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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 1 OF 3: FROM MEXICO TO BALL'S BLUFF
In a war on so vast a scale as the great Civil War of the United States, from 1861 to 1865, men who would loom large in ordinary wars fail to receive that attention that their achievements deserve. The Civil War lasted for four years. There were 2,261 engagements during the struggle. Nearly 2,800,000 enlistments occurred on the winning side. The cost in money to the victorious Union was over $2,500,000,000 and at the close of the struggle more than 1,000,000 men were enrolled in the armies of the Union.
Thousands of heroic men gave up their lives in unrecorded acts of heroism. Thousands upon thousands made sacrifices and endured sufferings that would stir the hearts of the people in deathless memorial eulogy could the facts have been preserved for the use of men with imagination, with sentiment and the gift of expression. These unknown heroes must be content with the sole yet mighty consolation of duty done and a preserved Union, for which they strove.
Too much praise cannot be awarded to Captain O'Meara and those under his command.
—Lt. Col. Mooney, of the 42nd New York
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One of these unnoticed figures suddenly looms up before the mind of the student who reads minutely the history of that titanic struggle. The figure comes into view in several parts of the fighting ground. It is the figure of a man born under another flag than the Stars and Stripes, with the heart of a soldier, the soul of a Catholic gentleman, the ardor of a patriot. He takes command in a desperate situation by native ability, by courage, by the inspiration of his soul. He suffers imprisonment without a murmur and defends his country's government against the bitter comment of her own native-born sons. He heads a brave regiment of men, like himself, from another land. And he dies in the line of duty, a Catholic gentleman, an American soldier, beneath the Star Spangled Banner, mourned by the greatest genera1 in the Union Army. That man is Col. Timothy O'Meara, a native of Tipperary, the commander of the Irish Legion of Illinois.
Timothy O'Meara was born in Tipperary in 1833. As he reached young manhood the Irish were emigrating- to America at the rate of 150,000 a year. The pestilence, the famine, the tornado and the frightful industrial and governmental conditions in Ireland were driving the Catholic Irish into a land that promised them hope, refuge, and betterment. O'Meara came here when under twenty years of age and enlisted in the United States Army. He saw five years of service on the plains of the West, and at the end of his term was an experienced soldier, accustomed to the exigencies of Indian and outpost service.
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UNDER TWO LINCOLNS
By Joseph E. Gannon
Timothy O'Meara fought in the army of Lincoln in the Civil War, but before that he served in the army of a man sometimes called "The Lincoln of Mexico"—Benito Juárez, one of the most revered men in Mexican history.
Like Lincoln, he was born poor but lived to lead his nation though a period of tremendous upheaval. On March 6, 1806, no one in the village of San Pablo Gueletao would have been so bold as to predict that the new-born infant of full-blooded Zapotec Indian parents could possibly rise up to lead his nation.
Juárez's early education was paid for by a rich patron with an eye toward the priesthood, but Benito's education led him away from the Catholic faith and into politics. He received a law degree and became politically active in the 1830s. Juárez was exiled to the United States when Santa Anna returned to power in 1853, but returned to support the liberal General Juan Alvarez the following year and became Minister of Justice when Alvarez ousted Santa Anna. But the instability in the country continued and soon a conservative faction came to power again.
Shortly thereafter, Juárez lead the liberal side in the "Reform War," fought from 1858 to 1961. It was during that conflict that Timothy O'Meara joined the "Juaristas" in their successful fight against the conservatives. The victory was won at the battle of Calpulalpam, and Juárez assumed power in Mexico in December 1860, as O'Meara returned to the United States for the start of the Civil War.
The U.S. government would mirror O'Meara's support of Juárez in the coming years, when Napoleon III attempted to install the Austrian Maximillian as ruler of Mexico. With that help, Juárez would once again prevail. He was elected president in 1867 and reelected in 1871. He suffered a heart attack and died in office July 17, 1872. WGT
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At that time a revolution broke out in Mexico. Juarez, whose memory is still revered in Mexico, who is affectionately termed the "apostle of peace," whose career was free from unnecessary bloodshed, cruelty and plunder, was the leader of the Constitutionalists of Mexico. Under the banner of Juarez went O'Meara, to receive a commission, and to distinguish himself, as had so many other Irishmen in these and other parts of the world. He served honorably and nobly under the great Constitutionalist leader. But when the Southern States precipitated the war of 1861 and Sumter was fired upon, O'Meara's love for the Union led him to hasten to New York, where his mother and his brother and sister lived, to offer his services in the cause of the Union.
As a private he enlisted in the Forty-second New York Volunteers, a regiment raised by the Tammany Society and the Society for the Defense of the Union in common. The regiment was commonly known as the "Tammany Regiment," and also as the "Jackson Guards." O'Meara was made regimental adjutant and soon afterward became captain of a company. He left New York City with the regiment on June 22, 1861.
The regiment had a slight engagement at Mason Island, Md., on September 3, 1861. but received its first big shock of battle at Ball's Bluff, Va., on October 21, 1861. The battle was a disaster for the Union forces. But Captain O'Meara, commanding Company E, distinguished himself. He placed the flag of Erin beside the Stars and Stripes and encouraged his men, who fought desperately until the confusion compelled retreat.
The official report of Lieutenant-Colonel Mooney of the Forty-second Regiment says:
Too much praise cannot be awarded to Captain O'Meara and those under his command. They fought with undaunted bravery and great efficiency, and when vanquished at last Captain O'Meara swam to the island and implored Colonel Hinks of the Nineteenth Massachusetts, then in command there, for the use of a boat to rescue his brave men from the hands of the enemy, and failing in this recrossed the river to Virginia, in order to assist his men in person with the best means he could devise to escape. As he did not return it is presumed he is now a prisoner in the hands of the enemy. His persistent efforts on the behalf of the safety and welfare of those under his command are worthy of the highest encomiums.
Library of Congress
Ill-fated Federal troops preparing to cross the Potomac at Ball's Bluff. |
Yes, indeed, worthy of all praise! Brave Captain O'Meara swam back to save his men, if he could, or to fight with them until the end. Col. Norwood P. Hallowell, who was president of the National Bank of Commerce at Boston, in the "Stories of Our Soldiers" published in Boston in 1894, tells of the commanding presence and soldierly deeds of O'Meara in the hour of disaster and retreat. Over 150 soldiers of different regiments were clustered under the bluff, without hope of getting away. There was no boat and a swollen cold stream confronted them. From time to time, a swimmer plunged in. Often he was shot by the watchful Confederate sharpshooters when he could be descried. The colonel relates:
The bitterness of despair pervaded the group, as it stood face to face with the grim king of terrors himself, in most gloomy disguise. But in that hour of darkness and misery, forth from their midst an unexpected 1eader came, a brave Irish captain of the Tammany Regiment. With excellent judgment, true courage, and rare steadiness of nerve, he restored manhood to the cowering by the sheer force of personal example. His orders were coolly given and obeyed implicitly, for none questioned his right to command.
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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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