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Q&A WITH AUTHOR SANDY BARNARD |
But first came four years of Civil War service, starting with three years in the 28th Massachusetts, much of it while the hard-fighting unit was assigned to the Irish Brigade of Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Meagher. Another seven months followed late in the war in the 61st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Between his Civil War service in the Massachusetts regiments and the 7th Cavalry, Ryan saw many "hard sights" on some 45 battlefields. In the Civil War, he fought at Secessionville, S.C.; Manassas and Chantilly, Va.; Antietam, Md.; Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Va.; and Gettysburg, Pa. In his last battle with the 28th on Aug. 25, 1864, at Reams Station, Va., he was seriously wounded. Yet he survived the carnage of the Civil War as well as on the Plains against Indians at the Washita and Little Bighorn rivers. Returning in 1876 to West Newton, where he lived for 50 more years, he would pen a 600-page memoir of his military career, including 126 pages on his experiences in the Civil War. (The source for the above is the dust cover of "Campaigning with the Irish Brigade; Pvt. John Ryan, 28th Massachusetts," edited by journalist and author Sandy Barnard.) Barnard used this memoir to write "Campaigning with the Irish Brigade; Pvt. John Ryan, 28th Massachusetts." WGT's Kevin P. Gorman, via e-mail, questioned Barnard, a professor of journalism at Indiana State University, about rescuing Ryan from undeserved obscurity. Here's what went down.
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WGT: Sandy, Campaigning with the Irish Brigade; Pvt. John Ryan, 28th Massachusetts is your third publication featuring the memoirs of Ryan. How did you discover him?
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WGT: Why did you publish his Civil War memoirs after publishing his memoirs from his post-Civil War service with Custer and the Seventh Cavalry?
BARNARD: The basic decision was a marketing one. Within the LBH (Little Bighorn) genre of military history books, good Custer books sell, and sell well. With a Civil War book, the audience is more splintered into specific topics. Pushing a CW book requires more marketing prowess. Another important factor: 2001 marked the 125th anniversary of the Custer battle at LBH. An enlisted man's memoirs, covering the entire 10-year period of Custer's period with the 7th U.S. Cavalry, made for an opportunity too good to pass up. In the end, both books have sold well, but the Indian Wars book, Ten Years with Custer, has proved the stronger of the two. That's as I expected. Fortunately, Campaigning has been well received, too. It just faces more competition for the Civil War reader's book dollar.
WGT: In the book you mention that Ryan spends little time in his memoirs pondering his Irish background. Why do you suppose Ryan chose such an overwhelmingly Irish Infantry regiment, particularly when any cavalry unit may have been more conducive to his pre-war experiences on the farm. What do you suppose drew him to the 28th in particular?
BARNARD: Ryan's memoirs actually focus little on his Irish ties, which is somewhat surprising. Why this is true is probably the most frequent question I am asked about him. I think the answer has more to do with his matter-of-fact Irish personality. He wasn't a syrupy, emotional kind of guy. As for his decision to join the 28th, I suspect it was the first thing that hit him. At age 16, he wasn't thinking infantry or cavalry. He was thinking "army." He just happened to be focused on thinking infantry, when he became aware of the 28th. It happened to be an Irish regiment and given his family heritage, that had appeal.
MEET THE AUTHOR Sandy Barnard, a journalist and free-lance writer for more than 30 years, specializes on the Civil War and the Plains Indians engagements of the post-war period. He is well known for his research and writing on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, and the men of the 7th U.S. Cavalry who served with him or followed him. Browse a selection of his books here. |
WGT: Ryan's descriptions of battles is superb, yet his recollections of details like names, dates and casualty counts frequently doesn't square with the historical record. Tell our readers how you addressed the challenges of having to deal with Ryan's foggy recollection. To what or whom did you turn to confirm his information? How challenging was it to set straight the record of an eyewitness to history?
BARNARD: Fortunately, the historical record is plentiful on the broader topics, if not the specific topic of the 28th Mass. With regard to people, if Ryan mentioned a name, I checked the person's specific military and/or pension record at the National Archives. Ryan states he would be providing one's man's account. That personal rule he follows faithfully, both in the CW portion as well as that on the Plains.
WGT: From Secessionville to Antietam to Fredericksburg and to Gettysburg, Ryan colorfully describes each battle scene from the earliest stage through the battles and their aftermaths. Comment for us on the your observations contrasting the memoirs of an enlisted man and the often more-famous memoirs battlefield commanders.
BARNARD: The contrast is simple: The two happen to view a battle or campaign from significantly different vantage points. In any battle, no one individual can be positioned in such a way as to see the entire action. Even a commanding general, such as Lee or Grant, can't see the whole picture. Thanks to staffers and subordinate commanders, they may be more able to pull together a sense of that big picture for their later memoirs. An enlisted man, such as Ryan can't, nor should he be expected to do so. A private, especially someone as young as 16-year-old John Ryan, is not as experienced as a West Point graduate. His memoirs should provide a slice of life approach to the war. Remember the tagline from the old TV show "Naked City?" "There are 8 million stories in the naked City, and this has been one of them." Apply it to an enlisted man's memoirs: "Several million men wore the uniform of their country during the Civil War. This is the story of one of them."
About the Interviewer: Kevin P. Gorman is a Senior Marketing and Strategic Programs Manager with a global telecommunications provider. He graduated in 1986 from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a BA in History and Political Science. A native of Buffalo and a fifth-generation Irish-American, Gorman
and his family are residents of Fairport, New York. A long-time reenactor and member of the Buffalo, N.Y.-based 155th New York Volunteers, he also served as one of WGT's three correspondents at the 140th anniversary re-enactment of the Battle of Antietam.
| An extraordinary look into the life of an enlisted man in the 28th Massachusetts, one of the hardest-fighting regiments in the Union Army. Civil War historians, Irish Brigade enthusiasts and reenactors all will find much to savor in this unique account: Campaigning with the Irish Brigade: Pvt. John Ryan, 28th Massachusetts by Sandy Barnard. |
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