Hugh Murray (soldier)
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Hugh Murray
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Sketch of Hugh Murray. L'Opinion publique, Vol. V, No. 15 (9 April 1874)
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| Born | 30 April 1836 Montreal, Canada |
| Died | February 1874 Kingdom of Spain |
| Allegiance |  Papal States Carlists |
| Years of service | 1861–1874 |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Cross of Mentana |
Hugh Murray (30 April 1836 – February 1874) was a Canadian-born Irish soldier who served in the Papal Zouaves.
Biography
He was born in Montreal, the son of Hugh Murray and Henrietta Horan. He attended the minor seminary of Quebec City, where his uncle Edward John Horan was a professor at the time. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1856 and went on to study medicine, but the Annuaire de l'université Laval tells us that he had already given up his medical studies before the start of the new academic year in 1857.[1]
In 1859 he was attached to the editorial staff of the Journal of Education of Montreal, which had been published for two years under the direction of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau.[1] Murray was still working in this capacity when news reached Canada of the disaster at Castelfidardo on September 18, 1860, when the small pontifical army commanded by Louis Juchault de Lamoricière was defeated by Piedmontese troops.
In March 1860, during a meeting between the Belgian Redemptorist Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps, the French General Juchault de Lamoricière and Xavier de Mérode, the Belgian minister of papal arms, the Zouaves were created to oppose the progress of King Victor Emmanuel II's "sacrilegious usurpation".[1] From Catholic countries, young men flocked to Rome, eager to put their skills at the service of Pope Pius IX.
On 31 July 1861 Murray was in Rome and donned the uniform of the Papal Zouave. On 21 November 1866, he was appointed sergeant second class. It was at Mentana, during the French-Papal victory over the Garibaldians on 3 November 1867, that Murray really distinguished himself by his courage. He was one of the 57 wounded, in addition to the 24 dead, in the Pontifical troops.[1]
Mentioned in the regimental order of the day, he soon received the Knight's Cross of Pius IX and was promoted to second lieutenant on 4 April 1868. The Canadian Zouaves awarded him a sabre whose blade bore the following inscription: "To Second-Lieutenant Murray, Knight of Pius IX, First Canadian Officer, his compatriots".[1]
Back in Canada, after recovering from a serious operation, Murray contributed to James McMaster's New York Freeman.[2] But it wasn't long before Murray returned to his Zouave uniform. His royal comrade in the Papal Zouaves, Don Alfonso de Bourbon, had put his sword at the service of his brother, Don Carlos, who had proclaimed himself King of Spain under the name of Charles VII, but who had to conquer his throne from a prince of Piedmont, Amadeo I, chosen by the Cortes. Since it was a question of fighting once again, in a way, against Piedmont, Murray went to Spain in the summer of 1873, where, having soon obtained the rank of captain, he was second in command of a corps of 400 Spanish, Dutch and Belgian volunteers.[1]
For two years, the Carlist Zouaves fought against the liberal troops of Amadeo of Savoy and then Alfonso XII, making their mark in countless actions that made them particularly feared. It was during one of these actions that Murray died in February 1874, either during the siege of Manresa or under the walls of Bilbao.[1]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Sylvain, Philippe (2003). "Murray, Hugh." In: Dictionnaire biographique du Canada, Vol. 10. Université Laval/University of Toronto.
- ↑ Coulombe, Charles A. (2008). The Pope's Legion. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 210.
References
- Bellefeuille, Édouard Lefebvre de (1868). Le Canada et les Zouaves Pontificaux: mémoires sur l'origine, l'enrôlement et l'expédition du contingent canadien à Rome, pendant l'année 1868. Montreal: Le Nouveau Monde.
- Corrigan, B. M. (1940). "Canadian Crusaders," Queen's Quarterly, Vol. XLVII, pp. 77–88.
- Hardy, René (1976). Les Zouaves pontificaux canadiens. Ottawa: Musées nationaux du Canada.
- Hardy, René (1980). Les zouaves: une strategie du clerge quebecois au XIXe siecle. Montreal: Boreal Express.
- Schofield, Nicholas (2022). Victorian Crusaders: British and Irish Volunteers in the Papal Army 1860–70. Warwick: Helion & Company.
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