Father William Corby of the Irish Brigade: Absolution for All During the Battle of Gettysburg

William Corby was born on Wednesday, October 2, 1833, in Detroit, in southeastern Michigan. His parents were Elizabeth Stapleton (1808 – August 20, 1842) and her husband, Daniel Corby (March 11, 1798 – June 26, 1875). Born in Birr (Irish: Biorra), a carefully preserved Georgian town in central Ireland’s Midlands Region, Daniel immigrated at age 24 across the Atlantic Ocean to eastern Canada. Landing first in Quebec, Daniel relocated over 150 miles (241 kilometers) southwest to Montreal, where he married Elizabeth Stapleton. Several years later, they traveled over 550 miles (885 kilometers) further southwest to settle permanently outside of Canada in Detroit, where he owned a successful real estate business.

• William’s mother passed away in 1842, six weeks before William’s 8th birthday.
• By 1844, William and his five siblings (two sisters, four brothers) welcomed a stepmother into the family with his father’s marriage to Margaret McMamnon (1810 – March 7, 1881). Half siblings numbered at least five (two sisters, three brothers).
• William’s father was an influential member of the community, respected for his charitable involvements, oftentimes contributed anonymously, both locally and abroad in Ireland, especially during the Great Famine (Irish: an Gorta Mór) of 1845 to 1852.

After working in his father’s real estate business for four years, William enrolled in 1853 at the University of Notre Dame du Lac (“University of Our Lady of the Lake”), recently founded in 1842 on 524 acres in South Bend, in north central Indiana, by the Very Reverend Edward Frederick Sorin (February 6, 1814 – October 31, 1893) of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, and granted an official college charter on January 15, 1844, from the Indiana General Assembly.

• Committed to the religious life, William entered the novitiate in 1856, taking his final vows three to four years later, in 1859 or 1860, and assuming professorial duties at his alma mater.

Five years later, in fall 1861, Father Corby boarded a Pittsburg & Fort Wayne Railway train in Chicago, in northeastern Illinois, for a direct trip to Washington, D.C. At the request of his superior, the Very Reverend Sorin, Father Corby was trading a professorship in his "bright, prosperous college home" for chaplaincy of the 88th New York Infantry, a regiment in the Irish Brigade. (The Very Rev. William Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life, p. 11)

In September 1861, Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799 – June 26, 1889), 26th U.S. Secretary of War, authorized the formation of an Irish Brigade to be comprised mostly of Irish immigrants.

U.S. Army Captain Thomas Francis Meagher (August 3, 1823 – July 1, 1867), a native of Waterford (Irish: Port Láirge, "Lárag's port") in Ireland’s South-East Region who had escaped to the United States in May  1852 after serving almost three years of a life sentence on the southeastern Australian penal colony island of Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania), recruited the brigade’s core three regiments:

• 63rd New York,
• 69th New York, and
• 88th New York, namesake of 88th Regiment of Foot, a British Army infantry regiment known as the Connaught Rangers.

After a brief stint in the Irish Brigade, the mostly non-Irish 29th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was reassigned, effective Sunday, November 30, 1862, two and one-half months after the Battle of Antietam (Wednesday, September 17, 1862).

• Its replacement, the 28th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, comprised mostly of Irish immigrants, was soon joined by the 116th Pennsylvania Infantry, a regiment of Irish Philadelphians.

Effective Monday, February 3, 1862, U.S. Army Captain Thomas Francis Meagher (August 3, 1823 – July 1, 1867) was promoted to Brigadier General to command the Irish Brigade.

Two months before the Battle of Gettysburg, the Irish Brigade fought in the Battle of  Chancellorsville (April 30 – May 6, 1863), after which the regiments rested in their temporary camp at Falmouth, on the north bank of the Rappahannock River in northern Virginia’s Stafford County.

By mid-June, the brigade began one of their longest marches, ultimately a journey of 200 to 300 miles (321.8 - 482.8 kilometers), motivated by information that General Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was northbound, with the intention of transferring the conflict out of Virginia and into Pennsylvania.

• A swirling path of continual marches led the troops, with each foot soldier daily carrying about 60 pounds (27 kilos) of provisions (including ammunition, muskets, blanket, tent-shelter), finally to Taneytown, in north central Maryland’s Carroll County, on Wednesday, July 1, 1863.
• Later that afternoon, the order was given to decamp and head 13 miles (20.9 kilometers) further north, to assist beleaguered Union forces in Gettysburg, in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Posted to Cemetery Ridge in southeastern Gettysburg, the brigade spent most of the next day, Thursday, July 2, bringing weaponry, including cannons and caissons, into position.

• At about 4:00 p.m., firing commenced with Confederate missiles landing nearby.

Concerned because constant marching had prevented the practice of religious duties, such as confession, by his military congregants, Father Corby decided to fill the few spare moments prior to full engagement by blessing his charges and granting to them a general absolution, that is, forgiveness of sins in the absence of individual confession to a priest.

Draping his purple stole around his neck, Father Corby positioned himself atop a large boulder to the front of the brigade. The well-loved chaplain proceeded to explain to his charges that:

• he would be blessing them with the remission of their unconfessed sins;
• in return, they needed to make a sincere Act of Contrition and to resolve to make confession at the first opportunity.

