Private Timothy O'Hea. VC
Only Victoria Cross Earned in Canada
Timothy O’Hea was born in Skull, Bantry, County Cork, Ireland in 1843. Little is known about his early life until he enlisted in the 1st Battalion, The Prince Consort’s Own Rifle Brigade in 1863 at the age of 20.
Fenian Raids
In 1866 the battalion was ordered to Canada to deal with a secret society known as The Brotherhood of the Fenians, a 150,000 strong Irish-American society dedicated to freeing their native Ireland. O’Hea and his Rifle Brigade were stationed along the Canada-US border in anticipation of Fenian attacks.
In June 1866, Sergeant Hill, Private Timothy O’Hea and two other riflemen, had been delegated to escort a boxcar loaded with munitions to supply the troops guarding against expected Fenian attacks. The car was coupled onto a passenger train traveling from Quebec City to Montreal in hopes that it could be moved unnoticed by Fenian spies. The passenger train carried over 800 German immigrants in converted boxcars and to make certain they all got to where they were going and no where else, the Germans were locked inside the cars.
VC Action
The passengers on the train had no idea what was in the munitions car, indeed, O’Hea and his comrades only found out after the train had left Quebec City. The trip was uneventful until the train stopped at the station in Danville late on June 9, 1866. O’Hea noticed that smoke was coming from the boxcar filled with munitions.
Knowing that the boxcar contained over two thousand rounds of ammunition and some ninety-five barrels of gunpowder, the riflemen quickly leapt from their car, ran to the smoking boxcar, uncoupled it and pushed it away from the other cars. Now events began to unravel. Sergeant Hill was uncertain what to do next. It was obvious that if the boxcar exploded it would wipe out the 800 Germans on the train and probably a goodly portion of Danville as well.
Efforts to evacuate the railway station had already begun but the keys to the immigrant cars could not be found. Fortunately, the Germans were unaware of their danger and did little more than jostle each other for a better look at the smoldering boxcar.
As Sergeant Hill continued to dither about the best thing to do, O’Hea took the keys from the man, ran up to and unlocked the smoking boxcar. Forcing the heavy doors open O’Hea climbed inside and called to his comrades to assist him. None of them did. Undaunted, O’Hea began prying the burning lids off of the ammunition crates and tossing them out of the boxcar. For the next hour, he made 19 trips from the boxcar to a nearby creek, hauling buckets of water to douse the flames despite the fact that the boxcar, its contents and O’Hea could erupt into a ball of flame at any time.
The Germans, watching his efforts, still oblivious to their own danger, cheered him on. Finally, when it was apparent that O’Hea’s one man bucket brigade had brought the fire under control, others came to help and by nightfall, all of the munitions had been transferred into another car and the train continued on to Montreal.
Canadian Victoria Cross
The actions of Timothy O’Hea were considered so outstanding that the Royal Warrant for awarding of the Victoria Cross was changed to include actions and courage "under circumstances of great danger". His is the only Victoria Cross to be earned on Canadian soil. O’Hea was presented with his VC on January 1, 1867.
In 1868, Timothy O’Hea left the Rifle Brigade and went home to Ireland. A few years later he took ship to New Zealand and served as a member of the New Zealand Mounted Constabulary from 1872 to 1873. In June 1874 he moved to Sydney, Australia where he became enthralled with a local mystery and disappeared under suspicious circumstances. A theory has been put forward that Timothy actually died in Ireland and his brother assumed his identity and VC annuity and it was he who died in Australia.
Bibliography:
Max Arthur - Symbol of Courage - Sidgwick & Jackson - 2004
Australian Dictionary of Biography – on-line edition
Dictionary of Canadian Biography – on-line edition
Private Timothy O'Hea
|
Victoria Cross
|
What do you think about this article?
Comments
More in History
Latest Articles