6/20/1861 - Enlisted in NYC as private in Co. C., 74h NY volunteers, Zouaves, at Camp Scott on Staten Island. Age 19.
Mustered into company C 7/7/61, 3 year enlistment.
7/8/61 transferred to company B. (5th regiment - excelsior brigade) (Capt. Quarterman, Col Charles H. Graham?)
8/20/61 Left NY for Washington D.C. Stationed in MD along the lower Potomac the first winter.
April '62 - The Peninsula Campaign:
Siege of Yorktown
Battle of Williamsburg
Fair Oaks
Seven Days
Withdrawn from the peninsula in August 1861.
8/18/62 - At Alexandria VA - special muster.
The regiment is sent to support General Pope at 2nd Manassas, then back to the Washington defences.
8/25 - 8/31 (This is during all of 2nd Manassas)- AWOL. (Pay receipts say AWOL July and August). Reported (to Col. Brewster) AWOL when the regiment left Alexandria.
Under sentence of court martial 8/31.
9/2/62 - joined the regiment. This is after Antietam (missed that, too). Sept/Oct present under sentence of court martial.
November '62 - marched to Falmouth VA.
December '62 - Fredricksburg.
Camped at Falmouth for the winter.
2/28/63 - docked $4 a month for 5 months because of court martial. Seems to have started Jan.
May 1863 - Chancellorsville
May/June shows him as a corporal (pay recpts.)
Back to Falmouth
June '63 - march to Gettysburg
July '63 - heavy fighting 2nd day of Gettysburg on the Emittsburg Road.
July 11-12 1863 - sick, brochitis.
Fought at:
Wapping Heights
Kelly's Ford
Locust Grove
Mine Run campaign
July/Aug paid as 4th corporal.
8/1/63 appointed 5th corporal.
Sept/Oct paid as corporal.
10/63 promoted to corporal.
12/24(9?) '63 - re-enlisted? 3rd corporal at Brandy Station as veteran volunteer. Offical 12/30/63. (Transferred to) 40th NY, company G. Seems to have gotten $100 bounty for this. G.O. 191 of the War Dept.
Winter quarters with the brigade.
2/29 1864 - Furlough (Jan/Feb according to pay).
March/April '64 absent. 3rd Corp. First marked AWOL March '64. April at hospital. May have stayed there through May and June. Marked absent/sick as a private(!) in Co. I, June 27/28 (transferred).
Re-organized in April and May.
April 21st? or 30th to June 30th (dates odd in documents), sick in Columbian Hospital in Washington D.C. (um, an old soldier's disease, apparently). Misses the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor.
Furlough pass for 4/6-7 1864. Confusing, isn't it?
6/28/64 transferred to company I.
8/3/64 Petersburg - mustered out (mid siege?). Re-enlisted as veteran volenteer in the 40th NY volunteers, company G. (July 27th?). This was G.O. 191 of the war dept. Seems like he got $100 bounty for this. Said he was 21 and born in NY, NY.
9/11/64 - had been terribly rainy for some days. Clothing poor, etc. Fighting at Bunker Hill? Court martial (again) - charged with disobedience of orders - refused to go on picket duty. Officer preferring the charges was Arthur S. Handcastle, 1st Lt., 1st Sgt. William Cath(?) and Sgt. Charles Farmineau were witnesses.
40th NY was in:
Petersburg (not sure which events he was involved in):
Weldon Railroad
Deep Bottom
Strawberry Plains
Poplar Spring Church
Boydton Road
the Hicksford raid
Hatcher's Run
Fort Stedman
White Oak Ridge
4/2/1865 Final assault on Petersburg
9/29/64 - Honorably discharged.
10/9(5?)/1864 - mustered out, as a Corporal. Another record says 6/29/65 (taken off rolls).
5/27/65 - Marries Mary Anne Rily, at The Church of the Transfiguration (R.C.) on Mott St. in NYC. The witnesses were Owen Seary and Johanna Mulloy. The priest was T. Treanor(?).
Children: Mary Anne, Lilly (also raised Lilly's child, Florence, born when Lilly was 14), William (Willy) A.
11/16/1906 (Friday) dies at 617 Gates Avenue in Brooklyn, age 64(?). Was a 'shoe leveller.'
Burried in St. John's Cemetary, in Queens.
Mary Anne dies 12/1/1914.
William had brown hair. His name was sometimes spelled Kane or Kean, but Keane was what they used. He was also called Will. He was 5' 5 1/2" tall. Fair complexion, gray eyes. Said he was born in New York City. His daughter told my mother that he was born in Ireland, in County Clare. His death certificate says he was born in New York City, and his parents were Peter (born in France) and Margaret (born in Germany). My mother's grandmother (Mary Anne) said these things about him:
He was a real Irishman.
He would sometimes come home with his friends late at night and wake her up to sing for them.
He was in a lot of fighting during the war. Was treated badly by the army, sometimes not getting paid.
He was a union activist, and "had to go away for a while."
He was part of the Tweed crowd (Democrat). Lived in his neighborhood.