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Updated 8/4/04, 1 PM
An Unknown Hero of the Great Civil War
By John G. Coyle, M.D.
PART 2 OF 3: COMMANDING THE IRISH LEGION
O'Meara established a picket guard of fifteen or twenty men and caused a fire to be returned, holding off the advancing Confederates. Colonel Hallowell got away by swimming, at 8 o'clock that night. But O'Meara was still covering the retreat. A boat took away load after load, but brave O'Meara stood guard with his handful of men, whose firing was so well done that the Confederates were held in check until almost all of the 150 Union soldiers had escaped by the water route and the boat. A swoop of the rebels showed that but a handful of Union men were defending, and O'Meara was captured with his gallant little band. He went to Liggon's tobacco factory in Richmond, used as a prison for military prisoners. Colonel Hallowell says: "He (O'Meara) will live in our memory, although so far as the world is concerned, he is an unknown hero of the war."
The Ninetieth Illinois ... are deserving of the thanks of the army.
— Ulysses S. Grant
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Judge George B. Kenniston, of Boothbay Harbor, Me., was a First Lieutenant of the Fifth Maine Volunteers, and a fellow-prisoner of Captain O'Meara. He was transferred to Tuscaloosa, Ala., another prison, with O'Meara, on November 21, 1861. Our government had not yet made any arrangements with the Confederates for exchange of prisoners, regarding the Confederates solely as rebels.
Judge Kenniston tells how the United States prisoners had a "farewell" celebration for the men about to be sent to Tuscaloosa. He relates:
Some of the speakers, all being officers of the United States Army, slightly criticized the government for neglecting its defenders and permitting them to be held for so long in confinement by the enemy. This made Captain O'Meara's blood boil, and, springing to his feet, and with a voice not unlike the roar of a lion, he defended the government, declaring that it had more important interests to attend to than our small affairs; that he was content to approve every act of Mr. Lincoln and his advisers and would remain as long as it was deemed best, though no man was more anxious for active service than himself. I shall ever remember his appearance that night. How lion-like he looked in that rough room among the line of tobacco presses, with only a single tallow candle, and among his comrades, declaring his faith in his government. It was a scene worthy of the pencil of any artist.
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MOLLUS
Michael Corcoran in a pre-war photo, when he was a colonel. |
Captain O'Meara was held as a hostage for a captured Confederate spy. Had the United States government executed the spy, O'Meara would have been hanged.
In the military prison Captain O'Meara had met Colonel Michael Corcoran of the Sixty-ninth New York, who was a prisoner for nearly thirteen months. Their acquaintance ripened into friendship. Corcoran came to know O'Meara well and to admire the Irish soldier. When Vicar-General Dunne of Chicago was raising the Irish Legion in Illinois, he wrote to General Corcoran to recommend someone to command the Illinois Irishmen. General Corcoran recommended Capt. Timothy O'Meara, and the Irish captain proceeded to Chicago and became the colonel of Dunne's Irish Legion, officially known as the Ninetieth Illinois Volunteers.
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O'Meara: A Martial Tradition
By Joseph E. Gannon
From a contemporary drawing
Thomas O'Meara |
Timothy was not the first O'Meara to win recognition as a soldier. Another famed soldier of the name (though not related to Timothy's branch as far as we know) was General Thomas O'Meara. He served France in the uniform of the Royalist, Revolutionary, and Napoleonic armies of that nation.
Following in the footsteps of his father, Captain James O'Meara, Thomas began his military career in Clare's regiment of the fabled Irish Brigade of France. Unlike many other officers of the old Brigade (some of whom lost their heads to the guillotine) O'Meara continued to serve France in its revolutionary army.
His most famous action came as commander of the garrison at Dunkirk in August 1793, when it was besieged by a much larger Allied force under the command of Frederick, Duke of York, son of King George III of Great Britain. The Duke, noting O'Meara's hopeless situation, but feeling magnanimous, gave him 24 hours to surrender the city. He even offered to discuss any terms O'Meara might propose, in so far as they were not, "injurious to the consideration and the honour of Great Britain" and her allies.
