Thomas Drugan ^{1 3}

  General Notes:

The Drugans left County Tyrone, Ireland in 1849 and emigrated via New York. They likely lived for a short time in Sullivan, Pennsylvania with James Drugan and family, and then moved to Kane, Illinois. They then moved to Caledonia Township, Wisconsin in 1854, and then to the town of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin around 1855. They first lived near the Old Catholic Cemetery in Trempealeau.

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From: The History of Trempealeau County" by, E.D. Pierce
from page 143:

"Thomas Drugan was perhaps the first Irish settler in Trempealeau County. He came to Trempealeau in 1853 and settled on a farm in the town of Trempealeau. At that time Trempealeau was part of La Crosse County. Patrick Lowery and Patrick Drugan, the latter a brother of Thomas Drugan, came to Trempealeau in 1855. ...Patrick Drugan settled in the town of Trempealeau on the place now owned by Patrick Lowery. The Drugan's came from the county of Tyrone in the North of Ireland and lived some five years in Illinois before coming to Trempealeau."

from page 75:
"...Among the arrivals of these years [1853, 1854, and 1855] were J. D. Olds, who had selected a claim in 1851; A. P. Webb, Patrick Drugan, Thomas Drugan"

(Source: John L. and LaVonne (Shipe) Drugan Family History, 1979)
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From the Newspaper Article, "Irish Roots Go Deep in Trempealeau County":

(Source: Winona Republican-Herald, Winona, Minnesota, 17 Mar 1953)

History indicates that an Irishman made the first permanent settlement in this, even before the county was formed. It is said that one Thomas Drugan, straight from the "owld sod," took up residence in what is now the village of Trempealeau in 1853, when straggling hunters and trappers made up the scant population. At that time, the area was a part of La Crosse, for that was before Judge George Gale succeeded in forming the present Trempealeau County from parts of La Crosse and Buffalo counties.

Typical Irish, coming from County Tyrone in North Ireland, were the Drugan's, for Thomas was joined by his brother Patrick, and by Patrick Lowery. To this day, the name Drugan is familiar in Trempealeau village. 1855 saw the arrival of Frank Feeney, Dan Galligan, and James Brady. The Sullivan's and the McCarthys within a few years were added to the growing population of Trempealeau.

Among the early Irish in Trempealeau was one Barney McGraw, credited with the quick wit and ready humor of his country. He lived in a small cottage probably of the kind which inspired the song "Tumble-Down Shack in Athlone" and other Irish songs. One of the jokes relished by his friends, and to this day vouched for by one who heard it, is quoted from Barney McGraw. He was one of several men repairing an old house, and was at work in the basement. Needing assistance, he called to the men above, "How many of yez are up there?" "Three," came the answer. "Then the half o' yez come down here," Barney called. It was said that McGraw often voiced his regret that, though he was of pure Irish stock, he had been born in the state of New York instead of in Ireland.

Throughout Trempealeau, the Irish were sprinkled "like leavening in a pan of dough." Scarcely a nook or a corner of the county but had it's Irish settlers, descendants of whom have been a bulwark to on-coming generations.
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NOTE - I have yet to confirm if Thomas Drugan was killed in the Civil War but given the fact that his son Constantine was born in Arkansas and the 6th Missouri Cavalry saw extensive action in Arkansas, there might be a correlation between those two facts. It could be possible that he participated in the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas in which there were over 2,500 casualties. The CSA units included the 2nd Brigade: Colonel Joseph O. Shelby (Shelby's Raiders) (commanding 1475 men on the battlefield). It consisted of the following units:
4th Missouri Cavalry - Colonel Beal G. Jeans (334 men)
5th Missouri Cavalry - Colonel Benjamin F. Gordon (338 men)
6th Missouri Cavalry - Colonel Gideon W. Thompson (333 men)
Elliot's Missouri Cavalry battalion - Captain Benjamin Elliott (101 men)
Quantrill's Company - Lt. William Gregg (33 men)
Bledsoe's Missouri Battery - Captain Joseph Bledsoe (36 men, two six pound smooth bore cannon)
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Coffee's Regiment Missouri Cavalry CSA
This regimental roster is very fragmentary. It began in mid 1862 under the command of Col. John T. Coffee and was first known as the 6th Missouri Cavalry. In December of 1862 it was redesignated the 11th Missouri Cavalry and commanded by Col. Gideon W. Thompson.

