The Burial Of Michael Keegan

www.vnis.com/vetnews/army_news/army_news1999/army1999-1 - [Cached Version]
Published on: 11/12/1999 Last Visited: 1/9/2002




Michael Keegan was left behind to guard the supply wagons when the rest of his unit left their base camp in Montana June 25, 1876.By the time the sun set along the Little Big Horn River that day, 261 of Keegan's comrades in Company L, 7th U.S. Cavalry and their commander, Brevet Maj.Gen.
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Keegan was one of the lucky ones who survived the massacre.But the fickle winds of fortune soon shifted on Pvt.Keegan.In December of the same year, chronic rheumatism led to his discharge from the Army he had served for 21 years.For the next ten years, the Civil War veteran lived in soldiers' homes until he moved to Chicago in 1886.There he lived in a boarding house until he died of cancer at the age of 74 and was buried in a pauper's grave in Evanston, Ill. Since he had no family, the $55 bill for Keegan's burial in Cavalry Cemetery remained outstanding, as did the debt his adopted country owed him for his dedicated military service - until now.Nearly 150 years after he left Ireland in search of a better life in America, and 99 years after he died alone and penniless, Keegan received a military burial with full honors and was laid to rest on Veterans Day in the cemetery at Fort Sheridan, Ill.He was reburied near three of his 7th Cavalry comrades.
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Keegan.Chicago's consul general of Ireland joined soldiers and their ladies from Civil War re-enactment units; bagpipers from the Chicago Police Department's Emerald Society; real-life soldiers from the active Army 7th Cavalry out of Fort Hood, and the Army Reserve's 85th Division (Training Support) as well as the members of the Schaumburg, Ill., Veterans of Foreign Wars post responsible for orchestrating the reburial.
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Gallien declined to say how much the post spent to exhume Keegan and rebury him at Fort Sheridan, other than to say "it cost us a few dollars."
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"It's a chance for us to honor the sacrifices of all veterans, as well as Keegan," Ieraldi said, admitting that the duty was an unusual one for his soldiers.
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During the funeral service, the consul general of Ireland in Chicago, Earmon Hickey, explained that Keegan came to the United States "as part of the great human tide of more than one million people, who saw America as the land of promise."Keegan arrived in the country sometime before 1855, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in Missouri and then fought in the Civil War with the 2nd Cavalry, which was later redesignated Company E, 5th Cavalry."More than 160,000 Irishmen fought with the Union," Hickey said."They fought at Gettysburg, Fredricksburg, Vicksburg ... they were generals and privates and every rank in between."Today in honoring Michael Keegan, we honor all who served."Since Keegan has no known descendents, the pallbearers from Company B of the 8th Illinois Dismounted Cavalry Civil War re-enactment unit presented the flag that draped Keegan's coffin to Hickey, who said it will be preserved in a museum in Keegan's hometown of County Wexford, Ireland."Thanks for keeping the faith with Michael Keegan ... We're very grateful for this recognition," Hickey said."And I think we can assume he'd approve."May his faithful soul be on the right-hand side of God."The ceremony ended with the mournful wail of bagpipes playing a medley of Irish songs picked just for Keegan and the salute of cannons and muskets cutting the crisp fall air. [Editor;s note: Capt. Jayna Legg is the public affairs officer of the 85th Division (Training Support).] Link to original news item: http://www.dtic.mil/armylink/news/Nov1999/a19991118custer.html

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[sweetypie000]

mmmmm..... bit of a slap in the face reminder to the native american indian imo

should have let sleeping dogs lie and not remember the horrendous ethnic cleansing of an indigenous proud nation of people

[yark72]

Awesome,, I was one of the pallbearers