Fenian Invasions of Canada & The Raid of 1870

This page lists 10 rare CDVs, dating between 1866 and 1870 before, during, and after the Fenian/Canadian conflict. Here is some background on the Fenians. The images are listed below this text.
 
Fenianism was the name given to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). It is the English version of the Gaelic 'Na Fianna', a term which refers to the ancient protectors of the Ard Ri (High King). The IRB was formed in 1858 in Ireland, with a mandate to create a free and independent Ireland. In North America the IRB was led by John O'Mahony, a veteran of the 1848 Irish insurrection. Membership in the USA included thousands of Irish Brigade, Union and Confederate army veterans.

In October of 1865 at a convention in Philadelphia, USA, John O'Mahony lost his dictatorship over the IRB. William Randall Roberts of New York (born in Cork) was elected Chief Executive of the Senate. Cork born Major-General 'Fighting Tom' Sweeny of the Mexican War and American Civil War fame was appointed Secretary of War. Attending the convention, and claiming to represent 125,000 British North American members, was Michael Murphy of Toronto. The seed was planted at this meeting to strike Great Britain's Achilles' heel. Sweeny was charged with developing a plan to secure an independent territory for Ireland where an ‘Irish Republic in exile’ would be established and used as a bargaining chip to free Ireland, similar to what was done in Texas by the USA.

Sweeny devised a plan which involved three striking forces. One was to be led by Brigadier Charles Tevis whose 3,000 men would assemble in Chicago and advance to Stratford (between Detroit/Windsor and Toronto). Another 5,000 men would be led by Brigadier William F. Lynch and would cross in two groups. One from Cleveland to Port Stanley joining the first at London (Upper Canada - Ontario). The other, crossing at Buffalo to secure Hamilton. These two forces would create a threat to Toronto, the capital of British North America,  causing the British to send all their forces to the area in defense. Information gathered by the IRB suggested there were 8,000 regular and 20,000 militia men in Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec).

While this distraction was underway the Irish and French of Montreal would destroy the railway at St. Ann's Bridge thus eliminating the return of troops. The real threat would be led by Brigadier Samuel P. Spear. His 16,800 men would attack Lower Canada. Brigadier Michael C. Murphy would lead his cavalry to take Cornwall and Prescott then move east to threaten Montreal. The Montreal Irish would rise to support them and French radicals would supply fresh horses which were in shortage since the American Civil War. They would then  seize Pointe Levis opposite Quebec City. Fenian warships would then sail in to seal the St. Lawrence River. If Montreal and Quebec could not be taken Spear was to secure the area between the Richelieu and St. Francis Rivers.  Sherbrooke would be established as their capital.

While plans were in final stages, Roberts (Chief Executive of the IRB) had a meeting with US President Andrew Johnson. It is said that the president agreed to "recognize the accomplished facts". The President ordered the release of prisoner John Mitchel, who had connections with the French Republic government and whom the IRB could make use of to raise money in France. Mitchel departed in November as the IRB's Ambassador to France.

Sweeny's plans were approved by the IRB senate on February 19th, 1866 in Pittsburgh. Following this event, a bitter O'Mahony made and carried out his own plan of attack in an attempt to regain his lost control of the IRB. A force of 1,000 Fenians led by Bernard Doran Killian entered New Brunswick from Calais and Eastport, Maine, to seize the island of Campobello. Informers had tipped the British off weeks before and they were ready. The battle was short and the Fenians utterly defeated. The British thought this was the main "raid" that was being hinted of by others and believed the threat was over. This was the 19th of April 1866.

The real event was scheduled for Thursday, 31 May 1866 and new problems arose. On the scheduled day, only 1,000 to 5,000 men could be assembled at Buffalo. Their leader Brigadier Lynch was afflicted with a fever and could not partake. Sweeny telegraphed an order for Lynch's adjutant, Colonel Sherwin to go to Buffalo and take command, but he could not arrive until late in the day of June 1st.  Sweeny then ordered Hynes to appoint the senior officer as acting Brigadier and commence the attack. Colonel's John Hoy of the 7th Reg't of Buffalo, Owen Starr of the 17th Reg't of Louisville, John Grace of the 18th Reg't of Cleveland and John O'Neill of the 13th Reg't of Nashville were present. Co. Monaghan born John O'Neill was the senior officer and took command.

On the 1st of June, at 3:15 in the morning, Owen Starr (a cavalry officer) led his men across the river and proceeded to Fort Erie to capture the railroad depot. Their advance was detected and nine cars were steamed away by four engines prior to their arrival. They did take Fort Erie which was manned by only six members of the Royal Canadian Rifles. Starr raised the tricolour, the present day flag of the Irish Republic, at Fort Erie.

