Colonel Gordon O'Neill, was an officer in King James II's Irish army who fought at the Siege of Derry, the Battle of the Boyne, and the Battle of Aughrim for the Jacobites.
His father was a prominent member of the O'Neill dynasty and one of the leaders of the Confederates.
[5] Gordon O'Neill raised a regiment for King James II in 1689 and became a colonel in the Irish army.
[6] During the Williamite war in Ireland, he saw action at the Siege of Derry, at the Battle of the Boyne, and the Battle of Aughrim,[7][8] where he was left for dead but was picked up by some Scottish Williamite officers who recognised him.
[10] The poem has a Latin endorsement that reads: Versus hibernici Gordono Ó Neill pro lingua hibernica (Irish verses to Gordon O Neill for the Irish language).