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lahoma Press, 1998.O’HARA, CHARLES
O’Hara, Charles
(ca. 1740–February 21, 1802)
English General
T
he gallant O’Hara was a fine soldier and
hero of the hard-fought victory at Guil-
ford Courthouse. At Yorktown he also
enjoyed the dubious distinction of surrender-
ing in the place of his commanding officer. A
fierce disciplinarian, yet affable and generous,
O’Hara was one of the most popular senior of-
ficers of his day.
Charles O’Hara was born the illegitimate
son of James O’Hara, colonel of Britain’s elite
Coldstream Guards. Despite his status,
O’Hara’s father raised him carefully, educated
him handsomely, and in 1752 arranged his ap-
pointment as a coronet in the Third Dragoon
Regiment. O’Hara proved himself an able
young soldier, and with his father’s connec-
tions he was commissioned a lieutenant in the
Coldstream Guards on January 14, 1756. In
this capacity O’Hara served as an aide-de-
camp to the Marquis of Granley during the
Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) in Germany. He
acquitted himself well, and by 1762 O’Hara
functioned in Portugal as a quartermaster
general with a rank of brevet lieutenant
colonel. Four years later he transferred to
Senegal, Africa, as commandant of the Africa
Corps, which consisted of military criminals
paroled in exchange for lifetime service. By
1769, he was serving as a lieutenant colonel of
the Coldstream Guards, his father’s old regi-
ment—and among Britain’s finest. O’Hara
himself was a most impressive individual: he
was tall and strongly built and possessed mar-
tial qualities, yet he was also friendly and gen-
erous toward his friends. Moreover, he was a
strict disciplinarian who saw to it that his
men were well-trained and taken care of.
O’Hara ventured to America in the spring
of 1778 as part of the army under Gen.
William Howe. At Newtown, Pennsylvania,
that April, he performed useful service as part
of a three-man commission delegated to nego-
tiate prisoner exchanges. By summer, Howe
had been replaced by Gen. Henry Clinton,
who marched the army from Philadelphia to
New York. There O’Hara was entrusted with
the defenses of Sandy Hook to guard against
attacks by the French fleet. Following two