Civil War Union Army Officer, US Congressman. Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, his parents were immigrants from Ireland who died in 1855 as a yellow fever epidemic swept through the city. He began his Civil War service when he enlisted as a Private in Company A, 37th New York Volunteer Infantry on June 6, 1861. He served with that unit until December 6, 1861, when he was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant, and transferred to Company B, 63rd New York Volunteer Infantry, which was part of the famous "Irish Brigade" in the Army of the Potomac. Promoted to Regimental Adjutant on February 6, 1862, he served in that duty through the brigade's 1862 campaigns, and was wounded in the head at the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg. On February 11, 1863 he was promoted to Captain, and was place in command of Company D. Soon, however, he was detailed to staff duty, and served as Acting Inspector General for the Irish Brigade (officially designation 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, II Army Corps) from April 1863 to April 1864. At the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 he was at the side of Brigadier General Samuel K. Zook when that officer received a mortal wound during the fighting in the Wheatfield. During the June 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, he was wounded in the chest and arm by a bullet that also mortally wounded Colonel Richard Byrnes of the 28th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He continued to served with the regiment and brigade throughout the war, being promoted to Major on September 18, 1864, Lieutenant Colonel on October 15, 1864, and Colonel on May 18, 1865 (however, he was never officially mustered into his Colonel rank). He served as Acting Inspector General for the II Crops' 3rd Division from April to June 1865, and was honorably mustered out on June 30, 1865. After the war he returned to his hometown of Portsmouth, here he served as Clerk of the Court, and as Collector of Internal Revenue. Becoming heavily involved in politics, he successfully ran for United States Senator in 1875, but his election was overturned due to a ballot counting scandal. Undeterred, he was later elected as a Republican to represent Virginia's 4th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1885 to 1887. In 1896 he donated the Second Irish (Tiffany) flag from the 63rd New York Infantry, which he had kept after the war, to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, where it can be seen today.