O'Neill's force was across by dawn and busily setting up an HQ at Frenchman's Creek. He took the day to rest his men, thus losing the element of surprise. By 5:00 in the afternoon Hoy's men were detected by military scouts near Chippewa.

Within a few hours the British had 400 regular troops, 6 field guns and 1,115 militia men dispatched. On the following day, June 2nd, they were joined by 1,000 men from Port Colborne in Stevensville. Another 100 men from the Welland Canal Field Battery and the Dunnville Naval Brigade took a tug around Fort Erie to cut off any possiblility of a Fenian retreat across the Niagara River.

At 3:00 in the morning of June 3rd, O'Neill's troops were on the move towards Port Colborne. A battle ensued a few miles north of Ridgeway. O'Neill prepared an ambush. Starr's men were to begin the conflict and retreat, drawing the British into the trap. The firing began at 8:00 AM with 10 companies of the Queen's Own Rifles. They saw the scouts, heard a bugle call and expected cavalry, so they formed squares. O'Neill had his men fix bayonets and screaming "Fág an Bealach!" ("Clear the way!"), they charged on foot. The British retreated all they way to Port Colborne chased partway by Starr.

The Battle of Ridgeway - 3rd June 1866 Casualties:
British - 16 killed, 2 dying later of wounds, 2 dead by heat stroke, 74 wounded, 6 captured from the Queens Own Rifles, Caledonia Rifles, 13th Battalion, York Rifles and the 2nd Battalion.
IRA* - 5 killed, 2 dying later of wounds, and 17 wounded.
( * The Fenian Raiders were the first to introduce the term Irish Republican Army or IRA which was prominently displayed on their uniform buttons)

O'Neill once again rested while the British forces at Stevensville rose to 101 officers and 1,841 men. At the same time Lt.Gen. U.S.Grant was in Buffalo closing the border preventing Sherwin's 4,000 Fenian troops from crossing and supporting O'Neill. The Welland Field Battery and Dunnville Naval Brigade took Fort Erie back. They were then confronted by Hoy's men, retreating to Fort Erie and the Fort change hands once again after the IRA Lt. Col Michael Bailey had been shot under a white flag of truce! Lt .Col. Stoughton Dennis who was in Command of the British forces had later faced a court martial for cowardice and desertion but was exonerated.

By the evening of June 2nd, O'Neill was surrounded by approximately 5,000 British troops. This was when O'Neill discovered that he was the only mobile force, no other Fenian forces had entered Upper Canada! Tevis hadn't even attempted, making excuses for delaying, until it was too late. Sherwin had been stopped by Grant on the US side. O'Neill began his retreat by barge across the Niagara River at 2:00 on the morning of June 3rd 1866. He was intercepted and arrested by the Captain of the American warship USS Harrison.

Many prisoners were tried in Toronto, 22 were sentenced to death. John O'Neill and his officers faced charges of violations of the neutrality laws at the Erie County Courthouse in NY. They were found guilty and sentenced. Subsequently when the "smoke cleared" they were released.

On the 6th of June, General Spear took advantage of the disorder in Upper Canada and gave the order for his men to cross into Lower Canada. Brigadier Michael C. Murphy advanced 15 miles into Lower Canada before being driven back. Spear led his 2,000 men  from St. Albans to Frelighsburgh, St. Armand, Slab City and East Stanbridge. On Friday the 8th of June Col. Michael Scalan's regiment defeated the British forces at Pigeon Hill.

The promised rising of the Irish in Montreal did not happen due to the strength of the regular British forces present who were joined by 10,000 militia men and 3 warships in the harbour with their guns aimed at the Fenians. On June 9th, 1866, Spear retreated. Lt. Col. Livingston of the US 3rd Artillery Reg't gave the British permission to cross the border to capture the retreating Fenians. Some were run through with swords while he looked on. Mrs. Eccles of Vermont was accidentally shot and killed by a British soldier while she was standing on her doorstep. US citizens were outraged and Livingston was subsequently reprimanded for allowing a violation of US sovereignty.

All battles ceased and 5,166 Fenian troops were paroled in Buffalo by the 15th of June 1866.

O'Neill, the hero of the Battle of Ridgeway, was later elected President of the Senate of the IRB and attempted yet another crossing at Prescott in 1870 but failed. Yet again he made an offer to Louis Riel (fighter for the rights of the Metis in Manitoba and descendant of an Irishman (O')Rielly) at Red River and this failed also. O'Neill retired to a town on Elkhorn River which was named after him: O'Neill, Nebraska.

