Abram Joseph Ryan (February 5, 1838 – April 22, 1886) was an American poet, Catholic priest, Catholic newspaper editor, orator, and former Vincentian. An active proponent of the Confederate States of America, he has been called the "Poet-Priest of the South" and the "Poet Laureate of the Confederacy." Ryan was born in Maryland to Irish Catholic immigrants. He attended a Christian Brothers school in Missouri, and then, at the age of 13, he attended a seminary run by the Vincentian Fathers. He entered the Vincentians and was sent to seminary in New York, to study theology and oversee the boys in the seminary's school. Vocally opposed to abolitionism, he was sent back to Missouri. Having gained experience as a preacher in rural areas, Ryan was ordained in 1860. After the American Civil War broke out, he went back and forth a few times between New York and Missouri, and then to Illinois. He asked to be released from his vows, feeling they prevented him from speaking out in favor of the Confederacy. Having been released from his vows, Ryan appeared to serve as a chaplain for the Confederate Army in various locations, and took up pastoral duties in Tennessee in 1863. While he never formally joined the army, he served as a freelance chaplain for the last two years of the war, during which time his enlisted brother was killed. Ryan had been writing poetry since his college days, and his "The Conquered Banner" was printed in June 1865. He moved from one parish in the South to another, writing poetry and sermons. He founded a journal which published mainly Southern writers, and published a volume of his own collected poetry which was popular in the US and in Ireland. He died in 1886 in Kentucky and was buried in Mobile, Alabama. Early life He was born Matthew Abraham Ryan in Hagerstown, Maryland on February 5, 1838, the fourth child of Irish immigrants Matthew Ryan and his wife, Mary Coughlin, both of Clogheen, County Tipperary. He was their first child to be born in the United States. The family had initially settled in Norfolk, Virginia, after their arrival in America sometime prior to 1835, but soon moved to Maryland, where the father obtained work as the overseer of a plantation with enslaved people. Ryan was named after this plantation's owner. In 1840 the family relocated to Ralls County, Missouri, and