Cook County IL Archives Obituaries.....O'Connor, Capt Patrick July 15, 1922
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2006, 10:24 pm

Newspaper Unknown, July 16, 1922
Capt. O'Connor Famed as Boer War Hero, Dies

July 16, 1922, newspaper unknown

Led Expedition to Fight English

Capt. Patrick O'Connor died yesterday in the county hospital of injuries 
received during the Boer war, in which he commanded a company of Irish-
Americans from Chicago, who enlisted ostensibly as an ambulance corps but in 
reality to fight against England.

O'Connor was a veteran of the Spanish-American war, a member of the 7th 
Illinois infantry, when the Irish societies of Chicago and throughout the 
country decided to send men to aid the Boers in their fight for freedom.  In 
order not to complicate their embarkation they were organized as a Red Cross 
unit and thus were able to leave the country.

In Many Engagements

Fifty-eight Chicagoans sailed on the Gascogne on Feb. 15, 1900, and upon 
reaching Pretoria, in the Transvaal, threw away their hospital equipments and 
replaced them with Mauser rifles.

They became part of Col. Blake’s South African Irish-American brigade and took 
part in numerous engagements.  Only thirty-three of the fifty-eight returned.  
Several were killed, some captured, and others reported missing and never 
accounted for.

Meets “Oom Paul”

Richard Harding Davis, veteran war correspondent and novelist, was present 
when Capt. O'Connor was presented to President Krueger, “Oom Paul,” and quotes 
O'Connor as saying:

“We have come, sir, because your people are fighting for their liberty.  We 
have also come that we may meet the race we hate – the English race – but 
since we have met your people we are willing to fight and to die for them, for 
themselves, no matter what their cause may be.”

Upon his return O'Connor was lionized by Irish societies, was regarded as one 
of the greatest Irish patriots, and all are striving for the honor of burying 
him.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/cook/obits/o/oconnor494nob.txt

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