Col. James Dennis Brady (April 3, 1843 – November 30, 1900) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. He was also an

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

officer for the North. In between his public service years, he was a lawyer in private practice.

Early life

Brady was born in

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

to Irish immigrant parents Bartholomew and Elizabeth Brady, who had four other children. His parents died in the 1855 Yellow Fever epidemic, which claimed the lives of approximately 10% of the Portsmouth population.

Civil War accomplishments

Brady enlisted on March 9, 1861 as a private in Company A, 37th New York Volunteers, "Irish Rifles", and with the Irish Brigade. He was commissioned as Lieutenant then Adjutant, promoted to Captain, Major, Lieutenant and Colonel of the regiment and last named officer honorably mustered out of service on 1865-05-26, claiming to be the "Youngest colonel in the Army of the Potomac." He fought in all the great battles in which the Irish Brigade was engaged, and commanded "The Color Company" in the

Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnsi ...

in 1862. He suffered four notable injuries including being wounded in the head while leading his company in the assault of the Irish Brigade upon Marye’s heights; in the leg in the second day of the battle of Fair Oaks, the morning that General Howard lost his arm; wounded in the mouth at Malvern Hill; and again wounded in the arm at Cold Harbor 1864-06-03, in which a shot also passed through his abdomen. Personally complimented by General Hancock at the battle of Fredericksburg on the afternoon that General Zook was mortally wounded. (Brady was with him).

Post-war life

James Brady returned to Virginia after the war, taking home the colors (flag) of the Irish Brigade, as was the tradition. He later donated the flag to Notre Dame and wrote a book on the flag called ''Blue for the Union, Green for Ireland''. Brady was elected Clerk of the Court in Portsmouth and served from 1865 to 1877.

President Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governo ...

appointed Brady Collector of Internal Revenue for the second district of Virginia from 1877 to 1885, and from 1889 to 1900. He served as delegate to the Republican National Conventions, 1880, 1888, and 1896. He had a successful run for the Senate in 1875 that was overturned due to a

ballot stuffing Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

scandal. But he wrote, "...There is nothing that discourages me... ", and was later elected to the Forty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1887). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1886. He died on November 30, 1900, in

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Din ...

and was interred in St. Joseph's Cemetery, Petersburg Virginia.

1884 election

Brady was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives with 40.48% of the vote, defeating Democrat George E. Rives and Independent Republican Joseph P. Evans.

References

Retrieved on 2008-11-05 {{DEFAULTSORT:Brady, James Dennis 1843 births 1900 deaths Virginia lawyers Union Army colonels Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia 19th-century American politicians Burials in Virginia Politicians from Portsmouth, Virginia 19th-century American lawyers