By Jaimie Julia Winters
Kearny takes its name from a renowned Civil War general whose romance inspired him to build a mansion along the banks of the Passaic River, offering his lover a refuge from the social gossip surrounding their illicit affair.
Major General Philip Kearny was one of early America’s most captivating military figures. Nicknamed Kearny le Magnifique during his service with the Chasseurs d’Afrique in Algeria, and later known to Confederate forces as the “One-Armed Devil,” Kearny earned both titles through extraordinary courage. He lost his arm in the Mexican-American War, yet his reputation only grew during the Civil War. Renowned for his fearlessness, he often charged into battle on horseback, sword in one hand and the reins clenched between his teeth. His bold leadership won the admiration of his troops and secured his place in history before he was killed at the Battle of Chantilly in 1862.
Agnes Maxwell was the daughter of the customs collector for the Port of New York City. Though both lived in New York City—she was 20, he was 38, and already married—it wasn’t until a trip to Paris that their paths truly crossed.
In 1851, after his wife left him—taking their children, weary of his military career – and frustrated by the Army’s slow promotion system, Kearny resigned his commission. He then set off on a journey around the world, traveling to China, Ceylon, and France. In 1853, Agnes, a 20-year-old auburn-haired beauty and engaged to a man in New York, arrived in Paris with her parents, unaware that the trip would forever change her life, according to CivilWarTalk, a digital forum about the American Civil War.
Kearny met Agnes at a reception at the Tulleries Palace, hosted by Emperor Louis Napoleon III. It was love at first sight, according to a women’s history blog, History of American Women.
Kearny reportedly wrote to a friend:
“How incredible that this child should hold such allure for me, a man old enough to be her father … This is a love of autumn and spring … I am nearing my fortieth year … she is barely twenty … I am married, have sired children, and she is affianced to a young man in New York … but I am mesmerized by her loveliness, gentleness and charm … I swear to you … nothing matters … neither gossiping tongues, the variance in our ages nor the obligations we have to others … for she feels about me as I do about her,” according to to the blog.
The couple fell deeply in love, but their relationship could not be formalized because his first wife refused to grant him a divorce. But in 1854, Kearny suffered serious injuries when his horse fell through a bridge. Agnes moved in to nurse him back to health, according to CivilWarTalk.
The couple was so deeply in love that they didn’t care about public opinion. When the news of their relationship reached the United States, Diana, embarrassed and angry, refused to grant her husband a divorce. Undeterred, Philip and Agnes continued to live together in New York City, openly dismissing gossip. In 1855, the couple left New York to escape social condemnation and settled at Kearny’s newly built mansion, Bellegrove, overlooking the Passaic River, living as a happily married couple in all but name, according to CivilWarTalk.
Agnes wrote to a friend at the time:
“Need I give ear to the cackling of hens or the yapping of mongrels? I love Phil, and presently this is the only way I can be with him. I have done nothing of which I am ashamed,” according to History of American Women.
In 1857, Agnes gave birth to their daughter, Susan. In 1858, a mortified Diana consented to the divorce, but with the condition that Kearny could never remarry while she lived. Because Diana resided in New York, Kearny’s attorneys argued the restriction applied only within that state, freeing the couple to marry elsewhere. In April 1858, Philip and Agnes were wed in Paris, legitimizing their eight-month-old daughter. Fearing possible arrest upon returning home, the family remained in Paris, where they lived until the outbreak of the Civil War, according to CivilWarTalk.
While in France, Kearny rejoined the Chasseurs d’Afrique during their campaign against Austrian forces in Italy. Fighting alongside Napoleon III’s Imperial Guard at the Battle of Solferino, he led a daring cavalry charge that broke the Austrian center. For his bravery, Kearny was awarded the French Légion d’honneur, becoming the first American to receive the distinction.
In January 1860, the Kearny family welcomed a son, followed by the birth of a daughter, Virginia. By 1861, the couple had returned to the states, and Philip was appointed a Union general. In February 1862, Kearny rushed home after learning his two-year-old son Archie was gravely ill with typhoid, arriving in time to watch him die on Washington’s Birthday. Returning to the war the following month, Kearny confided to an aide that he “felt hollowed by loss, sustained only by duty as a refuge from sorrow.” Seven months later, on Sept. 1, 1862, General Philip Kearny was killed in action at the Battle of Chantilly, leaving behind Agnes and their two young daughters, according to CivilWarTalk.
Agnes later wrote of her husband’s funeral:
“The lovely weather on the day of Phil’s funeral saddened me. I remember wishing it had been otherwise … rainy and dismal. I regretted that our [daughters] Suzanne [aged 6] and Virginia [still an enfant] were so young that in a few years they would no longer have any recollection of their father … He was a man worth remembering,” according to History of American Women.
In 1868, Agnes married Admiral John E. Upshur. She lived on until July 2, 1917. She is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., in section 3, alongside her husband, General John Upshur, and his first wife. After originally buried at Trinity Church in New York City, General Kearny was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, where a memorial statue marks his grave in Section 2, according to Arlington National Cemetery.
