Notes

Abbreviations

  • ACHS: American Catholic Historical Society and maintained at the Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia

  • BCHS: Brome County Historical Society

  • CUA: Catholic University of America, American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives, Fenian Brotherhood Collection

  • LAC: Sir John A. Macdonald Fonds, Library and Archives Canada

  • MHS: Missouri Historical Society, Fenian Brotherhood Papers

  • NYPL: Thomas William Sweeny Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library

  • PIT: Allen Family Papers, University of Pittsburgh, ULS Archives and Special Collections

Prologue

Wearing green ribbons: Kohler, “For I Never Would Have Surrendered,” 12–13; Buffalo Express, June 1, 1866.

nine wagons laden with secretly stockpiled rifles: Fenian Raid at Fort Erie, 30.

“The governing passion of my life”: Noonan, “General John O’Neill,” 318.

“Canada is a province”: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 3–4.

Chapter 1: The Young Irelanders

An outlaw in his own land: Doheny, Felon’s Track, 138.

The Kilkenny Moderator: Times (London), Aug. 21, 1848.

To further the ruse: James Stephens, Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic, 34.

They laid the casket: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 41–42.

A voracious reader: Ibid., 340.

Covering as many as forty miles a day: Doheny, Felon’s Track, 123–38.

Along his trek: Ibid., 132–43.

Under the Penal Laws: MacManus, Story of the Irish Race, 458–59.

They were permitted to own a knife: Ó Dufaigh, Book of Clontibret, 358.

An eldest son: Plemmons, Fianna, 35.

Even in death: Stern, “How Dagger John Saved New York’s Irish.”

The average adult workingman: Callahan, Emerging Biological Threats, 169.

Because they required less space: Kelly, Graves Are Walking, 8.

When the horror reappeared in 1846: Smith, “Ghosts in Green,” 39.

Frantic farmers sprinkled: Crowley, Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, 30.

Emaciated figures, tired of a diet: Kelly, Graves Are Walking, 1–2.

Ireland’s damp conditions: Lee, Making the Irish American, 90.

Jail populations in Ireland exploded: Kelly, Graves Are Walking, 336.

“Irish property must”: Lee, Making the Irish American, 90–91.

The resulting spike in taxes: Kelly, Graves Are Walking, 335.

“Relief ought to be”: Edinburgh Review, Jan. 1848, 314.

“The judgement of God”: Coogan, Famine Plot, 63–64.

Although far more food was imported: Kelly, Graves Are Walking, 310.

“holy war to sweep”: Webb, Compendium of Irish Biography, 341.

After seeing famished children: Mitchel, Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps), 148.

By the light of the summertime moon: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 6–8.

On the evening of July 25: Ibid., 7–11.

After the meeting: Ramón, Provisional Dictator, 31.

Although descended from the medieval: Kee, Ireland, 104.

His appeal to O’Brien’s sense: Gwynn, Young Ireland and 1848, 250–51.

Sure enough, as soon as the rebels: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 19.

“General, in the name of Jesus”: Ibid., 23–26.

Stephens and Terence Bellew MacManus: Ryan, Phoenix Flame, 32.

“We are all Irishmen”: Report of the Trial of W. S. O’Brien for High Treason, 432.

“An O’Brien never”: Duffy, “Four Years of Irish History,” 88.

Stephens directed the remaining rebels: Ramón, Provisional Dictator, 36–42.

Stephens crumpled to the ground: James Stephens, Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic, 32.

He was descended from the chieftain: Devoy, Recollections of an Irish Rebel, 266.

Following the example of his grandfather: Sayers, “John O’Mahony,” 52.

“I kept away from any public adhesion”: Cavanagh, Memoirs of Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, 265.

The pair spent the night: Sayers, “John O’Mahony,” 91.

It would take years: James Stephens, Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic, 36.

The pair left O’Mahony: Ramón, Provisional Dictator, 46–47.

Stephens rejected a notion: Doheny, Felon’s Track, 141.

In addition, two weeks earlier: Kinealy, Repeal and Revolution, 203.

“All the time that I appeared”: Ramón, Provisional Dictator, 46–47.

After traveling across England: Ibid., 48.

Paris became a home in exile: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 43.

In August 1849: Ramón, Provisional Dictator, 57.

Inside their derelict room: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 46–47.

“Once I resolved that armed insurrection”: Delany, The Green and the Red, 43.

Whether or not the Irishmen: Sayers, “John O’Mahony,” 159–62.

For his portion: National Labor Tribune, March 17, 1877.

Four years of a Parisian exile: Sayers, “John O’Mahony,” 164–67.

Chapter 2: Bold Fenian Men

John O’Mahony followed in the wake: Libby, “Maine and the Fenian Invasion of Canada,” 216.

Some emigrants reported: Bartoletti, Black Potatoes, 128.

By the 1850s, more than a quarter: Strausbaugh, City of Sedition, 55.

Breathing putrid air: Stern, “How Dagger John Saved New York’s Irish.”

“America for Americans!”: Christian Register, Aug. 19, 1854.

Know-Nothings advocated an increase: Davis, Nation Rising, 212.

According to some scholars: Bayor, New York Irish, 253, 634.

Rumors even spread: Davis, Nation Rising, 201.

In March 1854, Know-Nothings seized: Klein, “When Washington, D.C., Gave the Pope a Truly Rocky Reception.”

They mandated the reading: Irish Times, March 21, 2016.

They disbanded Irish American militia units: Samito, Becoming American Under Fire, 17–24.

O’Mahony could encounter signs: New York Times, Sept. 25, 1854; New York Herald, May 13, 1853.

“This is an English colony”: Dolan, Irish Americans, 187.

Mitchel’s broadsides against hypocritical abolitionists: Weiss, Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker, 397.

“When my country”: Kee, Green Flag, 168.

Members drilled weekly: Stephens, Birth of the Fenian Movement, 83–84.

Their activities in New York: Brundage, Irish Nationalists in America, 96–97.

“There can be no such thing”: Lawson, Defences to Crime, 671.

“There seems to me no more hope”: Ramón, Provisional Dictator, 77.

Out of touch with his family: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 59.

With its people still processing: Ibid., 323.

To get a better sense: James Stephens, Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic, 41.

“The cause is not dead”: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 80–81.

He wrote to Stephens: Golway, For the Cause of Liberty, 128.

At the close of December 1857: Boston Post, May 17, 1866.

In addition to £80 to £100 per month: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 159–60.

Stephens couldn’t take it as anything: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 11–12.

As Ireland commemorated: Stephens, Birth of the Fenian Movement, 76.

To maintain secrecy: Evans, Fanatic Heart, 25–26.

“He seemed to have me”: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 90–99.

Stephens again dispatched Denieffe: Stephens, Birth of the Fenian Movement, xxv.

“The Irish-Americans will not subscribe”: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 110.

In his diary, Stephens described: Delany, The Green and the Red, 66–67; Stephens, Birth of the Fenian Movement, 8–26.

In early 1859, O’Mahony would: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 12–13.

The group started with: Proceedings of the First National Convention, 8.

Stephens returned to Ireland: Stephens, Birth of the Fenian Movement, 56–77.

“Those who denounce us”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 15.

“It was necessary to get the people”: Boston Post, May 17, 1866.

By November 1859, O’Mahony had organized: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 16.

“reproached him in words”: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 60.

Chapter 3: The Civil War

Irish natives not only accounted: Shiels, “ ‘Lives of Her Exiled Children Will Be Offered in Thousands.’ ”

“Ireland will be more deeply”: Moore’s Rural New Yorker, Aug. 3, 1861.

Feeling a kinship with fellow rebels: Gleeson, The Green and the Gray, 41; Damian Shiels, “How Many Irish Fought in the American Civil War?,” Irish in the American Civil War, Jan. 18, 2015, irishamericancivilwar.com; Shiels, “Time to Move Beyond the Irish Brigade?”

The Irish still struggled: Strausbaugh, City of Sedition, 176.

The County Kilkenny native John O’Keeffe: Donlon, “John O’Keeffe and the Fenian Brotherhood in the American West and Midwest,” 86–87.

“It is a moral certainty”: Cavanagh, Memoirs of Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, 369.

Following a funeral Mass: Ibid., 13.

On September 16, Archbishop John Joseph Hughes: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 18.

According to Stephens, 150,000 people: James Stephens, Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic, 54.

“The facecloth is removed”: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 168.

One hundred and thirteen pounds: Stephens to O’Mahony, April 7, 1862, CUA.

“No other living man”: J. Hamilton (Stephens) to his nephew, Jan. 18, 1865, CUA.

“The establishment of the paper”: J. Hamilton (Stephens) to O’Mahony, Dec. 11, 1864, CUA.

The Irish People debuted: James Stephens, Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic, 59.

On November 11, he got married: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 181.

Marriage proved an easier go: James Stephens, Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic, 60.

Although Stephens had stayed true: Golway, For the Cause of Liberty, 139.

Unwilling to submit: O’Mahony to Charles Joseph Kickham, Oct. 19, 1863, CUA.

On October 19, 1863: O’Mahony to James Kelly (Stephens), Oct. 19, 1863, CUA.

“I am sick—almost to death”: Inter Ocean, Dec. 27, 1865.

“standing drag-chain and stumbling-block”: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 194.

A group of impatient Fenians: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 39.

On November 3, 1863, eighty-two delegates: Proceedings of the First National Convention, 17; Sayers, “John O’Mahony,” 255.

The head center would now be: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 35–39.

O’Mahony hoped the decision: O’Mahony to Charles Joseph Kickham, Oct. 19, 1863, CUA.

Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick: Rafferty, The Church, the State, and the Fenian Threat, 68.

The two-week fair: Griffin, “ ‘Scallions, Pikes, and Bog Oak Ornaments,’ ” 90–97.

“Next year will be”: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 205.

Fenian circles arose: Proceedings of the Second National Congress, 22.

While the Army of the Potomac: Galwey, Valiant Hours, 244–45.

O’Mahony and the Fenian Brotherhood’s: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 52.

“the deadliest blow”: Stephens to the Head Center and Central Council, Fenian Brotherhood, June 24, 1865, CUA.

British crews sporting fake: Burnell, “American Civil War Surrender on the Mersey.”

When Queen Victoria sat down: Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, Letters of Queen Victoria, 250.

Chapter 4: Torn Between Brothers

As James Stephens continued to promise: Campbell, Fenian Fire, 58–59.

In a drawer of Luby’s nightstand: Devoy, Devoy’s Post Bag, 165.

In addition to decapitating: William G. Halpin to John O’Mahony, Oct. 6, 1865, CUA.

