David Power Conyngham
David Power Conyngham was a journalist, war correspondent, and novelist. His writing can generally be classified as either Irish historical fiction or works about the American Civil War.
Life
Conyngham was born about 1825 near Killenaule, County Tipperary to well-to-do farmers John and Catherine Power Cunningham. He was a cousin of novelist Charles Kickham on his mother's side. He was a member of Young Ireland and after the Famine rebellion of 1848 he drops out of sight for a time. It is not clear whether he went to America. However, after a few years he was contributing articles to the Tipperary Free Press.He arrived in the United States in April 1861 and joined the staff of the New York Herald, and was a war correspondent with the Irish Brigade. By then he spelled his name "Conyngham". He returned to Ireland in December and married Anne Corcoran. By March 1863, he was back in the United States and a captain, serving as an aide-de-camp to fellow Young Irelander General Thomas Francis Meagher at Chancellorsville. He continued to file reports with the Herald. His brother William served in the Confederacy. Conyngham was wounded in the Battle of Resaca and mentioned in dispatches for bravery.
After the war, he became editor of the New York Tablet. He died of pneumonia at his home on Vandam Street in Manhattan on April 1, 1883 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery (Queens).
Works
Conyngham's historical novels fed the growing Irish nationalism of the late 19th century.Sherman’s March through the South The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns Sarsfield The O'Mahony, Chief of the Comeraghs- ''Ireland past and present''