In July 1855, six companies from the 2nd Infantry rook possession of an old fur trading post on the banks of the Upper Missouri River and transformed it into a base of operations against the Sioux.1 But before setting out on this assignment, the officers and men of this regiment spent almost a year and a half at Carlisle Barracks filling their ranks, drilling, and preparing for service on the prairie. Among the officers in this contingent was 34-year-old Lieutenant Thomas William Sweeny.
A native of County Cork, Ireland, Sweeny and his family came to the United States in 1832 and settled in New York, where he received his education and later apprenticed to a book publisher. Sweeny also belonged to "military and literary" clubs in the city, and it was through these associations that he received a commission in the 1st New York Volunteers when the Mexican War started.2 The regiment took part in the drive from Veracruz to Mexico City, and suffered heavy casualties in the battle of Churubusco. Among those casualties was Lieutenant Sweeny, whose right arm was amputated.3 After the war he received a commission in the 2nd Infantry and served at San Diego and Fort Yuma in Southern California from 1849 to 1853.4 He returned to New York in January 1854, and after a brief stint on recruiting duty joined his regiment at Carlisle Barracks in September of that year.5
Sweeny served twice on the Upper Missouri and then had a two- year assignment on general recruiting duty before the outbreak of the Civil War. He spent the first year of the Civil War in Missouri. There he played a major part in keeping the state from seceding and was shot in the leg at the battle of Wilson's Creek. He saw action at the battles of Shiloh (where he was wounded in his good arm) and Corinth; his performance in the latter engagement earned him the rank of brigadier general of volunteers. Sweeny later commanded a division in General William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign.6
In 1866 the Army dismissed Sweeny for his involvement with the Fenian Brotherhood (an organization seeking to free Ireland from British rule), but reinstated him 18 months later. During Reconstruction he commanded troops in Augusta and Atlanta, Georgia. The Army retired Sweeny with the rank of brigadier general on May 11, 1870 and he spent the rest of his life in retirement. Thomas W. Sweeny died on April 10, 1892, in Astoria, New York.7
What follows are nine letters Sweeny wrote to his wife, Ellen,8 from Carlisle Barracks. In these letters he talks about his fellow officers, some he and his wife already knew, others new acquaintances, including recent West Point graduates. The letters also contain gossip around the post, news about their upcoming assignment, the excitement over forthcoming promotions, and information on the daily chores of garrison duty.
These letters are part of the Thomas W Sweeny Papers (Letter book SW862) at the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California, and are published here with their permission.
In May 1757 Colonel‑Commandant John Stanwix led five companies of his first battalion of the Royal American Regiment to Carlisle. He also took over command of the colonial forces of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, all of whom were hard‑pressed by attacks of pro‑French Indians. His senior subordinates were colonels George Washington of Virginia and John Armstrong of Pennsylvania.
When the Septennial Census of Carlisle was taken in 1814, it included the names and occupations of all the borough’s taxables. Nineteen of them, including two women, were identified as weavers, and at least half of them were born in Ireland.