Some little known facts:

1.  Not all the men that comprised the Fenian IRA were Irish. Records show that they were accompanied by 500 Mohawk Indians from the Cattaraugus Reservation in New York and one company of 100 African American veteran soldiers of the Union Army.

2.  On the 6th of June, US President Johnson made a deal with the British, having received $15,000,000 reparation payment for losses incurred during the American Civil War as a result of the British partiality to the South. In return the US passed neutrality laws and would enforce them on the Fenians. He had successfully used the Fenians as a political bargaining tool.

The Fenians had been used as a pawn by the American government and had terribly underestimated the strength of the British (Canadian) forces. Present history refers to the attempt as "foolish" and to their leader, O'Neill, as "a fool".

Here is information regarding the 1870 conflict:
The article from which this section was drawn was written by P.G. Smith and originally published in the February 2000 issue of Military History magazine.

While Canada was emerging as a nation, John O'Neill's star had been rising quickly within the Fenian organization. In 1868, he was elected president of the Irish Republican Brotherhood Senate. But all was not well within the fractious, quarrelsome group. As O'Neill attempted to rebuild the Fenian army for another strike across the Canadian border, he began to lose the Senate's support.

Perhaps believing that a military victory would unite the organization, or perhaps choosing to act before his power base totally collapsed, O'Neill prepared for another invasion of Canada in the spring of 1870. He established a base of operations at Franklin, Vt., where he positioned his war stocks of 15,000 weapons and 3 million rounds of small-arms ammunition. O'Neill had also been able to acquire at least one field artillery piece. The time came for his volunteers to assemble, but no more than 400 men arrived to arm themselves for the next great Fenian expedition. A far smaller group was assembling near Malone, N.Y., to conduct a simultaneous attack. When General O'Neill and his small army set off for the Canadian border on the morning of May 25, 1870, they must have been greatly disappointed that so few of their comrades had turned out for the invasion.

Lieutenant Colonel William Osborne Smith, a Canadian career army officer, was the commander of the military district that lay in the path of the Fenian advance. Osborne Smith had received intelligence reports of Fenian activity as early as May 22 and had issued orders for the militia to mobilize. While units from the Montreal area marched south, local militia organizations occupied defensive positions on the border.

The farmers who had suffered property losses during the Fenian raids of 1866 had banded together to form the Missiquoi Home Guard. With Ballard sporting rifles firmly in hand, 37 members of the guard occupied the strategic heights of Eccles Hill, which gave them a commanding view of the border to the south. Lieutenant Colonel Brown Chamberlin soon reinforced the home guards with members of the 60th Missiquoi Battalion.

Osborne Smith, who was hurrying to the border with the 3rd Victoria Rifles and the Montreal Troop of Cavalry, raced ahead to Eccles Hill. He conferred with Chamberlin about the defense plan and then galloped away to bring up additional units. After traveling a few miles, Osborne Smith was halted by a messenger from the south who informed him that the Fenian attack had commenced. Turning around, Osborne Smith drove his lathered mount back to Eccles Hill, where he personally assumed command.

The Fenian advance guard crossed the border around noon. As the Irishmen marched in close ranks, they came under a withering hail of fire from the concealed positions of the home guards. Surprised by the Canadian troops' determined defense, the Fenians scattered, either taking cover or retreating across the border.

Just after 1 p.m., U.S. marshals located O'Neill near the Vermont border and arrested him. O'Neill, who probably realized that his offensive was doomed to failure, made no effort to evade the lawmen.

One of the Fenian leaders who fell during the attack was Captain E. Croman, a Civil War veteran who had somehow managed to receive a first-class certificate from the Montreal Military School for militia officers. He died of his wounds a few days after the battle.

For several hours the militia and the Fenians exchanged fire. At about 2 p.m., the Montreal Cavalry and the Victoria Rifles arrived to bolster the Canadian defenses. Likewise, the Fenian force was strengthened by 100 men of the 4th New York Fenian Regiment.

At 5:45 p.m., Osborne Smith was informed that the Fenians were bringing up field artillery to bombard the Canadian position. He determined that it was time to seize the initiative. Positioning the Victoria Rifles on high ground to cover the attack, he ordered the home guards and the 60th Missiquoi Battalion to advance. The Canadian charge was too much for the Irish Americans, who sprinted across the border, leaving much of their equipment behind. Two Fenians were killed and several more were wounded. The victorious Canadians were completely unscathed.

A halfhearted Fenian attack near Holbrook Corners, Quebec, was easily repulsed two days later by a massed force of 1,000 Canadian militia and British Regulars. The Fenian drama was over.

