seph academy, Bardstown, Ky., where he entered the senior class and acted as professor of Greek while he was completing his studies. He then read law, was admitted to the bar, and in 1845 was ap- pointed to a place in the treasury department at Washington. At the beginning of the Mexican war he entered the army, and was appointed cap- tain and assistant quartermaster of volunteers, 26 June, 1846. He was brevetted major, 20 Aug., , for gallant conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubuseo. and was mustered out on 15 Oct., . He was appointed captain in the 2d cavalry, 3 ilarch, 1855, but resigned on 1 Dec, 1856. When the remains of the Kentucky soldiers that fell at Buena Vista in February, 1847, were removed to their native state, Maj. O'Hara wrote for the oc- casion the poem by which he is best known. " The Bivouac of the Dead," which begins with the stanza :
"The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo.
No more on life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.
On Fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents ai'e spread ;
And Glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead."
Lines from this poem are inscribed over the en- trances of several of the national cemeteries. At the close of the war Col. O'Hara returned to Wash- ington, D. C, where he practised his profession. He afterward went with a filibustering expedition to Cuba, and commanded a regiment in the battle of Cardenas, where he was wounded. During the absence of John Forsythe from the United States as minister to Mexico, O'Hara edited the " Mobile Register." He was afterward editorially connected with the Louisville "Times" and the Frankfort, Ky., " Yeoman." He was several times intrusted by the government with diplomatic missions, and was especially active in the negotiations regarding the Tehuantepee grant. During the civil war he joined the Confederate army, and was made colo- nel of the 12th Alabama regiment. Subsequently he served on the staffs of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston and Gen. John C. Breckinridge. After the war he engaged in the cotton business in Co- lumbus. Ga., but lost everything by fire, and retired to a plantation, where he died. After his " Bivouac of the Dead" his best-known poem is "The Old Pioneer." In accordance with a resolution of the Kentucky legislature, his remains were conveyed to that state and buried by the side of those whom he had commemorated. See " O'Hara and His Elegies," by George W. Ranek (Baltimore, 1875).
O'HARA, William, R. C. bishop, b. in County
Derry, Ireland, about 1816. His parents emigrated
to the United States in 1820 and settled in Phila-
delphia, where the son received his early education.
He afterward entered Georgetown college, but, de-
ciding to become a priest, he went to Rome and
studied for eleven years in the L^roan college of
the Propaganda. He was ordained in 1843 and
appointed pastor of St. Patrick's church, Philadel-
phia, where he remained till 1856. He was subse-
quently professor in the Seminary of St. Charles
Borromeo, and for some time acted as its rector.
He became vicar-general of the diocese in 1860. In
1868 the diocese of Scranton was formed out of
that of Philadelphia, and Dr. O'Hara was appoint-
ed its first bishop, and consecrated on 12 July.
The new diocese contained fifty churches, most of
them of a very primitive character,»attended by
twenty-eight priests. At present (1888) there are
seventy-nine priests, seventy-four churches, forty-
six stations, and twelve convents.
O'HIGGINS. Ambrosio, Marquis de Osorno,
vicerov of Peru, b. in Summer Hill. Ireland, about
1720 ; d. in Lima, Peru, 18 March, 1801. A'ery little
is known about his youth, but it is believed that he
was the son of laboring people. According to Jose A.
Lavalle, he was sent to Cadiz to his uncle, a Jesuit,
and destined for an ecclesiastic career. Having
very little inclination for the church, he went to
South America and for some time was an itinerant
trader in Venezuela, New Granada, and Peru, but,
being persecuted by the Inquisition, he went to
Chili as an engineer. He proposed to open easy
communication between Chili and Mendoza by a
way over the Andes, and. his proposition being ac-
cepted, he was employed to superintend the works
about 1760. In 1770 the president of Chili ap-
pointed him captain of a column of cavalry to resist
the attacks of the Araucanian Indians, whom he
defeated, founding the fort of San Carlos in the
south of the province of Arauco, which is still in ex-
istence. He gained the good-will of the Indians by
his humanity and benevolence, and recovered the
territory that had been taken from the Spaniards.
In consequence of his services he was appointed,
on 7 Sept., 1777, by the viceroy Amat, a colonel in
the army. He soon rose to be brigadier, and the
viceroy Croix appointed him intendant of Concep-
cion in 1786. He founded the city of San Ambrosio
de Ballenar, in 1789 was promoted major-general,
and soon afterward became president of Chili. In
1792 he built the city of Osorno, which had been de-
stroyed by the Indians, and was created a marquis.
He was made lieutenant-general in 1794, and in the
next year became viceroy of Peru. On 16 May,
1796, he delivered the presidency of Chili to Rezabal
y Ugarte, and arrived at CaUao in June, receiving
the government in Lima on 24 July. When war
was declared between England and Spain in 1797,
O'Higgins took active measures for the defence of
the coast, strengthening the fortifications of Callao
and constructing a fort in Pisco. He projected
and constructed a new carriage-road from Lima to
Callao, and his principal attention during his short
administration was directed to the improvement of
means of communication. He died suddenly after
a short illness. O'Higgins is the only example of
a man sprung from the laboring class that obtained
the rank of viceroy. — His son, Bernardo, president
of Chili, b. in Chilian in 1780; d. in Lima in 1846,
was educated in his native city, and in Cadiz and
England. At the time of the declaration of inde-
pendence, 18 Sept., 1810, he was prefect in the isl-
and of Laja, where he organized two regiments,
one formed almost entirely of his own dependents.
When Gen. Pareja landed in San Vicente with a
royalist expedition, 26 March, 1813, O'Higgins
joined the dictator Jose Miguel Carrera in Concep-
cion. Near the river Roble they were defeated by
Gen. Elorriaga, 17 Oct., 1813, O'Higgins saving the
army from total rout. After this battle the junta
of Santiago deposed Carrera from the general com-
mand of the army and appointed O'Higgins in his
place. He had gained some successes when he
received orders from the junta at Santiago to
negotiate with the enemy, and on 3 May the treaty
of Lircay was signed. On 23 July, Carrera, by a
military revolution, recovered the government, but
O'Higgins did not recognize him. and on 26 Aug.
they had an encounter, in which Carrera remained
in possession of the field, when they heard of the
landing of the expedition of Gen. Mariano Osorio
and made peace, O'Higgins asking for tlie command
of the vanguard. He occupied Rancagua, and they
agreed that Carrera should attack the enemy in the
rear, but, after sustaining several assaults, O'Higgins