O'Meara apparently found his situation less hopeless than the Duke. He replied that he would "defend it [Dunkirk] with the brave Republicans whom I have the honour to command." O'Meara proved to have the more accurate assessment of his chances. The Duke attacked, but accomplished nothing and suffered heavy losses. A week of this was enough for him. As his countrymen would do a century and half later, he evacuated the Dunkirk area.
O'Meara had won a great victory, but in the bizarre world that was revolutionary France, he was arrested and imprisoned as an "aristocrat" soon after. He was released within a few weeks, however and continued his service in the Revolutionary, and then Napoleonic armies. Napoleon would later make him "Baron of the Empire." In all he would serve 42 years in France's various armies and would die in Orleans on April 19, 1819. WGT
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Captain O'Meara wrote to General Corcoran a day or so after his arrival in Chicago, saying:
My dear General: I arrived in due time and immediately presented myself to the Reverend Vicar-General. who was delighted to see me in Chicago, and warmly extended the hospitality of his home. The prompt manner in which you responded to his request created for you in his heart an undying friendship. On the next morning, in company with the Vicar-General, we visited the camp of the Dunne Legion. At present it numbers between 600 and 700 men, all of them of the true and genuine stamp. I must say that even from the green hills of our native isle there could not be found anything superior to the Irishmen that composed the regiment raised under the auspices of the patriotic and self-sacrificing Vicar-General.
The Illinois Irish Legion, under Colonel O'Meara, joined the army of General Grant in Mississippi and soon distinguished itself. The posts of Coldwater, Davis' Mills, and Middleburg were on the road which covered the receipt of supplies to the main army of Grant. In December 1862, a determined attack was made by the Confederates to seize this road, capture these outposts and seize or destroy the supplies.
On three different days, December 20, 21, and 24, the Confederate attacks were delivered. It was the baptism of the Irish Legion of Illinois in fire. And nobly did the Irish soldiers respond to the demands of the hour. The road was saved, O'Meara's men making a defense of a trestle-work near Holly Springs, the Confederates were repulsed, and General Grant issued a complimentary order, dated Jan. 8, 1863, saying:
The Major-General commanding takes just pride and satisfaction in congratulating the small garrisons of the posts of Coldwater (O'Meara's command), Davis' Mills and Middleburg for the heroic defense of their positions on the 20, 21 and 24 ultimo, and their successful repulse of an enemy many times their number.
The Ninetieth Illinois (its first engagement), the detachment of the veteran Twenty-fifth Indiana are deserving of the
thanks of the army, which was in a measure dependent for supplies upon the road they so nobly defended, and they will receive the meed of praise ever awarded by a grateful public to those who bravely and successfully do their duty.
The Irish Legion of Illinois did other excellent service under Grant in his Vicksburg and Jackson campaigns. Gen. William Sooy Smith, brigade commander of the Ninetieth Illinois, in an official report said: "On July 10, 1863, four miles from Jackson, Miss., we had a brisk skirmish with the enemy's outposts in which the good conduct of Colonel O'Meara and the officers and men of his regiment deserves especial mention."
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Part 1: From Mexico to Ball's Bluff
Part 2: Commanding the Irish Legion
Part 3: The Death of O'Meara
This page was produced by Joseph E. Gannon.
Copyright © 2004 by GAR Media LLC. This article may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior permission. Direct questions about permissions to permissions@garmedia.com.
READ MORE ABOUT ULYSSES S. GRANT AND THE IRISH:
Grant in Ireland, Part 1: 'Wild Irishman' Hits Dublin
Grant in Ireland, Part 3: Farewell to Ireland, Forever
'Never Seen the Blarney Stone': Grant's Dublin Speech
Freeman's Journal's Take on Grant
Grant's Cork Controversy: The Issues Still Resound
The Irish Fight for Grant at Cold Harbor
Scrappy Phil Sheridan: The U.S. Army's Little Big Man
Grant's Grandfather Called Tyrone Home
Assessing Grant's Place in History
Timothy O'Meara: Plaudits—and Tears—From U.S. Grant
Get a "Grant and the Irish" Commemorative Item
Selected Bibliography
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