Martin T. McMahon

Martin Thomas McMahon was an American jurist and a Union Army general during the American Civil War. He was awarded the United States militarys highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of White Oak Swamp. After the war, he held various legal and judicial positions in the state of New York. He briefly served as the Minister Resident to Paraguay and was a New York State Senator for four years.

McMahon was born in La Prairie, Quebec, Canada, to a family of recent immigrants from Waterford, Ireland. The family moved to the United States when McMahon was an infant and settled in New York. He graduated from St. Johns College, Fordham, in 1855 and then studied law in Buffalo, receiving his Masters degree in 1857. After his schooling, he traveled west and worked as a special agent for the post office on the Pacific coast. He was admitted to the Sacramento, California, bar in 1861.

Source: Wikipedia