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Post by elisabeth on Nov 2, 2007 3:03:02 GMT -6
There's a nice easy boat ... (Absurd, really; the plane only takes an hour. But these days, you have to hang around for half a day's worth of security checks before you can get on it, so the boat almost works out faster -- and certainly less stressful!)
I did get kind of hopeful when the new QE2 started doing the transatlantic run; it'd be wonderful to arrive in New York exactly the way so many past generations did (including Keogh, of course). But as well as the gasp-inducing fares, it seems they insist on compulsory evening dress at compulsory 93-course dinners, and all that sort of nonsense. Such a pity they don't have a steerage class, for those who simply want the crossing rather than the "experience" ...
It does sound like a great exhibition. And I've never been to that branch of the museum at all, so it'll be interesting to see the rest of their collection too. Yep, a trip is definitely called for.
By the way, doyle1876, have you been to the museum in Carlow at all? I've read that that, too, has a section on Keogh. Not sure exactly what they've got, but there might be some more of his possessions there ...
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Post by Melani on Nov 2, 2007 12:50:09 GMT -6
We found Irish security checks to be practically nothing, even flying. (Don't know if they treat British citizens differently.) We had wanted to take the boat, just for the fun of it, but it didn't work out schedule-wise--Elisabeth had first-hand experience of our lack of advance planning! Next time, I think I'll create an actual itinerary.
Carlow Museum? Hmmm...
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Post by doyle1876 on Nov 2, 2007 17:00:36 GMT -6
I was in the Carlow museum a few years ago but, while the information provided about Keogh was good, they were short on actual possessions. Maybe they've improved; I'll find out. I was tempted to donate my prize possession at the time - a charcoal tracing I did from Keogh's battlefield headstone. I managed to do it on my one and only visit to the sacred ground. I had to bluff my way to finish the rubbing once my brother and I were discovered by a park ranger. In fairness, he was worried about us and rattlesnakes, something I hadn't even thought of. I lied that I was a distant relation of Carlow's greatest soldier of fortune and had to go into the main building to sign a 'relations book'....Shame on me.
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Post by elisabeth on Nov 3, 2007 3:44:07 GMT -6
You never know ... Maybe you are! It'd be nice to think they've acquired more things ... but an awful lot of his belongings seem to be filtering their way into private hands these days. His pocket watch turned up in one auction about a year ago; that nice photo of him on horseback turned up in another; and his Pro Petri Sede in yet another. And swathes of the letters from the Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence collection have been sold, too. (Heartbreaking, really.) There was even his infantry manual from the Italian war: www.cowanauctions.com/public/demo/past_sales_view_item.asp?itemid=41000
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Post by Melani on Nov 6, 2007 22:54:15 GMT -6
If you get back there, doyle, you will find that you can now legitimately go down to Keogh's marker, as least in the summer.
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Post by elisabeth on Nov 7, 2007 1:27:40 GMT -6
doyle1876, it turns out (from O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees) that Keogh's great-grandmother was a Bridget Doyle. She married Patrick Kehoe (b. 1697, d. 1790) of Ballywilliamroe, Co. Carlow. Any use to you as a salve to your conscience?
Wouldn't it be great if you were related after all!
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Post by doyle1876 on Nov 7, 2007 16:37:07 GMT -6
You're a mine of information, Elisabeth. My family are actually originally from County Carlow, near a town called Tullow on the east side of the county. We can go back as far as the late 1700s on the family tree. Although Ballywilliamroe is on the west side, you never know..... Going to Leighlinbridge tomorrow to take a few pics. I'm also going to the church in Tinryland, near Park, where Myles would have called a second home. There is a stained glass window in memory of the Keogh family including Myles. I'm sure you saw a picture of it and the inscription. Now that you have rekindled my obsession with the good Captain, I know people that live near Clifden, the townland on the Kilkenny/Carlow border where Myles inherited the Blanchfield house. I'm going to try and track the house down, if its still standing.
