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I Suppose You Are One Of Us                                   Gary Roy

4/15/2015

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At the Fenian camp Thomas Newbigging saw armed sentries on the bridge over Frenchman's Creek and men, "working about, some washing, cooking, carrying rails for breastworks, and cutting down trees...They took three or four horses (from Newbigging), slaughtered eleven lambs and four sheep.

Other soldiers went foraging bringing back poultry and livestock, as well as cured pork flouor, cheeses and crocks of butter. Horses were appropriated when found and generally returned to their owners after the Battle of Ridgeway, regrettably in distressed condition.

Word of the Fenian landing spread quickly. John Cooper, postmaster for the Village of Chippawa decided to inspect the Fenian camp, "to ascertain the true state of affairs."

He left the village on horseback about half past nine on June 1, and found the Fenians outside Fort Erie. The pickets extended to a point three miles north of the village on the River road, and the main body was stationed a mile north of the Lower Ferry at Newbigging's farm.

He approached, came to attention, and was allowed to proceed without challenge. One sentry asked for a match, remarking, "I suppose you are one of us." Cooper saw one sentry ressed in a Federal uniform, others in old CSA (Confederate States Army) frock coats and civilian clothes, and some in gray Confederate uniforms. The latter group told them they belonged to the Louisiana Tigers. Not wishing to tempt fate for too long Cooper returned to Chippewa by a back route.

The Fenian army that camped at Newbigging's farm was made up of discharged Civil war veterans from both sides, generally from three States: Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, but augmented with smaller companies from Louisiana and Indiana. They were joined by young recruits and members of the Buffalo area Fenians.

Frenchman's Creek flows south along Newbigging's Farm, and then east to the Niagara River, affording water protection on three sides. The Fenians had built bullet screens from fence rails, positioning them in a northerly direction looking toward Chippawa where they expected the Canadian militia attack to originate.

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Pictured is a typical Virginia Snake rail Fence which has been used since pre Civil War days both for grazing and as screens to protect soldiers when firing at an enemy.
Alexander Sommerville, in his period treatment "Narrative of the Fenian Invasion of Canada" describes O'Neill's use of the fences. "Here O'Neill, apprehensive that Colonel Peacocke, or other British commander, would bring up a force by the Niagara River side constructed screens of fence rails across the pasture field, and in the orchard from east to west, to command the approach from the north."

"The split rails of oak," he continues, "averaging about six inches thick, so well known as 'snake fences' in Canada, and 'Virginia rails"on the other side; about fifteen feet long...are piled in a zigzag form, alternately overlying each other at the end, and rising to a height of five, six or seven feet...carried from the side of the Niagara River road, and from other fields."

Tightly placed railed angled at about thirty degrees or less would provide a roof shape. Rifle bullets, hitting it in the direction from which an opposing force might come, accordingly would glance off the rails and over the heads of the sharpshooters placed behind.

Additional rails were piled on the bridge across Frenchman's Creek, ready to be set on fire should the Fenians need to retreat back the way they came.

Colonel O'Neill, it turns out, was correct in his assumption that an attack would come from the north.


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It was at this time that the first Fenian casualty on Canadian soil occurred.

O'Neill had placed pickets with sentries along the roads in all directions from the camp. One of the sentries posted in the thicket fourteen hundred yards west of the bivouac field was shot during the night by another Fenian sentry who had mistaked him for a Canadian. His comrades stripped him of clothing except for his flannel.

The next day a few Fort Erie farmers went to bury the body, the Fenians having left for Ridgeway. While tracing the course of the bullet through his right arm and right side, they found a hidden pocket in his flannels with $112 in it (about $2500 in current value). The money was turned over to a Customs officer. The dead soldier had a cross suspended on his chest, and image of a similar one with his initials tattooed on his left arm.

The farmers wanted the coroner to hold an inquest, but this request was denied, and the body was buried at the edge of the wood where it was found.

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At 10p.m. O'Neill gathered his troops and began to march toward Chippawa. He had received intelligence that a large force, said to be about 5,000 strong with artillery, was advancing toward his position in two columns, one from Chippawa, the other from Port Colborne, the latter planning to attack him from the lake side. An astute tactician, O'Neill recognized that there was a distinct possibility he would be caught in a pincer-like manoeuver if he stayed where he was.

At this point he realized as well, much to his regret, that a noteworthy number of Fenians who had crossed earlier in the day, had either re-crossed back to Buffalo, or gone to houses in Fort Erie. His strength was slightly over 500 men, and he had arms for 800. Reluctantly he destroyed 300 stand of arms rather than allow them to fall into Crown Forces hands.

At midnight he suddenly turned left at Black Creek, and began to head toward the Limestone Ridge, north of Ridgeway. His intent was to get between the two columns, meet and defeat the one from Port Colborne, which he perceived to be weaker due to lack of artillery, before the other stronger units with Lieutenant Colonel Peacocke could render aid.

He placed his main body of soldiers within the tree line at Limestone Ridge, a second group at a lower fence line. and a third unit of skirmishers further down the slope. He waited.

