Charles O'Hara (1740-25 February 1802) was a general of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary Wars. During the Revolutionary War, he was the commander of British forces at the Battle of Guilford Court House and the one who delivered his commander Charles Cornwallis' sword to the Americans at the siege of Yorktown. During the French Revolutionary Wars, he was defeated in the Siege of Toulon and wounded.
Biography[]
Charles O'Hara at the Siege of Toulon
Charles O'Hara was born in 1740 in Lisbon, Portugal to General James O'Hara and his Portuguese mistress. On 23 December 1752 he joined the British Army as the cornet of The King's Own Hussars (3rd Dragoons) at the age of 12, and in 1756 he was a Lieutenant of the Coldstream Guards at the age of 16. During the Seven Years' War he was the aide to general John Manners and fought alongside his father and Charles Lee during the defense of Portugal from the Spanish in 1762. Although a disciplinarian, he was highly popular amongst his troops.
In 1766, he took over British Army troops in Senegal as a Lieutenant Colonel and in 1769 became a Captain of the Coldstream Guards. In 1778, he was sent to Sandy Hook in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War to assist Henry Clinton in defending New York. In October 1780 he was made a Colonel and became good friends and the second-in-command with Charles Cornwallis in the southern theater, personally leading British forces at the Battle of Cowan's Ford and the Battle of Guilford Court House, two British victories. He was wounded, however, and his 21-year-old nephew (an artillery lieutenant) was killed.
Despite the victory at Guilford Court House, the British were soon besieged at Yorktown in 1781 and O'Hara was the one who delivered Cornwallis' sword to the American generals at the surrender. He was exchanged in 1782, and returned home in 1783 as a Major-General of the British Army. He moved to Italy to avoid gambling debts, but Cornwallis paid off his debts. O'Hara was made Governor of Gibraltar in 1792, and in 1793 was made a Lieutenant-General.
O'Hara wounded at Toulon
During the French Revolutionary Wars, O'Hara was sent to command the 22,000 British, Spanish, Sicilian, Neapolitan, Sardinian, and French Royalist troops stationed at the port of Toulon in late 1793. In November he led a brave sortie against a besieging French army under Napoleon Bonaparte, but he was wounded by grapeshot during the breakout and was captured. He was the only general personally captured by both George Washington and Napoleon. In 1795 he was once more made Governor of Gibraltar, and he died in 1802 of old wounds.