into a crushing victory, which recovered all that had been lost, taking 25 cannon and 1,200 prisoners, and driving for miles the lately victorious enemy under Early.  Captain P.J.  O’Keefe was one of the two who made the ride beside him.  The battles of Waynesboro, Five Forks, and Sailor’s Creek showed the same brilliant generalship on the part of Sheridan.  His hold on the affection of the army and the admiration of the people continued to the day of his death, August 5, 1888, when he held the headship of the United States army as general in succession to the great Sherman.

General Sheridan, towards the end of the war, had a soldier’s difference with Major-General George G. Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, but that did not blind “Little Phil” to the real merit of the victor in the tremendous three days’ battle of Gettysburg, handling an army new to his hand against Robert E. Lee.  The Meade family is of Irish descent.  George Meade, the grandfather, came from Dublin and was a patriot in the American Revolutionary War.  General Meade commanded a division at Antietam and a corps at Fredericksburg, and held command of the Army of the Potomac to the end of the war.  He was a fine soldier and gentleman.  Of quiet manners at most times, he was most irascible in the hour of battle, but his temper did not becloud his judgment.  General James Shields and General Irwin McDowell, both fine Irish soldiers, have already been mentioned.

It would be hard to compass in a brief article even the names of the general officers of Irish blood in the Civil War.  General John Logan, who fought with the western armies, is worthy of high and honorable mention, as is General Thomas Francis Meagher, a patriot in Ireland, a prisoner in Australia, a soldier of dash in the Civil War.  Meagher’s Irish Brigade left a record of valor unsurpassed:  their charge at Fredericksburg up Marye’s Heights alone should give them full meed of fame.  General Michael Corcoran, a native of Ireland, commanded the wholly Irish 69th Regiment when it departed for the war in 1861, and after his exchange from a Confederate prison raised and organized the Corcoran Legion.  Major-General McDowell McCook commanded brilliantly in the western campaigns.  Who has not heard of the Fighting McCooks?—­a family of splendid men and hardy warriors.  Brigadier-General Thomas C. Devin was a superb cavalry commander, who led the first division of Sheridan’s Shenandoah army through all its great operations.  General James Mulligan of Illinois was of the true fighting breed.  Colonel Timothy O’Meara led his superb Irish Legion from Illinois up Missionary Ridge.  Brigadier-General C.C.  Sullivan of western army fame was one of the five generals, headed by Rosecrans, who recommended Phil Sheridan for promotion to brigadier-general after the battle of Booneville as “worth his weight in gold.”  General Brannan was a gallant division commander in the Middle Tennessee campaign.  Colonel William P. Carlin made a name at Stone River.