Taoiseach Enda Kenny visits Cleveland, Ohio

Jimmy Buttimer - Savannah's Irish-American Poet

SAVANNAH'S IRISH-AMERICAN POET

                              

   by

                         

   J.C. Sullivan

     Throughout our lives we meet 'Irish' people. Some are native-born, some are Irish-Americans'. Some we soon forget, some we can never forget. Savannah's Irish poet laureate, Jimmy Buttimer, falls into this latter category. Currently enrolled in a Masters Program (History), he's always been interested in history. With the death of his grandfather, Patrick Joseph Buttimer, the entire family took care of him the last few years of his life, they talked a great deal about his childhood in Savannah.

     "He knew his grandfather, the original emigrant from Cork, and his name was Patrick Joseph. So I started to research a lot to do with the family and a lot of the records I found intact on his life were his service records in the Confederate Army. I followed his regiment and found a diary of one of the members of the regiment that had some really remarkable passages in there about the Irish soldiers that made up about a third of the regiment. I went ahead from there and added imagination to the facts that I found but my poetry is all based on primary sources and materials.

 He was in a unit called the First Georgia Regulars.  They were a unique regiment, probably the crackerjack regiment. They were sent from Georgia to Virginia early in the war," Buttimer said. He continued. "They had professional discipline; the officers were from the best, well-known families in the State. They were very strict in their discipline and training and so they were much more professional than many other units in existence at the beginning of the war.  They were recruited, a large number of them, from Irish dockworkers here in Savannah.  Instead of a regional pool they were created statewide and sent up to Virginia in service of the Army of Northern Virginia (Confederate)."

    One evening during Savannah's recent Irish Festival he took the stage at Kevin Barry's Pub on River Street. A hush fell over the crowd and a shh went out from them in an attempt to deaden the chatter from the next door bar. "To Have A History," is a tribute to his great-great grandfather. Speaking with a brogue that an American would be hard pressed to discern as not being native to Ireland, he begins.

   

 "Now I have heard the different camps proclaim their honor and these same men would                                                              seek to find the first wrong on a field of carnage

So as to say that one was Cain, the other Abel.

                 But I was there to live the hate, to smell the fear and heed the

slaughter and here's the Hell of it. We murdered them and they murdered us

                  and that was our war in the Deep South when we were fighting the Negroes.

                    On John's Island we were pressed by a vast host of Negroes.

 They carried the works on our right flank and  murdered the wounded Stono Scouts before our eyes. But their victory was short as we counterattacked and the men went red-eyed mad with rage.

We shot the captives where they stood

   or hunted them down in the tall grass to finish them off

with clubbed rifles and bayonets.

   And we would have killed them all but for our officers

who beat us with their swords."

     Midway through his poem he pauses to catch his breath and compose himself, temporarily overwhelmed by the deep emotions he feels. Flashing eyes reveal the inner passion of his deeply-felt West Cork Irish roots. After a few moments he continues.

   "In quiet moments long removed that hellish day is with me.

'Twas there I heard the sound of blood lapping from throat to earth

   and saw the bodies arch and heave with each fresh gout of blood.

   And now I'm back in the Old Fort

with the Negroes and the Irish as before the war.

   And my neighbor comes from Africa

with ritual scars upon his face as a sign of his people.

   And now his son runs with my son

as two-legged pups through the dusty lanes.

   And I often stop and wonder...at the quareness of it all.

At times like these my heart is troubled

   and I walk the few blocks to the river.

And I watch its currents moil.

   'Tis a great, muddy beast of a river...

'Tis the lifeblood of God, and it carries the sins of the world.

   What was it drove my hand to murder?

Was it truly the love of one thing and the hatred of another?

   Or did the priest say more than he knew?

We are made in His image. We are made in His image.

   So ye that would seek the first wrong on a field of carnage

   content yourself with what ye find.

But I would tell ye as ye do not know, that murder is murder

   and a history is a hard thing to have."

