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Federal (USV)

Corporal

Peter O'Rourke

(c. 1837 - ?)

Home State: Massachusetts

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 19th Massachusetts Infantry

Before Antietam

A 24 year old shovel welder from West Bridgewater, he enlisted in Company E, 19th Massachusetts Infantry on 25 July 1861. He was appointed Corporal, date not given. In the Regiment's first action, 25 June 1862, near Yorktown, VA, he was cited by Colonel Hinks:

... and particularly commend the bravery of Corporal O'Rourke, of Company E, who gallantly seized the color (the flag of our Commonwealth) when its bearer, Sergt. Samuel H. Smith, was shot down, and continued to bear it through the fight.

He carried the state flag in action at Glendale, VA on 30 June 1862, and was wounded in the groin there.

On the Campaign

He was wounded again, in the leg, in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862, while acting Color Sergeant.

The rest of the War

He was discharged for disability at Washington, DC on 29 December 1862.

References & notes

Service information from Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines1 and the History,2 which is also the source of the quote above.

Birth

c. 1837

Notes

1 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Adjutant General, Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines in the Civil War, 8 Vols, Norwood (MA): Norwood Press, 1931-35, Vol. 2, pg. 446 [AotW citation 17805]

2 Waitt, Ernest Linden (compiler), History of the Nineteenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1865, Salem (MA): The Salem Press Co., 1906, pp. 83, 96, 106, 144 [AotW citation 17806]

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