Daniel O’Connell Quigley was born March 16, 1830 in St. Louis, the second son of Patrick and Catherine Quigley. Three years later the family moved to Galena and then on to Dubuque. Daniel’s father was very patriotic and named one son Patrick Henry Quigley, another Andrew Jackson Quigley and Daniel was named after the Irish leader Daniel O’Connell called The Liberator, who led the fight to obtain political rights for Roman Catholics in Ireland in the early 19^th century.

The 1850 Census shows Daniel working as a farmer but still living with his parents and siblings.

Alice C. Reyburn became Daniel’s wife on August 24, 1857 and the following year a daughter, Katie R. was born. By then Daniel and his wife and newborn daughter were living on Grandview and he worked for B. P. Power & Co. whose business was “commissions and forwarding.”

Shortly after the Civil war broke out Daniel decided to leave his young wife and family and go south to fight for the Confederacy. A friend Chas. Jones, the son of former US Senator George Wallace Jones, wrote a letter dated at Dubuque on July 1, 1861, and addressed to Capt. S. E. Hunter, Hunter’s Rifles, Clinton, Louisiana and read as follows:

Unfortunately for Jones, the letter was later found on the battlefield of Shiloh and Franc Wilkie, a correspondent sent the letter to the New York Times for publication. When news of the letter reached Dubuque Jones had to beat a hasty retreat south himself. He went to Richmond to see what his father’s good friend Jeff Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America, could find for him to do in the war effort.

Quigley did not make it to Louisiana and instead enlisted for a period of one year at Memphis on July 1, 1861 in Co. B of the 1^st Regiment Missouri Volunteers by Col. John S. Bowen. He was paid $11/month. He was described at 5’8” with black hair, dark complexion and gray eyes. He was listed as being a merchant before enlisting.

This regiment bore the distinction of being the first Missouri unit of any type to enter Confederate service. John S. Bowen, a West Point graduate and Missouri Volunteer Militia officer captured at Camp Jackson on May 10, 1861, recruited the regiment at Memphis, Tennessee, in June 1861 under authority granted by President Jefferson Davis. Bowen enrolled large numbers of St. Louisans, including many exchanged prisoners taken at Camp Jackson; five companies primarily from the southeast Missouri “Bootheel” counties of New Madrid and Pemiscot a mostly Irish company from New Orleans and another contingent of Irishmen from Memphis. All the original field officers and many company commanders had been educated at West Point or private military institutions while others had significant experience in the prewar Missouri militia resulting in the regiment possessing the most experienced leadership of any Missouri Confederate unit.

The 1st Missouri Infantry formally entered the Confederate army on June 22 1861 at Camp Calhoun near Memphis. Although initially unarmed the regiment nevertheless drilled near Memphis or at Fort Pillow until sent up the Mississippi River in mid-August to New Madrid Missouri to join Brigadier General Gideon J Pillows Army of Liberation. The regiment became exceptionally proficient in drill and employed the unique use of whistles to signal maneuvers rather than the bugles used by most units. In early September the regiment transferred to Columbus Kentucky and finally received arms there on September 23. The regiment next spent several weeks at Camp Beauregard near Feliciana Kentucky. On December 25 the regiment moved to Bowling Green Kentucky and later to Nashville, Tennessee. At the latter place, the 1st Infantry Regiment provided security in the aftermath of the Fort Donelson, Tennessee, sur­render and performed the onerous task of destroying public property, including boats and bridges, when the Confederates abandoned the city to the enemy.
 

The regiment then joined the Army of Mississippi, commanded by General Albert Sidney Johnston, at Corinth, Mississippi. After performing routine duty around Corinth for several weeks, the 1st Missouri advanced with the army to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, where it experi­enced its first fighting at the battle of Shiloh on April 6-7, 1862. The regiment, led by Colonel Lucius Rich because of Bowen’s promotion to brigade command, constituted part of Bowen’s brigade in Major General John C. Breckinridge’s Reserve Division; it was the only Missouri Confederate unit on the field. Closely engaged for two days, the 1st Infantry initially fought near and in the Peach Orchard and helped drive the Union defenders to Pittsburg Landing. The fighting in the Peach Orchard materially assisted in forcing the surrender of Union forces in “the Hornet’s Nest” the strongpoint on the Federal left, along with 2,300 enemy soldiers. There were several Iowa regiments including many men from Dubuque engaged at the Hornet’s Nest and many of them were among the captured.

The 1st Missouri also fought hard on the second day of the battle, playing a major role in recapturing the abandoned guns of the 5th Company, Washington Artillery, a New Orleans battery. One of the last regiments on the field, and part of the army’s rear guard as it retreated to Corinth, the 1st Infantry Regiment lost 48 killed, 130 wounded, and 29 missing of about 850 men engaged.

After Shiloh the regiment remained at Corinth until the Confederates abandoned the town, and then moved to Camp Price near Vicksburg. Daniel was discharged at Camp Price, Mississippi (near Corinth) on July 21, 1862 by reason of disability. He received a $40 (unused) clothing allowance upon discharge.

While Dubuque was a hotbed of both pro and anti-southern sentiments in 1862 it is believed Daniel did not return to Dubuque after his discharge (or at least did not remain long) and his whereabouts are unknown for the rest of the war. It is presumed he and his family went west, perhaps to Montana. It is also not known if he even returned for his father’s funeral in August 1865 after the war had ended.