CORCORAN, MICHAEL. 



Simcoe. At the general election of 1856, he 

 was elected for South Oxford, which constitu- 

 ency he continued to represent till his eleva- 

 tion to the Queen's Bench, as a puisne judge, 

 1st Feb., 1863. "While a partner in the firm 

 of Blake, Morrison & Co., he enjoyed for many 

 years an extensive and lucrative practice at 

 nisi priiis, and was more than ordinarily suc- 

 cessful as an advocate. During the last few 

 years, his attention was chiefly devoted to the 

 discharge of his parliamentary duties. During 

 the whole of his parliamentary career he ad- 

 hered to the liberal party. He conciliated 

 the esteem of his associates at the bar. An 

 affectionate husband, an ardent friend, a cheer- 

 ful companion, generous and hospitable, he 

 will long be deeply regretted by a large cir- 

 cle of friends who deeply lament that he should 

 have been so soon removed from the honorable 

 position to which, as a judge and as a chancel- 

 lor of the University, he was so recently ele- 

 vated. 



CORCORAN", MICHAEL, a brigadier-general 

 of U. S. volunteers, born in Carrowkeel, coun- 

 ty Sligo, Ireland, Sept. 21st, 1827, died Dec. 22d, 

 1863, near Fairfax Court-House, of injuries re- 

 ceived by a fall from his horse. His father, 

 Thomas Corcoran, was an officer in the British 

 army, and saw service in the Wesrt Indies. 

 On the mother's side, he was a descendant of 

 the Earl of Lucan, the title and estates of 

 whose family were confiscated after the noble 

 defence of Limerick, during the seventeenth 

 century, and were conferred on the Bingham 

 family for services rendered the British crown. 

 Young Corcoran received the benefits of a 

 good English education until his nineteenth 

 year, when, through some influential friends, 

 he received an appointment in the Irish Con- 

 stabulary force ; but the love of his country 

 burned so strongly within him that he could 

 not brook the oppression of British rule, and, 

 fearing that some occasion might tempt him to 

 break through all restraint, he resigned his 

 commission in 1849, emigrated to this country 

 and settled in New York city. There he made 

 many friends, and through their influence was 

 appointed to an official situation in the post- 

 office, and subsequently was clerk in the reg- 

 ister's office. He commenced his military 

 career as a private in Company I, 69th New 

 York State militia. Displaying some amount 

 of military talent, he rose successively from 

 one grade to another, and, in August, 1859, 

 was elected colonel of the 69th. While hold- 

 ing this position, he attracted much public 

 notice by his refusal to parade his regiment at 

 the reception accorded to the Prince of Wales, 

 upon his visit to New York city during the 

 fall of 1860. He had not forgotten how Eng- 

 land had persecuted and oppressed his country- 

 men, and declined to do homage to the son of 

 a sovereign under whose rule some of the most 

 worthy sons of Ireland had been banished. In 

 this he was consistent with the spirit and prin- 

 ciples of those heroes of Limerick from whom 



COUCH, RICHARD QUILLAR.t 331 



he had descended, and was fully sustained by 

 the corps he commanded. By command of 

 Major-General Sandford he was subjected to a 

 trial by court-martial, which was long, and 

 contested upon his part with true Irish spirit 

 and independence, and which was still pend- 

 ing when the war broke out. The President's 

 call to arms fired all the patriotism of his soul ; 

 he called upon his men to stand by the flag of 

 the Union and the sacred principles it involved. 

 The court-martial was quashed. The Irish 

 flocked to the ranks with all the enthusiasm of 

 native-born citizens, and the 69th left New 

 York for the seat of war, attended by a vast 

 concourse of admiring peoplft. The regiment 

 was speedily sent to Virginia, where the men 

 comprising it built, upon Arlington Heights, 

 the famous " Fort Corcoran." At the disas- 

 trous battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861, the 

 69th won itself much honor. Their gallant Col- 

 onel was taken prisoner, first sent to Rich- 

 mond, and afterward to Charleston, S. C., 

 where he was closely confined for nearly a 

 whole year, being held most of the time as a 

 hostage for some privateersmen who had been 

 condemned as pirates. An exchange being 

 finally effected, he was released, and was com- 

 missioned brigadier-general dating from July 

 21, 1861. He next organized the Corcoran 

 Legion which took part in the battles of the 

 Nansemond river and Suffolk, during April, 

 1863, and held the advance of the enemy 

 upon Norfolk in check. In August, 1863, 

 the Legion was added to the army of the 

 Potomac. On the 22d of December, Gen. 

 Meagher, who had been paying a visit to Gen. 

 Corcoran, was returning to Washington, when 

 the latter, with some members of his staff, con- 

 cluded to accompany him. Gen. Corcoran 

 mounted upon Gen. Meagher's horse, and was 

 somewhat in advance of the party. When 

 near his headquarters, his companions found 

 him lying senseless, his horse having fallen up- 

 on him. He was placed at once under medical 

 treatment, but died without waking to con- 

 sciousness. 



COUCH, RICHARD QUILLAK, Esq., an English 

 surgeon and physiologist, born at Polperro, 

 Cornwall, March 14th, 1816, died at Penzance, 

 Cornwall, May 8th, 1863. After receiving a 

 thorough education he commenced the study 

 of medicine under his father, and subsequently 

 at Guy's Hospital, where he obtained many hon- 

 ors, and a silver medal for ophthalmic surgery. 

 From his father he inherited a taste for marine 

 zoology, and was accustomed to devote his 

 leisure to the examination of the structure and 

 habits of the creatures which the ocean abun- 

 dantly supplied him. The time intervening be- 

 tween the completion of his medical studies and 

 his settlement at Penzance was passed at Pol- 

 perro, where he carried on a series of observa- 

 tions on the development of the frog from the 

 worm, on the metamorphoses of the Decapod 

 Crustaceus, and on many other obscure points 

 of natural history. He added, also, a third part 



