Patrick Breen

A 21 year old laborer, he enlisted at Ft. Ripley, KS as a Private in Company C, 2nd United States Infantry on 14 January 1860 and was a Sergeant by September 1862.

He was in action with his Company on 17 September at Antietam and on 20 September 1862 at Boteler's Ford near Shepherdstown, VA.

He was First Sergeant of his Company when he reenlisted near Petersburg, VA on 14 July 1864.

He continued in Regular Army service and reenlisted again at Louisville, KY in July 1867, at Montgomery, AL in 1870, and at Fort Saint Phillip, LA in 1875. He was discharged/transferred in 1876 at New Orleans.

By 1880 and to at least 1900 he was a railroad watchman in Vincennes, IN. He began receiving a veteran's pension sometime before 1908, when it was raised to $30 per month by act of Congress.

His service from the Registers.1 His pension from the Congressional Record of 15 May 1908, pg. 6353. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1880 and 1900.

He married Mary Charlotte Fine (1845-1929) in January 1868 in Louisville, KY, and they had 5 children.

He wrote a scathing opinion piece in the National Tribune of 18 April 1895: Withheld his Troops. Why the Union Army Did Not Win at Antietam. Whose Fault. A Weak Commander and an Autocratic Subordinate. &etc. More about that on the blog.

02/20/1839; County Kerry, IRELAND

1909; Chicago, IL