From: Kathleen O'Connor Sly <lsly@pe.net>
Subject: Morris O'Connor, Civil War
Morris O'Connor was born October 28, 1843 in Mercer County,
Pennsylvania. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was nineteen
years of age and, like thousands of other young men, was drawn
into that great conflict. He and Henry W. Seibert, who later
became his brother-in-law, accompanied by an Alexander Lindsay all
enlisted in the Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry at Franklin,
Pennsylvania, on September 9, 1862, and was soon transferred to
the mobilization area at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, were they were
all mustered into Company E, Sixteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer
Cavalry, 161st Regiment of the Line, for a period of three years
on September 27, 1862. This regiment saw much action under
Generals Grant, Sheridan and Meade. A list of the major
engagements it participated in include: the Wilderness, Cold
harbor, Chancellorsville, Petersburg and Gettysburg. Minor
engagements include Kelley's Ford, Middleburg, Ashby's Gap,
Shepardstown, Sulphur Springs, Bristow Station, Mine Run, Todd's
Tavern, Howe's Shop, Trevillion Station, St. Mary's Church, Ream's
Station, Boydton Road, fortifications around Richmond and Stony
Creek Station. Morris O'Connor was honorably discharged from the
United States Army on June 17, 1865 at Lynchburg, Virginia.
While in service and in the line of duty on or about the 16th day
of July, 1863, Morris O'Connor received a shell wound of the left
leg near the ankle, and was very much disabled in consequence of
this wound ever since.
Morris O'Connor was present at and engaged in the battle between
the Union and Confederate forces which occurred at or near
Shepardstown, Virginia on or about July 16, 1863. During which
battle and while in the line of duty Morris O'Connor was wounded
in the left leg by a fragment of an exploding rebel shell. Morris
O'Connor was present and took part in the battle of Stony Creek
Station, Virginia, when a rebel fort was taken by the Union
forces, on or about Dec 1, 1864 an that O'Connor led the front
skirmish line at the time the fort was taken. That on Christmas
Day, 1864 O'Connor, in the line of duty near Petersburg, Va when
the squadron commanded by Captain A.H. Rush, forming the rear
guard of their regiment was attacked by a band of rebel
guerrillas. O'Connor and his detachment stood their ground and
repulsed the guerrillas after Rush and the balance of his squadron
had fled from the field.
Kathleen O'Connor Sly
lsly@pe.net
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