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The treatment of the Irish: Only two of my direct ancestors
Posted on: November 25, 2022 at 08:57:05 CT
BH O'bonga MU
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arrived in America during the 1800s One GGPa from Austria in 1868 and another GGPa from Ireland in about 1851 at the age of eight. All of my other direct ancestors came to America before the Revolution or shortly after the Colonial period.
My Irish GGPa and his little sister were bound out to an American family in Mansfield Ohio. He was what was known as a bound boy, sold into indentured servitude for his American hosts until he turned 18. I understand his family was starving in Ireland and his parents saw no other way to survive. At the age of 20 he joined the 102nd O.V.I (Union) and the regiment served in occupation duty in Kentucky and Tennessee. He and most of his regiment were captured by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forest in action near Athens, Alabama. GGPa spent nine months as a POW at Cahaba Prison in Alabama. Upon the end of the War the Cahaba prisoners were released and marched to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where they boarded the infamous steamboat Sultana for transport up the River to Louisville, Ky. The Sultana was overloaded with mostly Union soldiers. It was late April and the River was running high and the water was cold. The Sultan's boilers exploded a few miles north of Memphis. Many men perished in the explosion and from the sudden release of scalding superheated steam. Many others were blown off the boat and drowned in the Mississippi River. Others were burned in the resulting fire that burned the steamboat down to the water line before it sunk. An estimated 1,200 to 1,500 men were killed. My GGPa was blown off and caught hold of a floating log. Two other soldiers also grabbed hold of the log and the three of them kicked toward the Arkansas side of the River. His survival story is recorded in the unit history of the 102nd OVI.
GGPa migrated to northwest Missouri where he farmed until his death at the age of 87. He married twice and fathered 15 children, including my GPa when he was 56 years old.
My Irish GGPa and his little sister were bound out to an American family in Mansfield Ohio. He was what was known as a bound boy, sold into indentured servitude for his American hosts until he turned 18. I understand his family was starving in Ireland and his parents saw no other way to survive. At the age of 20 he joined the 102nd O.V.I (Union) and the regiment served in occupation duty in Kentucky and Tennessee. He and most of his regiment were captured by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forest in action near Athens, Alabama. GGPa spent nine months as a POW at Cahaba Prison in Alabama. Upon the end of the War the Cahaba prisoners were released and marched to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where they boarded the infamous steamboat Sultana for transport up the River to Louisville, Ky. The Sultana was overloaded with mostly Union soldiers. It was late April and the River was running high and the water was cold. The Sultan's boilers exploded a few miles north of Memphis. Many men perished in the explosion and from the sudden release of scalding superheated steam. Many others were blown off the boat and drowned in the Mississippi River. Others were burned in the resulting fire that burned the steamboat down to the water line before it sunk. An estimated 1,200 to 1,500 men were killed. My GGPa was blown off and caught hold of a floating log. Two other soldiers also grabbed hold of the log and the three of them kicked toward the Arkansas side of the River. His survival story is recorded in the unit history of the 102nd OVI.
GGPa migrated to northwest Missouri where he farmed until his death at the age of 87. He married twice and fathered 15 children, including my GPa when he was 56 years old.
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The treatment of the Irish: Only two of my direct ancestors - BH O'bonga MU - 11/25 08:57:05