Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/O'Moran, James
O'MORAN, JAMES (1735–1794), lieutenant-general in the French service, was born in 1735 at Elphin, co. Roscommon, where his father is said to have been a shoemaker. Domiciled at Morin-le-Montagne, Pas-de-Calais, James was appointed a cadet in the regiment of Dillon in the Irish brigade on 15 Nov. 1752, and became a lieutenant-en-second on 14 Jan. 1759. He served in Germany in the campaigns of 1760-1, became sous-lieutenant on 1 March 1763, sous aide-major on 4 Feb. 1769, captain on 16 April 1771, captain-en-second on 5 June 1776, captain-commandant on 30 Jan. 1778, major on 20 Oct. 1779, mestre-de-camp (colonel) on 24 June 1780), lieutenant-colonel of Dillon on 9 June 1785, and colonel of the regiment on 25 Aug. 1791. He served as major in the trenches, and was wounded at the siege of Savannah in 1779. He was in Grenada, West Indies, in 1779-82, and in America in 1783. On 6 Feb. 1792 he was appointed maréchal-de-camp (general of brigade), in which capacity he served under Dumouriez in Champagne and Belgium. He captured Tournay and occupied Cassel. On 3 Oct. 1792 he was made a general of division (lieutenant-general). On the representations of the Division Ferrières, and apparently under suspicion of receiving English gold, he was arraigned before the revolutionary tribunal of Paris, was condemned as a traitor to his country, ‘en contrariant les plans au moment de l'exécution,’ and was guillotined on 16 Ventose of the year 2 (6 March 1794).
[O'Callaghan's Irish Brigades in the Service of France (Glasgow, 1870) for particulars of the regiment of Dillon; Liste des Généraux … Paris, year viii; Prudhomme's Les Crimes de la Révolution.]