Michael Shaughnessy was born in New York, NY about 1840. He enlisted in Company A, 2^nd U.S. Cavalry by Captain Robertson at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on August 7, 1861. His enlistment documents describe him as 5’11” tall, with gray eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion. He listed his occupation as laborer.

Private Shaughnessy remained at Fort Leavenworth awaiting the arrival his company, which had already been ordered east from Fort Kearny, Nebraska. It arrived November 22nd and reached Cantonment Holt near the Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. by rail on November 29th.

Shaughnessy spent the winter of 1861 with the rest of the regiment, drilling and performing provost guard duty in the city. In March 1862 they travelled to the peninsula with the rest of the Army of the Potomac. The regiment primarily served as the army headquarters and provost guard and did not see a great deal of action. In July 1862 the severely understrength regiment deactivated A, B and D companies consolidated its remaining soldiers in other companies. Shaughnessy and his fellow Co. A soldiers were transferred to Co. E on July 6^th.  

Private Shaughnessy participated in Stoneman’s Raid and emerged unscathed from the battle of Brandy Station in June 1863. The regiment suffered nearly 25% casualties, but he was fortunate to not be one of them. He was not so lucky the following month in Pennsylvania.

Michael was one of the six members of the 2^nd U.S. Cavalry captured during the fighting on South Cavalry Field on July 3, 1863 during the battle of Gettysburg. He was paroled in August, and remained at the parole camp in Annapolis, MD until April 1864. The most likely explanation for his long stay in Annapolis is that he was wounded. Otherwise the parole process should have taken nearly so long.

Shaughnessy served through the initial fighting of the Overland Campaign of 1864 without incident. He was wounded again, this time in the left leg, at Cold Harbor on May 30, 1864. He recovered more quickly from this wound, returning to the regiment in the Shenandoah in early August according to the monthly returns. Michael was discharged at the expiration of his term of service on August 7, 1864 at Harpers Ferry, VA.

Michael commissioned into Company G, 47^th Illinois Infantry on March 9, 1865 as a first lieutenant at Rock Island, IL. A veteran regiment, it consolidated into four companies in November 1864 and recruited six new companies. Lieutenant Shaughnessy served with his new regiment until he mustered out on January 21, 1866. I found no indications of why he went to Illinois following his army service.

I was not able to definitively determine his activities following the war, as his was a very common name. There are records of one in Mississippi after he mustered out and another who was a federal marshal in Utah for a number of years. It is possible that they were the same person but I was unable to prove the connection. He filed an invalid pension on August 4, 1909 and died the following year.