Company F:
Avy Daniel MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Avy William MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Avy Peter MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Avy Jacob MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F 1st Lt.
Baly G.M. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Baly S.D. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Ben I. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Cambell J.N. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Carter A.C. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Dragon Thomas MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Drugan Thomas MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Evridge Granville MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Evridge Sampson MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
February W.I. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Garrett John C. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F 1st Lt.
George A.J. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Gilbert James M. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Goodman H.C. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F 1st Lt.
Groves Wiley MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Hamilton T.A. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Harper John MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F 1st Sgt.
Jones John T. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Kelly John M. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Kelly Joseph P. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Kelly James H. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F Sgt.
Kerr Joseph MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Laffoon T.M MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Laffoon F.S. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Laffoon C.V. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Laffoon E.M.F. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
McGar S.D.M. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Petty Henry MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Petty Elijah MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Petty J.H. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F 2nd Lt.
Rice F.M. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Roper Benjamin MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Rose William MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Sanders Hamilton MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Smith William MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Snuffer O.M. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Stephens A.H. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Stoops J. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Storms Isaac MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Storms P.L. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Thomas J. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Trange R.B. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Winters D.S. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Woodcock W. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Woodcock Joel MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Woodcok A.M. MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Yokum William MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F
Yokum Michael MO Cav. Coffee's Regt. Co.F

NOTE - This roster shows the name of Thomas Drugan and also the names of Isaac Storms and P. L. Storms who were brothers of Thomas' wife, Elizabeth Storm. Elizabeth's brothers names were Isaac Storm, born 1836 and Peter L. Storm, born 30 June 1842 or 1843. Her father's name was Peter L. Storm who died in Missouri in 1863 at the age of 59. Thomas and his 2 brothers-in-law all enlisted in the same unit so that they could serve together.
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  Noted events in his life were:

• He appeared on the 1860 US Census in Jasper Township, Jasper County, MO on 26 July 1860. ³

1860 US Census
Page 151, Family 1003, Roll 624
Jasper Township, Jasper County, Missouri
Thomas Drugan..27..IRE..Farmer

(Living with wife and stepdaughter at the home of wife's parents.)
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• Military: Coffee's Regiment, Missouri Cavalry (Confederate), 1865, Missouri. Name: Thomas Drugan
Event Type: Military Service
Military Beginning Rank: Private
Military Final Rank: Private
Military Side: Confederate
State or Military Term: Missouri
Military Unit: Coffee's Regiment, Missouri Cavalry
Military Company: F
Affiliate Film Number: 4

Citing this Record
"United States Civil War Soldiers Index, 1861-1865," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FSZ9-14F : 4 December 2014), Thomas Drugan, Private, Company F, Coffee's Regiment, Missouri Cavalry, Confederate; citing NARA microfilm publication M380 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 4; FHL microfilm 882,005.

Thomas married Elizabeth Storm, daughter of Peter Lunsford Storm and Jane Burch, on 28 May 1858 in , Jasper County, MO.^{1 2} (Elizabeth Storm was born in 1832 in , Greene County, IN ^{2 3} and died after 1865.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• They appeared on the 1860 US Census in Jasper Township, Jasper County, MO on 26 July 1860. ³

1860 US Census
Page 151, Dwelling 1028, Family 1003, Roll 624
Jasper Township, Jasper County, Missouri
Peter L. Storms..56..KY..Farmer
Jane Storms..54..NC
Isaac N. Storms..23..IN..Farm Laborer
William D. Storms..21..IN..Farm Laborer
George W. Storms..19..IN..Farm Laborer
Peter Storms..17..IN..Farm Laborer
Susanna Storms..15..IN
John J. Storms..13..IN
Thomas Drugan..27..IRE..Farmer
Elizabeth Drugan..28..IN
Catherine Cramer..3..MO

NOTE - Thomas and Elizabeth were living with her parents. Catherine was Elizabeth's daughter from a previous marriage.
.

