papal Army under the command of General Christophe Léon Louis Juchault de Lamoricière. He was posted at Ancona, a central port city of Italy. The Papal forces were defeated in September in the Battle of Castelfidardo, and Ancona was surrounded. The soldiers, although having admirable defence, were forced to surrender and Keogh was imprisoned at Genoa. After his quick release by exchange, Keogh went to Rome and was invited to wear the spirited green uniforms of the Company of St. Patrick as a member of the Vatican Guard. During his service, the Holy See awarded him the Medaglia for gallantry – the Pro Petri Sede Medal – and also the Cross of the Order of St. Gregory – Ordine di San Gregorio.

Now that the fighting was over and duties of the Vatican Guard were more mundane, Keogh saw little purpose in remaining at Rome. With Civil War raging in America, Secretary of State William H. Seward began seeking experienced European officers to serve the Union, and called upon a number of prominent clerics to assist in his endeavour. John Hughes, Archbishop of New York, travelled to Italy to recruit veterans of the Papal War, and met with Keogh and his comrades.Thus in March 1862 Keogh resigned his commission in the Company of Saint Patrick, and with his senior officer – 30-year-old Daniel J. Keily of Waterford – returned briefly to Ireland, then boarded the steamer "Kangaroo" bound from Liverpool to New York, where the vessel arrived April 2. Another Papal comrade, Joseph O'Keeffe – 19-year-old nephew of the Bishop of Cork – met with Keogh and Keily in Washington.

Through Secretary Seward's intervention, the three were given Captains' rank and on April 15 assigned to the staff of Irish-born Brigadier General James Shields, whose forces were about to confront the Confederate army of Stonewall Jackson. They notably stormed after Jackson’s army in the Shenandoah Valley and nearly captured the furious leader at the Battle of Port Republic. Jackson may have slipped into the hills, but Keogh’s courageousness during his first engagement did not go unnoticed. George B. McClellan, the commander of the Potomac Army, was impressed with Keogh, describing the young Captain as "a most gentlemanlike man, of soldierly appearance," whose "record had been remarkable for the short time he had been in the army." On McClellan's request, Keogh was temporarily transferred to his personal staff. He was to be with 'Little Mac' for only a few months but served the General during the Battle of Antietam. After McClellan's removal from command in November 1862, the admirable traits identified in his first six months in the Union army came to the fore when he and his Papal comrade, Joseph O’Keeffe, were reassigned to General John Buford’s staff.

Although held in reserve with the rest of the Union cavalry for the winter of 1862 and during the Battle of Fredericksburg, Myles Keogh and O’Keeffe served Buford with obedience and gallantry during the Stoneman Raid in April 1863 and the enormous battle on June 9 at Brandy Station, which was practically all cavalry. Buford's 1st Division of cavalry fought with distinction in June 1863 as they skirmished with their much vaunted Confederate foe, led by J.E.B. Stuart in Loudoun County, Virginia – most notably at Upperville.

On June 30, Buford, with Keogh by his side, rode into the small town of Gettysburg. Very soon, Buford realised that he was facing a superior force of rebels to his front and set about creating a defence against the Confederate advance. He was acutely aware of the importance of holding the tactically important high ground about Gettysburg and so he did, beginning one of the most iconic battles in American military history. His intelligent defensive troop alignments, coupled with the bravery and tenacity of his dismounted men, allowed the 1st Corps, under General John F. Reynolds, time to come up in support and thus maintain a Union foothold at strategically important positions. Despite Lee’s barrage attack of 140 cannons and a final infantry attack on the third day of the battle, the Union army won a highly significant victory. The importance of Buford's leadership and tactical foresight on July 1 cannot be overstated in its contribution to this victory. Significantly, Myles Keogh received his first brevet for "gallant and meritorious services" during the battle and was promoted to the rank of Major.

The battle was over and so were almost 8,000 men’s lives with it. However this was a turning point in the war, and a turning point in Buford’s health. Five further months of almost constant skirmishing with J.E.B. Stuart's Rebel cavalry at such battles as Funkstown and Willamsport worsened Buford's condition. As Keogh later wrote in Buford's service record (etat de service), Buford "was taken ill from fatique and extreme hardship". By the winter Buford would succumb to typhoid. Keogh would stay by his side and care for him, while they rested in Washington at the home of an old friend General George Stoneman. Buford was buried at West Point Cemetery, as Keogh attended his funeral at Washington and rode with his body on the train.

Major Keogh was now appointed as aide de camp to General George Stoneman. In July 1864, Stoneman raided to the south and southeast, destroying railroads and industrial works. Their risky raids behind Confederate lines were also designed to free federal prisoners held at Macon, Georgia, and liberate the nearly 30,000 captives at Andersonville prison.

Although Stoneman's Union cavalry did destroy the railroads, the onslaught on Macon failed from the beginning and on July 31, 1864, Keogh and Stoneman’s command were surrounded during the Battle of Sunshine Church, Georgia. They were captured after both their horses were shot out from under them. Keogh was held for 2½ months as a prisoner of war before being released through Union general William Tecumseh Sherman’s efforts. Keogh would later receive a second brevet with promotion to lieutenant colonel for his gallantry with Stoneman at the Battle of Dallas.

The praise garnered from the commanders Myles Keogh served with during the war years was indeed high:

"Whether on staff duty or commanding detachments on dangerous and delicate service, he was alike successful, and his soldierly bearing and spirit were a model. He is par excellence a cavalry officer"

— Major General Jacob D. Cox, Commander 3rd Division of the XXIII Corps of the Army of the Ohio

"He is one of the most gallant and efficient young cavalry officers I have ever known"

— Major General John M. Schofield, U.S. Secretary of War and commanding General of the United States Army.

"His record had been remarkable for the short time he had been in the army. He appeared to a most gentlemanlike man, of soldierly appearance, and I was exceedingly glad to have him as an aide."

— General George B. McClellan, the commander of the Potomac Army

"Major Keogh is one of the most superior young officers in the army and is a universal favourite with all who know him"

— General George Stoneman, Chief of Cavalry, Army of the Potomac

At the war’s end, although he had the brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the union army, he accepted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Cavalry on May 4, 1866. He never served with that unit and was promoted to Captain, 7th Cavalry, on July 28, 1866 and assigned to Ft. Riley in Northeast Kansas to become the Captain of Company I under the command of George Armstrong Custer.