In 1871 John O'Neill tried to instigate an uprising in Manitoba with a band of 40 Irish Americans and Métis (Canadians of French and Indian ancestry). This uncoordinated action, which was not sanctioned by the Fenian leadership, was suppressed in short order by U.S. authorities.

Ultimately, the Fenians failed in their attempt to liberate Ireland. Still, one must marvel at the courage that brought them to risk their lives in the pursuit of a cause that was so obviously futile. It is ironic that their lasting legacy was the baptism, in fire and blood, of the Canadian army.

Colonel Patrick MacDougall's report summed up the effect of the Fenian raids on the Canadian nation: "By uniting all classes, and by the opportunity afforded of testing its military organization, they [the Fenians] have given the Province [Canada] a proud consciousness of strength, and have been the means of obtaining for it, in England, in particular, and before the world at large, that status and consideration as a great people."


FN6. T.G. Richardson, St. Albans, Vermont. CDV of. Fenian Raid, May 1870. Canadian Volunteers. G. $400


FN7. T.G. Richardson, St. Albans, Vermont. CDV of. Fenian Raid, May 1870. From another CDV of this image previously owned, this is the Corpse of the Fenian O'Brian, the man who claims to have shot him and a British soldier. G-. $350


FN8. T.G. Richardson, St. Albans, Vermont. CDV of. Fenian Raid, May 1870. These are men of the Canadian home guard and militia. G. $400


FN9. Henry Ulke & Bro., Washington, DC, 1870. Signed CDV of "General" John O'Neill (1834-1878), leader in a number of Fenian raids. On back is written "Sent to me by Gen. O'Neill from Windsor Prison in 1870. E.R. Fry."

John O’Neill was born in Drumgallon, Co. Monaghan, Ireland on the 9th of March 1834.  He was born into a farming family the third child born to John and Mary O'Neill.  His father, who contacted a virulent  strain of scarlet fever from a neighboring family in need, died six weeks before young John was born. His mother, unable to eke out a living in Ireland and fearful for her children's survival, emigrated to the United States in the latter part of 1835 with two of her children and settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey. John stayed behind with his grandfather, a staunch supporter of Irish Nationalism who harbored a deep distrust and hatred of England and its unholy presence in Ireland.  The grandfather saw to it that his grandson received a good basic education and also made sure that he was well versed in Irish history.  In December of 1848, at age 14, imbued with his grandfather's political views and mindset towards England, John left Ireland to join his mother and siblings in the United States. After arriving in New Jersey he completed his formal education.  His first job was with a Catholic publishing company as a sales representative.  He traveled extensively throughout New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.  After a number of years on the road he settled in Richmond Virginia, where in 1855  he opened a bookstore. In order to meet other Irish exiles living in Richmond who shared his his antipathy towards England he joined the local branch of the Emmet Monument Association. The aim of the organization was to provide military training to young men who at a future date would use that training to rid Ireland of the English scourge.  O'Neill took full advantage of the training he received. In 1857 he sold the bookstore and enlisted  in the Second United States Dragoons who were preparing to go west to quell a Mormon rebellion in the Utah Territory.  Disillusioned with the lack of action, O'Neill went AWOL and headed west to San Francisco where he spent the next few years.  At that time San Francisco was the new home for Irish  political exiles, patriots and poets  including Terence Bellew MacManus, Batholomew Dowling and John Mitchel.  While living there O'Neill met his future wife Mary Ann Crowe,  an Australian of Irish parents.

In 1859, having second thoughts about his desertion from the Dragons he turned himself in and, fortunately for him, was returned to duty without trial. 

At the onset of the Civil War in 1861, O'Neill was stationed in San Francisco with the 1st United States Cavalry, formerly the Second United States Dragoons.  He returned to the east coast with his regiment who had volunteered for action in the Union Army. In March through July of 1862 the regiment was engaged in the battles of the Peninsular Campaign launched by the Union army in an attempt to circumvent the Confederate Army in northern Virginia and capture Richmond the Confederate Capital.  On June 27, at the battle of Caines Mill,  O'Neill was promoted from sergeant to the rank of second lieutenant for gallantry. In 1863 he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in the Fifth Indiana Cavalry at Munfordville, Kentucky.  Notwithstanding his less than stellar attitude towards his superiors, O'Neill was hailed for his courageous leadership in a successful Union assault on troops under Confederate commander John Hunt Morgan during Morgan's campaign in Kentucky, Southern Indiana and Ohio in the Summer of 1863.  In December of the same year he was given another citation for bravery at Walker's Ford where he was wounded in the leg. In the summer of 1864 he was appointed Captain in the 17th United States Colored Infantry . He was forced to resign in November of the same year because of his impaired physical condition, resulting from the wound he received  in Nashville the previous year. Late that same year (1864) he married  Mary Ann Crowe and settled in Nashville, Tennessee.  They had three children over a span of ten years.  In keeping with O'Neill's penchant for moving from place to place, each of the children were born in different states including Nashville, Tennessee, Washington D.C. and O'Neill in Nebraska. In 1866 O'Neill joined the Fenian organization in a leadership role. When the organization finalized it plans to invade Canada and hold it hostage for Ireland's freedom, O'Neill was a willing participant, anxious to strike a blow at England when or where ever the opportunity presented itself. In addressing the Fenian Convention in Philadelphia in 1876 he said:

