administered his last baptism on January 15, 1871. Two weeks later he took a bad turn, and his imminent death was announced. The priest received the sacraments, and died a little after five o'clock on the evening of Monday, February 6, 1871, at the age of sixty-nine. Funeral The Savannah Evening News described the funeral procession four days later as the longest ever seen in the city and added that seldom was so large a gathering of people found in the streets of Savannah. The Mass began at 10 a.m. where Whelan's body rested in a splendid iron casket, ornamented with full-size silver roses. A wreath of laurel, emblematic of his devotion to the South, was placed at the coffin's head. Eighty-six carriages and buggies escorted the body through the crowded avenues to the Catholic cemetery. People from all over the city turned out to bid farewell to this beloved priest, including many non-Catholics. Colonel Olmstead led members from the old garrison, followed by various religious societies and Irish organization. References Sources Rev. Peter J. Meaney, "The Prison Ministry of Father Peter Whelan, Georgia Priest and Confederate Chaplain." Georgia Historical Quarterly 71 (1987): 1-24. External links Fighting the Good Fight: The Father Peter Whelan Story (documentary) History of Religion in Georgia in the Nineteenth Century: Selected Bibliography of Georgia Room Holdings National Park Service Site for Andersonville National Park Service Site for Fort Pulaski 1802 births 1871 deaths Christian clergy from County Wexford Confederate States Army chaplains 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) 19th-century American clergy