IN THE SERVICEOF THE BRITISH/COMMONWEALT

Benjamin Sullivan, b. Berwick, Me., ca. 1738. Served as an Officer in the Royal Navy aboard a man-o-war. Was lost at sea before the American Revolution. No marriage mentioned in records. Eldest brother of American Major General John
Sullivan.

Rear Admiral Thomas Ball Sulivan (d 1857), had fourteen children; four of his sons were in the British navy. Admiral Sir Bartholomew James Sulivan, eldest son of the foregoing. During the Crimean War in 1854 then-Captain Sulivan, commanding the Lightning, participated in attack on the Russian fortress of Sweaborg in 1855.

 Norton Allen Sulivan, Vice-Admiral, and son of TB Sulivan, took part in the battle of Jutland in 1916.

 John Sullivan, V.C., b. April, 1831, Bantry, County Cork, Ireland. During Crimean War, on 10^th of April, 1855, was awarded Victoria Cross. Was created Knight of the Legion of Honour on the 16^th of June, 1856, by the Emperor of the French. Received Sardinian, Turkish and Crimean Medals, with clasps for Inkermann and Sebastopol. Also recipient of Silver Medal of Royal Humane Society for saving the life of a drowning man in shark infested waters.

Private John Sullivan, 29^th Reg’t of Foot. KIA. Gujrat, 21 Feb 1849, northwest Indian Punjab battle of Anglo-Sikh War.

Gerald Robert O'Sullivan, V.C. - 1915; Gallipoli, Turkey.

Arthur Percy Sullivan , V.C. - 1919; Sheika River, Russia

Admiral George Lydiard Sulivan, another son of Admiral T.B. Sulivan.

Sir Charles Sulivan, Admiral of the Blue. Son of Sir Richard Sullivan, East India Company.

Thomas Hebert, d 1824, son of Colonel John Vera O'Sullivan, served with British and Dutch forces.

Denis Patrick. The Following is part of the letter from The Welch Regiment Museum regarding 25728 Denis Patrick Sullivan 17th and 18th (service) Battalions,The Welsh Regiment ct Medal citations of D.P.Sullivan who was a brave and gallant soldier. His gallantry and leadership at Mory, 23/24 March,1918, was such as to merit a mention in the official history of the regiment. 

The 18th Welsh during four days, surrounded and fighting against great odds, was virtually wiped out. Only the commanding Officer, one officer and twenty other ranks survived to tell the tale, and amongst them was D.P.Sullivan. The remainder died at their posts or were wounded and/or were taken prisoner.

Through their efforts, and the efforts  of others,  the German advance was halted, and thereafter the course of the war turned in our favour. Seargeant Sullivan's decorations for gallantry have often been on display as part of the rotation on display of a large collection of decorations. His other two decorations, the British War and Victory medals were not presented to the regiment.  The citations-

25728 Private Denis Patrick Sullivan, 17th (service)Battalion ,The Welsh Regiment, 1st Glamorgan Bantam Battalion

John O’Sullivan, age 20.  47 Lynsted Road, Liverpool, England. Crew member of Irish-registered City of Limerick, died when the ship was attacked by German aircraft 15 JUL 1940 off the French coast and later sank.

Sullivans in Texas History

Many of the Irish were recruited by the Spanish to come from Ireland to Texas in the 1830s. Ships brought whole villages from Ireland directly to South Texas below Corpus Christi. They settled in San Patricio & Refugio. The poor people didn't know what was in store for them. 

Many died during and after the voyage. The survivors were subjected to the tremendous heat, mosquitoes, poisonous snakes, loneliness, tropical disease and the dreaded hostile Indians. It was a one way ticket. Many survived and eventually moved to Victoria, San Antonio and along the Rio Grande.