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Long an item of speculation, the exact number of guns and boxes of cartridges at the bottom of Frenchman's Creek remains a mystery to this day. The rifles likely were either Henry 15 round and Spencer 7 round Repeater, Springfield muzzleloaders and Sharp's breach loaders. Here again is Somerville's account of the weapons in the days after the Battle.

"Eighteen of the boxes had been fished up from the bottom of the creek, close by the bridge previous to the 20th of June containing 18,000 cartridges. Possibly more had been sunk elsewhere. The boxes had been punctured by bayonets to admit water to destroy the powder. Each box bore a date '1865', and the name of a United States arsenal, most of them that of 'Bridport'. The arms, rifles and bayonets...had been sunk in the creek. Ninety rifles were taken out and accounted for before 20th of June. How many more were found or still remained in the water was uncertain."

Would-be salvagers and arm chair archaeologists are warned that strict fines attend recovering historical artifacts without a licence. Having said that, a properly conducted search may reveal some very desirable artifacts for the Fort Erie Museum.
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Spencer 7 Round Repeating Rifle
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FIENNE, FENIANS, OR 'FINNEGANS'?                        Gary Roy

4/13/2015

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The Fianna, from the third cycle of Irish heroic literature, were bands of warriors sworn to defend the coasts of Ireland from foreign invaders. They were devoted to war, the chase, and the arts of poetry. They considered themselves 'Goidels' - true Gaels, the purest population of Feni-free landholders, never servants nor slaves. They had three mottos: "purity of our hearts, strength of our limbs and action to match our speech.'
Fenian would appear to have been a neologism coined in 1840 by Colonel Charles Vallancy as an Anglicization of Fianna.
The term was quickly taken up by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a republican body which had been founded in 1858, mostly by veterans of a failed 1848 uprising. The IRB was driven by the belief that Ireland had a natural right to independence and that this right could only be won through armed rebellion.
The Brotherhood had members on both sides of the Atlantic. Bernard McNulty, a close friend of John Boyle O'Reilly, a notable Irish Fenian, established a US branch of the IRB in 1858, and was soon joined by other Irish American nationalist organizations. They became the US Fenian Brotherhood led by John O'Mahony, an Irish-born Gaelic scholar (and participant in the failed 1848 Rebellion) who had been exiled to France and then to the US.

US Fenian 'circles' or militia groups, began training for the day they would return to Ireland and liberate the island from British rule. But the transatlantic planning was interrupted by the start of the American Civil War. Fenian leaders however, were quick to realize that the war would provide practical combat experience, and the militia units were absorbed into the Union Army making up more than 15% of its total strength. Fenian recruiting continued throughout the war. Membership increased significantly despite Church opposition and financial concerns.
At the end of the hostilities there were thousands of ex-soldiers looking for work, a huge cache of arms and munitions available for purchase, and most compellingly, an hereditary, idealized cause to fight for. The Brotherhood prospered with monetary donations coming in from all over the States.

The year 1865 was to be the start of the insurrection in Ireland. The US Brotherhood waited for word from the IRB to begin sending troops over. But the British Government had other plans. Acting on information supplied by a spy in the office of James Stephens, the Fenian Irish leader, a wave of Fenian arrests were made in September 1865, and 'habeus corpus' suspended in 1866. Everything ground to a halt.

In December 1865, the US Brotherhood came asunder: one member under O'Mahony, was determined to wait for the appropriate moment to join an IRB general uprising in Ireland. The other, led by William Randall Roberts, determined immediate action against the British in Canada.
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Once the split had been made, the so-called 'Roberts Wing' set the invasion of Canada in motion. Robert's grand scheme would see Canada invaded, an independent Irish state established and the occupied territory then exchanged for Ireland's liberty.

"Fighting" Tom Sweeney, a veteran both of the Mexican and US Civil Wars was appointed as the military commander of the invasion. He planned a 3-prong assault. Two diversionary attacks, one from Chicago and the other from Cleveland/Buffalo, involving roughly 8000 troops, would draw the Crown forces to the western end of Upper Canada. The main force of 15,000 then would attack and secure Lower Canada from Vermont.

Although the plan was sound in principle, it fell apart in execution. Commanders either became ill or were unable to meet deadlines. Troop strength was overestimated. Logistical issues- specifically lack of boats, forced cancellation of the Chicago expedition, and a similar problem necessitated relocation of troops from Cleveland to Buffalo. Communications between all three forces became difficult, and the sympathy of the US government, which had been presumed up to the beginning of 1866, was nonexistent when the attack movement began in May.

The only regimental leader who was battle ready by the scheduled invasion date was Colonel John O'Neill of the 13th Fenian Regiment Nashville Tennessee. Arriving by train from Clevenland with 350 men, O'Neill took over command of the troops at Buffalo. He was given orders to proceed, and with a force of 1,000 plus he crossed the Niagara River on June 1st.


