Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. A native of Ireland and a civil engineering graduate of Dublin's Trinity College, he came to the United States in 1854. When the Civil War began he enlisted in the Union Army, and was mustered in on April 25, 1861 as a Private in Company E, 1st New York Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded in the foot while carrying the regimental flag at the June 10, 1861 Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia. Promoted to Sergent in May 7, 1862 and commissioned 1st Lieutenant on October 14, 1862, he served temporary duty as an engineer on the staff of Major General Philip Kearney. On October 31, 1863 he was transferred to the 40th New York Volunteer Infantry, and was promoted to Captain and commander of Company A. Nearly a year later he was promoted to Major in September 1864, and added to the staff of Major General David B. Birney as an Aide-de-Camp. Less than month later, though, he was promoted to Colonel and assigned to command the newly-raised 199th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He led the regiment only a few months before he was advanced to command the 1st Brigade, 1st Division XXIV Army Corps in the Army of the James in December 1864. He would lead the brigade in the final operations and assaults on the weakening Confederate positions at Petersburg Virginia, and was wounded in the April 2, 1865 attack on Fort Gregg. Brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers to date from March 13, 1865, he returned to command of the 199th Pennsylvania in May 1865, he was post-war occupation duty with the regiment before the majority of its men were mustered out in June 1865. Transferred to the 188th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in the fall of 1865 he was charged with stealing over $70,000 of seized Confederate gold and notes from a Union Army quartermaster's safe. Convicted in a court-martial, he had his Brevet Brigadier General commissioned revoked, and he was dismissed on November 3, 1865. The ignominious end to his military career overshadowed the fact he had participated in over thirty engagements and was wounded in combat several times. In 1869 he died of pneumonia at his residence at Lafayette Place, New York City, New York,