The name Sullivan and O'Sullivan occurs very frequently during early Texas history. Cpl. Denis Sullivan name appears before, at and after the Battle of San Jacinto, where Sam Houston and his outnumbered army defeated Santa Ana for Texas Independence. Incidentally, the land that the battle was fought on was owned by the widow McCormick from Ireland.

There were three O'Sullivans from Ireland who fought at the important Battle of Sabine Pass with Dick Dowling and his Irish Davis Guards. Many of the famous Texas Rangers were Sullivan/O'Sullivan. One in particular whose first name was Sullivan, was the famous Sullivan "Sul" Ross. He became governor of Texas and also the first president of the great Texas A & M University.

There is a Cultural Building called the Institute of Texan Cultures in downtown San Antonio (Hemis Fair Plaza ) dedicated to the various groups that settled in Texas. Contact the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau for the Institutes telephone number. I'm sure that they have an 1 ( 800 ) number. You should be able to get the book and/or more information from them.

My First Flight

My First Flight

Catholics in the Old South

A Book Review by J.C. Sullivan

Randall M. Miller and Jon L. Wakelyn have edited a score of essays dealing with a number of issues that affected Catholic life in the American South, a topic that heretofore has received no historical attention in mainstream literary life. Gathering from a multitude of little-known resources however, they have pieced together an intellectual masterpiece about this almost unknown subject. Although the Irish influence can be found throughout all resource material and subsequent chapters, Irish America will find the one that is most interesting to us is  The South’s Irish Catholics:  A Case of Cultural Confinement by Dennis Clark.

Because of our legacy of exile, Clark points out that our presence is demonstrated with our priests in Florida’s Spanish missions, as officials for the Spanish crown in Louisiana and Texas, convicts in George, settlers in the Carolinas and traders among the Indians. While in Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans we kept our cultural identity through social societies such as the Hibernians. Others of us not so fortunate contracted for indentured service that benefited tradesmen and householders.

Clark maintains that it was not only the “Scotch-Irish” from Ulster that peopled the Appalachian, Ozark and Smoky Mountains but also Irish-Catholic fugitives fleeing from indentured service. He quotes Colonists in Bondage:  White Servitude and Convict Labor in America, 1607-1776. We gained security in the impenetrable mountains and because of the freedom we sought, created the “distrust of strangers, authority and inquisitive influences” that has long been notable among mountain people.

This scholarly piece takes us away from the notion of our  large cities. Many of our ancestors did, indeed, settle the cities, but so many, many more moved throughout America where the work was to be found. My own maternal gggfather, Patrick W. Murphy worked the rivers and railroads, wherever he found the work. American actor Tyrone Power, father of the late actor Tyrone Power, encountered them everywhere. He found we were “clannish, strangers to the local population, sharing their own speech and secret morale. Their itinerant work on flatboats, railroads and drainage gangs made them peripheral to the religious and social communities they touched.”

The myriad of footnote references makes those of us with a historical bent more anxious to see these become part of Irish-American mainstream literary bookshelf collections.  Niehaus The Irish in New Orleans; The Life and Times of John England, First Bishop of Charleston; Catholicity in Washington, Georgia; Catholicism in the Lower South; all beggar the inquisitive mind to seek this nourishment for the Irish soul.

"A Fighting Heart" - A champion Kid from Cleveland. .

Seamus Boyle's letter to Urban Outfitters regarding disgusting anti-Irish products

