Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Led by John O'Mahony, this Fenian raid occurred in April 1866, at Campobello Island, New Brunswick. A Fenian Brotherhood war party of over 700 members arrived at the Maine shore opposite the island intending to seize Campobello from the British. Royal Navy officer Charles Hastings Doyle, stationed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, responded decisively.
A number of monuments and memorials dedicated to the Fenian Rising of 1867 exist in Ireland. Some of the monuments are in remembrance of specific battles or figures, whilst others are general war memorials.
The word Fenian (/ ˈ f iː n i ə n /) served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood. They were secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic .
The Fenian Brotherhood trace their origins back to 1790s, in the rebellion, seeking an end to British rule in Ireland initially for self-government and then the establishment of an Irish Republic. The rebellion was suppressed, but the principles of the United Irishmen were to have a powerful influence on the course of Irish history.
O'Donoghue had by 1871 formed an association with the Fenian Brotherhood, and on 5 October of that year led a force of 35 men on a cross-border raid into Manitoba. The raid failed to attract the support of the Métis, and in fact, O'Donoghue was arrested by them and released to American authorities in Minnesota .
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography states that Ridgeway made O'Neill a Fenian hero. He had won the only success the Fenians ever achieved in their numerous enterprises against Canada. He had handled his force well, and it should be added that he had kept his men under strict control and that there was little looting or disorder.
A firefight followed, in which the militia and sailors were outnumbered by Fenian soldiers causing most of the Canadian volunteers to surrender. The remaining Canadian volunteers on the gunboat went back to Port Colborne to inform of the situation while O'Neill the Fenian soldiers stayed in Fort Erie.
The rising failed as a result of lack of arms and planning, but also because of the British authorities' effective use of informers. Most of the Fenian leadership had been arrested before the rebellion took place. [10] However, the rising was not without symbolic significance. The Fenians proclaimed a Provisional Republican government, stating,