General S. J. McGroarty
(from the Cincinnati Daily Gazette, January 3, 1870)
The many friends of General Stephen J. McGroarty will be shocked and pained to hear of his sudden death, which took place yesterday morning at six o'clock. He had been as well as usual up to last Friday night, when he complained of being unwell. The next morning, however, he attended service at the church in Cumminsville, but during Saturday evening he was seized with violent pains in his right lung, from which he has suffered at intervals ever since the wound he received at the battle of Carnifex Ferry. Dr. McChesney, who was visiting the family, administered some medicine but did not apprehend any danger from the attack. About two o'clock yesterday morning, however, he became suddenly worse, and his family finally sent for the family physician, but before he arrived, Gen. McGroarty was dead.
Stephen J. McGroarty was born in the town of Donegal, Ireland, in the year 1827. In 1831, his father emigrated to this country, bringing Stephen with him, and came directly to Cincinnati. Although thoroughly Americanized in his tastes and feelings, Mr. McGroarty always retained an ardent love for his native land, and possessed great influence over his countrymen in this city. When the war of the rebellion broke out, McGroarty was one of the first to offer his services on the side of the Union, and in April, 1861, he was commissioned a captain in the Tenth Ohio Three Months Regiment. While serving with this regiment he participated in the battle of Carnifex Ferry, where he received a ball through his right lung, inflicting the wound which was probably the ultimate cause of his death. In April, 1862, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixty-first Regiment and to Colonel of the same regiment in the following October. In March, 1865, when the Sixty-first and Eighty-second were consolidated, he was transferred to the new organization. Gen. McGroarty's brilliant career in the war is well-known to our citizens. He everywhere displayed the most conspicuous gallantry, and was wounded twenty-two times. In May, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier General on the special recommendation of the Secretary of War.
As a man, Gen. McGroarty had his faults, but they injured no one but himself, while he had many qualities which attracted to him the personal esteem and affection of a large circle of friends. He was a man of warm sympathies and a large heart, and his disposition to yield to the persuations of friends through fear of giving offense, interfered with his efficiency as a public officer. He possessed a fervid imagination, and a fluency of speech which rendered him a formidable opponent on the stump, and his services in political campaigns were never lightly esteemed by friends or foes.
At the election in October last, he was elected to the office of Clerk of Hamilton County, and would have been qualified on Saturday but for the observance of that day as a National holiday.