I have always believed in striking at England wherever we could reach her, and wherever the English flag floats and the English government is recognized and there are English soldiers in arms to defend the flag and maintain the government.  I hold that the Irish people, particularly the Irish Exiles whom her oppressive laws have driven from their native land, have a right to go there and make war on England.

General Tom Sweeny a native of County Cork was in charge of  implementing the plan to invade Canada, which included a series of co-coordinated raids from mustering points in Chicago, Buffalo and Maine.  Command of the Buffalo expedition was entrusted to O'Neill who crossed the Niagara River at the head of at least 800 men during the night of May 31, 1866. On the morning of June 1st.  a regiment of Fenians captured Fort Erie for use as a defense perimeter.  On June 2nd O'Neill came face to face with British forces at Ridgeway where he out-fought and out-witted and decisively defeated the British and their Canadian cohorts.  Had it not been for the half-hearted approach of other Fenian leaders, the outcome would have been far different and would have put the continued British occupation of Ireland to the test. In the end the invasion was halted by US authorities’ who prevented  supplies and reinforcements from crossing into Canada. During the following week other attempted crossing were stymied by the US army. O'Neill, who still believed that the plan as originally devised would succeed  if properly executed,  launched two other raids into Canada, the first in  May of 1870 from Malone and the second in October 1871 from Georgestown, Minnesota to no avail. After that he turned his attention to his other great passion; the resettlement of Irish families from the slums of eastern cities to the  western plains.  After travelling throughout the west  in search of the best place to resettle he decided on Nebraska as it possessed  an abundance of  pure water, fertile land and millions of acres of free government land. In 1874 O'Neill embanked on a lecture tour along the east coast, encouraging the poor Irish that they would have a better standard of living if they would resettle with  him in Nebraska.  He was totally convinced they had a lot more on common with rural America than the dire poverty and miserable centres which they then resided in. The first Irish colony in Nebraska was set up in Holt County in the town that bears his name today - O'Neill, Nebraska. He had very ambitious plans and his Nebraska colonies in Holt and Greenley counties were seen by him as just the start of many that would cover the plains. His legacy is in the communities that exist in Nebraska today. These settlements are thriving and successful farming communities. John O'Neill can claim credit for the spirit of generosity that is still part of these communities today. In 1877 while on a speaking tour in Little Rock, John O'Neill the consummate Irish and American patriot,  became ill and returned to his home in Nebraska.  His condition continued to deteriorate and after been admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital Omaha in November 1877 suffered a stroke and died on the 8th of January 1878. VG. $400


FN10. S.W. Hastings, Windsor, Vt. On back is written "Gen. O'Neill-Fenian leader-in 1870. Picture taken when in Windsor Prison." Trimmed at bottom. Fair. $150


FN11. S.W. Hastings, Windsor, Vt. On back is written "Col. Brown-Fenian-Taken when in Windsor Prison 1870." Trimmed at bottom. G-. $150


FN12. Marsh & Bushfield, Canandaigua, NY. Signed lightly on front "Capt. Morrissey." On back is written "Capt.-Fenian Raid of 1870." VG. $175


FN13. Marsh & Bushfield, Canandaigua, NY. On back is written "Geo. Owen J. Starr Fenian leader in Raid of 1870." I believe this is George Owen Starr, O'Neill's second in command, served as Lt. Col. in the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry during the Civil War. VG. $275


FN14. W.C. Bleloch, Philadelphia. The Irish Fenian Executive. Images of James Stephens, T.C. Luby, J. O'Leary, D. Mulcahy, J. O'Connor, W.F. Roantree, C.J. Kickham, O'Donovan (Rossa), and and Irish Republic bond for $100. VG. $200


FN15. James O'Kane copyright line 1866. James Stephens, The Fenian Head Centre for Ireland. G. $75

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