Father Bannon
by James M. Gallen
Jim Gallen is an attorney practicing in St. Louis. He is a member of the Wm. T. Sherman/Billy Yank Camp No. 65 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. He has written numerous articles on the Civil War and other historical topics which have been published in newsletters and posted on websites across the country.
"John B. Bannon: Chaplain, Soldier and Diplomat" previously published in "The Christian Banner", Vol. XV, #1, 1999; Bushwacker (Civil War Round Table of St. Louis), Vol. IV, #93, October 25, 2000; Bugle Call Echoes, San Joaquin Valley Civil War Round Table, Vol. IX, No. 3, March, 2001.
JOHN
B. BANNON:
CHAPLAIN, SOLDIER AND DIPLOMAT
by
James M. Gallen
Rev.
John B. Bannon was one of the most prominent and respected chaplains to serve in
the Civil War. General Sterling Price, whose men he served, remarked: "I have no
hesitancy in saying that the greatest soldier I ever saw was Father Bannon."
Father Bannon's service to the Confederacy as chaplain, soldier and diplomat
makes his story one worth telling.
Like so many of the troops who fought in the Civil War, Father Bannon's story
did not begin in America. He was born on December 29, 1829 in Roosky,
Ireland. He was ordained into the priesthood at Maynooth, County Kildare, in
May, 1853. He volunteered to follow so may of his countrymen who had fled famine
and sought a new life in America. He chose to serve the Archdiocese of St.
Louis, Missouri whose Archbishop, Peter Kenrick, was also a son of Ireland.
Father
Bannon was soon recognized as one of the leading clergymen in St. Louis, and in
1858, was assigned as pastor of the new parish of St. John the Apostle on the
then west end of the city. While there he supervised the building of the church
building.
In the St. Louis area, which Father Bannon served, he became a prominent leader
of the Irish community, many of whom joined him when he went to war. The coming
of the War found St. Louis, a deeply divided community. Archbishop Kenrick
attempted to guide his divided flock by adopting a policy of neutrality toward
the war which surrounded him. In support of this policy Kenrick discouraged his
priests from serving as chaplains for either army. Father Bannon, however, could
not be dissuaded,
Father Bannon's military career commenced in November, 1860 when he joined
Captain Kelly's Washington Blues as a chaplain in its response to a call for
militia troops to defend western Missouri from raiders from "Bloody Kansas." The
campaign was short and Father Bannon was back in St. Louis by the first Sunday
of December, 1860.
After the firing on Fort Sumter, St. Louis began to polarize into two armed
camps. In early May, Bannon remained close to Captain Kelly's troops at Camp
Jackson on the western edge of the city. After the surrender of Camp Jackson its
troops, including Bannon, became prisoners of the Federal forces until release
on May 11, 1861. Bannon returned to St. John's where he remained until December
15, 1861. At the time of his departure Bannon was targeted for arrest by Federal
authorities due to the views which he had expressed from the pulpit. On the
night of the 15th, Bannon snuck out of the back door in disguise and a false
beard, while Federal officials entered the front door. He then continued his
clandestine journey across Missouri to Springfield where he became a member of
the "Patriot Army of Missouri," under the command of General Sterling Price. He
then commenced his service as a chaplain, initially voluntary, to the First
Missouri Confederate Brigade.
Bannon remained with the First Missouri Confederate Brigade until August 4,
1863. He and the rest of the Brigade had been taken prisoner at the fall of
Vicksburg. Although not officially paroled, Bannon was released and went to
Mobile and then on to Richmond.
Although his main service was to the Irish Catholic members of the First
Missouri, some of whom had been parishioners at St. John's, Bannon was widely
respected in the army. He quickly earned the title of "the Catholic priest who
always went into battle." In accord with instructions to remain in the rear, it
was the practice of may Confederate chaplains to pray with their men before
battle and then remain in the rear to comfort the wounded Bannon, however,
believed that the chaplains who shared their men's hardships and dangers "were
much respected by all the men, whether Catholics or not; for they saw that [I]
did not shrink from danger or labor to assist them." In his view the practice of
many chaplains caused them to become "frequently objects of derision, always
disappearing on the eve of an action, when they would stay behind in some farm
house till all was quiet."
At
the battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas, Bannon was seen to be in the thick of the
action. As firing continued, Father Bannon was seen to be blessing, standing or
kneeling with soldiers, and administering the last rites to the dying. His
service during this battle led General Price to comment: "The greatest soldier I
ever saw was Father Bannon. In the midst of the fray he would step in and take
up a fallen soldier. If he were a Catholic, he would give him the rites of the
Church; if a Protestant, and if he desired, he would baptize him." Toward the
end of the battle Bannon met general Van Dorn who ordered him to the rear.
Bannon refused an order to move to the field hospitals, even under thereat of
arrest, responding, "I can attend there later. I must attend now to those who
are not able to be removed from the field." Bannon explained his understanding
of his duty when he wrote, "I am doing God's work, and He has no use for cowards
or skilkers. A Catholic priest must do his duty and never consider the time or
place. If I am killed, I am not afraid to meet my fate. I am in God's
keeping. His holy will be done."
The nights before a battle were busy ones for Bannon. Throughout the night he,
"Would go up to a watch-fire, and waking one of the men, called him aside, hear
his confession, and send him to summon another. The whole night would be spent
thus in going from campfire to campfire. The men were always willing to come,
generally too glad of the opportunity; some would even be watching for me." When
the night was over and the hour for the battle had arrived, Father Bannon had to
substitute group for individual service. "When the time came for advancing, I
made a sigh for them all to kneel, and gave them absolution (and) I then went to
the second line, or the reserve, till it was their turn also to advance." It was
reported that "no men fight more bravely than Catholics who approach the
sacraments before battle." Bannon only reported one soldier who evaded his
service. An Irish Catholic artillery gunner declined because he had been long
from the Sacraments and was afraid of confession." Father Bannon tried to win
him over with the assurance: "Come, man, I know what a soldier's confession
is." Unfortunately the soldier refused reconciliation and was killed the next
day.
