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Show OUR NEGLECT OF HISTORY. Judging from the apathy of . English-speaking Catholics in this country, more especially those belonging be-longing to the Celtic race, it will be a long time before they will erect a. Hall of Fame, or anything like it. People of the Latin races pay more homage to their heroes and give external proof of their devotion de-votion on more occasions. During the present month, for instance, a monument was erected in . Pueblo, Colo., to Christopher Columbus. The cost of it came out of the pockets of Italians who earn their living by labor .'principally. During the summer sum-mer the Poles of Chicagrected a' monument to the memory of Kosciusko, an expatriateel noble who served in the' armies of Washington. Such limited hold has Irish aggressiveness on popular sentiment that not a vote 'was cast for Commodore John Barry the Father, of the American Ameri-can navy, for a statue in the Hall 61 Fame. Instead In-stead the award was giVen to John Paul Jones. Irish-Americans spent their time reading what other Irish-Americans had written about John A. McCall 4ef ore the explosion came. The same will be repeated when another Mac or an O' comes up in the limelight for adulation; some Irish-American with more money than virtue and less knowledge of the land of his forefathers. The poor Italians and Poles would put him to shame. Martin I. J. Griffin has been struggling for years to promote an interest for Catholic history in this country. Many things and many persons associated with Catholic endeavor in colonial times would remain re-main forgotten had not Mr. Griffin brought them to light. With a scrupulous regard for truth and accuracy, ac-curacy, this historian has given the iconoclastic touch to many of the heroes of brag and bluster, and raised the obscure abova the position that doubt and prejudice consigned them. But where Mr. Griffin has one reaeler aii'dhcr historian of less merit and much less industry las a thousand. About a month ago a poem appeared in this paper, pa-per, written by George Parsons Lathrop. Its appearance ap-pearance was the result of an inquiry concerning the identity of a Major Peter Keenan, or Patrick Keenan, who led the cl arge at Chancellorsville. Nothing else was at ha id to satisfy the seeker of knowledge. Few ever he lrd of Keenan or the charge of that Pennsylvania regiment, and historians of the civ 1 war ignored him. The editor of the National Na-tional Hibernian official organ of the A. O. II. was attracted to the inquiry along with the poem published in this paper, and furnishes information which appears in a history of Allegany County, N. Y. It is from the pen of Rev. Father J. J. Daly. But who would ever think of looking up an affair of importance iu a county history ? 'Tn the Catholic cemetery at Scio, N. Y." writes Father Daly, "rests all that is mortal of one of the bravest heroes of our Civil War, one whose name stands side by side with Cushmg, Winthrop, Lyon, and the brilliant coterie of immortals whose deeds have made them deathless. "Major Peter Keeuan, a resident of this county from 1851 to 1858, educated at Wellsville and Wilson Wil-son Academy, Angelica, in 18G1, was a business man in Philadelphia and raised the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry, one of the first regiments of volunteers to arrive at the scene of Avar. 'Tn all the bloody battles of the Arruy of the Potomac he bore a conspicuous part and rose from the office of captain to major by his merit and gallantry. gal-lantry. At the battle of Chancellorsville, at the sacrifice of his own life and tho lives of most of his regiment, he checked the supposed invincible legions le-gions of Stonewall Jackson and averted the stampede-and destruction which threatened General Hooker's army. - - ., "At iyilfgh't of May 2, 18G3, Jackson's division 'of .'the' "-'Confederate army fell upon the Eleventh Corns (Conpral O. O. IIoaflnFs), the right wing nf the Union army and drove it back with such fury that cannon, cannoniers and infantry in mingled confusion covered a mile of the road to Chancellorsville. Chancel-lorsville. General Hooker ordered General Pleason-ton Pleason-ton to elo something to stay the conquering forces and Major Keenan was ordered to lead his regi- n rnent to support the flying- corps. j "With unflinching courage he charged the Con- j federates and held them in check some minutes, lung enough before the regiment was annihilated, to a!- low the Union artillery to be placed iu position and repulse the enemy. Major Keenan was shot while i charging in advance of his troops. He fell up:n ! the very bayonets of the enemy. In his death agony he tried to remount his horse, but was quickly killed, j His mangled body was brought from inside the i enemy's lines at night. I "One historian says: Tn the pages ot history there is not recorded a more gallant or heroU: j charge. It was a charge against fearful odds, a j charge of four hundred against forty thousand, a j charge of a regiment against an army, a charge J made in the face of inevitable death, at the crucial moment of a great battle, to save the Union army ! from panic, disaster and destruction. Major Kce- j nan is dead, but George Parsons Lathrop's put-in i inimortalizes his deed.'" |