Colonel Theodore O'Hara.
Sketch of a distinguished Kentuckian from an army officer's Pen—a brilliant military career given up for Literature and the press.Theodore O'Hara was a singular man in some respects, and while he was undoubtedly a man of a good deal of genius, he did not appear to have that stability which is necessary to secure success. He did not stick close enough to any one pursuit to master it in all of its details. When a mere child he was taken by his parents to Ireland, where his father, Kane O'Hara, was born, and being rather precocious, was noticed a great deal by his relatives. He used to be given a good drink of Irish whiskey, and then placed on a table, where he would make speeches and recite, to the infinite amusement of his listeners. With true Irish love of fun he was cheered on, and generally carried the whole house with him. When grown to manhood he could recite remarkably well, and generally chose some scene from Aytoun's ‘Songs of the Scottish Cavaliers.’ He could hold an audience spell-bound. [276] His father taught school at Shelbyville, Ky., for a time, and afterward removed to Frankfort. Theodore attended the school, where he was a bright scholar, though full of mischief and assisted the other students in getting their lessons, doing sums for them and helping in various ways. O'Hara became a captain in the Second Regiment of Cavalry in 1855, and while on the march from Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, to Texas, in the fall and winter of 1855-56, was attentive to his company. One evening after the regiment had halted for the night, where there was some tall, dry grass, a fire broke out, and it required the utmost endeavors of the officers and men to save the tents and baggage wagons. Captain O'Hara was very busy and remarkably efficient. He pushed forward those who were slow in their movements, and accomplished a good deal in a short time. Some of his men did not move forward as promptly as he thought they ought to do, when he went after them with a will, and gave some of them a complete overhauling. He was naturally quick and industrious, and infused some of his life into his men. He could not bear to see so much property in danger of destruction without making a great effort to save it. He seemed to have new life on that occasion, and won many compliments on his good behavior. Where all worked faithfully, the conduct of O'Hara stood out prominently, and Colonel Albert Sydney Johnston spoke highly of his efforts. A fire of this kind in the dry grass and cane is sometimes very destructive. O'Hara's company was halted at the Clear Fork of the Brazos river, at was subsequently known as Camp Cooper, to watch the Comanche Indians, who had a reservation near by. These wily redskins would sometimes break away in spite of all efforts to keep them on their own ground, and then there was widespread terror in the infant settlements along the frontier. O'Hara was out on several scouts, and once, while travelling with a small escort between Camp Cooper and Fort Mason, came near being attacked by a party of roving Indians, greatly superior in numbers, but fortunately made his escape, and reached the fort in safety. Those were dangerous times. Captain O'Hara had a fund of humor, and often displayed it before his acquaintances in a good-natured way. He had among his friends a gentleman from Michigan, and once, when in this playful mood, said: ‘I am fond of Michigan, it is the home of two of my [277] best friends-General Cass, who is the greatest statesman in the world, and Mr. W——, who is the poorest.’ Mr. W. saw the point at once, and joined in the merriment it occasioned. On the march to Texas he had a negro woman for a cook, who was sometimes very free in her criticisms, affording great amusement to her listeners, and no one could help hearing her, as her cooking place was only a short distance off. Captain Charles E. Travis, son of William B. Travis, the hero of the Alamo, in Texas, was also a captain in the regiment, and was tried at Fort Mason for something which occurred at Jefferson Barracks. O'Hara was an important witness at this trial. While at Fort Mason a fight occurred with some Indians, who had murdered a white man and a negro boy on the Cibolo, which gave O'Hara great pleasure, and under date of April 2, 1856, he wrote to B. Gratz Brown, then editing the St. Louis Democrat, as follows: ‘The captain charged up the hill, and a volley from his carbines was the first notification to the savages that their avenger of their late barbarities was near. The Indians, completely surprised and panicstruck by the suddenness and fury of the assault, offered but little resistance. They fled in all directions, leaving several dead, and their camp and all their property behind. Captain Brackett pursued them in every direction with his men as long as he could track them, and doubtless many more were wounded and perhaps killed. The camp which Captain Brackett captured was quite an argosy of valuable property which those Indians had robbed from the whites, as well as of the various things which constitute the legitimate property of the savages in the way of arms, implements, ornaments, etc. Captain Brackett returned to Fort Mason loaded down with the spoils and trophies of victory, and has no doubt received, as he well deserved, abundant congratulations and applause for having so handsomely performed one of the most successful and brilliant exploits which the annals of our border warfare with the savages record.’ This letter is given as a specimen of O'Hara's style, and because very few letters of his are known to exist. He was a clear writer, and expressed his views well on all subjects. It is strange there are so few of his letters, as he wrote a great deal at one time or another, but seems to have treasured up nothing. He was contented while in the army with doing his duty well, and cared more for that than anything else. He was a natural writer, and had been an editor, or [278] associate editor, in Frankfort or Louisville. The surroundings of Camp Cooper did not suit him, and he sighed for the good things to be found in Louisville. He liked hotel life, where all the luxuries are easily attainable, and was fond of getting up late, after working well into the night before. He was a natural soldier, and took kindly to duty, but the restraints of the regular army were not so much to his fancy. He had been assistant quartermaster, with the rank of captain, in June, 1846, during the Mexican war, and was quartermaster of General Pillow's division in the Valley of Mexico, and received the brevet of major for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, on August 20, 1847, and was disbanded, after the close of the war, in October, 1848. He had also been in the Cuban expedition under General Lopez, and at Cardenas was very seriously wounded. This was in May, 1850, so a military life was no new thing to him, and he liked its excitement, but he did not like the monotony of a frontier post, and grew very restless under it. There was not novelty enough about it. His violin served to while away many an hour, and he became quite proficient on that instrument. His studies, too, gave him occupation, and he kept up with the literature of the day. Captain O'Hara was extremely neat in his personal appearance, and took great pains with himself. When his second lieutenant reported to him in Louisville, he was greatly struck with O'Hara's neatness. Between these two men a warm friendship commenced, which was continued ever afterward. Nothing was too good for O'Hara in the lieutenant's opinion, and he could not do him too much honor. O'Hara made many friends; he was of a genial, sunny disposition, and was inclined to look on the bright side of everything. He had a decided taste for literature, and had been well educated, his father paying particular attention to that. He was well acquainted with the English classics, and understood Greek and Latin very well. He had a strong military bent, as has been seen, and was a capable officer; but, with all this, he preferred to be a newspaper man, and was perfectly at home writing for the daily press. He was clear and forcible, and, when inclined, could weave into his productions much poetry and grace. Could he have been satisfied with the plodding work of an editor, he would have been successful; but he could not bear for a considerable time the restraints and exactions of that calling. When he set about writing anything he threw his whole mind into it, and evolved a shapely production. [279] In fact, he could not keep away from the journalistic profession, nor would he work at it with sufficient assiduity to make it wholesome and acceptable to himself. This was unfortunate, perhaps, but he was not a bitter partisan, though he had strong political notions, and disliked controversy. He had very few personal enemies. He was frank, upright, and just to every one, and no one ever heard of a dishonorable action ever done by him. Captain O'Hara was hospitable to the last degree. He generally kept some supplies from Kentucky, and after a long march sat down in front of his tent to enjoy himself and entertain such acquaintances as might favor him with a call. He was always genial, always pleasant, and it was a pleasure to listen to his conversation. His experience had been varied, and his talk was interspersed with anecdotes of men he had met. He knew many of the prominent characters of our country, and had listened to most of the best speakers. He had a famous memory, and had stored his mind with many gems. It was necessary to know O'Hara some time before his many good qualities could be appreciated. There was no jealousy in his disposition. The men under his command were very fond of him, and he treated them with uniform kindness. He was a very brave, winsome man; an excellent converser and good listener. He always felt a sympathy for the sorrows and misfortunes of others. He had a great deal of insight into men's true characters, and seemed to understand them at a glance. His thoughts did not go back to the Cuban expedition with any particular satisfaction, although he had been honored with the commission of colonel. He came to look upon it as a