I suppose that everyone who has read the histories of the Battle of Stones River has come across the mentions of Rosecrans's personal confessor, the Rev. Father Trecy. Most of the real information about this Catholic priest comes from the 1863 account left by William D. Bickham, Rosecrans' Campaign with the Fourteenth Army Corps of the Army of the Cumberland.
Virtually every, subsequent historian, with the exception of Rosecrans's biographer, William Lamers, has used the same information concerning Trecy without adding anything about the man. Lamers at least offered up the fact that the priest's first name was Patrick and that the spelling on his last name may have been "Treacy." In fact, "Trecy" seems to have been the Civil War-period spelling of his name, but "Treacy" is the original Irish spelling. Most of us are familiar with the more Amercianized "Tracy" spelling of the name.
In any event, Bickham identified Father Trecy as "an exiled priest from Huntsville, Alabama." Other than the 12, mostly passing, yet specific mentions by Bickham in his account, and one or two other anecdotal mentions by various early Civil War historians, I have found nothing else concerning this priest who witnessed so much history and rode as a part of Rosecrans's staff. Any additional information or clues as to where more information might be found would be appreciated.