Civil War Union Brigadier General. He was born in County Westmeath, Ireland, and emigrated at the age of 10, settling with his family on a farm in Cattaraugus, New York. He read law in Ellicottville, was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession until the war came. He enlisted in the 37th New York, known as the Irish Rifles, receiving a commission of Second Lieutenant on July 7, 1861. Two weeks later, at First Bull Run, the regiment held a reserve position. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on November 4, then to Major on January 21, 1862. He participated in the Peninsula Campaign, fighting at Williamsburg and Seven Pines. He also saw action at Second Bull Run. On October 8 he became Colonel of the 154th New York in Brigadier General Adolph Von Steinwehr's division of the XI Corps. On May 2, 1863, at Chancellorsville, when the XI Corps was surprised and routed by a Confederate attack, he fell wounded and was captured. Exchanged in October, he went west with the XI and XII corps to Tennessee. In the Union assault on Missionary Ridge in November, he and the 154th New York had only a nominal role. In spring 1864 the 2 Union corps were consolidated into the XX Corps in Major General William T. Sherman's command. On June 7 he secured the command of a brigade, which he led in the Atlanta Campaign, in Sherman's March to the Sea, and in the Carolinas Campaign. On April 18, 1865, he received his promotion to Brigadier General. Resigning his commission on June 17, he returned to Ellicottville. Later that year he secured the position of clerk of the New York Court of Appeals. In 1869 President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him postmaster of New York City. He resigned in 1873 and was elected register of New York the next year. In 1877 he returned to the legal profession practicing law until his death.