Most Americans have no idea who Daniel Hough was, let alone that he was the first soldier killed in the Civil War. After the surrender of Fort Sumter the Federals were allowed to salute the flag with a 100-gun cannonade. On the 47th shot, the cannon Private Hough was manning exploded prematurely severing one of his arms and killing him instantly. He was buried on the island and forgotten. But who was Stanley Hough a man who survived over 3,000 Confederate shells aimed at him and his comrades only to die in a terrible accident after Fort Sumter was surrendered.

Hough was born in 1825 in County Tipperary in Ireland. The actual location is unknown because no one ever recorded what parish he came from. Vitals records at that time in countries like Ireland and Italy were recorded by the church and as anyone who has ever attempted to do genealogical research knows, if you don’t know the parish, it is very difficult to locate an individual and their family. Hough like many of his fellow countrymen emigrated to the United States to escape starvation and the potato famine of the 1840s. He arrived in New York in March of 1849. U.S. records make it hard to track him because many immigrants names were often spelled phonetically on official documents. His name and family members names may have been spelled Hough or Howe.

Like many Irish immigrants with limited job prospects he turned to the military and enlisted at Fort Lafayette in New York on May 24, 1849. Assigned to Company D of the 1st U.S. Artillery as a heavy artilleryman his term was for five years. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall. Trained to operated large seacoast cannons Daniel was sent to Fort Capron along the Atlantic Coast in Florida just north of Fort Pierce. His enlistment expired in the spring of 1854 and after taking a few months off he signed on for a second five-year tour in November at Fort Capron. This tour would be during the Third Seminole War. Twice while in Florida Hough suffered two bouts of what appears to have been severe depression characterized by withdrawal and refusal to perform his duties.

During 1857 his company was transferred to Fort Moultrie, SC where Hough’s psychological condition worsened and the doctor there felt he suffered from a hereditary derangement. Commanding officer Brevet Major Joseph A. Haskin not wanting to lose a soldier he thought “quiet, sober, and well disposed” sent him to Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital for the Insane in Washington, D.C. where Hough spent the summer. In mid-September he was released and returned to duty at Fort Moultrie now in Company E. After his second tour expired in November of 1859 he re-enlisted one month later for a third five-year term. Robert Anderson arrived to assumed command on November 21, 1860. On December 26, 1860 Hough and his comrades evacuated Fort Moultrie for the more easily defensible Fort Sumter in the middle of the night.

The attack on Fort Sumter began at 4:30 AM on April 12, 1863 and it surrendered 36 hours later. Hough served under Captain Abner Doubleday. Doubleday later wrote, “After the surrender we were allowed to salute our flag with a hundred guns before marching out, but it was very dangerous and difficult to do so; for, owing to the recent conflagration, there were fire and sparks all around the cannon, and it was not easy to find a safe place of deposit for the cartridges. It happened that some flakes of fire had entered the muzzle of one of the guns after it was sponged. Of course, when the gunner attempted to ram the cartridge down it exploded prematurely, killing Private Daniel Hough instantly, and setting fire to a pile of cartridges underneath, which also exploded, seriously wounding five men. Fifty guns were fired in the salute.” The five other members of the gun crew were also injured. Fellow Irishman Edward Gallway became the second soldier to die in the Civil War when he died from his wounds a few days later in Charleston.

The location of Daniel Hough’s grave site remains unknown. He was thought to have been initially buried at Fort Sumter. But his body may have been reinterred sometime later at the Fort Moultrie cemetery, or in St. Lawrence Cemetery in Charleston.