Mr Hayne, as the National President of the largest Irish American Organization in the United States, the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, it is with great displeasure that I must write to you and ask that you immediately remove the disgusting products you have for sale in your stores depicting the Irish as Drunks and defaming the Irish Nation and the Patron Saint of Ireland, St Patrick. St Patrick's Day, March 17th, is a day when the Irish celebrate the patron saint of Ireland and yes we do celebrate in a respectful manner with many of us starting the day by attending Mass prior to marching in parades. There are those few who use this day as an excuse to over celebrate but that does not give you or anyone else the right to defame and debase a whole race of people by selling the garbage that you display in your stores. For you or anyone else to have articles like the trucker's cap depicting a drunk vomiting shamrocks or selling jugs such as the Leprechauns Piss Jug is culturally offensive and uncalled for. If this is the way you must make your money by debasing a whole race of people I can assure you that with over 40 million people in this country claiming Irish ancestry they will not be your customers after this display of arrogance and disrespect to a whole nation. I ask, would you have the same type of garbage depicting the African American, Jewish or Muslim Nations emblazoned on your product? I think not. Why do it to the Irish? Perhaps it is because we are Catholic and you think you can get away with it, or is because you think we do not care about our heritage or perhaps because you just dont care about our nationality. Well Mr Hayne, we do care about our Heritage, our Religion and what the perception of us as a nation is, so I am sure you will be hearing from many more of our proud Irish American people throughout this country and abroad. Thousands of our people shop at you stores throughout the country and with help of the news media, Irish and catholic organizations and the general public we will get the word out that Urban Outfitters does not have any respect for the Irish people or the Catholic Religion and we will ask them to Boycott your establishments. If you have a change of heart and decide to do the right thing by immediately removing this offensive product from your stores please contact me and I will make sure that our people continue to shop your business. Seamus Boyle National President Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, Inc

Sullivans Hollow, Mississippi

Since I first saw this, I note the following site updates matters past Clara Sullivan - http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/SULLIVAN/1999-02/0920241745
 JC Sullivan

This was contributed by "English" english@c-zone.net

"From various sources I prepared the following data. Please note all of it is not proved, as these sources were internet sources, mainly census data, but a couple of brief family excerpts. A good source was the Chester Sullivan book on Sullivan's Hollow; however, in that book he says Thomas Sullivan came from South Carolina, stopped off in Alabama - census records show that Thomas Sullivan was born in Georgia, one site I found gave his place of birth as Columbia (I have not confirmed this to my satisfaction). Anyway, since the Sullivans were probably one of the most notorious families in Mississippi's history, I thought I might post this and see if anyone can help me out."

Ginny Walker English

Descendants of Thomas Sullivan

Generation No. 1

1. THOMAS SULLIVAN was born January 15, 1775 in Columbia, Georgia, and died June 10, 1855 in Sullivan's Hollow, Smith County, Mississippi. He married (1) MAUD ELIZABETH ARNOLD. He married (2) MARY POLLY WORKMAN.Notes

   From Chester Sullivan's Book "Sullivan's Hollow" copyright 1978 by University Press of Mississippi 96 95 94 93 92 7 6 5 4 3. Library of Congress: Sullivan, Chester. Sullivan's Hollow.

"The Hollow was settled by Thomas Sullivan, who was born in 1785. In 1807 he came to Mississippi from Bishopville, in up country South Carolina, bringing his wife Elizabeth, four or five of their children, and his brother John. They came west in wagons drawn by horses and oxen on the Natchez to Fort Stephens Wagon Road, which passed within five miles of Old Jaynesville. Sometimes people moving into the Southwest would settle temporarily and make a crop along the way. The Sullivan family followed that practice by spending a year in Alabama (Washington County). 

John did not stay long in Mississippi before returning to South Carolina. Originally settling in southeastern Simpson county on the upper reaches of Bowie Creek near what became Old Jaynesville, the Sullivans later moved twelve miles east into what would become Smith County, where they built the log house still inhabited by their descendants." (emphasis added). p. 6

 NOTE: Smith County 1850 Census shows Thomas Sullivan, family number 314 age 65, born in GEORGIA. Also shows wife Mary age 47 born in Georgia. See additional census records below.