harebrained scheme, which had little chance of success from the start, most of the members of it having been completely duped by its leader, General Narciso Lopez. When O'Hara wrote ‘The Bivouac of the Dead,’ he did not think he was writing for posterity; he wrote it for a particular occasion, and thought no more about it. That occasion was the burial of the remains of the Kentucky soldiers who fell at the battle of Buena Vista in Mexico in the cemetery of Frankfort, Ky. It was a funeral of great solemnity, and the best people of the land were present. At that time O'Hara was editing a newspaper in Frankfort, Ky., and, of course, made the best effort he could, and no one can say it was not a grand one. He seems to have thrown his soul into the work, and produced one of the finest pieces in the English language. How long he was working at it no one at this day knows, perhaps, for as [280] an editor he was kept busy pretty much all of the time. In Kentucky Mr. Prentice was looked upon as the poet, and O'Hara's brilliant production flashed like a meteor over the State. It satisfies in every respect, and may be pronounced perfect. Colonel O'Hara was born near Danville, Ky., on the 11th of February, 1820, and graduated at St. Joseph College, Bardstown. For a time he was editor of the Mobile Register, and afterward editorially connected with the Louisville Times and the Frankfort Yeoman. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1845. He made several addresses in Kentucky which were well received, and he became known as an orator of much eloquence. His speeches were prepared with great care, and evinced close acquaintance with the best American models. His diction was flowery and at the same time clear, giving his hearers to understand that he had studied the matter in hand in all of its bearings, and was able to throw light upon it. It was always pleasant to hear him speak, as he was never loud, harsh or unkind. He believed in several things with the utmost intensity, but never wished to push his views upon the minds of others, where they were not wanted. He had been reared with great care, and his kind disposition made him many friends. His father had laid out a broad career for him, and instilled in his mind noble sentiments of truth and honor. He was quite indifferent about money matters, perhaps too much so for his own good, in these days when money is such a power in the land. He was content to let life run on, taking little heed of the future. Colonel O'Hara resigned his commission December 1, 1856, and returned to Kentucky, where he remained a short time, and then went to Washington city. He subsequently went to Alabama, and when the civil war broke out became lieutenant-colonel of the Twelfth Regiment of Alabama Volunteers, and served under his old commander, General Albert Sydney Johnston. There seems always to have been a feeling of warm friendship between these two men, and Colonel O'Hara was very near General Johnston when the latter was fatally struck by a bullet at the battle of Shiloh. He helped him off his horse, and did what he could for him, but it availed nothing, as the general died in a short time, no surgeon being readily found on the field. With the death of his chief, O'Hara lost one of his most influential friends. Later he served as inspector-general for some time, being thorough in his work and performing it conscientiously. He was acting adjutant-general for Major-General John C. Breckinridge [281] at the battles of Stone's river in front of Murfreesboro in December, 1862, and January, 1863, conducting himself in such a way as to win the thanks of his commander, who says in his report: ‘I cannot close without expressing my obligations to the gentlemen of my staff. This is no formal acknowledgment. I can never forget that during all the operations they were ever prompt and cheerful by night and day in conveying orders, conducting to their positions regiments and brigades, rallying troops on the field, and, indeed, in the discharge of every duty. It gives me pleasure to name Colonel O'Hara.’ Several others are specially mentioned by General Breckinridge. At the close of the war Colonel O'Hara returned to Alabama, and for a time engaged in business, in which he seems to have been successful but a fire swept away his accumulations. He kept up bravely against adversities, but did not again get much of a start. He died near Guerryton, Bullock county, Ala., June 6, 1867. In 1872 his remains were removed to Frankfort, Ky., in accordance with a reso tion of the Kentucky State Legislature, and now repose near the remains of those in whose honor he wrote ‘The Bivouac of the Dead.’ A monument has been erected over his grave, on which is inscribed the first stanza of that celebrated poem. He is held in kind remembrance by the people of his native State, who are justly proud of him, not only on account of his integrity as a soldier, but on account of the lasting fame of his matchless verses. He was a true and faithful man, sincere and just in every respect.—General Albert G. Brackett, U S. A., in Louisville Courier-Journal, August, 1891.