“Had we been prepared”: J. Daly (Stephens) to O’Mahony, Sept. 16, 1865, CUA.

With a £2,300 reward: Times (London), March 30, 1901.

“Once you hear of my arrest”: J. Daly (Stephens) to O’Mahony, Sept. 16, 1865, CUA.

General Thomas William Sweeny: Morgan, Through American and Irish Wars, 104.

Few Americans embodied the spirit: Ibid., 10–11.

He wrote that his military service: Jentz and Schneirov, “Chicago’s Fenian Fair of 1864,” 7.

In addition to approving: Proceedings of the Fourth National Congress of the Fenian Brotherhood, 30.

His Crystal Palace Emporium: Irish-American, Jan. 30, 1864.

As he filled out his cabinet: Morgan, Through American and Irish Wars, 108.

Sweeny asserted his belief: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 266–68.

The lightly defended border: Miller, Borderline Crime, 40–42.

The patriots erroneously expected: Klein, “7 Times the U.S.-Canada Border Wasn’t So Peaceful.”

While the British governor of Vancouver Island: Ibid.

“If we could march into Canada”: Stewart, Reminiscences of Senator William M. Stewart of Nevada, 177–79.

The news, however, could not dampen: Millett, The Rebel and the Rose, 213.

According to Killian’s account: Libby, “Maine and the Fenian Invasion of Canada,” 216.

The Fenians would hang their expectation: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 84.

A suspicious neighbor had noticed: Times (London), March 30, 1901; Irish Times, Nov. 13, 1865.

“You cannot visit me”: James Stephens, Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic, 72.

He remained with the general population: Dorney, Griffith College Dublin, 17.

Over the course of a monotonous: Arnold, “Treadmill Originated in Prisons.”

Two weeks after his arrest: “Statement by Colonel Eamon Broy,” 3.

Along with the prison turnkey: Irish-American, March 30, 1901; “Statement by Colonel Eamon Broy,” 10.

Fleeing through the prison yard: Morning News (Belfast), July 9, 1884.

It was in that moment: “Statement by Colonel Eamon Broy,” 3–4.

The news of Stephens’s escape: Rowe, “The Rescue of James Stephens, from Richmond Jail,” 63–66.

“I do not know him to be a liar”: Devoy, Devoy’s Post Bag, 160.

Tasked by the Fenian senate: New York Herald, Nov. 18, 1865.

They leased the “Fenian White House”: To the Members of the Fenian Brotherhood, Circular, Dec. 7, 1865, ACHS.

On top of the rent: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec. 11, 1865.

For a man comfortable wearing: Sayer, “John O’Mahony,” 298.

The Fenians even issued: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 112–13.

“traitorous diversion from the right path”: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 207–8.

After O’Mahony ordered Killian: Sayers, “John O’Mahony,” 300–1.

Believing the situation in Ireland: James Stephens, Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic, 84.

The senate drew up articles: Morgan, Through American and Irish Wars, 112.

Meeting in special session: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 104.

He retaliated by expelling Roberts: Devoy, Devoy’s Post Bag, 8.

F. B. McNamee reported: McNamee to My Dear Christian, March 26, 1866, NYPL.

“It seems to me”: Samito, Becoming American Under Fire, 179.

The British protest might have been: Sweeny to Rawlings, Dec. 9, 1865, NYPL.

This meant that O’Mahony: Libby, “Maine and the Fenian Invasion of Canada,” 218.

Many Irish Americans agreed: Nashville Daily Union, Feb. 16, 1866.

The measure was overwhelmingly: Waterford News, March 16, 1866.

“We promise that before the summer”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 114.

The Fenian Brotherhood held: Donlon, “John O’Keeffe and the Fenian Brotherhood in the American West and Midwest,” 87.

“Father O’Keefe spoke”: S. W. McDonald to O’Mahony, March 9, 1865, CUA.

The following morning: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, April 7, 1866.

Colonel John W. Byron: Campbell, Fenian Fire, 64.

In Dublin alone: Samito, Becoming American Under Fire, 180.

Similar scenes occurred: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, April 7, 1866.

“a profanation of the”: Rafferty, The Church, the State, and the Fenian Threat, 66.

“When the priests descend”: Ibid., 81.

Now the spymaster had been directed: Neidhardt, “ ‘We’ve Nothing Else to Do,’ ” 5.

Rumors flew that the Fenians: Steward and McGovern, Fenians, 108.

President Johnson had been: Stahr, Seward, 467.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton: Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, 2:450–51.

“use all vigilance to prevent”: Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, 16:107–9.

“I do not think Sweeny”: Neidhardt, “American Government and the Fenian Brotherhood,” 34.

The first St. Patrick’s Day: Irish-American, March 24, 1866.

Chapter 5: The Eastport Fizzle

Just the day before: New York Herald, March 17, 1866.

In no mood to parade: Baltimore Sun, March 19, 1866.

Killian argued that the Fenians: New York Herald, April 12, 1866; Nowlan, Campobello, 84.

Killian reportedly assured: Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1866.

Having spent months concocting his plan: Steward and McGovern, Fenians, 107.

Many of them had fled: McCarron, “Ireland Along the Passamaquoddy,” 101.

The Fenian Brotherhood had just paid: Steward and McGovern, Fenians, 166.

“the men who propose”: Steward and McGovern, Fenians, 115.

“In my opinion, the real reputation”: Official Report of the Investigating Committee of the Department of Manhattan, 15.

According to O’Mahony, he reluctantly approved: Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1866.

General Bernard F. Mullen: Official Report of the Investigating Committee, 1.

“A target for artillery practice”: Ibid., 34.

He sealed the sailing papers: Army and Navy Journal, May 12, 1866; Official Report of the Investigating Committee, 3.

Fed wild counterintelligence: New York Herald, April 5, 1866.

In other newspapers, the Fenians planted: Spirit of Jefferson, April 17, 1866.

The New York World, however: New York World, April 5, 1866.

On April 6, “General” Killian: Vroom, “Fenians on the St. Croix,” 411.

Rumors of a possible Fenian raid: Davis, “Fenian Raid on New Brunswick,” 317–18.

“armed and equipped”: Libby, “Maine and the Fenian Invasion of Canada,” 225.

O’Mahony suspected that Killian: New York World, April 5, 1866.

“Thomas D’Arcy McGee”: Harmon, Fenians and Fenianism, 80.

During the Great Hunger, he accused: Sim, Union Forever, 71; Brundage, Irish Nationalists in America, 94.

He called Fenianism: Neidhardt, “ ‘We’ve Nothing Else to Do,’ ” 5.

They were, he said: Senior, “Quebec and the Fenians,” 36.

The head center ordered Downing: Army and Navy Journal, May 12, 1866.

“a handsome fellow, glib-tongued”: Devoy, Recollections of an Irish Rebel, 269.

“I notice you seem: Downing to O’Mahony, April 20, 1864, CUA.

McDermott was selling Fenian secrets: Senior, Last Invasion of Canada, 49.

“Wherever there are three Fenians”: New York Times, Jan. 7, 1868.

“He was constantly fomenting”: Devoy, Recollections of an Irish Rebel, 269.

One editor of a St. Stephen newspaper: Davis, “Fenian Raid on New Brunswick,” 323.

“No news travels so freely”: Twain, “Unburlesquable Things,” 138.

When it became clear: Steward and McGovern, Fenians, 114.

Left without a portion: Official Report of the Investigating Committee, 42.

The St. Croix Courier reported: Libby, “Maine and the Fenian Invasion of Canada,” 228.

Killian and his officers: New York Herald, April 15, 1866.

As Killian waited for his cases: Davis, “Fenian Raid on New Brunswick,” 322–23.

“The Provincials are”: Ibid., 323.

However, many in Eastport: Quoddy Tides, May 13, 1983.

The St. John Telegraph reported: Davis, “Fenian Raid on New Brunswick,” 323.

On April 9, eighty Fenians left Portland: Daily Eastern Argus, April 10, 1866.

By April 11, two British warships: Jenkins, Fenians and Anglo-American Relations, 136.

In the spirit of Paul Revere: Dallison, Turning Back the Fenians, 92.

“Arm yourselves! The Fenians”: Vesey, “When New Brunswick Suffered Invasion,” 199–200.

Doyle caused further mischief: Davis, “Fenian Raid on New Brunswick,” 330.

“We want that English flag!”: Lormier, History of the Islands and Islets in the Bay of Fundy, 83–84.

He vowed that the “convention”: Davis, “Fenian Raid on New Brunswick,” 328–29.

“If the people of the Provinces”: Vesey, “When New Brunswick Suffered Invasion,” 202.

On April 16, Meade received a telegram: Meade, Life and Letters, 2:285.

Aboard were 129 cases: Boston Journal, April 25, 1866.

“urging that the arms”: Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, 2:486.

Although dressed in civilian clothes: Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, 16:109–10.

The general immediately ordered: Davis, “Fenian Raid on New Brunswick,” 327.

He also told the leaders: Meade, Life and Letters, 2:284–85.

The explanation was laughable: Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, 16:109–10.

“Requisition cannot be filled”: Official Report of the Investigating Committee, 42.

The fire destroyed: Correspondence Relating to the Fenian Invasion and the Rebellion of the Southern States, 167–70.

After rounding one of the islands: Davis, “Fenian Raid on New Brunswick,” 331.

They then sank: Official Report of the Investigating Committee, 56–57.

In spite of his political: Maine Farmer, April 26, 1866.

Meade reported to Grant: Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, 16:110–13.

Upset that they could only: Daily Eastern Argus, April 28, 1866.

General Meade, who had caught: Meade, Life and Letters, 2:285.

“Moffat Mansion farce”: New York Herald, May 7, 1866.

members of the Roberts wing chortled: Irish-American, April 28, 1866.

It caused some Canadians: Chronicle Herald, July 2, 2017.

“The failure of this project”: McLean, “Competing Fenianisms,” 135.

Many of the disappointed: Morning Freeman, May 1, 1866.

“Let us unite”: Army and Navy Journal, May 12, 1866.

When the head center refused: New York World, May 1, 1866.

The tribunal discovered: Official Report of the Investigating Committee, 47–51.

In addition, even without proof: Libby, “Maine and the Fenian Invasion of Canada,” 244–45.

Before he could be expelled: New York World, May 1, 1866.

Chapter 6: Erin’s Boys

Donations to Moffat Mansion: Baltimore Daily Commercial, May 2, 1866.

The sullen O’Mahony exchanged: New York World, May 11, 1866.

