Patrick Robert Guiney

He came to America with his father at about age 7 and settled in Portland, ME. He studied for a year (1854) at Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, then read the law and was admitted to the bar in Lewiston, ME in 1856.

He went to Boston in 1858 and at the start of the war he was a 26 year old lawyer living in Roxbury, MA. He was commissioned Captain, Company D, 9th Massachusetts Infantry on 11 June 1861. He was promoted to Major on 24 October, Lieutenant Colonel on 28 January 1862, and Colonel on 26 July.

He commanded the regiment in Maryland. They were in reserve and not engaged at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was wounded by a gunshot to his face in the Wilderness, VA on 5 May 1864 and lost his left eye. He was furloughed due to his wounds and mustered out on 21 June 1864. In 1866 he was honored by brevet to Brigadier General of Volunteers to date from 13 March 1865.

He returned to his law practice in Boston and was elected Assistant District Attorney in 1869. He died "suddenly" in Boston in 1877, at 42 years old.

His service from Soldiers, Sailors and Marines.1 Personal details from family genealogists and from a bio sketch written by his daughter in Appleton's Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), transcribed online by Douglas J. Potter. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a photograph in the Guiney Family Collection in the Holy Cross Rare Books Archives, hosted online by Christian G. Samito.

He married Janet Margaret "Jennie" Doyle (1836-1910) in 1859 and they had 2 children. The first, a son, died in infancy. Daughter Louise Imogen Guiney (1861-1920) was a published poet and editor.

Mr. Samito edited Commanding Boston's Irish Ninth: the Civil War letters of Colonel Patrick R. Guiney, Ninth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Fordham University Press, 1997).

01/15/1835; Parkstown, County Tipperary, IRELAND

03/21/1877; Boston, MA; burial in Holyhood Cemetery, Brookline, MA