This letter was written by 1st Class Fireman John Hagerty (1842-1918), a native of Donegal, Ireland. John’s parents were Morris Hagerty (1822-1928) and Ellen McGinley (1822-1895). In 1861, at age 19, John married 16 year-old Margaret (“Maggie”) O’Neil (1845-1928), the daughter of James and Mary (Reynolds) O’Neill. They were married at St. James Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Between 1862 and 1887, John and Maggie had at least ten children — the two oldest of which are mentioned in this letter: Mary Ellen Hagerty (1862-1928) and John T. Hagerty (1864-1956) who John called “little fat tie.”

A family history states that John Hagerty enlisted as a fireman in the U.S. Navy in September 1864 and served successively on the U.S.S. Grampus, the U.S.S. Great Western, and the U.S.S. Carondelet. The Carondelet was eventually taken to Mound City where she underwent repairs and had her guns removed. Haggerty was discharged in August 1865. After the war, he worked as a fireman on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad until 1869 when he moved his family to Dawson, Pennsylvania, where he found employment at the coke works.

Eight more of John Haggerty’s letters were transcribed & published on Spared & Shared years ago. They can be found on Spared & Shared 4 at 1865: John Hagerty to Margaret (O’Neil) Hagerty.

A 2006 story about John Hagerty’s gravemarker in the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Dunbar, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, appears in the on-line TribLIVE News.

[Editor’s Note: Most family records spell the name Haggerty though John clearly spelled his name Hagerty. The difference in spelling led to complications for the family in later years when applying for a military pension.]

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

On board the US Gunboat Carondelet
Eastport, Alabama
February 8, 1865

Dear wife,

I take my pen in hand to inform you that I am well at present hoping these few lines may find you and the children enjoying the same blessing.

Dear Maggie, last night at 7 o’clock I received your kind and welcome letter of January the 25th which gave me great pleasure in reading it for you say that you and the children are in very good health and that Mary Ellen has lots of fun with the other children. Tell her that he pap wants her to be a good girl till he comes home and he will bring her a nice present. And little Johnny, I am proud to hear that he is getting along so well.

Dear Maggie, you want to know if I got them last letters you sent to me. I got them and answered them. Also you told me in your other letters to Burlin [Berlin] Post Office and in this letter you say to direct to Burell Post Office and I sent two letters to your mother’s and two to the old place and the picture of the Carondelet. And I wrote to Dominick to send them to you.

Dear Maggie, I am very glad that you are so contented at your mothers and I am sorry that I put such trouble on your mother and I hope they will bear all the trouble to come home and then Reynolds and me will take a big glass of ale together—what I have not tasted for over three months. Well thanks be to God, I can do without it. It was McTige that wrote this letter for you. I wrote to him and he did not answer it. The first thing that I always do is to answer letters when I get them.

Dear Maggie, thanks be to God, the times is a good deal easier since I got in the Engine room. I work one of the engines when we are running. There are two engineers on watch with me. Maggie, it is very nice to what it is over a hot furnace. The man that was in the engine room, his time was up, and I was put in his place. There is two or three firemen on here that are old engineers and each one thought he had the best right in the Engine room and they were all surprised when I was put in the Engine room and some of them said he can never get along there—he does not know anything about an engine. John O’ Donnell told me this. But thanks to God, I get along better than they expected.

Dear Maggie, thank God I am right comfortable now for I have a desk to write at and a little room to sleep in. We are anchored in the stream at Eastport, Alabama. There is over 50 steamboats here all in government service and 30,000 soldiers. There is talk of this army moving someplace and we will be moved too. I will write to you if we leave here. No more at present. My respects to your mother Reynolds and the children and may God protect you and the children is the wish of your loving husband, — John Hagerty

Direct to John Hagerty, US Gunboat Carondelet, Cairo, Illinois