Stephens appeared on the hotel’s balcony: James Stephens, Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic, 97.

In a brief address: Buffalo Commercial, May 11, 1866.

“In consenting to”: James Stephens, Chief Organizer, the Irish Republic, 98.

“In sanctioning this divergence”: New York Herald, May 12, 1866.

“mad and most inglorious fiasco”: Pender, “Fenian Papers,” Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 81 (1976): 124.

Reunification prospects further dimmed: Sayers, “John O’Mahony,” 307.

For his part, Roberts accused: Nashville Daily Union, May 26, 1866.

The twenty-eight clerks: Buffalo Express, May 5, 1866.

Layers of dust: Louisville Courier Journal, Jan. 3, 1866.

With circles no longer: Baltimore Sun, May 16, 1866.

Stephens moved the Fenian headquarters: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 25, 1866.

After hearing news of: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 255–56.

So, with the burden: Sim, Union Forever, 90.

To the west: Hunt, Brevet Brigadier Generals in Blue, 607.

Samuel Perkins Spear: Ibid., 575.

Following the well-trodden path: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 266–72.

“With the revenues”: Ibid., 272.

When the guns finally fell silent: McCollum, “Needham Musket Conversion.”

Fenian operatives could purchase: Buffalo Commercial, April 27, 1866.

While many of the Fenian Brotherhood: Taylor, “In Queen Victoria’s Secret Service,” 58.

Sweeny also dispatched Tevis: Bilby, “Black Powder, White Smoke,” 6.

The Fenians ultimately acquired: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 233.

The Fenian war secretary: Vronsky, “Combat, Memory, and Remembrance in Confederation Era Canada,” 68.

According to one account: “Untold Story of the Intelligent Whale.”

His original plan called for: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 145–46.

“I wept over”: An Phoblacht, Jan. 27, 2000.

“The man dies”: Emmet, Life, Trial, and Conversations, 111.

At least thirteen thousand people: Department of Culture, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht, “National Famine Commemoration.”

Clontibret lost over 17 percent: John Makem interview.

He had a horse shot out: John O’Neill pension file, 575.926, National Archives and Records Administration.

“If resolutions could give liberty”: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 3–4, 32.

“There is no spot of earth”: Noonan, “General John O’Neill,” 315.

So militant had O’Neill: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 31.

Similar scenes played out: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 240–41.

“Come at once”: Donlon, “John O’Keeffe and the Fenian Brotherhood in the American West and Midwest,” 90–91.

The second lieutenant: Recollections of John O’Keeffe, MHS.

Born in Clontibret: Fredericks, “Growth of the Catholic Church in Anderson, Indiana,” 25.

Knowing their pastor had limited means: Index to Reports of Committee of the House of Representatives, 40th Cong., 2nd Sess., 2.

As O’Neill rode north: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 37.

“Everything in connection with them”: New York World, May 31, 1866.

In response, Sweeny ordered: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 242.

To the Seventh Regiment: Irish-American, Dec. 13, 1902.

Fenian sympathizers who worked: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 238.

Many of the crates: Finerty, “Thirty Years of Ireland’s Battle—V,” 279.

“ignorant little Irishman”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 148–49.

“We don’t wish them”: Buffalo Courier, June 1, 1866.

“This town is full”: Senior, Last Invasion of Canada, 61.

“I cannot conceive it”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 157.

The U.S. attorney William A. Dart: Ibid., 158.

Hynes held in his hands: Hartford Courant, June 2, 1866.

Hynes looked at O’Neill: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 37.

“good and true to the cause”: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 217–18.

While the Irish Republican Army mobilized: Damian Shiels, “Medal of Honor: Boatswain’s Mate Patrick Murphy, U.S.S. Metacomet,” Irish in the American Civil War, Feb. 22, 2015, irishamericancivilwar.com.

To a chorus of cheers: Vronsky, Ridgeway, 48.

Chapter 7: A Lawless and Piratical Band

On the night of May 31, 1866: Junor, “Taken Prisoner by the Fenians,” 86–87.

Although many militiamen: Vronsky, Ridgeway, 66–76.

The new commander of the Queen’s Own Rifles: Radforth, “Highly Promising Youths,” 21.

Not until 2:00 p.m.: Niagara Falls Review, Nov. 5, 2016.

“The soil of Canada”: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 37.

Above the moss-grown rubble: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 38.

Using axes stolen: Vronsky, Ridgeway, 54.

“I prevailed on the mayor”: Recollections of John O’Keeffe, MHS.

“We have no issue”: Buffalo Daily Courier, June 5, 1866.

O’Neill pledged that his men: Keneally, Great Shame, 440.

However, they didn’t take any saddles: Vronsky, Ridgeway, 54.

They offered Fenian bonds: Index to the Executive Documents of the Senate of the United States, 40th Cong., 2nd Sess., 40.

The Fenian-contracted tugs: Vronsky, Ridgeway, 38.

Scores of soldiers who thought: Donlon, “John O’Keeffe and the Fenian Brotherhood in the American West and Midwest,” 90–91; Finerty, “Thirty Years of Ireland’s Battle—VI,” 431.

The Irishmen burned their extra rifles: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 39; Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 41.

The more grizzled soldiers: Recollections of John O’Keeffe, MHS.

The university student: Ellis, “Adventures of a Prisoner of War,” 199.

Without Peacocke’s approval: Ibid., 203.

Booker had no battle experience: Vronsky, Ridgeway, 72–73.

As the Canadian volunteers disembarked: Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 12.

Junor and his fellow students: Junor, “Taken Prisoner by the Fenians,” 87.

O’Neill made his headquarters: Vronsky, “Combat, Memory, and Remembrance in Confederation Era Canada,” 133.

The Fenians saw the familiar: Finerty, “Thirty Years of Ireland’s Battle—VI,” 433.

Junor heard the command: Junor, “Taken Prisoner by the Fenians,” 87.

“To most of us”: Recollections of John O’Keeffe, MHS.

The Canadian skirmishers: Radforth, “Highly Promising Youths,” 21.

They dashed from stump to stump: Martin, “Green Terror,” 52.

Once the Fenians had emptied: Ellis, “Adventures of a Prisoner of War,” 200.

As they progressed: Fenian Raid at Fort Erie, 43.

Not only did the terrain: Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 12.

With their center uncovered: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 39.

They sounded a chorus: Irish-American, Dec. 13, 1902.

“The cavalry are coming!”: Fenian Raid at Fort Erie, 44.

Bugles ordered the Canadian: Junor, “Taken Prisoner by the Fenians,” 90.

“We were all called to form”: Fenian Raid at Fort Erie, 44.

Once Booker realized: Keneally, Great Shame, 441.

After nearly two hours of fighting: Fenian Raid at Fort Erie, 44; Finerty, “Thirty Years of Ireland’s Battle—VI,” 433.

Junor ran along the crossroad: Vronsky, Ridgeway, 62–63.

The bullet pierced: Ellis and King, “Fenian Casualties and Prisoners,” 274.

Three more succumbed: Vronsky, “Combat, Memory, and Remembrance in Confederation Era Canada,” 222.

Toronto newspapers issued: Hartford Courant, June 2, 1866; King, King’s Handbook of Boston, 288.

The Nation in Dublin: Wilson, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, 2:279.

“It is difficult to believe”: Detroit Free Press, June 2, 1866.

The Fenians had expected Canadians: Junor, “Taken Prisoner by the Fenians,” 89.

Plus, the Irishmen in Canada: Buffalo Daily Courier, June 5, 1866.

“I decided that my best policy”: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 39.

The Irishmen shared pipes: Ellis, “Adventures of a Prisoner of War,” 203.

The Irishmen arrived back: Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 18.

The twenty-five village blocks: Vronsky, Ridgeway, 49.

Gathered on the banks: Trial of American Citizens in Great Britain, 37.

“Give it to them”: “Fenians Hide n’ Go Seek.”

With his men pushed back: Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 15–18.

The only escape route: Recollections of John O’Keeffe, MHS.

O’Neill emerged victorious: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 40.

They danced to keep warm: Junor, “Taken Prisoner by the Fenians,” 89.

O’Neill approached O’Keeffe: Recollections of John O’Keeffe, MHS.

Thirteen were killed: Ellis and King, “Fenian Casualties and Prisoners,” 271.

After the last of his able-bodied men: Ellis, “Adventures of a Prisoner of War,” 203.

“We would have as readily surrendered”: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 40.

The thirteen Fenian officers: Army and Navy Journal, Jan. 12, 1867.

When daylight arrived: Walker, Fenian Movement, 96.

When the British troops: King, “John McMahon, Fenian Priest,” 9.

Inside his carpetbag, the troops: Charleston Daily News, Nov. 18, 1869.

However, the British found: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 82.

In all, the British captured: Courier-Journal, June 16, 1866.

They then took a tug: Inter Ocean, June 23, 1889.

With his recommendation to impose: Meade, Life and Letters, 285–88.

With reports arriving: Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, 16:216.

Satisfied that O’Neill’s brief invasion: Report of Major General George G. Meade to Secretary of War, Oct. 12, 1866, in House Executive Document No. 3, 39th Cong., 2nd Sess., 42–44.

“This is a war on the Irish”: Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, 2:518.

Inside the undergraduate lounge: Radforth, “Highly Promising Youths,” 22.

Sorrow turned to anger: Baltimore Sun, June 7, 1866.

Eventually, sixty-five Fenian prisoners: Correspondence Relating to the Fenian Invasion, 141.

“The autonomy of British America”: Boyko, Blood and Daring, 274.

With barely enough room: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 41.

After visiting the prisoners: Boston Journal, June 8, 1866.

The situation grew so desperate: Buffalo Evening Post, June 5, 1866.

Some prisoners cussed out Sweeny: Finerty, “Thirty Years of Ireland’s Battle—VII,” 540.

The Irish Republican Army believed: Buffalo Evening Post, June 8, 1866.

Three companies of U.S. artillery troops: Inter Ocean, June 23, 1889.

The officers lacked money: Brodsky, Grover Cleveland, 6, 29–30.

“Gentlemen, you may not be aware”: Fenian Raid of ’66, 278.

While detained on the USS Michigan: Hartford Courant, June 6, 1866.

“I saw at that time”: Burlington Free Press, June 10, 1870.

O’Keeffe saw the change: Recollections of John O’Keeffe, MHS.

Chapter 8: Iron Wills and Brave Hearts

“I take possession”: Andrews, “How ‘Unpreparedness’ Undid St. Albans,” 677–78.

They even shot poor Elinus Morrison: Haynes, St. Albans, 45.

