Career
Born in 1842 in Ireland, O'Connell immigrated to the United States and was living in New York when he joined the U.S. Navy. He served during the Civil War as a coal heaver on Admiral David Farragut's flagship, the USS Hartford. At the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, he manned the shell whip (a device used to lift ammunition up to the gun deck) despite being ill, until losing his right hand to a Confederate artillery shell.
O'Connell's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
O'Connell died on 24 August 1899 at age 56 or 57.
