been under court martial for refusing to call up the 69 brigade to assemble to greet the prince of wales. he said, i'm not having my irish men greet the heir to the british throne. he was being court martialed as soon as lincoln needed him, the court martial mysteriously disappeared, and corcoran organized the second ninth into the fighting unit that came down here to arlington heights. thomas francis a remarkable irish leader who had been banished to australia, who had escaped to california, made his way all the way to new york, boston, then new york. he was recruited to be corcoran's second in command, which was good because corcoran was a captured bull run and ma took over the 69th. these were boys for irish recruitment for the whole country. lincoln was willing not only to appoint these democrats who had not supported him, but he went so far as to recruit james shields. now on paper, he looks as good as corcoran and more. he's an the highest irish-american leader in the mexican war. but lincoln and shields had a past lincoln and shields had actually for the senate in 1855. shields, t