The outrage even drove: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 3–5.

“Vairmont Yankee Scare Party”: Prince, Burn the Town and Sack the Banks, 136.

The village’s most illustrious resident: Rick Beard, “When the Rebels Invaded Vermont,” New York Times, Oct. 17, 2014, www.nytimes.com.

The seat of Franklin County: Burlington Free Press, June 1, 1866.

Speaking in low voices: Boston Journal, June 4, 1866.

When a delegation of town authorities: Ibid.

With it clear that the village: Vermont Transcript, June 8, 1866.

“the excitement among the Irish”: Wilson, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, 2:279.

A green flag waved: Boston Journal, June 7, 1866.

Women showed their solidarity: Irish-American, June 16, 1866.

Even a group: St. Johnsbury Caledonian, June 15, 1866.

The New York Times devoted: New York Times, June 2, 1866; New York Herald, June 2, 1866.

“The whole border”: Irish-American, June 9, 1866.

“startling but most intensely”: Ibid.

The Fenian secretary of war: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 260.

An officer insisted: St. Albans Messenger, June 11, 1866.

Two weeks earlier: Ogdensburg Journal, Sept. 26, 1911.

Customs agents found: Vermont Transcript, June 1, 1866.

The general was outraged: Bushnell, It Happened in Vermont, 72.

The tidy village’s weekly: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 244–45.

Shortly after Spear: Burlington Free Press, May 31, 1866.

“The President approves”: Burlington Free Press, June 2, 1866.

The Fenians grew wise: McKone, Vermont’s Irish Rebel, 421–24.

“We Irishmen are determined”: Vermont Transcript, June 8, 1866.

Some found open arms: Boston Journal, June 4, 1866.

Others camped in the woods: Burlington Free Press, June 5 and 4, 1866.

Hundreds of government troops: Buffalo Evening Post, June 7, 1866.

Sweeny convened a war council: Morgan, Through American and Irish Wars, 122.

The general’s handpicked man: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 13.

Spear reported to Sweeny: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 250.

“beg, borrow, or take”: Ibid.

“Never has there been”: Vermont Transcript, June 8, 1866.

“think of calling out the militia”: Burlington Free Press, June 7, 1866.

St. Albans had refused to enforce: Haynes, St. Albans, 30.

The town’s old-timers: Bryan, Real Democracy, 6.

“ninety-nine out of every”: Columbian, June 9, 1866.

“Good luck to you!”: Boston Journal, June 5, 1866.

It was no small irony: Boyko, Blood and Daring, 241–89.

Not fully convinced of the loyalty: Dafoe, “Fenian Invasion of Quebec,” 342.

Montreal’s mayor, Henry Starnes: Burlington Free Press, June 8, 1866.

“Whoever is not with us”: Boston Journal, June 5, 1866.

“You must allow me”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 163.

“all judges, magistrates, marshals”: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 117.

When Major A. A. Gibson: Boston Journal, June 8, 1866.

The general had turned in: Senior, Last Invasion of Canada, 121.

Offering no resistance: Burlington Free Press, June 7, 1866.

The following morning: Boston Journal, June 9, 1866.

Sweeny waived his examination: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 121.

He had received word: Boston Journal, June 8, 1866.

Spear found his rank and file: Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 68.

The lucky ones: Boston Journal, June 8, 1866.

The local Fenians: Burlington Free Press, June 7, 1866.

Mahan, a major: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 251.

Chapter 9: The Fenians Are Coming!

The defense of Quebec’s Missisquoi County: Senior, Last Invasion of Canada, 116–17.

Carter, a British army officer: Darch, “For the Sake of Ireland.”

Many of them had been forced: Somerville, Narrative of the Fenian Invasion of Canada, 127.

Inside the Eastern Townships: Vermont Transcript, June 8, 1866; Dafoe, “Fenian Invasion of Quebec,” 345.

It was common for members: Farfan, Vermont-Quebec Border, 8.

As they marched: St. Albans Messenger, June 8, 1866.

By one estimate: Burlington Free Press, Feb. 16, 1866.

Just after 10:00 a.m.: Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 33.

His cavalry hugged: St. Albans Messenger, June 8, 1866.

“You are now on British soil”: Louisville Daily Courier, June 9, 1866.

Spear proclaimed the establishment: Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 67–68.

Colonel Contri stepped forward: Boston Journal, June 8, 1866.

Spear then announced: St. Albans Messenger, June 8, 1866.

“The Fenians are coming!”: Darch, “For the Sake of Ireland.”

“The cry was still”: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 251.

“were not robbers”: Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 67–69.

At one farm: St. Albans Messenger, June 8, 1866.

Sentries armed with muskets: Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 68–69.

They confiscated the British ensign: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 12–13.

“Give me men”: Denieffe, Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 252–53.

While only $6,000 of losses: Somerville, Narrative of the Fenian Invasion of Canada, 128.

Spear placed three of his men: St. Albans Messenger, June 8, 1866.

Not only were individual men: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 112.

Fearful that the Fenians: Senior, Last Invasion of Canada, 123.

On the morning of June 9: Dafoe, “Fenian Invasion of Quebec,” 345.

Fenian scouts brought news: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 12–13.

A few even directed: Finerty, “Thirty Years of Ireland’s Battle—VII,” 540.

Many Fenians tossed aside: Senior, Last Invasion of Canada, 124.

While the Irish continued to straggle: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 19.

“little scamps such as one”: Dafoe, “Fenian Invasion of Quebec,” 345.

So exuberant were four: D. L. McDougall to Brigade-Major, in Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 33.

Having given his word: Vermont Journal, June 12, 1866.

Spear wept as he rode: St. Albans Messenger, June 11, 1866.

“that he would rather”: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 113.

They milked the enemy ensign: Senior, Last Invasion of Canada, 122.

It was dragged through: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 18, 1866.

The lone fatality: Darch, “For the Sake of Ireland.”

“My God, it is a woman”: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 26.

Her gravestone at Pigeon Hill: Darch, “For the Sake of Ireland.”

“We will show the world”: Vermont Transcript, June 15, 1866; St. Albans Messenger, June 11, 1866.

“abandon our expedition against Canada”: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 92-93.

“these liberal offers will have”: Ibid., 120.

“Let no Fenian disgrace”: Rock Island Argus, June 14, 1866.

Spear and the officers: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 113.

Similar scenes played out: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 165.

They fled by the hundreds: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 93.

In all, the War Department: Walker, Fenian Movement, 103.

“It grieves me to part”: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 93.

Chapter 10: Hail the Vanquished Hero

Instead, his dominion comprised: New York Times, June 10, 1866.

Hours after Sweeny: New York Times, June 8, 1866.

Far from offering resistance: New York Times, June 9, 1866.

As news of the arrest: New York World, June 8, 1866.

No fewer than a dozen Fenians: New York Times, June 9, 1866.

“I will not give bail”: Irish-American, June 16, 1866.

“He’s making a damned ass”: New York Times, June 9, 1866.

The government-furnished accommodations: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 167.

The proprietors of New York’s first luxury hotel: New York Times, June 9, 1866.

“He got himself in there”: New York Times, June 10, 1866.

Prolonged cheering greeted Roberts: New York Times, June 13, 1866.

George Weishart as the “wretched informer”: New York Times, June 16, 1866.

James Gibbons refused to answer: New York Times, June 12, 1866.

William Cole told the court: Irish-American, June 16, 1866.

The New York Herald reporter John Gallagher: New York Times, June 13, 1866.

“failed to connect”: New York Times, June 12, 1866.

Those concerns were not unfounded: New York Times, June 16, 1866.

“the utter impossibility”: New York World, June 16, 1866.

In light of that: New York Times, June 16, 1866.

As the captives were escorted: Philadelphia Inquirer, June 13, 1866.

The captives taken: Borthwick, History of the Montréal Prison, 266.

They included four Methodists: St. Albans Messenger, June 11, 1866.

“all of the misguided men”: Papers Relating to the Foreign Affairs, 241.

“This thing you ask”: Semi-weekly Wisconsin, June 27, 1866.

“The future relations of Canada”: Boyko, Blood and Daring, 274.

New Fenian circles: Irish-American, July 28, 1866.

“One has certainly done”: Hartford Courant, June 9, 1866.

Many still questioned: Philadelphia Inquirer, June 14, 1866.

“If the attempts”: Irish-American, June 23, 1866.

“not through any efforts”: Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, June 15, 1866.

“Queen Victoria thanks”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 202.

“discriminate most harshly”: Harrisburg Telegraph, June 11, 1866.

“the only true”: New York Times, June 10, 1866.

The audience escorted: Pittsburgh Daily Commercial, June 21, 1866.

“I fear it augurs”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 178.

“The United States should”: Ibid., 223.

There was nothing clandestine: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 146–48.

“the gradual but decided”: American Annual Cyclopaedia, 76.

“The covenant of our nationality”: Neidhardt, Fenianism in North America, 73.

Chapter 11: Political Blarney

A staccato of musket fire: New-York Tribune, Aug. 22, 1866.

Organizers of the reenactment: Irish-American, July 28, 1866.

The Corcoran Guards: Buffalo Commercial, Aug. 22, 1866.

The sham battle: Cincinnati Enquirer, Aug. 22, 1866.

Held on a Tuesday: Tennessean, Aug. 22, 1866.

From across the Niagara River: Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, Aug. 18, 1866.

A British gunboat: Irish-American, Sept. 1, 1866.

“Localities where it was thought”: Irish-American, Aug. 4, 1866.

The spymaster Gilbert McMicken’s detectives: Wilson, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, 2:291–92.

As a precaution: New York World, Aug. 22, 1866.

“too much and acted too little”: “Speeches of Hon. Schuyler Colfax and General J. O’Neill.”

“The campaign has only commenced”: Louisville Daily Courier, July 6, 1866.

“I take it that”: Tennessean, Dec. 29, 1866.

“I never voted in all my life”: Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1866.

he was “unutterably humiliated”: Ottawa Citizen, Aug. 21, 1866.

“when the freedom of their land”: “Speeches of Hon. Schuyler Colfax and General J. O’Neill.”

denounced the “political blarney”: Buffalo Commercial, Aug. 22, 1866.

That morning inside: Irish-American, Sept. 1, 1866.

All of Buffalo: Buffalo Evening Post, Aug. 22, 1866; New-York Tribune, Aug. 22, 1866.

“Let us be friends”: Buffalo Commercial, Sept. 5, 1866.

In order to discourage internal arguments: Walker, Fenian Movement, 112.

The rebuke stung Sweeny: Morgan, Through American and Irish Wars, 149.