The roar of battles being waged nearby in the peach orchard and at Little Round Top, a boulder-strewn igneous hill, punctuated the silence which Father Corby allowed for unspoken contrition.

• In those moments of silence, attendees and observers -- Catholics and non-Catholics -- bowed their heads and bent their knees.

As Father Corby performed the ceremony, he surveyed his rapt audience:

"My eye covered thousands of officers and men. I noticed that all, Catholic and non-Catholic, officers and private soldiers showed a profound respect, wishing at this fatal crisis to receive every benefit of divine grace that could be imparted through the instrumentality of the Church ministry. Even Maj.-Gen. Hancock removed his hat, and, as far as compatible with the situation, bowed in reverential devotion. That general absolution was intended for all -- in quantum possum -- not only for our brigade, but for all, North or South, who were susceptible of it and who were about to appear before their Judge. . . ." (Memoirs of Chaplain Life, page 185)

Father Corby felt that the atmosphere and setting of his blessing, which he equated with a descriptive verse about the end of times in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 21: 26), contributed to the solemn awe expressed by his audience:

". . . . The surroundings there, too, made a vast difference, for really the situation reminded one of the day of judgment, when shall be seen ‘men withering away for fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world,’ so great were the whirlwinds of war in motion." (Memoirs of Chaplain Life, page 185)

Raising his right arm, Father Corby then intoned the empowering, peace-giving words of absolution:

"Dominus noster Jesus Christus vos absolvat, et ego auctoritate ipsius, vos absolve ab omni vinculo excommunicationis et interdicti, in quantum possum et vos indigetis, deinde, ego absolve vos a peccatis vestris in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Amen."

("May Our Lord Jesus Christ absolve you, and I, by His authority, absolve you from every bond of excommunication and interdict as far as I can and you may need. I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”)

Forty years later Major General St. Clair A. Mulholland  (April 1, 1839 – February 17, 1910), who served as one of the brigade's colonels at Gettysburg, described the moving scene: 

“. . . . There are yet a few minutes to spare before starting, and the time is occupied by one of the most impressive religious ceremonies I have ever witnessed . . . . The brigade stood in column of regiments, closed in mass. As a large majority of is members were Catholics, the Chaplain of the brigade, Rev. William Corby, proposed to give a general absolution to all the men before going into the fight. While this is customary in the armies of Catholic countries in Europe, it was perhaps the first time it was ever witnessed on this continent . . . .

"The scene was more than impressive, it was awe-inspiring . . . . I do not think there was a man in the brigade who did not offer up a heartfelt prayer. For some it was their last; they knelt there in their grave clothes -- in less than half an hour many of them were numbered with the dead of July 2d. . . .” (The Story of the 116th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, pages 407 - 408)

On Monday, March 20, 1865, twenty days before General Lee's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) on Sunday, April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House in central Virginia, Father Corby, being recalled by the University of Notre Dame, took leave of the Irish Brigade. (Memoirs of Chaplain Life, page 192)

Back in South Bend, Indiana, he was appointed to serve as vice president of the University of Notre Dame.

• The next year, in 1866, he became the university's third president with the untimely death of his predecessor, Reverend Patrick Dillon (January 1, 1832 - November 15, 1868), who, as the university's first Irish-born president, had succeeded The Very Reverend Edward Sorin, Father Corby's mentor who had served as the university's first president for two decades (1842 - 1865).

During Father Corby's presidency, the Congregation of the Holy Cross at Notre Dame purchased 65 acres in Watertown, in south central Wisconsin, with the intention of establishing a branch there.

• On September 9, 1872, the University of Our Lady of Sacred Cross opened there, with the Reverend William Corby as the college’s first president.
• One year eight+ months later, on May 25, 1874, the college received its charter as a degree-granting institution from the state of Wisconsin.

In 1877, Father Corby was recalled to the University of Notre Dame to serve again as president, from 1877 to 1881.

Veterans of the Irish Brigade urged Father Corby to attend the ceremonies in 1888 observing the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. The survivors convinced the beloved chaplain that

". . . such a meeting would be incomplete without the chaplain who had been their companion in prosperity and adversity since the very first campaign made by the brigade.” (Memoirs of Chaplain Life, page 187)

The program for Monday, July 2, 1888, opened with a military mass, which was sung by Father Thomas Ouellet, a fellow chaplain in the Irish Brigade from November 1861 to April 1862 and again from February 15, 1864, to the war's end.

Afterward, during his address, Father Corby, overcome with emotion, shared tender tears with his audience:

“I was urged to address the multitude at the Anniversary Mass service. Imagine one who ought to be a 'grim old warrior' standing before his 'companions in arms' addressing them after a separation that dated to March 20, 1865, nearly a quarter of a century! At first I got on reasonably well, until, looking over those assembled, the surviving members of our illustrious and numerous band as it appeared at Alexandria, Va., in the fall of '61, I happened to make this statement, 'Here is what is left of us; where are the others?' when I filled up very unexpectedly and could not speak for several minutes. I had struck a very tender chord. The celebrant, although eleven years older than I, wept like a child, and the brave old warriors before me who had stood the shock of many battles also wept. We were on the spot where many of the 'others' had fallen; heroes whom we had helped to carry out of our ranks. . . .” (Memoirs of Chaplain Life, pages 188 - 189)

An hour later, the day's main event for this hallowed, memory-filled area of the battleground took place with the dedication of the monument commemorating the fallen of the Irish Brigade. 

