08 July 2007
The Confederate Veteran
Patrick Griffin, circa 1905
The obituary came to me in the mail the other day. It was the actual page from the obituary section of a long defunct publication that flourished in the sepia-toned decades of the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Confederate Veteran was published monthly from 1893 to 1932, and contained articles pertaining to various southern veteran organizations. It also had obituaries, and the issue from July of 1921 contained the announcement of the passing of our charismatic great-great uncle Patrick, the wild Irish Boy.
He had appeared in the pages of the Veteran a few years before, telling the first part of his war experience with the 10th Tennessee Infantry. Now his story was done, at least in the active voice, though it reverberates in the histories that have come since.
The establishment of the Confederate Veteran and the popular accounts of the activities of the southern veteran's groups was an inevitable part of the South's self-rehabilitation, and the establishment of myth. It paralleled the long shadow cast by the great fraternal organization of the North, the Grand Army of the Republic. The United States of America, reunited by force of arms, welcomed home the veterans of a social cataclysm not seen before on the continent. It was so enormous in scope and technology that it was unprecedented in human history.
Taken in the long view, the war represented the tipping point between Napoleon's levee en masse- the mobilization of an entire segment of society as an armed force- and the mechanical carnage of the World War that devoured a generation of Europe, and ended the old Empires.
In previous conflicts the care of the veteran returned to the family or community. Most served in local units, which upon demobilization returned to the natural rhythms of planting or the harvest. The Civil War was something quite different. Units were less homogeneous, put together different cities and states to share privation and sacrifice on a vast scale that left a certain emptiness when it was over.
The transformation of American society was dramatic. The West was conquered with rail and plow, and yet those that had served desired some connection to the great events that had settled- for the moment- the great tension between the states that had simmered since the adoption of the Constitution. Men By 1890, the Grand Army of the Republic would number 409,489 veterans of the "War of the Rebellion."
Founded in Decatur, Illinois in April of 1866 by Benjamin F. Stephenson, membership was limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or the Revenue Cutter Service who had served between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865.
That would not include our great-great grandfather James, who decamped his unit on his own decision after three years of the war.
The GAR founded soldiers' homes, was active in relief work and in pension legislation. Five members were elected President of the United States and, for a time, it was impossible to be nominated on the Republican ticket without the endorsement of the GAR voting block. The organization secured the enshrinement of Memorial Day as a national holiday.
The days of its greatest influence were around the turn of the century, when ancient Civil War Vets were called back to the colors to mentor the troops headed for the war with Spain.
The final Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1949 and the last member, Albert Woolson died in 1956 at the age of 109 years.
Great-great Uncle Patrick marked the median point in the passing of the greatest generation of that century. Here is what his family said, in the antique language of the July, 1921, issue of the Confederate Veteran:
CAPT. PAT M. GRIFFIN
In the eventide of Tuesday, June 9, 1921. Capt. Pat M. Griffin, son of Michael and Honora McDonough Griffin, entered into eternal rest.
He was born in Galway, Ireland, and came to this country with his parents when an infant. The family settled in Baltimore, but later came to Tennessee when Michael Griffin accepted a position with the Southeastern Railroad (now the Henderson Division of the Louisville and Nashville). He remained with this company until his death in 1856. At this time Captain Griffin became the head of his family and obtained a position as timekeeper with his father's former employers and was serving in this capacity when he heard the call to arms.
All railroad work ceased immediately, and he became drummer boy in Capt Randall McGavock's company, "Sons of Erin," afterwards Company H, 10th Tennessee Infantry, Irish. He served with distinction throughout the war, was wounded twice, and advanced to the captaincy of his company, whose first captain, Randall McGavock, became colonel of the 10th Tennessee and was killed at Raymond, Miss., on May 12, 1863. Colonel McGavock died in Captain Griffin's arms, and after the battle the body was borne by him to Raymond. While en route he was captured by the enemy. His captors were commanded by an Irish officer who permitted Captain Griffin to give his colonel's body proper burial. After the cessation of hostilities Colonel McGavock's remains were brought to Nashville and placed in the McGavock vault at Mount Olivet.
Captain Griffin was made captain of Company H before the battle of Peachtree Creek. After that battle only three members of that company survived, and he was then transferred to Hood's Scouts and detailed for special work in derailing trainloads of Federal Supplies.
His work in this line was most effective.
A short white after the close of the war, Captain Griffin entered the service of the N., C & St L. Railway and gradually worked his way to foreman of the company's shops. The company's property under his jurisdiction was more diligently cared for than if it had been his own. His practical wisdom, ready sympathy, and generous spirit of moderation, combined with his unqualified loyalty and his gift for leadership, earned for him friends in every walk of life, and among the best beloved of these were those old comrades, whom he knew as "friends through the gold and the gray to the valley of the shadow and beyond,” among them being the late S. A. Cunningham, in whose effort to place before the world the true history of the South in the great conflict he was greatly interested. His home was the gathering place for these friends and his children were taught to accord them all honor. In railroad and fraternal circles Captain Griffin was shown much preferment, but Company B, Confederate Veterans, of Nashville, conferred the most treasured of all honors upon him when they made him their Captain.
To the members of his family he has left a heritage of lasting qualities that will unfold in value as they are increasingly realized and understood. To have lived with him in the intimate relations of life is a lingering joy and benediction. Though we know that clothed in his old gray uniform he has been tenderly laid away and that his soul has passed to the bivouac of the life abundant, so much of his courageous and helpful personality lingers in his old environment that we are confident
"He has not wandered far away,
He is not lost or gone.”
Copyright 2007 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com