The County Galway native: Inter Ocean, Jan. 14, 1884.

While residents of Fort Erie: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 126–27.

“By the statute”: Trials of the Fenian Prisoners in Toronto, 83.

“They took my traveling bag”: Buffalo Commercial, June 15, 1866.

Before Wilson announced the sentence: Trials of the Fenian Prisoners in Toronto, 135–38.

Newspapers reported, hyperbolically: Nashville Union and American, Nov. 17, 1866.

“If the British Government”: Nashville Union and American, Nov. 7, 1866.

“thirst for Irish blood”: Tri-weekly Union and American, Nov. 6, 1866.

“The sentence of death”: Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, 181.

Special units of government police: Irish-American, Dec. 7, 1866.

“feloniously joining himself”: Busseau, Correspondence Respecting the Recent Fenian Aggression, 65.

“Those men deserve death”: Wilson, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, 2:283.

“I regret to tell you”: Nashville Union and Dispatch, Dec. 18, 1866.

“carrying patriotism to an excess”: Vinton Record, Dec. 20, 1866.

“A life that would otherwise”: Nashville Union and Dispatch, Dec. 18, 1866.

Chapter 12: Erin’s Hope

“I speak to you now”: New York Times, Oct. 29, 1866; Freeman’s Journal, Nov. 12, 1866.

“name and nationality”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 214–15.

In early December: New York Times, Dec. 2, 1866.

Using the alias William Scott: New-York Tribune, Jan. 1, 1867.

Looking haggard and ill: Ryan, Fenian Chief, 247.

“I found that matters”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 219–20.

“either fight or dissolve”: Rutherford, Secret History of the Fenian Conspiracy, 2:40.

The Fenian chief claimed: Ramón, Provisional Dictator, 224–26.

Kelly pressed ahead: Busteed, Irish in Manchester, 211.

“We have suffered centuries”: Times (London), March 8, 1867.

A tempest of snow: Mullane, Cruise of the “Erin’s Hope,” 5.

“It was as pitiful”: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, May 25, 1867.

“Don’t believe a tenth”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 241–43.

In packs of twos and threes: U.S. Congress, House Executive Documents, 40th Cong., 2nd Sess., 236–37.

The steamer returned: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 244.

Captain John F. Kavanagh: Mullane, Cruise of the “Erin’s Hope,” 6–11.

Posing as an English tourist: Burleigh, Blood and Rage, 7.

A trained engineer: Devoy, Devoy’s Post Bag, 35–36.

Burke instructed Kavanagh: Dublin Evening Post, Oct. 31, 1867.

Dodging British cruisers: Mullane, Cruise of the “Erin’s Hope,” 25–32.

Following the disappointment: Joye, “Stone That ‘Smashed the Van,’ ” 27.

While Kelly told police: Busteed, Irish in Manchester, 211–12.

Climbing atop the van: Denvir, “God Save Ireland!,” 9–10.

“a well beloved”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 269.

Under the 1848 Treason Felony Act: Busteed, Irish in Manchester, 215.

“You will soon send us”: Denvir, “God Save Ireland!,” 22.

Days after the death sentences: Irish Times, Nov. 23, 2014.

The ambassador, however: U.S. Congress, House Executive Documents, 40th Cong., 2nd Sess., 1867–68, 171–76.

In the early morning hours: Observer, Nov. 24, 1867.

while street vendors: Irish Times, Nov. 20, 2017.

With rumors that the Fenians: Observer, Nov. 24, 1867.

“If you reflect on it”: Allen to Uncle and Aunt Hogan, Nov. 22, 1867, PIT.

Prison officials, however: Southern Star, Dec. 10, 2017.

American newspapers printed: Daily Ohio Statesman, Dec. 18, 1867.

“accomplished the final act”: Irish Times, Nov. 23, 2014.

On the eve: Newcastle Daily Journal, Nov. 22, 1867.

The man who had plotted: Manchester Guardian, Dec. 14, 1867.

On the afternoon of December 12: Burleigh, Blood and Rage, 7–8.

The Fenians had used: Devoy, Devoy’s Post Bag, 36.

Detectives prowled every railway station: Sydney Morning Herald, Feb. 15, 1868.

Royal Navy boats: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Feb. 15, 1868.

Buckets of dirt: Rafferty, The Church, the State, and the Fenian Threat, 102.

More than fifty thousand citizens: Anderson, Lighter Side of My Official Life, 22–23.

Chapter 13: The Call of Duty

Church bells and cannon fire: New York Herald, July 2, 1867.

Steps away from Parliament Hill: Gwyn, Nation Maker, 14–15.

Canada’s creation was a civilized affair: Chronicle Herald, July 2, 2017.

While Ottawa celebrated: New York Herald, July 2, 1867.

“When the experiment”: Lippert, War Plan Red, 46–47.

Thomas D’Arcy McGee recognized: Wilson, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, 2:301.

Two days after the national celebration: Ibid., 2:308–26.

“because of their inability”: Cincinnati Enquirer, Sept. 11, 1867.

Plus, the Irish Republic bonds: Albany Evening Journal, Sept. 12, 1867.

The Fenian cavalry jacket: “Fenian Brotherhood I.R.A. Belt Buckle.”

Blue trousers with a green cord: New York Herald, March 19, 1867.

Overcoats and blue kepis: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 228–30.

In spite of his earlier pledge: Baltimore Sun, Sept. 27, 1867.

Johnson agreed as long as: Cole, Prince of Spies, 32–33.

He directed Attorney General: Pulaski Citizen, Nov. 22, 1867.

The cache included: Geo. G. Munger to General W. F. Barry, Feb. 20, 1867, ACHS.

An expert marksman: Cole, Prince of Spies, 46.

The Fenian muzzle-loading: McCollum, “Needham Musket Conversion.”

By converting their rifles: Bilby, “Black Powder, White Smoke,” 6.

Meehan ultimately decided: Ibid.; McCollum, “Needham Musket Conversion.”

The Fenians, uncharacteristically: New York Times, May 25, 1870.

dubbed the Green House: Philadelphia Inquirer, April 19, 1870.

Weeks earlier, Roberts and Savage: Charleston Daily News, Dec. 21, 1867.

“The Irish heart leaps”: Irish-American, Feb. 15, 1868.

O’Neill, who had resigned: Nashville Union and American, Oct. 8, 1867.

He had just paid: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 32.

“to go to work”: Ibid., 11.

He attended state conventions: O’Neill to “Dear Sir & Bro,” Nov. 12, 1868, ACHS.

In a return to Buffalo: Buffalo Daily Courier, Feb. 1, 1868.

“Your presence here”: Ibid., Feb. 3, 1868.

“The result of O’Neill’s visit”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 294.

“one of the boniest faces”: Macdonald, Diary of the Parnell Commission, 120.

A human chimney: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 94.

Rumors circulated around: Kirk, History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, 328.

While stationed in Nashville: Clark, “Spy Who Came in from the Coalfields,” 93.

O’Neill found himself: Edwards, Infiltrator, 35.

It was in Nashville: Kirk, History of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, 330.

Following the war: Clark, “Spy Who Came in from the Coalfields,” 93.

“Come at once, you are needed for work”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 53–54.

“They don’t take into account”: Bergeron, Papers of Andrew Johnson, 13:546.

“General, your people”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 59.

Among O’Neill’s first actions: Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, Dec. 31, 1867; Manchester Guardian, Dec. 17, 1867.

“I have an opinion”: Forster, Life of Charles Dickens, 324.

“The Fenian organization”: Buffalo Daily Courier, Feb. 3, 1868.

Chapter 14: Blood in the Street

Then, on March 9, 1868: Donald Mackay to Macdonald, March 9, 1868, LAC.

“I’m a bloody Fenian”: Age, July 7, 2017.

Fortuitously, the royal’s India rubber braces: Irish Times, Oct. 13, 2017.

O’Farrell was not in fact: Australian, Aug. 5, 2017.

By the time the news: Buffalo Express, April 25, 1868.

“I hope that in this House”: Taylor, Hon. Thos. D’Arcy McGee, 40–43.

Under the light of a full moon: Trial of Patrick J. Whelan, 1–12.

The .32-caliber bullet: Bytown Museum exhibit.

McGee’s glove and cigar: Trial of Patrick J. Whelan, 11.

“If Thomas D’Arcy McGee”: Taylor, Hon. Thos. D’Arcy McGee, 47.

“He who was with us”: Slattery, Assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee, 474.

“He has been slain”: Taylor, Hon. Thos. D’Arcy McGee, 44–45.

Born around 1840: Boyko, “Patrick James Whelan.”

An estimated 80,000 people: Globe and Mail, April 13, 2013.

“the dastardly, cowardly”: Wilson, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, 2:347.

“McGee did as much”: New York World, April 8, 1868.

During the solemn funeral Mass: New York Herald, April 14, 1868.

“a deliberate decision”: Wilson, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, 2:346–47.

“I shot that fellow”: Trial of Patrick J. Whelan, 39, 86.

In his last hours on death row: Boyko, “Patrick James Whelan.”

Fearing that some Irish Catholic: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 317–18.

“the detectives detailed”: U.S. Congress, House Executive Documents, 40th Cong., 2nd sess., 288–91.

Only one-third of the $167,450: Proceedings of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Fenian Brotherhood in Joint Convention at Philadelphia, Pa., 15–17.

“General O’Neill moves”: Vermont Daily Transcript, Feb. 5, 1869.

O’Neill conceded his expenses: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 36.

“I have never believed”: O’Neill to Gallagher, Jan. 4, 1870, ACHS.

In order to cover: James Gibbons to the Officers and Members of the F.B., April 7, 1870, ACHS.

In April 1869: Gibbons to the Officers and Members of the F.B., April 8, 1869, ACHS.

On the opening day: New York Times, June 6, 1869.

“Were it not for the almost insane”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 318.

“I am sick and tired”: O’Neill to Gallagher, Dec. 16, 1869.

In truth, the only people: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 77.

As O’Neill and Meehan: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 7.

According to the Canadian spymaster: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 326.

“It should not be forgotten”: O’Neill to the Officers and Members of the Fenian Brotherhood, and the Friends of Irish Liberty Generally, Oct. 27, 1869, MHS.

He summoned Le Caron: Cole, Prince of Spies, 48.

The Fenian president then traveled: Irish-American, July 30, 1870.

In spite of their efforts: Archibald to Thornton, Dec. 13, 1869, LAC.

“I was painfully aware”: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 5.

“The right to fight”: O’Neill to the Officers and Members of the Fenian Brotherhood, Jan. 21, 1870, MHS.

