Michael Corcoran

Corcoran, Michael, Brigadier-General, U.S.A., was born at Carrowkeel, County of Sligo, 2ist September 1827. He emigrated to the United States in 1849, obtained a clerkship in the Post Office, and first came into notice as Colonel of the 69th New York Militia. On the call for troops, April 1861, he took the field with his men, and distinguished himself at the battle of Bull Run, where he was wounded and taken prisoner. He was confined successively at Richmond, Charleston, Columbia, and other places, and was one of the officers selected for execution, had the Federal Government carried out its threat of hanging as pirates the captured crews of several Confederate privateers. Exchanged next year, and was made Brigadier-General, dating from 21st July 1861. He recruited an Irish legion, and served in North Carolina at the battles of the Nausemond River and Suffolk, and checked the advance of the Confederates upon Norfolk. He died of severe injuries received by a fall from his horse, near Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia, 22nd December 1863, aged 36.

Sources

37a. Biographical Dictionary—American Biography: Francis S. Drake. Boston, 1876.