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Post by elisabeth on Nov 8, 2007 0:53:26 GMT -6
Have a great time on your trip. Will you also go to Park? You can just about see the house from the road, though it's largely masked by a very handsome avenue of trees. (According to one of Keogh's letters, it was Tom who planted them.) To get a proper glimpse, you have to be unscrupulous enough to sneak up the driveway a few yards ... A family called Walsh live there now -- proprietors of the wonderful Sunshine Juices, those delicious fruit smoothies; I think they must be related to the Keoghs/Kehoes, though, as I was told they had some of Keogh's stuff there.
I hadn't realised until puzzling my way round those lanes with the Ordnance Survey map that the old Ballybar racecourse was only just down the road from Park. Must have added extra pleasure to Keogh's visits!
Terrific if you can find Clifden. I think the house should still be standing ... Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence described it in His Very Silence Speaks, published in 1989, so it was still OK then -- and a spot of recent Googling reveals it as featuring prominently in the activities of the Blonde d'Aquitaine cattle breed association, with the current inhabitants (Kehoes, I'm happy to say) winning many prizes for their fine animals. Somehow one feels Keogh would have loved this: not just good cattle on his land, but outstandingly pretty cattle!
Love your new signature line, by the way.
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Post by doyle1876 on Nov 13, 2007 16:51:11 GMT -6
I was in the National Museum today at the Soldiers & Chiefs expo. I spoke with curator about the exhibit titled Keogh's Captains Commission. He was aware that this was titled wrong and that it was his citizenship certificate (1st prize to Melani!). They will be correcting it soon. The winchester rifle is no longer referred to as Keogh's. They do have a small exhibit on the Papal War and have Keogh's military dress cap (red with gold braid). They are in talks with the family/relations about getting more items for display. They also hope to have a large CW banner carried by the 69th Irish Brigade on display soon. It was presented to the nation by JFK on his only visit here in the 60s.
For those of you that are planning a trip to Dublin, it turns out that the curator, Mr. Lar Joye, has a keen interest in LBH. He was eager for me to post that if a group from this message board happened to come to the museum, he would only be too happy to give a guided tour (prior notice required, though). Nice guy. His view on LBH is along the Fox lines with panic as the main reason for the defeat
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Post by Melani on Nov 13, 2007 17:31:02 GMT -6
They didn't say the Winchester was his--I forget the exact description, perhaps something about "similar to the ones used at LBH." I missed the Papal Wars stuff! Phooey! Well, gee, I guess I'll just have to go back--what a hardship! Please thank the curator for us if you see him again, and tell him to come over for an anniversary some time--we will be happy to give him a special tour as well!
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Post by doyle1876 on Nov 14, 2007 1:25:11 GMT -6
As the exhibition is in constant change for the next ten years, I'm going to send on Mr. Joye some facts to make him think about increasing the reference to Keogh/LBH and or the 7th. There were more Irish in the 7th than from any other country or individual American state. In one of the rooms, a small section of one wall is about the Papal Wars, another small section about the Indian Wars with most of the room given over to the American Civil War - any connection? I think Myles Walter keogh deserves a special section... Just on this three war participation, am I right in saying De Rudio was also involved in the Papal, Civil and Indian Wars? Did himself and Keogh get on? I wonder would Keogh's good friend Joseph O'Keeffe, another Papal War veteran, have continued in the service and been posted with the 7th had he not died in the Civil War?
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Post by Melani on Nov 14, 2007 14:38:38 GMT -6
DeRudio fought on the other side in the Papal Wars, and was a famous B.S. artist. Probably he and Keogh had a lot to talk about. Keogh spent the last night of his life listening to De Rudio's stories.
I have just gotten the biography of DeRudio and have only just started it. As you probably know, he had a pretty amazing life, with or without embellishment.
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Post by doyle1876 on Nov 14, 2007 16:04:12 GMT -6
DeRudio certainly had some story to tell the day after the battle. No doubt Keogh would have enjoyed his great escape tale had he been around. I look forward to the DeRudio thread in the coming weeks!! Anyway, back to reading two years+ of threads........
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