Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1899-03-11
Veteran of Civil and Indian
Wars, Being Always in the
Thick of the Fight.
Received His Training Under
Two Gallant Irish Superior
Officers.
SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS

No nation of Europe can put into the
field such body of trained and seasoned
officers as we have in command of our
soldiers in the Philippine Islands, and
worthy to be their leader is that veteran
of the rebellion and Indian wars, Major
Gen. Elwell Stephen Otis, Brigadier-
General United States Army and Major
General of Volunteers. Gen. Otis is a
soldier educated in that most thorough of
all schools-the school of war. He was
in the twenty-fourth year of his age and
just entering upon the profession of law
when in September, 1862, he abandoned
the law to pursue the career of arms,
which he has ever since followed.
1t was the good fortune of the young
Otis to receive his early training under
one of the best soldiers in our army at
that time. This was Patrick II. O'Rorke,
an Irishman by birth, whose parents were
settled in Rochester, N. Y. When the
One Hundred and Fortieth Regiment of
New York Volunteer Infantry was mus
tered into the service at Rochester in
September, 1862, O'Rorke, who was a
graduate of the Military Academy, was
given command of it, and Otis, who had
raised one of the companies Company
f was appointed Captain of that COM
pany.
The regiment was composed of excel
lent material, and OR orke, whose fif-
teen months of war service had trans
formed him into veteran, soon made it
one of the best-drilled and most effective
regiments in the Army of the Potomac.
With this regiment Otis served during
the whole of his career in the volunteer
army during the civil war. His promo
ton from the rank Of Captain to that Of
Lieutenant Colonel Of the regiment Che
was never a Major was the result of
desperate fighting, in which his superiors
lost their lives on the battlefield; first
O'Rorke and then George Ryan, both
graduates of the Military Academy, and
splendid soldiers, whom to serve with
was in itself liberal education in the
military art.
No regiment on the field at Gettysburg
rendered more important and conspicuous
service than that to which Otis was at
tached.
Warren had been O'Rorke's perceptor
at the Military Academy, and when his
quick military perception showed him
that the unoccupied Little Round Top
was the key to Meade's position'on the
left, it was to O'Rorke that Warren
turned to assist him in securing it. 1t
was the l40th that occupied those heights
just moment in advance of the Confed-
crates, and held it then until reinforce
ments came and Little Round Top was
made secure.
"O'Rorke's soldiers" says the Comte
de Paris, in his history of Gettysburg,
"by a really providential coincidence,
reach at f ull run this summit, which War
rem points out to them as the citadal to
be preserved at any cost. At their feet
lies the vast battlefield, whence are heard
vague noises and savage cries, the rafting
of the musketry, the lannon's roar, and
where all the incidents of the combat are
seen through a cloud of smoke; but they
have no leisure to contemplate this spec
tacle, for they find themselves face to
face with Lees soldiers, who are climbing
the hill OH the opposite side. A few min
utes' delay among the Federals would
have sufficed to put the Confederates in
possession of the summit. Never perhaps
was seen the winner of race secure
such prize at so little cost.
And yet to those Immediately con-
cerned the loss was heavy. The One
Hundred and Fortieth left more than 1873
of their comrades, including many Off
GERS, among the dead and wounded on
those heights, and among the dead was
the valiant O'Rorke, who fell victim to
his promptness in decision and his vigor
in action at a critical moment. Col
O'Rorke had a presentment that he
would fall at Gettysburg, and Otis, to
whom he made it known, could not rea-
son him out of it. AS the regiment was
ascending the steep hill bullet,from a
sharp-shooter located in Devils Den"
struck him, and he fell dead in the arms
of Otis.
AT the battle of the Wilderness the
14Oth New York saw some of the hottest
fighting, losing 225 men. Otis, who had
meantime risen to the rank of Lieutenant
Colonel, commanded the picket line of
the Fifth Corps, which brought on the
engagement. The regiment was soon
under FIRE before which it melted like
snow. Eleven of its commissioned Of
ficers were killed or wounded, not one Of
the non-commissioned staff remained
and of the Captains only three were left.
Three days later Ryan was killed at
Spottsylvania, and Otis succeeded to the
command of the regiment as Lieutenant
Colonel
From the Rapidan to the James the