CHAPTER VII.
While the children of Ireland were engaged in defending the flag of the Union during the late civil war, and sealing with their blood their fidelity to the great Republic, they were, also, acquiring a knowledge of arms and a warlike hardihood, which tended, on the cessation of hostilities, to render the Fenian organization more formidable than it could possibly have become, had peace pervaded the land from the inception of the Brotherhood to its triumph at Ridgeway. All through this gigantic struggle the hand of the Irish patriot and exile was prominently observable. Not a field had been fought from the firing of the first gun at Fort Sumter to the surrender of Lee’s army, on which their blood had not flowed in rivers. Look at Murfreesboro, Corinth, Perrysville, Iuka, Antietam, Chickahomany, Winchester, Fort Donaldson, Island Ten, Shiloh, Lexington, Bull Run, Carnifex Ferry, the Rappahannock, the Mississippi, the Cumberland, the Potomac and Fredericksburg, “where one-half of Meagher’s Brigade are still encamped under the sod,” and we have evidence of the truth of this assertion, the most ample and complete. Amidst these scenes of terrific carnage, the warlike genius and matchless personal bravery of many a distinguished Irishman were eminently conspicuous; while the latent fires that had previously lain dormant in the breast of others, leaped forth into a glorious conflagration, that commanded the admiration of every true soldier and evoked the recognition of the Commonwealth at large. Amongst this latter class stood pre-eminently forward, the present President of the Fenian Brotherhood throughout the world—GENERAL JOHN O’NIELL, a brief sketch of whom we introduce here for obvious reasons, drawn from authentic records in our possession, as well as from the current newspaper literature of the day:
“To the Irish reader,” observes a contemporary, well informed upon this subject, “and especially to that portion of our people, who are conversant with the past history of their country, and feel a patriotic pride in its glorious records, as well as a fervent hope for their renewal in the future—there is no name fraught with memories more inspiring than that of O’Neill—the princely house of Ulster, the champions of the Red Hand, who, for centuries, in the struggles of the nation against the Saxon invader, led the hosts of their people to victory, and only succumbed at last when poison and treachery, and chicane had accomplished what force failed to effect; for their valor was powerless against the dagger of the assassin, as were their honesty and open-heartedness against the bad faith of England’s perjured tools. Like many a noble and ancient Irish house, its scions are to-day to be found scattered through the world, in every walk of life. But though its banner no longer floats over embattled hosts, there is magic still in its associations; and when men speak of the O’Neill, the Irish heart leaps fondly towards the historic name and the proud recollection of the days when Hugh and Owen stood for the rights of their people and native land, and dealt the assailants of both those sturdy blows which so well justified their claim to the blazon of the ‘Red Hand.’
“In our own day, too, the old blood has vindicated its inherent force and purity, and has found a worthy representative in the subject of our present sketch—GENERAL JOHN O’NEILL,—whose name, in the future history of the Irish race, will be as inseparably linked with the struggles of the present generation for national independence, as are those of his ancestors with the efforts made by our people in the past against English tyranny and usurpation. As this noble and patriotic Irishman is now occupying so much of the public attention, and his political conduct meeting with that cordial endorsement which is a just tribute to his bravery and patriotism—whether on the bloody fields of the South, routing a Morgan, or assuming the command of his colonel, or, with thirty men repelling the attack of a regiment; or, with his gallant band of Irish soldiers, chasing the ‘Queen’s Own’ at Ridgeway—a brief review of his career will not be devoid of interest to all who desire to preserve a record of those who have deserved well of their country. Within the limits of such a sketch it would be impossible to do adequate justice to the character of a man like General O’Neill, and we can only assume to glance at the many attestations of his bravery and gentlemanly bearing which should have a public record, as they are from men of high position, and are of importance in illustrating the estimation in which he has always been held by his superior and brother officers. No man can produce a more unsullied one, or one better calculated to confirm his title to the high position in which his countrymen have placed him.
“General O’Neill was born on the 8th of March, 1834, in the townland of Drumgallon, parish of Clontibret, county Monaghan, Ireland. At his birth he was an orphan, his father having died a few weeks previously. The early part of his existence was spent with his grandparents in his native place. Bred up in a country, every hill and river and plain of which was linked in story with the deeds of the mighty men of old, it is not to be wondered at that the mind of young O’Neill seized with avidity every incident of the past connected with the condition and history of his fatherland, or that the bias of his future life was given by his meditations as he rambled along the slopes of Benburb, or traced the victorious steps of his ancient sept, through the classic region where his schoolboy days were passed. That it should be so is only natural; for he is a kinsman, as well as namesake, of the great Hugh O’Neill who, with his fearless followers, swept over Ulster and defeated so many of England’s greatest generals, and brought the heads of some of her pets to the block. And there is no doubt but that some of her favorites of to-day shall be made to bite the dust ere the General has done with them.
“General O’Neill is a man of calm temperament, but a firm will, which, when excited, however, is stern and inflexible; uniting with this a good education and gentlemanly address, with a mind bold, independent and decisive. His person partakes of the character of his mind for if the one never succumbed in the council, the other never bent in the field. Few could imagine from his modest exterior the latent, fire and energy which burn in his bosom. His manner is as unassuming as his mind is noble; quiet, yet impervious to flattery or laudations, he seems at the same time to pay due regard to popular opinion, without in the least permitting it to influence him in the discharge of his duties.
“While he was yet quite young, the family of General O’Neill emigrated to the United States, and his mother settled at Elizabeth, N.J., where she still resides. He did not follow them until 1848, when he was fourteen years of age. Having devoted some time to the completion of his studies here, he determined to engage in commercial pursuits, and for some time travelled as agent for some of the leading Catholic publishing houses. In 1855 he opened a Catholic Book Store in Richmond, Va., and while residing there became a member of the ‘Emmet Guard,’ then the leading Irish organization in that section of the country. The inclination thus manifested for the military profession soon proved to be the ruling passion in the mind of the young Celt,—checked only by the repugnance of his family towards the soldier’s life; for, in 1857, he gave up his business and entered the Second Regiment of U.S. Cavalry—a regiment which has since furnished the most distinguished officers who have figured on both sides during the late war.
“In the Regular Army, O’Neill rose steadily by his good character, bravery and aptitude, no less than by his education and invariable gentlemanly conduct. But though he has since filled positions of high responsibility, he has often declared that one of the most pleasurable emotions of his life was experienced when, for some meritorious act, he received, from his commanding officer, his warrant of Corporal.