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Ron Bloomfield shows Birney Sword to Bay City Rotary Club members.

CIVIL WAR MYSTERIES: Tim Younkman to Speak Dec. 11 on Buffalo Soldiers

December 1, 2013       1 Comments
By: Dave Rogers

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Author Tim Younkman will speak Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Stein Haus about his many travels to Fort Davis, Texas, and his research about the Buffalo Soldiers led for a time by Capt. James G. Birney IV of Bay City.

The 7th Michigan Cavalry Civil War Round Table, which is open to the public, will host Mr. Younkman for its third program of the year.

Tim is author of several detective novels and a retired reporter for The Bay City Times and the Muskegon Chronicle. He blogs at www.timyounkman.com.

Fort Davis was the headquarters of the U.S. 9th Cavalry that was assigned to fight hostile Apache Indians.

Capt. Birney, a young officer who enlisted in the 7th Michigan Cavalry at age 18 and fought under Col. George Armstrong Custer and Gen. Phil Sheridan, had an unusual experience after the war ended.

Birney and his fellow soldiers were shipped west to Colorado by surprise; the train they thought was taking them home to Michigan veered off and headed west. They ended up in Fort Collins, Colorado. After several months, and the deaths of some of the men in Indian attacks, Congress countermanded the Army's order and the men were paid $300 and allowed to come home at last.

(The incident, and other aspects of the military careers of the captain and his uncles William and David Bell Birney, are documented in my book, "Apostles of Equality: The Birneys, the Republicans and the Civil War," published by Michigan State University Press in 2011.)

Modern-day Bay City has embraced Capt. Birney, raising $7,500 through the Bay City Rotary Club for his presentation dress sword, which is now part of the collection of the Bay County Historical Museum. And by support of the popular 7th Michigan Cavalry Civil War Round Table, headed by Dee Dee Wacksman and Paul Davis.

Young Birney had been appointed by President Lincoln as collector of customs at the Port of Bay City, with an office on the Water Street ferryboat dock. Lincoln was familiar with the Birneys, having communicated by telegram with Gen. William Birney about enlistment of slaves in Maryland into the Union Army and having welcomed Gen. David Bell Birney to the White House in 1863 and endorsed his promotion to major general.

Lincoln was shot and killed in April 1865 and the political landscape changed, especially for abolitionists like young Birney, son of James Birney and grandson of James Gillespie Birney, twice Liberty Party candidate for President, once while living in Bay City in 1844.

Soon another officer, appointed by Lincoln's successor Andrew Johnson, arrived and Birney was replaced. The town fathers held a banquet for Birney at the Wolverton Hotel, located at the site of today's Dockside Restaurant at Third and Water streets.

It was a sendoff to his new job, fighting Indians, Birney having re-enlisted in the regular Army cavalry.

Younkman will fill in the details of Birney's assignment out west, his exploits with the Apache and his untimely death at age 25 in January, 1870, reportedly of alcoholism.

Younkman has obtained records from Birney's time at Fort Davis and will explore the young man's tragic end, including the role of his wife, a beautiful New York woman who may have been at Ft. Davis some of the time he was there.

It is, of course, one of the more dramatic and unbelievable stories of any soldier from Bay City. And Tim Younkman has the answers to many of the mysterious aspects of the career of Capt. James G. Birney IV. ###

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"The BUZZ" - Read Feedback From Readers!

mdoloresbarrn Says:       On December 03, 2013 at 10:54 AM
I do agree with Mr. Rogers...on most of his remarks.
Agree? or Disagree?


Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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