Father Bannon's support of the Confederate cause was based on deeply felt
principles. His feelings derived from three influences, ethnic, religious and a
general observation of the state of America in his day.
Among many Irish-Americans of his day, a parallel was seen between the British
desire to impose its culture and will on Ireland and the efforts of the North to
impose its standards on the South. This identification of the North as the
oppressor led many Irish-Americans to support the Confederacy.
The circumstances prevalent in St. Louis led some Catholics to identify
abolitionism with anti-Catholicism. Many Germans who had participated in the
revolutions in Europe in 1848 had immigrated to St. Louis. In their struggles in
Europe for freedom and the unification of Germany, their main enemy had been the
Austrian Empire, which was identified with Catholicism. The hostility of the
German community toward the Irish and its prominence in the Union cause in St.
Louis drove many Irish Catholics, including Father Bannon, into the Confederate
camp.
His observation of Northern and Southern society also led Bannon to his decision
to support the Confederacy. In Bannon's view the issue could be defined in terms
of good versus evil and the forces of light against the darkness. His view of
the struggle was revealed in his sermons. The Southerners were God's chosen
people while the Unionists were the Egyptians or philistines. He preached that
the struggle was on between "the cross and the crescent, for which the last, the
Yankee substitutes the dollar; a war between materialism and infidelity of the
North, and the remnant of Christian civilization yet dominant in the South." The
clash between an industrial and an agrarian culture, again reminiscent of the
struggle between Britain and Ireland, was on over the future development of
North America. Bannon clearly shared the Southern vision.
Father
Bannon's service to the Confederacy did not end when he left the First Missouri
Brigade. At the time of his visit to Richmond, one of the main military problems
facing the Confederacy was the growing imbalance in military strength due in
part to the influx of immigrants, many of them Irish, into the Union Army. On
August 30, 1863, Bannon was surprised to receive a request from President
Jefferson Davis to meet him at the President's house. During the visit
President Davis asked Bannon to undertake a secret diplomatic mission to Ireland
to discourage Irish immigrants from enlisting in the Union Army. In further
conversation with Davis and Secretary of War Judah Benjamin, Bannon suggested
that his mission be expanded to include an attempt to persuade the Papal States
to extend recognition to the Confederacy. It was hoped that recognition by one
European state would induce others to follow.
Bannon left America on October 3, 1863 aboard the Robert E. Lee. After arriving
in Liverpool, England, Bannon headed for Italy. While in the Vatican he was
accorded several long audiences with Pope Pius IX, during which he argued the
Confederate cause. Although formal recognition was not obtained, the Pope did
speak warmly of the Confederacy. In early December, Pope Pius did send a letter
addressed "to the Illustrious and Honorable Jefferson Davis, President of the
Confederate States of America." This was taken as a defacto recognition by many
and generated widespread outrage in the North. It would also be helpful in
Bannon's mission in Ireland.
After
the conclusion of the Vatican effort, Bannon returned to his native Isle in
October, 1863. His first duty was to write long letters to the families of fifty
or sixty Irish natives who had died while fighting for the First Missouri. Bannon
them approached his diplomatic mission with zeal. He found that his mission to
the Vatican increased his acceptance among the Irish clergy to circulate
handbills at the major ports of departure. The handbill reported that the Irish
immigrant would be cajoled to join the union Army and be sent to be slaughtered
in a "fight for a People that has the greatest antipathy to his birth and
creed." Besides the handbills, Bannon employed a series of large posters which
were nailed up in major ports and on the Churches of Cublin. The most effective
poster, employed in 1864 contained the exchange of letters between Pope Pius IX
and
President
Davis and a letter from Bannon. After he had won over the upper and middle
classes, Bannon made an effort to reach the common people, who provided the
recruits. To do this he sent a copy of his poster to every parish priest in
Ireland. The poster was entitled "remnant of Christian civilization was yet
dominant in the South." He concluded his statement with the assertion; "As a
priest of the Catholic Church, I am anxious to see the desires of the Holy
Father realized speedily, and therefore have taken this means to lay before you
the expression of his sentiments on the subject of the American War, knowing
that no Catholic will persevere in the advocacy of an aggression condemned by
his Holiness."
The campaign by Bannon was highly effective. It is estimated the Irish recruits
for the Union Army dropped two-thirds between December, 1863 and May, 1864. On
May 28, 1864 Bannon reported to Secretary of State Benjamin that his money was
exhausted and his mission complete. Benjamin had expressed his gratitude for the
services provided by Bannon.
Bannon never returned to America. After the war he was prohibited by law from
preaching at St. John's Church. He joined the Jesuit order, of which he was one
of its most distinguished Irish members until his death on July 14, 1913.
Although he is little remembered in America, his legacy lives on in St. John's
Church which continues to serve the people of downtown St. Louis.
For more information of Father Bannon see:
The
Confederacy's Fighting Chaplain, Father John B. Bannon, by Phillip
Thomas Tucker, University of Alabama Press, Tusculoosa, 1992.
The Fourth Career of
John B. Bannon, by William B. Faherty, S.J., C&D
Publishing, Portland, 1994.
©2001 James M. Gallen
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