Chapter 15: One Ridgeway Would Never Be Enough

“those who become members”: Catholic Encyclopedia, 5:689.

“decreed and declared”: Belfast News-Letter, Feb. 8, 1870.

Upwards of one thousand men: Rafferty, The Church, the State, and the Fenian Threat, 11.

“What England failed to accomplish”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 332.

When a New York City priest: Commercial Appeal, March 25, 1870.

“The Irish people”: Sayers, “John O’Mahony,” 348.

Colonels Henri Le Caron and William Clingen: Burlington Free Press, April 25, 1870.

“It was as much our object”: Daily Phoenix, June 4, 1870.

Registering in hotels: Cole, Prince of Spies, 53.

On a visit to Malone: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 75–76.

Administering their own justice: Cole, Prince of Spies, 52.

When New York’s governor, John Hoffman: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 334–36.

A trained physician: New York Herald, March 1, 1870.

A painful rift: John O’Neill pension file, 575.926.

McCloud, removed the organization’s: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 6–7.

Listening from another room: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 342.

A policeman who heard: New York Herald, March 1, 1870.

“Frank, I hope this”: Irish-American, March 19, 1870.

Although Keenan’s shot: New York Herald, March 2, 1870.

After serving two years: Public Papers of John T. Hoffman, 489.

Due to Keenan’s “insane” actions: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 7.

“in view of the lamented catastrophe”: O’Neill to the Officers and Members of the Fenian Brotherhood, March 1, 1870, MHS.

“One Ridgeway is enough”: Gibbons to the Officers and Members of the Fenian Brotherhood, March 23, 1870, ACHS.

The Fenian scare: Borthwick, History of the Montréal Prison, 221–22.

With the British government: Nevins, Hamilton Fish, 1:388–89.

Based on the intelligence reports: Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 258.

“the peace of the country”: Chicago Tribune, April 15, 1870.

“detectives and spies”: New York Herald, April 23, 1870.

The Canadian government said: McGee, Fenian Raids on the Huntingdon Frontier, 27.

Chapter 16: Secrets and Lies

Henri Le Caron became a familiar face: Cole, Prince of Spies, 50–59.

“no power on earth”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 81–83.

Only $2,000 of the $30,000: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 44.

“I did not deem it”: Ibid., 9.

“Take no man who”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 79–83.

While the Buffalo Evening Post announced: Buffalo Evening Post, May 22, 1870; Cole, Prince of Spies, 58–59.

Le Caron’s stay in Buffalo: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 15.

“Every precaution had been taken”: Daily Phoenix, June 4, 1870.

“that the Canadians”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 82.

The second of thirteen children: Edwards, Infiltrator, 26.

“wild mad thirst”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 8.

Beach told tall tales: Edwards, Infiltrator, 55; Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 2–10.

When Le Caron returned: Edwards, Infiltrator, 53–54.

“I never sought Fenianism”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 25.

He worked closely: O’Brien, Blood Runs Green, 68.

As the head center: Cole, Prince of Spies, 30.

Although he wasn’t Catholic: Clark, “Spy Who Came in from the Coalfields,” 95.

Le Caron spilled Fenian secrets: Cole, Prince of Spies, 45–57.

In fact, John C. Rose: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 76.

“would not hesitate”: Irish-American, June 18, 1870.

Feigning indignation, the spy: Cole, Prince of Spies, 40–45.

“Prominent leaders say”: New York Times, April 25, 1870.

He expected that thousands: Tuttle, “Fenian Campaign,” 208–9.

O’Neill’s plan called for: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 16–17.

He expected to encounter: Fenian Raid of 1870, 53.

O’Neill told The Daily Phoenix: Daily Phoenix, June 4, 1870.

The secret agent had: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 81–83.

On May 22, a disguised O’Neill: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 15.

In the mill city: Ibid., 44–51.

O’Neill emerged from his hiding spot: Ibid., 15.

The Fenians had hired: New-York Tribune, May 25, 1870.

Nearly every team: New-York Tribune, May 24, 1870.

The Fenians paid farmers: St. Albans Messenger, May 27, 1870.

Donnelly assured O’Neill: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 54.

Colonel E. C. Lewis reported: Ibid., 15.

O’Neill watched as the 6:00 a.m. train: Ibid., 6–9.

“Even if 800 arrived”: Daily Phoenix, June 4, 1870.

“Every hour’s delay”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 84.

Rain fell on St. Albans: Burlington Free Press, May 25, 1870.

From his lodgings: St. Albans Messenger, March 22, 1879.

At a cabinet meeting: Nevins, Hamilton Fish, 1:393–95.

“We cannot prevent”: Burlington Free Press, May 28, 1870.

The persistent downpours: Fenian Raid of 1870, 39–40.

Soldiers who had expected: Ibid., 6–7.

That night, Queen Victoria’s seventh child: Boston Daily Advertiser, May 28, 1870.

Chapter 17: A Burlesque of a War

“no serious resistance”: Boston Daily Advertiser, May 26, 1870.

His plans called for an army: Daily Phoenix, June 4, 1870.

Five years his junior: Tuttle, “Fenian Campaign,” 210–11.

After his young wife passed away: Howard, Strange Empire, 226, 353.

O’Neill and Donnelly rode: Richard family scrapbook.

As a reminder of the cause: Burnside, “Fenian Musket,” 30.

To load their guns: Campbell, Fenian Invasions of Canada of 1866 and 1870, 39.

They even prepared: Richard family scrapbook.

Many now cloaked themselves: Joye, “Wearing of the Green,” 51.

Reflecting their dual allegiances: Campbell, Fenian Invasions of Canada of 1866 and 1870, 39.

Many of those experienced: Tuttle, “Fenian Campaign,” 211–12.

Around 11:00 a.m., a carriage: St. Albans Messenger, March 22, 1879.

end the “unlawful proceeding”: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 109.

“expressed his contempt”: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 160.

Foster told O’Neill: Irish-American, June 18, 1870.

The general spoke a few quiet words: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 109.

The general ordered: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 85.

Before they could confront: Fenian Raid of 1870, 28.

“The soft sweet breezes”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 85–86.

On its steep slopes: Sowles, “History of Fenianism and Fenian Raids in Vermont,” 30–31.

The marshal assured Chamberlin: St. Albans Messenger, June 3, 1870.

“men who were mere pirates”: Macdonald, Troublous Times in Canada, 166–67.

“entirely at the mercy”: Westover to John Dougall & Son, March 6, 1866, BCHS.

After helping themselves: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 30.

After confederation in 1867: Westover to John Dougall & Son, March 6, 1866, BCHS.

Westover, whose grandfather: Smith, “War at the Border,” 19.

Through frequent rifle practice: Reid, Diary of a Country Clergyman, 233–36.

Even when the fierce winter snow: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 30.

Locals mocked the homegrown militia: Brief Account of the Fenian Raids, 9.

Inspired by the crimson sashes: Westover to John Dougall & Son, March 6, 1866, BCHS.

Having received word: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 30–31.

“They’re coming! They’re coming!”: Brief Account of the Fenian Raids, 21.

“more courage ’n sense”: “Finian Raid Stories,” Missisquoi Historical Society, 51.

Given that the sixty-two-year-old: Richard family scrapbook.

In fact, when Richard purchased: Carole Richard interview.

The families who lived: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 30.

Richard’s brother Stephen: Richard family genealogy.

When the Irish Republican Army arrived: Burlington Free Press, July 23, 1958.

“them ruffians up”: “Finian Raid Stories,” Missisquoi Historical Society, 51.

“Soldiers, this is the advance guard”: St. Albans Messenger, May 27, 1870.

Positioned at the front: Missisquoi County Historical Society, Fenian Raids, 1866–1870, 21.

The valley crackled: Burlington Free Press, May 27, 1870.

Up on Eccles Hill: Missisquoi County Historical Society, Fenian Raids, 1866–1870, 13.

He remembered well: Burlington Free Press, June 4, 1870.

Pell’s finger squeezed: Richard family scrapbook.

The Fenians were greeted: Burlington Free Press, May 30, 1870.

William O’Brien of Moriah, New York: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 110.

When a Canadian shot: Burlington Free Press, May 27, 1870.

Many of the other spectators: Aldrich, History of Franklin and Grand Isle Counties, 346.

“could be distinctly heard”: Richard family scrapbook.

In total, as many as fifty Fenians: Tuttle, “Fenian Campaign,” 213.

The farmer was furious: Rutland Weekly Herald, June 2, 1870.

O’Neill managed to dash: Missisquoi County Historical Society, Fenian Raids, 1866–1870, 13.

“very ill directed”: Report of Brown Chamberlin, May 28, 1870, in Sessional Papers, vol. 4, no. 7, 70–72.

“behind which twenty men”: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, June 18, 1870.

When Richard heard a noise: Burlington Free Press, July 23, 1958.

Le Caron had proven: Edwards, Infiltrator, 87; McMicken to Macdonald, July 1, 1870, LAC.

“Men of Ireland”: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 20–21.

“You must not do so”: Irish-American, June 18, 1870.

As they passed through: St. Albans Messenger, May 27, 1870.

The marshal kept his hand: St. Albans Messenger, May 1, 1893.

“Clear the way!”: Ibid.

“To have given the command”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 88.

Given the arrest: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 111.

Around 3:00 p.m.: Senior, Last Invasion of Canada, 163.

Donnelly traded sharp words: Brief Account of the Fenian Raids, 24–25.

Under the command: Columbian Register, June 4, 1870.

The shots landed: Busseau, “Fenians Are Coming…,” 38.

Colonel Smith responded: Richard family scrapbook.

Donnelly was struck: Burlington Free Press, May 26, 1870.

“converted their retreat”: St. Albans Messenger, June 3, 1870.

The body of Rowe: McKone, Vermont’s Irish Rebel, 496.

Their resignation was complete: St. Albans Messenger, June 3, 1870.

He urged townspeople to: Irish-American, June 18, 1870.

“It’s all up”: Burlington Free Press, May 27, 1870.

“What did I tell you?”: Tuttle, “Fenian Campaign,” 211–12.

Ahern cursed his officers: Irish-American, June 18, 1870.

“most profane and abusive epithets”: Burlington Free Press, May 30, 1870.

His arrest had been so humiliating: Burlington Free Press, May 27, 1870.

O’Neill would claim: Burlington Free Press, May 30, 1870.

After the Fenians departed: St. Albans Messenger, June 3, 1870.

Soldiers posed next to the body: Tuttle, “Fenian Campaign,” 214.

