Captain Peter Geraghty

Fifth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry

One of the Irishmen from St Louis who enlisted on September 1, 1861 in Company L of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry was Peter Geraghty. He was twenty-tow when he became a Third Sergeant. He was promoted to First Sergeant July 1, 1862 and commissioned a Second Lieutenant on December 1, 1862.

Geraghty was promoted to First Lieutenant on April 28, 1864. He ended the war as a Captain, being promoted to that rank on January 20, 1865. He served for the duration of the war, mustering out with the regiment on August 11, 1865 at Nashville, Tennessee.

The Fifth Iowa Cavalry site is deeply indebted to Michael Breeling for sharing the civil war image of Geraghty, for which he maintains the copyright.