  Marriage Notes:

Name: Thomas Drugan
Spouse's Name: Elizabeth Storm
Event Date: 25 May 1858
Event Place: Jasper,Missouri

Citing this Record
"Missouri Marriages, 1750-1920," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V28J-Q5H : 11 February 2018), Thomas Drugan and Elizabeth Storm, 25 May 1858; citing Jasper,Missouri; FHL microfilm 930,887.
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There is no information about what happened to Thomas and Elizabeth following his enlistment for military duty in the CSA. By 1865 Elizabeth was living in Arkansas where she gave birth to Constantine and it is not known if Thomas was alive at the time. By 1870, even Elizabeth disappeared from the scene and Constantine was living with his grandmother, Jane Burch-Storm back in Missouri according to the 1870 census records. In 1880 it appears that their son Constantine had moved to Indiana and at the age of 17 was living with and working as a "chore boy" for another family in Greene County, Indiana. This suggests that perhaps both of his parents were killed in the Civil War. One of the reasons that he moved back to Greene County, Indiana is that his mother and all her siblings were born there.
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In October 2014, Beth Tuck Beth Tuck <tuckea1@gmail.com> provided the following information about Thomas Drugan and Elizabeth Storm:

Three of Peter Lunsford Storm's sons (James B., Isaac, & Peter L. Jr.) and his Thomas DRUGAN enlisted to fight for the Confederacy. Remarkably all four lived to the end of the war. Peter would have been nearly 60 at the start of the war, but his age did not keep him out of the conflict. According to "1883 History of Jasper County, Missouri", Peter L. STORM was "killed by Federals at his house near Galesburg" and his son William was also "killed by the Federals" near the Center Creek Mines in 1864. Though no date was given for Peter's murder it can be assumed to have taken place between 1861 and 1864. Peter is assumed to have been buried on his own property near Galesburg. No tombstone has been recorded.

What I pieced together was that Thomas Drugan, Isaac Storm and James Storm enlisted in the summer of 1862. They seem to have enlisted in Arkansas. All of them are associated with Coffee's Regiment of Calvary at some point. Sometimes it's called Missouri Calvary, sometimes Arkansas Calvary. The name of the unit fluctuates throughout the war (Coffee was court marshaled a few times) and our men seem to move between units. You see the unit names Thomas Drugan is associated with below.

BATTLE UNIT NAME: Coffee's Regiment, Missouri Cavalry (http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=CMOCOFFRC)
SIDE: Confederacy
COMPANY: F
SOLDIER'S RANK IN: Private
SOLDIER'S RANK OUT: Private
FILM NUMBER: M380 ROLL 4

The Storms are also associated with the 27th Arkansas Infantry. Both units formed in northern Arkansas in the summer of 1862. At one point I saw Isaac and James on a list of deserters, but that could be the confusion of units breaking up and reforming as much as anything. I want to say that Fold3 had records of Confederate soldiers who were present to surrender in 1865. The cards didn't have much more than their names and the unit they were part of at the time of surrender. I'm positive I saw digital copies of the cards somewhere and having exhausted the other possibilities I'm pretty sure it's Fold3. I want to say the top of the cards were filled in with the names in longhand and that at the bottom of the card was printed in tiny print an agreement to cease hostilities. It was a loyalty oath in effect. I believe Thomas Drugan was one of the ones with a card, and that's why I concluded they all survived the war, but I guess my memory isn't good enough to swear to it now. I do remember Peter L. Storm Jr had a card, because he seems to have enlisted later than the others. John Storm may have also enlisted, but the name is too common for me to be sure he's the John Storm in my family.

I don't know who Elizabeth stayed with while her husband was at war, but her child, Constantine, was born in Arkansas around 1865. With Peter Storm Sr. getting shot in his own yard and William Storm shot not far from home, it's quite possible the entire family was forced off the property at various times. Of course I have no idea what happened to Thomas & Elizabeth after 1865 but I did look for them in all the places the rest of the family disbursed to.

So I guess you might want to get the free trial membership on Fold3 and see how accurate my memory is. You probably deal with this all the time but I always have to search every possible spelling of Drugan, Drogan, Dragon, Druggun, etc. And when looking for Storm you also need to search Storms.

If I turn up anything else I will let you know, and if you should know what happened to Constantine I'd be really interested in hearing it.
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