Union Colonel James A. Mulligan, hero of the Battle of Lexington, speaks for a Catholic charity in Philadelphia
Colonel James A. Mulligan was a young Chicago lawyer active in Catholic work who helped raise the 23rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry, called in Chicago "the Irish Brigade." He had commanded Union troops at the seige of Lexington in Missouri and had been briefly held as a prisoner of war. He lectured in Philadelphia's National Hall in aid of St. John's Orphanage in the city on his experiences. Mulligan later commanded Camp Douglas, a Chicago prison camp. He was mortally wounded at Kernstown in Virginia in July 1864. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
J.Thomas Scharf and Thompson Wescott, History of Philadelphia 1609-1884, in three volumes (Philadelphia, PA: L.H. Everts & Co., 1884), II: 791.