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Major General Thomas Sweeny
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General John O'Neill
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The Fenian 'Sunburst" flag
There are numerous books available which detail the rise of Fenianism in the US, the most recent of which is "The Fenians" by Patrick Steward and Bryan McGovern who are keymote speakers at the Conference.
Special mention is made as well of the Fort Erie Museum's publication "The Year of the Fenians" by David Owen, which contains a highly informative, succinct overview of the rise of US Fenianism.
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ONE DAY IN HISTORY                                                          Gary Roy

3/7/2015

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                                                June 2, 1866

This blog is intended to be a companion to the published sources on the Fenian Raid of June 1 & 2 1866, and the Battle of Ridgeway and Fort Erie. Primarily anecdotal. it focuses on persons and incidents that were part of the incursion. Sources available on request. All images public domain.

They Cheered On Landing
On the afternoon of May 31, 1866 Thomas L. Newbigging, the second son of a Scottish immigrant farmer, was told by a Fort Erie Customs House officer that the Fenians were coming over.
Later that evening he retired to bed but soon afterward got back up, dressed, and walked down to the River Road. "The evening was calm" he relates, "the wind blowing up from the dock towards our house. When I got to the road I could see steam escaping from two tugs, and I heard the wheels of wagons  coming on to the dock on the American side." The moon was brilliant. three days past full. It lit up the entire shore.
"Just before daylight" he continues, "the two boats starting (pulling) two (canal) boats, each filled with armed men. They steamed to the Canadian shore, and as they approached they shut off steam as if hesitating where to go. Then they started up the river to the Shingle Dock or Lower ferry nearly opposite Pratt's Dock (Pratt's Blast Furnace dock at Black Rock), and there they landed."
Another Fort Erie resident, Arthur Molesworth, an engineer, was on the road as well, and saw the Fenians when they arrived between 3 and 4 o'clock AM at the Lower Ferry docks known as Freebury's Wharf. "They cheered on landing." he relates.
The 17th Kentucky Fenian Regiment under Col George Owen Starr had already reached the shore two hours earlier. This small expeditionary unit had commandeered a steam tug and a large Canadian timber scow which had been unloading in Buffalo. They crossed the Niagara River ahead of the main force to the Lower Ferry around 1:30 AM. The colour bearers leaped ten paces from the boat, scrambled up the banks of the river, and planted three Irish flags in Canadian soil.

Starr left a small force to secure the dock and then continued down Niagara Road to Old Fort Erie where he took a few British soldiers captive and then burned Sauerwein's Bridge (near Centralia and The Friendship Trail) thereby cutting off any rail approach from Port Colborne of Ridgeway.
The men of the main company were given supplies from nine wagons of arms and ammunition. About 8 o'clock AM they began to march with fife and drum, toward Fort Erie. "The men who were marching had rifles and bayonet, about fifteen hundred, marching four abreast" Molesworth observed.
In 1866 Fort Erie, or Waterloo as it was known then, was a village of 750 people with three churches, a schoolhouse, some hotels, boarding houses, stores and a few brick homes with orchards and tree groves. At the western end of Waterloo, a mile southwest of the village itself, were wharves, warehouses, the Lewis House hotel, a custom house and a group of clapboard houses. Two miles further on, directly across the river from Buffalo lay a clutch of houses and the remains of Fort Erie from the War of 1812.


The Fenians marched toward the village on the river road, past St. Paul's Church and stopped at the house of the reeve, Dr. Peter Tertius Kempson, a British-born physician. The Fenian leader, Colonel John O'Neill, did not mince words. "I require that you assemble the principal inhabitants and, without delay, provide breakfast and rations for one thousand men." He intimated that if the inhabitants did not comply their houses would be entered forcibly, and possibly burned. The villages food supply was quickly exhausted: ham, bread, wine, brandy, coffee and tea gone in an hour. The Fenians overran the Kempson house, the hotel and the surrounding orchards and fields.
A contemporary account describes the end of the 'big breakfast'.
"When the invaders had filled themselves, and drank all the liquor in the village, they still demanded more. One hundred and fifty or two hundred continued about that hotel, singing and dancing, several hours. At last O'Neill and other officers with drawn swords came, supported by armed pickets and drove them away using such reproaches as 'you blackguards! Do you think we brought you to Canada to get drunk, and make sport? You came here to fight. The army of red coats will soon be on you."
O'Neill left a guard detail at the railway terminus, a mile south  village, cut the telegraph lines, and posted pickets at the junctions of the roads and at the ferry. A proclamation was read stating that the Fenians' fight was with the British Crown, not the Canadians. However, no resident of the village could move about without having a pass.
He marched the main force back to Newbigging's farm, a mile below the spot where they landed, and set up camp around 11 o'clock.
And so began an intense two days of nation building. The Canadian identity, which up to that point had been a mix of conflicted loyalties, imperial domination and economic dependencies, became forged in the crucible of combat and self preservation, culminating in the battles at Ridgeway and the Fort Erie Dock on June 2nd 1866 the day that made Canada truly Canadian.

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Fenians crossing from Buffalo to Fort Erie, 1866
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General John O'Neill
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