Throughout his short life, Michael Corcoran was embroiled in controversy. The native Irishman was born on the 21st of September, 1827, in Carrowkeel, Ballymote, County Sligo. After receiving as good an education as circumstances would allow, he joined the Irish Constabulary force. He was nineteen years of age and remained with the force for three years before he resigned and emigrated to America. The year was 1849. Like most Irish emigrants during that period, he was subject to many of the hardships and changes often encountered in their early career in America. His ability to overcome the latter was due mainly to the goals he obviously set for himself which were illustrated during his short lifetime.
He was employed by John Heeney, the proprietor of Hibernian Hall at 42 Prince Street inlower Manhattan. Soon after he occupied the position, and with the demise of the former proprietor, Corcoran became the new manager. He subsequently held a position as clerk in the post-office.Michael Corcoran’s claim to fame in America was not focused on civilian accomplishments, hispassion lay with the military.
He joined the 69th, New York Militia as a private. He was on the fast track for promotion ascending from private to orderly-sergeant, lieutenant and captain, displaying the greatest ability and fitness for the different ranks. In 1858 an incident occurred on Staten Island which necessitatedmilitary intervention. The disturbance was labeled the Marine Quarantine Riots. The 69th New York Militia led by Captain Corcoran was utilized to quell the flair up. For his leadership in the incident, Captain Corcoran’s service elicited the following tribute of merit from the Inspector- General: “What I might say of Captain Corcoran, as to his military knowledge, would not add to his already known reputation as the best, if not the very best officer of his rank in the First Division.” On August 25, 1859, Michael Corcoran was elected to fill the vacant rank of Colonel of his regiment, the 69th New York.
On the occasion of a State visit of the Prince of Wales to New York, in the fall of 1860,when flunkeys were in a craze to pay him honor, Colonel Corcoran refused to parade his regiment on the occasion. In his book, “ New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parades, historian John Ridge offered a personal perspective of this particular episode in Michael Corcoran’s colorful career: “With so many exiles of famine and oppression in the city, the Prince’s visit was hardly popular with the Irish. In New York there was no shortage of Anglophiles and they decided to honor the Prince with a grand military parade and called out the local militia units, including the Irish 69th Regiment.
The commander of the 69th was Michael Corcoran. Corcoran felt it was an insult to both his adopted country to entertain the great grandson of George III and to his birthplace to pay homage to “his mother’s son,” the offspring of the detested Queen Victoria.”
Because of his refusal to parade his regiment, Colonel Corcoran was arrested and faced a court-martial for disobedience of orders. During the trial, which created much excitement all over the country, his Irish countrymen applauded his course of action. The case was pending when Civil War erupted and the proceedings were dissolved. Colonel Corcoran and his Sixty-Ninth New York was one of the first regiments to answer the call and on April 23, 1861 they deployed to Washington D.C. in defense of the Union.
The first major involvement between Union and Confederate forces took place in Virginia July 21, 1861. Historians have referred to it as the Battle of Bull Run. However, Confederate forces referred to it as the Battle of Manassas, or First Manassas. While the Union army was in full retreat, the Sixty-Ninth regiment led by Colonel Corcoran temporarily held the enemy in a rearguard action, eventually been over run and captured. Colonel Corcoran and his men were led off to Richmond Prison. Following several months of detention, Corcoran was transferred to Columbia, thence to Charleston, South Carolina. He was detained thirteen months in Southern prisons and in August 1862 he was finally exchanged.
Michael Corcoran continued to pursue his goals relative to the ongoing conflict and raised a Brigade to sustain the flag of his adopted country. With the full commission of a brigadier-general and power to raise a Legion, he set to work and embodied the Irish Legion, which was more generally called the “Corcoran Legion.” The Corcoran Legion consisted of four regiments, 155th NY, 164th NY, 170th, NY and the 182nd NY and was assigned as the 4th Brigade in the 2nd Division of the 2nd Corps. The Legion produced three Irish Medal of Honor recipients, John Bronsnan a Kerry man serving with the 164th, Patrick Doody, a Cork man also serving with the 164th and Joseph Keele, an Offly man serving with 182nd.
The Legion spent the summer of 1863 guarding forts and lines of communications,also in picketing the front around Fairfax, Virginia. While stationed at Fairfax, General Corcoran celebrated the Christmas holidays of 1863 and invited several guests, including General Meagher. Immediately before Christmas he had ridden from his headquarters to the station with General Meagher, and on his return rode Meagher’s spirited horse. He was a little ahead of his staff and going at a good gallop. What happened during that ride became a mystery, however, General Corcoran was observed falling from the horse and when his staff reached him on the ground, he was unconscious and barley breathing. General Michael Corcoran died the following night, the 22nd of December 1863, he was 36 years of age.
He was a loss to America, for his name and reputation were influential enough to collect his countrymen to his standard. He was also a loss to Ireland, for his greatest wish was to live and strike a blow for her independence. Who knows what he would have accomplished had he survived the war.