Sullivan's Hollow lies south of Mize in a system of hills drained by Sullivan's Hollow Creek from its headwaters near Thomas Sullivan's house to where it joins Bunker Hill Mill Creek. Originally the Hollow was six miles long and three miles wide, running in a northerly crescent from west to east. Sullivan's Hollow in time expanded until it encompassed the southwest corner of Smith County and parts of Covington and Simpson counties. By the turn of the century what was generally known as Sullivan's Hollow was the area bounded by Mize on the north, Hot Coffee on the southeast, and Mount Olive and Saratoga on the southwest. (p.8)

Thomas planted his corn with a stick. He raised sweet potatoes, field peas, and a small amount of cotton used to make the family's clothing. He took any excess cotton on a two-week trip to Mobile or Natchez, where he sold it, saving the money against the time when the Indian lands would officially be opened and sold to white settlers. He bought only coffee and salt. He and his family kept chickens, hogs, and sheep for wool, and "They had the woods full of cattle." (p.9)

Thomas Sullivan had two Negro slaves. It is said that he was good to them but "made them work mighty hard". (p. 10) Thomas Sullivan became known to his descendants as "Pappy Tom". (p. 10)

Thomas Sullivan died in 1855 in the house he had built. It is said that before his death he complained of darkness in the daylight.

Children of Thomas Sullivan and Maud Arnold are:

 1. JAMES "JIM"2 SULLIVAN, b. 1810, Mississippi.

 2. MARGARET "PEGGY" SULLIVAN, b. 1812; m. JACOB JAMES JAKE HARVEY, 1827.

 3. THOMAS HOGTON (HOG TOM) SULLIVAN, b. 1814.

 4. LODERICK (LOD) SULLIVAN, b. 1816, Mississippi.

 5. STEPHEN SULLIVAN, b. 1816; m. MARY A. DUNFORD, 1850.

 6. OWEN SULLIVAN, b. 1817.

 7. JOSEPH SULLIVAN, b. June 1818, Sullivan's Hollow; d. February 15, 1895, Sullivan's Hollow.

 8. DANIEL SULLIVAN, b. 1819.

 9. CELIA SULLIVAN, b. 1820; m. NORRIS OWEN, SR.

Children of Thomas Sullivan and Mary Workman are:

FREDERICK2 SULLIVAN, b. February 20, 1821, Sullivan's Hollow, d. April 15, 1897, Sullivan's Hollow.

THOMAS JEFFERSON SULLIVAN, b. 1823; d. 1897, Sullivan's Hollow; m. MARY ELIZABETH STEWART.

CAROLINE SULLIVAN, b. 1824; d. 1872; m. H. ALLEN BYRD.

HENDERSON (HENSE) SULLIVAN, b. 1825.

ELIZA JANE SULLIVAN, b. July 28, 1827, Sullivan's Hollow; d. 1890, Rapides Parish, Louisania; m. CALVIN ATES, 1850.

MARK D. SULLIVAN, b. March 29, 1830, Sullivan's Hollow, d. August 17, 1913, Sullivan's Hollow.

WILEY (BIG WILEY) SULLIVAN, b. August 30, 1833, Sullivan's Hollow; d. April 18, 1904. m. ANNIE THERRISA REDDOCK.

MARY ANN SULLIVAN, b. May 19, 1835, Sullivan's Hollow; m. JOHN L. SPELL, September 1865.

SAMUEL SULLIVAN, b. June 11, 1839, Sullivan's Hollow; d. January 25, 1917; m. SARAH E. HATHORNE.

CORNELIUS (CONN) SULLIVAN, b. 1841, Sullivan's Hollow; m. JANE WIGGINTON.

LOUGHTON SULLIVAN, b. May 24, 1844, Sullivan's Hollow; d. August 20, 1898; m. MARTHA JO (MATTIE) WEST.

ALEXANDER M. SULLIVAN, b. October 09, 1847, Sullivan's Hollow; d. March 20, 1937, Smith County, Mississippi; m. MARYAN CATHERINE KEYES.

CLARA SULLIVAN, b. 1822, Sullivan's Hollow; m. JAMES "JIM" TEW.