[Gutenberg 9263] • In the Midst of Alarms

THE FORGOTTEN INVASIONS

The country is Canada. The year is 1866, the year after the end of the American Civil War. The scene: the "ridge road" in Welland County, Ontario, a dozen miles from Fort Erie. A New York journalist has in need of a rest is joined by an old schoolmate, a professor in University College Toronto. They set out to find a camping place, meet two agreeable Canadian girls -- and find romance, adventure and the remarkable rustic characters of Ontario. They also find a forgotten invasion. In 1866 groups of Irish Americans -- the Fenians -- crossed the Canadian Border to attack British troops at British forts to protest British rule of Ireland. They called themselves the IRA -- the Irish Republican Army.