Researchers Find Rare Photos, News Reports of Capt. James G. Birney IV
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Previously unknown photos of Capt. James G. Birney IV and his unnamed wife were released by researcher Paul Davis of Midland.
Mrs. James G. Birney
The unveiling of previously unknown events and artifacts is one of the most exciting aspects of historical research. Two sensational recent finds relating to Capt. James G. Birney IV, Bay City's hero of the Battle of Gettysburg, are causing high interest among local historical researchers and Civil War buffs.
Paul Davis, Midland, Civil War writer-researcher and collector of Civil War memorabilia, has released previously unknown photographs of Capt. Birney and a woman identified only as "Mrs. Birney," although it had not been known that he had been married.
The photos are part of an album of "Buffalo soldiers" Davis purchased some time ago. Many blacks, known as "Buffalo soldiers," served in western posts like Ft. Collins, Colorado Territory, and Ft. Davis, Texas, where Birney was assigned from 1866 to 1870.
From markings on the back, the photo of Birney was taken in San Antonio, Texas, and that of Mrs. Birney in Rockwood, New York. Neither her name nor other information about her has been found, although several researchers are working to identify her.
Speculation has arisen that perhaps Birney met the New York woman while his unit of the 7th Michigan Cavalry was on temporary duty in New York City during the draft riots of 1863.
Meanwhile, Alan Flood, Bay City, a volunteer in the research library of the Bay County Historical Society, has made startling finds regarding Birney's wartime and postwar activities.
While only official military reports of Birney's service had previously been known, Flood found an article in the Bay City Journal of April 13, 1865 (ironically one day before the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln), reprinting a letter to his father, Judge James Birney, reporting on the Union cavalry raid in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
"It was decidedly the hardest raid on men and horses that the cavalry ever made," young Birney wrote from the 7th Michigan Cavalry's camp nearCity Point, Virginia, in a letter dated March 28, 1865. "We started with 12,000 men and reached White House (Virginia) with abut 7,000 mounted men and 2,000 of these had unserviceable horses. I set off with 150 men in my battalion and reached here with only forty sabres."
"I whipped Early at Louisa Court House. To be sure he had only 30 men and I had 200, but then he is a Lieut. Gen., C.S.A., and I am only a Captain of U.S.V." He was referring to Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early, who was active in the Shenandoah Valley opposing the raid led by Union Gen. Philip Sheridan, under whom Birney served.
The next articles found by Flood were in late 1866 noting that Birney had returned to Bay City and had been appointed Deputy Collector of Customs with an office at the store of Denison, Delzell & Birney on the dock at the foot of Fourth Street. Barely a week later, on Dec. 1, 1866, the paper reported that an official identified only as Col. McDermott removed Birney from his federal job.
The Journal called the incident "a gratuitous and unnecessary insult to one of the most gallant and meritorious soldiers that Bay County sent into the field. It is proper to say that Capt. Birney, in accepting the position, made no promises to support the President's policy, the position having been tendered to him simply on account of his services in the army. That part of "my policy" which is in favor of giving the offices to soldiers, seems to get a little lame when the soldier happens to have such a Radical name as Capt. Birney has."
One possible theory about the dispute is that President Andrew Johnson, who succeeded the assassinated Lincoln, was giving patronage jobs to soldiers who adhered to his political philosophy rather than Lincoln's. Birney's grandfather, James G. Birney, who died in 1857, had been a leading abolitionist. His father, Judge James Birney, was Republican lieutenant governor of Michigan in 1860.
On Feb. 2, 1867, in the Bohemian Club Room of the Wolverton Hotel, a "complimentary supper" was held for Lt. Birney. Among 38 sponsors of the supper listed in the paper were prominent names in early Bay City, including J.W. Watson, Capt. R. Glover, W.H. and W.C. Whittemore, W.L. Fay, Henry H. Norrington, D.A. Ballou, and C.R. Hawley.
On Feb. 9 the weekly newspaper gave its report of the supper, noting attendance by "about forty gentlemen, among whom were many of our most prominent citizens."
Toasts were given to "The Army and Navy" by Charles H. Denison, "The President of the United States," by Hon. James Birney, "The State of Michigan" by Col. Henry Raymond, "Bay County," by Charles C. Fitzhugh, Esq., "The Bar," by John W. Hill, Esq., "The Mercantile Interest," by James W. Watson, Esq, and "The Ladies," by Frank Crandell, Esq. The paper concluded: "Mr. Henry H. Norrington read a short poem, written for the occasion, which abounded in witty allusions. Various sentiments and volunteer toasts, 'too numerous to mention,' followed, and the party broke up at a somewhat late hour."
Another newspaper report came from Ft. Collins, Colorado Territory, in another letter to his father, in which Birney, then a lieutenant in the Regular Army and assistant adjutant general to Colonel Briggs, Commander of the U.S. Cavalry in the South Subdivision of the Plains, reported on the dangers of the frontier war against the Indians. He noted that one of the unit's soldiers had been killed, scalped and his body mutilated by the Indians.
Birney died while assigned to the 9th U.S. Cavalry at Ft. Davis, Texas, on Jan. 16, 1870. Little is known of his duty there, of his marriage, whether any children survived or of the later life of his widow.###
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