fought brilliantly at Cerro Gordo and Churubusco, and was brevetted brigadier-general.  He attained the army rank in 1858.  Major-General William O. Butler, under Zachary Taylor, was one of the heroes of Monterey.  Born in Kentucky, son of Percival Butler of Kilkenny, who was one of the famous five Butler brothers of the Revolutionary War whom Washington once toasted as “The Butlers and their five sons,” General Butler succeeded General Scott in command of the entire American army in Mexico in February, 1848.  Another of clear Irish descent who fought under Zachary Taylor was Major-General George Croghan, whose father, born in Sligo, Ireland, had fought in the Revolution.  He himself took part, as we have seen, in the War of 1812, and now was at the front before Monterey.  Once, when a Tennessee regiment wavered under a hot converging fire, Croghan rushed to the front and, taking off his hat, shouted, “Men of Tennessee, your fathers conquered with Jackson at New Orleans.  Come, follow me!” and they followed in a successful assault.  Major-General Robert Paterson, who was born at Strabane, Ireland, and was the son of a ’98 man, saw service in 1812, and became major-general of militia in Pennsylvania, whence he went to the Mexican War.  He also lived to serve in the War of the States.

Among Irish-named officers mentioned honorably in official despatches are Major Edward H. Fitzgerald, Major Patrick J. O’Brien; Captain Casey, chosen to lead the first storming party at Chapultepec; Captains Hogan, Byrne, Kane, McElvin, McGill, Burke, Barny, O’Sullivan, McCarthy, McGarry, and McKeon.  Captain Mayne Reid, the novelist, a native of Ireland, was in the storming of Chapultepec.  Theodore O’Hara, the poet, served with the Kentucky troops and was brevetted major for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco, while on the staff of General Franklin Pierce (afterwards President of the United States).  O’Hara’s magnificent poem, “The Bivouac of the Dead,” has made his name immortal.  It was written on the occasion of the interment at Frankfort, Ky., of the Kentucky dead of the Mexican War, where

      “Glory guards with solemn round
      The bivouac of the dead.”

Irwin C. McDowell, who was brevetted captain at Buena Vista, commanded a corps in the Civil War.  George A. McCall, brevetted lieutenant-colonel at Palo Alto, was a major-general in the Civil War.  Francis T. Bryan was a hero of Buena Vista.  Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas P. Moore and Captain James Hogan both won fame in the 3rd Dragoons.  Lieutenant Thomas Claiborn of the Mounted Rifles became a colonel in the Confederate Army.  Lieutenant-Colonel J.W.  Geary fought brilliantly and was to be heard from later with renown.