Father Peter Whelan (1802 – February 6, 1871) was an Irish-born Catholic priest who was a chaplain for both Confederate troops and Union prisoners of war during the American Civil War. Whelan previously served as a missionary in North Carolina and pastor of Georgia's first Catholic parish, and twice served as administrator of the entire Diocese of Savannah.
He initially ministered to Confederate troops including the Montgomery Guards, an Irish company established in Savannah for the First Georgia Volunteer Regiment. He remained with them during the Union siege of Fort Pulaski which guarded Savannah harbor, and volunteered to remain with them during their imprisonment in New York in 1862. About a year after his release in a prisoner exchange, he was assigned to minister to the Union prisoners-of-war held at Andersonville, Georgia, where he became known as the "Angel of Andersonville." According to a biographer in 1959, Father Whelan "never received a lasting place in the history of the Southland he loved so well."
Early life and ministry Peter Whelan was born in 1802 in Loughnageer, Foulkesmills (parish of Clongeen), County Wexford, Ireland. Little is known about his early life. From 1822 to 1824 he attended St Kieran's College in Kilkenny, where he received a classical and mathematical education before coming to America. Whelan heard about an appeal for priests made by John England, the popular and dynamic bishop of the new Diocese of Charleston, which at the time comprised both Carolinas and Georgia.
Whelan was incardinated on April 6, 1829, and was ordained in Charleston on November 21, 1830. For the next two years he served as secretary to the bishop before beginning his duties in communities throughout North Carolina, including New Bern, Washington, Greenville, Fayetteville, Lincolnton, Salisbury, Wilmington, Long Creek, and Raleigh. He was said to have celebrated the first Mass ever offered in Raleigh, in 1832, at the boarding house of Matthew Shaw, a Presbyterian. His zeal also played a key role in the erection of the capital city's first Catholic church.
Although Whelan occasionally visited Georgia, it was not until February 21, 1837, that he became pastor of the Church of the Purification of the Most Pure Heart of Mary at Locust Grove, near modern-day Sharon, Georgia. He spent nineteen years in this small parish, which was the first planned, Catholic community in the state. Located on an old stagecoach road running from Sparta through Double Wells to Raytown and Washington, the original place of worship, constructed of hand-hewn logs, was also the first Catholic Church built in Georgia. Father Whelan had offered the first Mass in the home of Thomas G. Semmes in the town of Washington in 1835.
At Bishop England's death, Ignatius A. Reynolds was appointed to the position. On a visit to Locust Grove in 1844, he expressed deep satisfaction with the religious proficiency of the children. Two years later another report summed up Whelan's whole pastorate: "In the diocese…there is not a congregation, remote and rural as it is, in which, taking proportionate numbers into the scale, we find the youth are more moral, orderly and better instructed."
The Diocese of Savannah In 1850 the new Diocese of Savannah, encompassing all of Georgia and part of Florida, was established, and Francis Xavier Gartland became its first bishop. In 1854 Father Gregory Duggan of Augusta became ill during a yellow fever epidemic. Whelan journeyed to Augusta to help handle Duggan's affairs. He was then summoned to Savannah when Bishop Gartland, while ministering to victims of yellow fever, caught the disease himself and died. Father Whelan would be stationed here for the rest of his life.
The young diocese was without a bishop until the Reverend John Barry, the interim administrator, was consecrated in August 1857, and Whelan was appointed his vicar general. However, tragedy struck again in November 1859 when Barry died on a trip to France. Soon, Whelan became administrator of the whole diocese. Although he purportedly had been recommended for the Episcopal dignity, Bishop Patrick Lynch of Charleston and the priests of Savannah had to pressure Whelan to accept the office of administrator until a new bishop could be appointed.
This duty was unusually difficult for Whelan. In a report of January 25, 1861, to the Propagation of the Faith, he indicated that Barry's sudden death had left the diocese in disarray. Distance between missions, lack of good communications, and a scarcity of priests increased the burden. Debt payments were due on various projects, such as the schools and churches so vitally needed for the poor Irish immigrants. One priest visiting Savannah in 1859 said that he witnessed the bishop, priests, and thirty orphans "huddled together in a shanty through which the wind whistled as through a basket."
Relief finally came for Whelan in September 1861, when Bishop Augustin Verot arrived from Florida to fill the vacant See. By then Savannah was caught up in the Civil War. People of all faiths in the South had favored secession. One missionary, who had previously visited Savannah, complained that, "Father Whelan with all the priests tried to make [him] a secessionist." Whelan had even jokingly warned of "tar and feathers."