According to the St. Albans Messenger: St. Albans Messenger, June 3, 1870.

As the sun faded: Burlington Free Press, May 30, 1870; Campbell, Fenian Invasions of Canada of 1866 and 1870, 43.

“that Fenian shouldn’t rise again”: New-York Tribune, May 27, 1870.

As a final insult: Missisquoi County Historical Society, Fenian Raids, 1866–1870, 76.

While Spear claimed: Burlington Free Press, May 26, 1870.

Spear appealed to Le Caron: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 89.

He would earn: Vermont Life, Summer 1961, 40.

“had to march back”: Burlington Free Press, June 3, 1870.

“got up this movement”: Rutland Weekly Herald, June 2, 1870.

Chapter 18: Another Fight, Another Flight

As the reporter John Boyle O’Reilly: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 112.

Down the road: Burlington Free Press, May 30, 1870.

Born in 1844: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 3–4.

O’Reilly imbibed the history: Schofield, Seek for a Hero, 6.

O’Reilly joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood: Kenneally, From the Earth, a Cry, 19.

Behind the iron-barred door: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 53–65; Evans, Fanatic Heart, 43–50.

A year later, O’Reilly: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 80.

He arrived in Philadelphia: Kenneally, From the Earth, a Cry, 138–56.

Bringing to his new home: Evans, Fanatic Heart, 174.

A budding journalist: MacManus, Story of the Irish in Boston, 207–9.

“thousands of men”: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 108.

Stepping off the train: Evans, Fanatic Heart, 180.

“more serious” attack: McGee, Fenian Raids on the Huntingdon Frontier, 34.

“They were older”: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 113.

“raw boys who were frightened”: Evans, Fanatic Heart, 180.

Colonel William L. Thompson: Daily Alta California, July 28, 1870.

They were aided: Brown, “Fenian Raids, 1866 and 1870,” 41.

For three days straight: New-York Tribune, May 28, 1870.

They also hauled: Malone Palladium, May 26, 1870.

The Irish Republican Army named: Malone Palladium, Feb. 6, 1908.

Following strict orders: Fenian Raid of 1870, 42–43.

Another band of raiders: Malone Palladium, June 2, 1870.

Starr proposed to make: Harrisburg Telegraph, June 9, 1870.

“to war against peaceful citizens”: New York Herald, June 1, 1870.

He left his carriage: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 113.

After marching half a mile: Campbell, Fenian Invasions of Canada, 47.

Starr ordered his men: Hill, Voice of the Vanishing Minority, 67.

They dismantled fences: Fenian Raid of 1870, 44–46.

The Fenians were still: McGee, Fenian Raids on the Huntingdon Frontier, 41.

Led by Lieutenant Colonel George Bagot: Hart, The New Annual Army List, Militia List, and Indian Civil Service List, 315.

They were joined by 225 members: Fenian Raid of 1870, 43–44.

It had taken eighteen hours: Smyth, Records of the Sixty-Ninth, 18.

They had managed to catch: McGee, Fenian Raids on the Huntingdon Frontier, 38.

Milk and cold water: Fenian Raid of 1870, 44.

Colonel Bagot ordered: St. Albans Messenger, June 3, 1870.

Bagot assigned the local: Campbell, Fenian Invasions of Canada of 1866 and 1870, 48.

The Borderers on the right: Senior, Last Invasion of Canada, 170.

Meanwhile, Bagot’s flankers: Butler, Sir William Butler, 117.

“Let us die”: New-York Tribune, May 28, 1870.

They charged with fixed bayonets: Fenian Raid of 1870, 48.

Although Lieutenant Colonel Archibald McEachern: St. Albans Messenger, June 3, 1870.

One of the skirmishers: McGee, Fenian Raids on the Huntingdon Frontier, 42.

The Canadian volunteers: St. Albans Messenger, June 3, 1870.

The sole Canadian injury: Campbell, Fenian Invasions of Canada of 1866 and 1870, 50.

“Had they stood their ground”: Burlington Free Press, May 30, 1870.

“Had the Fenians remained”: New York Herald, May 28, 1870.

In the wake of what newspapers: Harrisburg Telegraph, June 9, 1870.

Along the way: Burlington Free Press, May 28, 1870.

After rushing away: Pittsburgh Daily Commercial, June 11, 1870.

“a battle better than his breakfast”: Daily Missouri Democrat, June 2, 1870.

The arrival of the reinforcements: Senior, Last Invasion of Canada, 171.

The general found support: Burlington Free Press, May 28, 1870.

This latest attempt on Canada: Malone Palladium, June 2, 1870.

His forces seized: Fenian Raid of 1870, 58.

“one of the most ludicrous things”: Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society, 35–36.

So, broke and disappointed: Fenian Raid of 1870, 61–62.

With stomachs rumbling: Washington Post, March 22, 1908.

“The people along the frontier”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 356.

“wished to rid themselves”: Burlington Free Press, May 30, 1870.

A member of New York governor: Fenian Raid of 1870, 64–65.

Queen Victoria’s third son: Burlington Free Press, March 15, 1981.

On June 2, a merciful priest: McKone, Vermont’s Irish Rebel, 508–9.

The decomposed state: Burlington Free Press, June 3, 1870.

“The entire Fenian movement”: New York Times, May 29, 1870.

“sadder and wiser men”: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 115.

“burst into tears”: Ibid., 112–15.

“mad foray” by “criminally incompetent”: Tralee Chronicle and Killarney Echo, June 24, 1870.

“Fenianism, so far as relates”: Kenneally, From the Earth, a Cry, 149.

The debacle at Trout River: Burlington Free Press, May 28, 1870.

“laughed at the Fenians”: Hill, Voice of the Vanishing Minority, 69.

“I Ran Away”: Boston Daily Advertiser, May 31, 1870.

Chapter 19: The Fenians Behind Bars

The thick stone walls: Burlington Free Press, July 22, 1870.

The Fenian general: Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, June 11, 1870.

The Canadian Illustrated News: Canadian Illustrated News, June 4, 1870.

“had the arms and war material”: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 3–4.

“The people, so often deceived”: Ibid., 27.

Even after the court: Burlington Free Press, June 8, 1870.

Fenian coffers were so empty: Nevins, Hamilton Fish, 1:394.

“unauthorized and unjustifiable”: Irish-American, June 4, 1870.

“O’Neill would not be safe”: Gibbons to Gallagher, July 5, 1870, ACHS.

“merely a personal enterprise”: New-York Tribune, May 26, 1870.

“valuable war material”: Gibbons to the Officers and Members of the Fenian Brotherhood, May 28, 1870, ACHS.

“Even if they were able”: New York Times, May 29, 1870.

“This thing of being a citizen”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 359.

Orangemen marching up Broadway: Gordon, Orange Riots, 27–51.

The New York Times and other newspapers: New York Times, July 13, 1870.

“Events have at intervals”: Roche, John Boyle O’Reilly, 116–17.

Just as he had done: Brodsky, Grover Cleveland, 30.

The trio were transported: Daily Alta California, July 28, 1870.

The courtroom in the small central Vermont town: Lawrence American, Aug. 5, 1870.

The Fenian general smiled: Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, July 29, 1870.

The general told the court: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 57–60.

O’Neill’s oration moved many: Chicago Tribune, Aug. 6, 1870.

“Any real or supposed wrong”: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 61–62.

The Fenian general greeted: Lawrence American, Aug. 5, 1870.

William Maxwell Evarts: New York Times, Aug. 4, 1870.

Donations arrived from quarters: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 55.

They were given their own rooms: Chicago Tribune, Aug. 6, 1870.

“was to give effect”: Irish-American, Sept. 3, 1870.

The Cincinnati convention: New York Herald, Aug. 24, 1870.

The United Irishmen proposed: Irish-American, Sept. 3, 1870.

Savage, though, was interested: Address of the Council of the Fenian Brotherhood, 1.

“had no more right”: Tralee Chronicle and Killarney Echo, June 24, 1870.

“Purely political prisoners”: Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, 20:222–27.

With midterm elections already under way: McGee, Fenian Raids on the Huntingdon Frontier, 54.

“Their prolonged imprisonment”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 365–66.

“That we have been a source”: Official Report of Gen. John O’Neill, 28–30.

Chapter 20: Losing Their Lifeblood

William Gladstone took off his coat: Morley, Life of William Ewart Gladstone, 252.

“One of the triumphs”: Gibbons to the Officers and Members of the Fenian Brotherhood, July 1, 1870, ACHS.

The conditions endured: Savage, American Citizens Prisoners in Great Britain, 8–11.

Born into an Irish-speaking: Devoy, Devoy’s Post Bag, 10.

Even before he could read: Rossa, Rossa’s Recollections, 115–17.

He buried a friend’s dead mother: Kenna, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, 11–12.

“There was no ‘famine’ ”: Rossa, Rossa’s Recollections, 35.

“If the operation of English rule”: Ibid., 119.

In his virtual dungeon: Golway, Irish Rebel, 65–69.

He wasn’t even allowed: Rossa, Irish Rebels in English Prisons, 178.

Rossa spent his days: Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 23, 1871.

After flinging his filled chamber pot: Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, 21:224.

For more than five years: Golway, Irish Rebel, 65.

More than one million people: Devoy, Devoy’s Post Bag, 1.

After an official commission: Rossa, Irish Rebels in English Prisons, 416–17.

called a “sham amnesty”: Devoy, Devoy’s Post Bag, 1.

“were not released to freedom”: Proceedings of the Tenth General Convention, 9.

Rossa stared: Rossa, Irish Rebels in English Prisons, 416–24.

Shortly after the sun set: New York World, Jan. 21, 1871.

The passengers aboard: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 369.

Not long after their departure: New York World, Jan. 21, 1871.

Thundering cannons and Irish airs: Golway, Irish Rebel, 4.

Having pocketed £7 playing poker: Devoy, Recollections of an Irish Rebel, 329–30.

The Bronx arrived first: Rossa, Irish Rebels in English Prisons, 424–27.

O’Gorman informed the Cuba Five: New York Sun, Jan. 21, 1871.

“I saw immediately”: Rossa, Irish Rebels in English Prisons, 424–27.

After O’Gorman concluded: New York World, Jan. 21, 1871.

The parties traded vulgarities: Rossa, Irish Rebels in English Prisons, 424–27.

When Dr. John Carnochan: New York World, Jan. 21, 1871.

“We desire that all Irishmen”: Rossa, Irish Rebels in English Prisons, 426–27.

After quarantine officials: New York Herald, Jan. 21, 1871.

