In 1858, the Fenian brotherhood was founded in America and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in Ireland to work for Irish independence. Britain declared membership in that organization a crime punishable by deportation to her penal colony in Freemantle, Australia. Seldom in history can one find a story to rival the adventure that brought embarrassment to England and freedom to six Fenians who had been sentenced to that harsh penal colony for life. It all began in 1871, when John Devoy, Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, and other Fenians were released from prison in England on a general amnesty … [Read more...] about The Catalpa Rescue
Historical Happenings
A Heroe in Three Lands
In 1823, a boy was born who became a hero to three lands: Ireland, Australia, and the United States. His grandfather's successful trading business made it easy for his father to own a small hotel and pub in County Waterford, where, on August 3,Thomas Francis Meagher was born. Young Tom was educated at a Jesuit boarding school, and later at a Jesuit college in England where he earned a reputation as an effective orator. He returned to Ireland in 1843, just two years before the Great Hunger, and saw his countrymen starve while the landlord's crops grew in abundance for export. Infuriated, he … [Read more...] about A Heroe in Three Lands
A Little Green in the Red, White and Blue
June 14 is a special day for America and especially for the Irish in America. It is a day set aside to honor our national emblem - the stars and stripes. June 14 is flag day, a day when we should all be flying our flag in honor. Why is it flag day, what does it mean, and what is our flag anyway that it should have a day of its own? When you describe it in terms of material, it is only a piece of cloth, dyed with a little blue and red that makes a design symbolizes the United States. And that may be all that it is to some; to those who show it no respect, to those who make clothing from … [Read more...] about A Little Green in the Red, White and Blue
The Confederation of Kilkenny
An organized colonization of Ulster by settlers from England and Scotland began in 1609 under King James I. Half a million acres in Ulster were confiscated and given to colonists who had to be English-speaking Protestants and agree to dispossess the native Irish. Later, in 1638, a group of Scottish Presbyterians signed a covenant to maintain the Protestant Reformation and the anti-Catholic rhetoric of these ‘Covenanters’ led James’ successor, Charles I, to threaten them with an army of Irish Catholics. The Scottish Parliament, in turn, threatened to invade Ireland to achieve the extirpation … [Read more...] about The Confederation of Kilkenny
James Connolly – The Athlete
When the name of James Connolly is mentioned, most immediately think of Ireland’s great patriot and labor leader who was brutally murdered by the Brits in 1916 after the Easter Rising. He was born in poverty to Irish parents in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 5, 1868; but there was another James Connolly, also born in poverty to Irish parents in 1868. This was James Brendan Connolly, born in south Boston, MA. Curiously, the month of April was most significant for both. For our Irish patriot, it was the month he led his followers in the great uprising that was to become the watershed in Irish … [Read more...] about James Connolly – The Athlete