FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS 



PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE 



FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS, the eldest son of Admiral 

 Henry Gage Morris, was born on 25th March 1810, 

 at Cove, near Cork, at a time when his father was 

 serving his country in command of one of his 

 Majesty's ships on the Irish station. Half a cen- 

 tury or more before this his grandfather, Captain 

 Roger Morris, was engaged on active duty in the 

 other branch of the service in America, and took 

 part in some of the most stirring events preceding 

 the War of Independence. He was aide-de-camp 

 to General Braddock during the luckless campaign 

 against the French and Indians at Fort du Quesne 

 in 1755, and was severely wounded in the memor- 

 able battle of the Monongahela River, when Brad- 

 dock paid dearly for his wrong-headedness and lack 

 of caution. The General himself was among the 

 fallen on that disastrous day, while, out of eighty- 

 six officers in the engagement, twenty-six were 

 killed and thirty-seven wounded ; of the privates, 



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