Civil War
Fort Pulaski Fort Pulaski, located on Cockspur Island, about seventeen miles from the city of Savannah was manned by five companies of Confederates, guarded the port of Savannah. Bishop Verot asked for a volunteer priest to go to Fort Pulaski and serve the needs of all the Catholic troops stationed there, especially the Montgomery Guards, composed almost exclusively of Irish Catholics from the surrounding area. The sixty-year-old Father Whelan answered the call. As one of only eleven priests in all Georgia, he had to return occasionally to the city. Bishop Verot, who was about to depart on church matters, placed Whelan in charge of whole diocese on January 7, 1862. Upon the bishop's return four weeks later, the telegraph lines to Cockspur were cut by the Federals, and the fort was isolated. Whelan could not attend the annual clergy retreat or the diocesan synod, nor would he see his Savannah friends again for six months.
The isolation of Fort Pulaski came gradually. The Federals slowly severed it from Savannah as part of their planned blockade of all southern ports. While the encirclement was in progress, the defenders grew troubled. Lack of communication with Savannah added to their tension. As they readied the fort for action, Federal ordnance was being landed in the darkness and stealthily put into place behind sand dunes a mile away.
During this period, the pastoral duties of the Irish chaplain expanded. While he did not participate in military operations, he lived alongside the soldiers and provided support to the hard-pressed, weary soldiers. Whelan soon became well-regarded among the men regardless of their faith, while offering religious direction to the Catholic soldiers.
Organized on August 20, 1861, and quickly mustered into service, the Montgomery Guards was still without its own colors. With some fabric located by Captain Lawrence J. Guilmartin, the Sisters of Mercy in Savannah constructed a handsome banner. On St. Patrick's Day, 1862, after morning Mass, Major John Foley of the garrison formally presented the flag to Private Bernard O'Neill, the appointed standard bearer. Following the custom of Catholic chaplains throughout the war, Whelan called down God's blessing on the banner and the company.
On the morning of Thursday, April 10, 1862, the Federal forces began to bombard the fort. During this period Father Whelan experienced what few chaplains ever faced: direct, heavy fire from the enemy. The new rifled cannons proved to be a most effective advantage for the Union Artillery, providing greater distance and accuracy than that of their Confederate counterpart. For thirty hours the Union batteries pounded the fort. Conical steel-pointed shot soon began to bore through the walls of the brick and mortar fortress. After the crumbling officers' quarters became uninhabitable, the priest had to stay in the northeast casements while tending the wounded. The walls of the fort were receiving serious damage and it was only a matter of time before artillery rounds would penetrate the main powder magazine. In order to preserve the lives of his men, the garrison's commander, Colonel Charles H. Olmstead, agreed to surrender.
Castle William On April 13, two days after Fort Pulaski was surrendered, the captured Confederates were divided into groups for transportation north. Father Whelan was offered his freedom but chose to remain with the men in order to continue his ministry among them. Now a prisoner of war, the priest endured the harsh voyage to Governor's Island, New York, where he shared the rigors of prison life with the men. This place of detention, which was under the command of an elderly colonel, Gustavus Loomis, was one of several Atlantic forts pressed into use by the Commissary General of Prisoners, Colonel William Hoffmann.
The officers were quartered in barracks and granted freedom of the island on their word not to escape; they were also issued blankets and limited supplies and money from home. Their quarters were cleaned regularly and meals were cooked for them. The enlisted men, on the other hand, were not so fortunate. Many needed clothing, and some even had to go barefoot. They were confined in an old fort known as "Castle William." It had few toilet facilities, poor ventilation, no conveniences for cooking the meager meals, and inadequate heating. The men soon began to suffer severely from pneumonia, typhoid, and measles.
Whelan's first step to alleviate this situation was to procure food and clothing. On May 3, he wrote to the Reverend William Quinn, pastor of St. Peter Church on Barclay Street in New York. In the letter he indicated that he had received provisions from Baltimore. In a humorous vein, Whelan asked that no more rich food be sent, lest he become an epicure in his later years. He added that he had successfully applied for a position as chaplain at the prison and had been granted the opportunity to offer Mass each morning in Castle William.
Two days later, Fr. Quinn, in the name of all the clergy of New York, requested that Whelan be released on parole and be allowed to live at St. Peter's due to his age and his misfortune in having been captured while temporarily visiting Fort Pulaski. Quinn expressed fear that confinement in the damp, cold prison would seriously injure the priest's health. The appeal achieved its desired effect. On May 10, Loomis sent Whelan to Assistant Provost Marshal Hunt, who brought him before General John A. Dix and Judge Edwards Pierrepont. They discharged the priest and put him on parole. Although he was allowed to leave, Whelan chose instead to remain with the men, who now needed him more than ever.
Except for an occasional trip to the city to procure necessities for the men, Whelan remained at the prison, saying Mass in the morning, visiting the sick, giving encouragement and spiritual guidance for those in need, help for new prisoners when they arrived, and making burial arrangements for the deceased.
While at Castle William, he became accustomed to taking walks on the ramparts early each morning. There he often met the Confederate officers. It was through these encounters that he and Colonel Charles Olmstead became very close.