• The evocative bronze and granite monument, which featured an Irish wolfhound, symbol of loyalty, at the foot of a Celtic cross, was designed by architect John Hemingway Duncan (January 21, 1854 – October 18, 1929) and sculpted by William Rudolf O'Donovan (March 28, 1844 – April 20, 1920).

Father Corby expressed gladness at having attended the event, which he deemed to be "one of the grandest and most interesting sights" of his life. (Memoirs of Chaplain Life, page 187)

Father William Corby took his responsibilities as chaplain of the Irish Brigade during the Civil War seriously. His affable reliability in providing spiritual sustenance imbued all who happened across his path -- Catholics and non-Catholics, Confederate and Union soldiers -- with the strength to persevere and to give their best. Father Corby's approachability encouraged the camaraderie of shared humor and joy. Always accessible, he was in the midst of the brigade, as the spiritual center of his charges.

• Recalled to the University of Notre Dame for several weeks in the fall of 1864, upon his return to camp he received a "hearty welcome" from officers and men, Catholics and non-Catholics, and noted that ". . . disregarding hardships and privations, I felt glad to be back again at the post of duty." (Memoirs of Chaplain Life, pages 270 271)

Over a lifetime of devotion to his faith and to his country, Father Corby appreciated most deeply his double duty, as Roman Catholic chaplain and as patriotic citizen, during the Civil War. In his devout realism, he perceived that the exigencies of the whirlwinds of war, by refining the immediacies of everyday living, made an army's religious feature "no small matter" and generated "a Christian, charitable sentiment that often leads to most excellent results." (Memoirs of Chaplain Life, pp. 185 - 186, page 271)

At the age of 64 years 2+ months, Father Corby succumbed to pneumonia on Tuesday, December 28, 1897, over three decades (32 years 5+ months) after his altruism at Gettysburg. In an unusual departure for a cleric's funeral, his casket was draped with the Irish Brigade's flag and was carried on the shoulders of Irish Brigade veterans to its resting place in Notre Dame's Holy Cross Cemetery. Amidst a sea of identical, cross-shaped headstones, Father Corby's gravesite stands out with a second marker, a government-issued gravestone, bearing the inscription

Wm Corby

Chaplain

88th N.Y.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

"Incidents of the war. A harvest of death, Gettysburg, July, 1863": photo by Timothy H. O'Sullivan (c. 1840 – January 14, 1882)
dead Federal soldiers on battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Civil War glass negative collection: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018667213/

seated (left-right): unidentified officer, Rev. James Dillon (chaplain, 63rd New York), Rev. William Corby (chaplain, 88th New York); standing (l-r): Rev. Patrick Dillon (Notre Dame), James J. McCormick (Quartermaster, 88th New York)
The identified men are priests of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, University of Notre Dame.: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018666201/

"Absolution Under Fire": Rev. William J. Corby, CSC, blessing the Irish Brigade at Gettysburg
black-and-white photo of 1891 oil on canvas by Paul Henry Wood (1871/1872 - 1892)
The Very Rev. William Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life (1893), opp. p. 183: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/memoirschaplain00corbuoft/page/n195/mode/1up

Bronze statue of Father William Corby by sculptor Samuel Aloysius Murray (1869 – November 3, 1941)
Father William Corby, Irish Brigade chaplain: Amaury Laporte, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/alaporte/29269380144/

Father Corby's statue in Indiana
On May 30, 1911, an identical statue was dedicated on the campus of the University of Notre Dame; the statue stands in front of Corby Hall, built in 1895, across from the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes
Bronze replica stands on limestone boulder from Gettysburg Battlefield.: Eccekevin, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corby_Statue.jpg

Irish Brigade Monument at Gettysburg's Rose Woods: United States Army Center of Military History (CMH), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Irish_Brigade_Monument_at_Gettysburg.jpg

William Rudolf O'Donovan (March 28, 1844 – April 20, 1920) was the sculptor of the Irish Brigade's Celtic-themed monument at Gettysburg.
The 63rd, 69th and 88th were the Irish Brigade's three New York infantry regiments at Gettysburg: lcm1863, CC BY-ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcd1863/4002321090

bronze Irish Wolfhound at foot of Celtic Cross; Harp of Erin and American eagles in medallion: lcm1863, CC BY ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/lcd1863/6307205053/

backdrop for Father Corby's magnanimity: Rose Woods
Little Round Top with George Rose Farm and Rose Woods in foreground; viewed from Longstreet Tower: Bo Gordy-Stith (PBoGS), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/pbogs/2967318751/

bronze statue aglow with evening's light
"Evening with Father Corby: Sometimes he just gets the best light.": fauxto_digit, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/fauxto_dkp/2573743577/

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