University of Notre Dame
Archives

David Power Conyngham Papers

1870s-1988

Origination : Conyngham, David Power, 1840-1883
Extent : 5 linear inches. 1 reel of microfilm.
Repository : University of Notre Dame Archives
Address : Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
English.

Preferred Citation

David Power Conyngham Papers (CYN), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556

Scope and Content

Manuscripts, articles, and letters by and about David Power Conyngham; including a 1914 biographical sketch and a 1988 article about Conyngham; 1932 correspondence between University Archivist Thomas McAvoy, CSC, and various librarians regarding Conyngham and his papers; and a handwritten manuscript and bound transcription of Soldiers of the Cross, Conyngham's history of Union and Confederate Catholic chaplains and sister nurses during the Civil War.

All the documents except the article and the bound transcript are on microfilm.

Background

Irish-American author and editor of The Tablet. Rev. W. Hickey wrote in Irish Book Lover, Vol. V, No. 6 (1914): 'Major David Power Conyngham, LL.D., was a native of Killenaule, Co. Tipperary. He received a good classical education, and at an early age developed a taste for literary work. He took part with his kinsman, Charles J. Kickham, Michael Hefferman, and others, in the rising of 1848, and afterwards became a contributor of political and literary articles to the Tipperary Free Press. He went to America at the beginning of the Civil War, and was sent to the front as correspondent for the New York Herald, but afterwards joined the Irish Brigade, acting as an A.D.C. to General Thomas Francis Meagher. He distinguished himself at the battles of Resaca by carrying orders under a fierce fire, and was wounded in the breast, and at Chancellorsville, when he was mentioned in dispatches. In 1864 and 1865 he served under General Sherman in Georgia, holding the rank of major. At the end of the war he settled in New York and, in conjunction with Robert White and Richard Walters, founded the Sunday Democrat. Subsequently, on severing his connection with this paper, he received an appointment in the New York Post Office. After a few years he resigned his position, and took charge of the Editorial management of the New York Tabletthen owned by the eminent publisher, Mr. Denis Sadlier. This office he held up to his death, which took place at his residence, No. 7, Vandam Street, New York, on the 8th of April, 1883. His best known work, in this country at least, is The Irish Brigade and its Campaigns, which contains a mass of historical and biographical information. He says: "During my connection with the Irish Brigade I fully availed myself of every opportunity to collect all the materials I could and to take notes of what occurred under my own observation, with the intention of writing a history of the gallant exploits of that noble little band . . . . I do not write from any mercenary motives." His other works are: Frank O'Donnell; Sherman's March; Irish Saints and Martyrs; Sarsfield, or the Last Struggle for Ireland; The O'Connors of Glen Cottage, a tale of the Famine Years; Rose Parnell, or the Flower of Avondale; The O'Mahony, a tale of the Commeraghs; Ireland, Past and Present; Ecclesiastical History of Ireland(written in conjunction with the Rev. Thomas Walsh).'

Index

Conyngham, David Power, 1840-1883
Chaplains, Military -- United States.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Hospitals, charities, etc.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Women's work.
Sisterhoods.
Nursing -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
Soldiers of the Cross.

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