American soldier, born in County Tyrone, Ireland, on the 12th of January 1792; went to the United States with his parents when a boy; educated in the common schools; became clerk in a counting-house in Philadelphia, and subsequently became a very successful merchant in that city. At the beginning of the Mexican War he was appointed major-general of volunteers and commanded a division under General Scott, who gave him honorable mention in the official report. At the beginning of the Civil War he was assigned to a military department composed of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, and commanded a force near Harper’s Ferry, with instructions to prevent the union of the Confederate forces under Johnston and Beauregard at Manassas Junction, but the union was effected and the battle of Bull Run followed. On the expiration of his commission as major-general of volunteers, July 27, 1861, he was mustered out of the service and retired to private life in Philadelphia. He was one of the largest mill-owners in the United States, and was interested in sugar-refineries and cotton-plantations. His Narrative of the Campaign in the Shenandoah was published in 1865. He died on the 7th of August 1881.
