William Birney

Background

William Birney was born on May 28, 1819, at Huntsville, Alabama, United States, the son of James G. Birney and Agatha McDowell.

Education

Birney was educated at Centre College and Yale University.

Career

At sometime prior to 1845 Birney was practising law in Cincinnati, Ohio. In February 1848, being a member of a Republican student organization in Paris, he commanded at a barricade in the Rue St. Jacques during the revolutionary outbreak. In the same year he won in a competitive examination an appointment as professor of English literature at the Lycée at Bourges, where he remained for two years. During his five years' residence abroad he wrote for English and American papers, among other things reporting the first World's Fair at London (1851). He appears also to have paid some attention to the history of art and current activities in art education. Upon his return to the United States he established the daily Register at Philadelphia (1853) and edited it for two years.

At the outbreak of the Civil War Birney raised a volunteer company in New Jersey, and became in succession captain of the 16t New Jersey Infantry and major and colonel of the 4th New Jersey Infantry. In 1863 he was appointed one of the superintendents of the enlistment of colored troops, in which capacity he organized seven regiments. On May 22, 1863, he was made brigadier-general of volunteers. During the last two years of the war he commanded a division. On August 24, 1865, he was mustered out.

After a residence of four years in Florida Birney removed to Washington, where he practised law, wrote fortnightly letters to the New York Examiner, and served for a time as United States attorney for the District of Columbia. In his later years he interested himself in religious controversy, publishing Functions of the Church and State Distinguished: A Plea for Civil and Religious Liberty (1897); Revelation and the Plan of Salvation (1903); Creeds not for Secularists (1906).

Achievements

• William Birney was noted for encouraging thousands of free black men to join the Union army. While in command of colored troops he freed the inmates of the slave prisons at Baltimore. He took part in a number of important engagements, and after the battle of Olustee, Florida, aided in recovering the state from the Confederates. For his military service, he was brevetted Major General of US Volunteers. He also wrote profusely on the subjects of religion and history. His best-known writing, James G. Birney and His Times, appeared in 1890.

Works

More photos

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  • James G. Birney and His Times: the Genesis of the Republican Party, With Some Account of Abolition Movements in the South Before 1828

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • General William Birney's answer to libels clandestinely: Circulated by James Shaw, jr. with a review of the military record of the said James Shaw, jr., late colonel of the Seventh U.S. colored troops

    (This book, "General William Birney's answer to libels cla...)

Connections

Birney was twice married: in 1845 to Catherine Hoffman, and in 1891 to Mattie Ashby.

Father:

James G. Birney

Mother:

Agatha (McDowell) Birney

Spouse:

Mattie (Ashby) Birney

Spouse:

Catherine (Hoffman) Birney

Brother:

David Bell Birney

Brother:

Fitzhugh Birney

Brother:

James Gillespie Birney

Sister:

Ann Hughes Birney

Daughter:

Elizabeth Birney

Daughter:

Katharine (Birney) Seip

Son:

Herman Hoffman Birney

Son:

Arthur Alexis Birney

Son:

Ulrich Hoffman Birney

Son:

Theodore Weld Birney