Atop the hotel: Buckley, Diary of a Tour of America, 211.

Three thousand callers: New York World, Jan. 21, 1871.

The United Irishmen treasurer: New York Herald, Jan. 21, 1871.

resembling a “Pittston miner”: New York Herald, Jan. 23, 1871.

Although they sought to avoid: Rossa, Irish Rebels in English Prisons, 424–27.

“We do not wish”: New-York Tribune, Jan. 31, 1871.

Men wearing green neckties: Buckley, Diary of a Tour in America, 215.

Even the horses hauling streetcars: New York Herald, Feb. 10, 1871.

An estimated 300,000 people: New York Times, Feb. 10, 1871.

The Sixty-Ninth Regiment: New York Herald, Feb. 10, 1871.

After a welcome resolution: New York Times, Feb. 23, 1871.

President Ulysses S. Grant stood: Tennessean, Feb. 23, 1871.

“Glad to see you”: Rossa, Recollections of an Irish Rebel, 362.

In an address released: New-York Tribune, March 14, 1871.

The United Irishmen enthusiastically: Devoy, Devoy’s Post Bag, 33.

“A bright hope is better”: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 379.

“Some may think that”: Proceedings of the Tenth General Convention, 3–24.

The same infighting: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 386.

“The greatest trouble”: Corning, Hamilton Fish, 77.

Convinced by Fish: Smith, Grant, 508–12.

Grant became a regular presence: Martin, The Presidents and the Prime Ministers, 26–32.

While the Alabama claims: Smith, Grant, 512–13.

To the fury of some Canadians: Nevins, Hamilton Fish, 1:470.

Chapter 21: The Invasion That Wasn’t

Tongues of fire: McMicken, Abortive Fenian Raid on Manitoba, 1–7.

The fires were so ferocious: Kingsbury, History of Dakota Territory, 589.

The first days of autumn: New York Herald, Oct. 5, 1871.

The inferno bestowed: Manhattan Nationalist, Sept. 22, 1871.

The black soot of the charred prairie: McMicken, Abortive Fenian Raid on Manitoba, 1–7.

Led by Louis Riel: Rogers, “Louis Riel’s Rebellion,” 153.

O’Donoghue also assured: De Trémaudan, “Louis Riel and the Fenian Raid of 1871,” 137; Frémont, “Archbishop Taché and the Beginnings of Manitoba,” 135.

With no stomach: Pritchett, “Origin of the So-Called Fenian Raid on Manitoba in 1871,” 38–39.

Going it alone: Buffalo Commercial, May 31, 1871.

When rumors of a Fenian raid: Archibald to Macdonald, Aug. 31, 1871, LAC.

Passing through Chicago: Edwards, Infiltrator, 95.

“I had no thought”: Le Caron, Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service, 97.

The secret agent: D’Arcy, Fenian Movement, 377.

In the Fenians’ wake: McMicken, Abortive Fenian Raid on Manitoba, 6.

Like giant wooden guideposts: Kingsbury, History of Dakota Territory, 583.

After passing ramshackle cabins: “Fenians in Dakota,” 122.

When O’Donoghue finally reached out: De Trémaudan, “Louis Riel and the Fenian Raid of 1871,” 138.

Archibald had a garrison: Report of the Select Committee on the Causes of the Difficulties in the North-West Territory in 1869–70, 140.

“little apprehension of any organized”: “Canadian-American Defence Relations,” 7.

Around 7:30 a.m., the raiders: Adams G. Archibald memorandum, Oct. 9, 1871, in Sessional Papers, vol. 7, no. 26, 6–8.

As the force approached: Swan and Jerome, “Unequal Justice,” 24–38.

Stirred from his sleep: Adams G. Archibald memorandum, Oct. 27, 1871, in Sessional Papers, vol. 7, no. 26, 4–5.

After awakening George W. Webster: Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 26, 1871.

They burst through the gates: Cowie, Company of Adventurers, 175.

O’Neill’s men faced no resistance: “Fenians in Dakota,” 118–20.

For their first order: Young, Manitoba Memories, 214–16.

Then, rifling through the post’s provisions: Walker, Fenian Movement, 191.

As the morning sun: Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 26, 1871.

Unbeknownst to them: Webster to John A. Macdonald, Oct. 12, 1871, LAC.

While O’Neill held a war council: Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 26, 1871.

Apparently, the American prisoner: Webster to Macdonald, Oct. 12, 1871, LAC.

Wheaton had been stationed: Guttman, “No Country for Lost Irishmen,” 62.

But when the loose lips: Chipman, “How Gin Saved Manitoba,” 518–19.

Archibald also informed Taylor: Blegen, “James Wickes Taylor,” 200.

Colonel Thomas Curley ordered: Young, Manitoba Memories, 214–16.

With his one arm: Webster to Macdonald, Oct. 12, 1871, LAC.

O’Neill scurried so abruptly: Times-Picayune, Oct. 22, 1871; New York Herald, Oct. 21, 1871.

Like children, the Fenians: Archibald memorandum, Oct. 27, 1871, 4–5.

The federal troops seized: “Fenians in Dakota,” 118–20.

When O’Donoghue was in the clear: Archibald memorandum, Oct. 27, 1871, 4–5.

“a hearty breakfast”: Times-Picayune, Oct. 22, 1871.

“I believe the action”: Johnson, “Fenian ‘Invasion’ of 1871.”

In May 1870: Lass, Minnesota’s Boundary with Canada, 79.

That meant that: “Fenians in Dakota,” 118–20.

While the U.S. State Department: Archibald memorandum, Oct. 9, 1871, 6–8.

O’Neill was unaware: Noonan, “General John O’Neill,” 316.

“want of jurisdiction”: “Fenians in Dakota,” 127.

“the Fenian fiasco”: Spirit of Democracy, Oct. 24, 1871.

“another reckless and ridiculous”: New York Times, Oct. 13, 1871.

“This time the attempt”: Irish-American, Oct. 21, 1871.

“O’Neill’s folly” was his and his alone: Tennessean, Oct. 18, 1871.

“The application of the term”: Irish-American, Oct. 21, 1871.

“a mere accident”: Noonan, “General John O’Neill,” 315.

Chapter 22: The Next Best Thing

“All denounce O’Neill”: RGS (Le Caron) to J. Bell (McMicken), Oct. 22, 1871, LAC.

Fenian leaders had long talked: O’Neill, Northern Nebraska as a Home for Immigrants, 4–6.

“Cheap Farms! Free Homes!”: Irish-American, June 22, 1872.

“for providing homes”: New York Times, Dec. 11, 1870.

He spent parts of 1872: O’Neill, Northern Nebraska as a Home for Immigrants, 77.

The general signed an agreement: Passewitz, “O’Neill, Nebraska,” 12.

“Why are you content”: McCulloh, Piece of Emerald, 6.

Using the same powers: Yost, Before Today, 5.

“We could build up”: O’Neill to O’Connor, Dec. 27, 1876, Archdiocese of Omaha.

As the sun reached its zenith: Passewitz, “O’Neill, Nebraska,” 15.

The flat, desolate prairie: Yost, Before Today, 185.

The colonists who had lived: O’Neill, Northern Nebraska as a Home for Immigrants, 81.

“so plainly mirrored”: Yost, Before Today, 185.

On a mid-July day: Ibid., 7.

While the wheat, rye, and barley: Irish-American, Feb. 20, 1875.

Desperate to salvage his reputation: Yost, Before Today, 7.

The offer renewed: McCulloh, Piece of Emerald, 9–14.

With plans to plant: O’Neill, Northern Nebraska as a Home for Immigrants, 4; Noonan, “General John O’Neill,” 304.

“the next best thing”: Noonan, “General John O’Neill,” 283.

“I shall continue at it”: Frontier, July 24, 1924.

“devoted to the cause”: O’Neill, Northern Nebraska as a Home for Immigrants, 4.

“I had a double object”: Noonan, “General John O’Neill,” 317–18.

“The prairies are wide”: Frontier, July 24, 1924.

“the mere framework”: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 175.

With Bernard Doran Killian: New York Herald, Feb. 7, 1877; Irish-American, Feb. 17, 1877.

“He was not merely”: Roche, Life of John Boyle O’Reilly, 175.

Fenian hands lowered: Irish-American, March 24, 1877.

The workload took a toll: Omaha Daily Herald, Jan. 9, 1878.

Following Mary Ann’s departure: McCulloh, Piece of Emerald, 6.

He passed away: Omaha Daily Herald, Jan. 8, 1878.

“Leave him in Omaha”: Noonan, “Characterization of General John O’Neill,” iii.

“In our short-sighted human judgement”: Irish-American, Jan. 19, 1878.

Epilogue

On Palm Sunday: Ramón, Provisional Dictator, 246.

In fading daylight: Times (London), April 1, 1901.

“If we ever hope”: Nation, March 3, 1877.

“Ireland’s opportunity will come”: Schmuhl, Ireland’s Exiled Children, 19.

“Rossa dead. What shall we do?”: Golway, Irish Rebel, 207.

The Fenians bombed a pub: Burleigh, Blood and Rage, 17.

began to call “O’Dynamite Rossa”: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 25, 1877.

When Queen Victoria injured herself: Idaho Semi-weekly World, May 4, 1883.

“on behalf of a new generation”: McIntire, Speeches in World History, 299–300.

“In the name of God”: Golway, Irish Rebel, 228.

Devoy estimated that Clan na Gael: Devoy, Recollections of an Irish Rebel, 392–93.

In addition, five of the seven signatories: Schmuhl, Ireland’s Exiled Children, 20.

The last man out: Ibid., 149.

The Easter Rising claimed: Ibid., 5–6.

“All changed, changed utterly”: Yeats, “Easter, 1916,” and Other Poems, 53.

When de Valera became: Kostick, Easter Rising, 69.

De Valera made a waxed impression: Santos, “Greatest Escape from Lincoln Prison.”

On the lam, de Valera became: Schmuhl, Ireland’s Exiled Children, 129.

Much as Stephens had done: Coogan, Eamon de Valera, 148–49.

When he arrived in Omaha: Omaha Daily Bee, Aug. 12, 1895.

“shrine of the Fenians”: Omaha World Herald, Jan. 14, 1900.

Adorned with swords: Omaha Daily Bee, Feb. 19, 1911.

The report turned out to be: Inter Ocean, May 13, 1900; Williams, Call in Pinkerton’s, 57.

De Valera stepped forward: Omaha Daily Bee, Oct. 29, 1919.

“The Fenian Brotherhood”: Omaha World Herald, Oct. 29, 1919.