by Timothy Egan
Descriptions of Virginia City, from author visit to town and pictures from the era.
More executions, from Miller’s diary, September 26, 1865, Montana Historical Society.
Judge Hosmer, and Dimsdale’s defense of vigilantes, quoted in Allen, A Decent, Orderly Lynching.
General Lee’s postwar praise of Meagher, from an interview conducted by George Pepper, as reprinted in his book Under Three Flags, or The Story of My Life, Curts and Jennings, 1899.
Fenians greet Meagher, from the Montana Post, October 7, 1865, and from the New York Times, November 11, 1865.
Meagher lecture on Emmet, from Forney, Thomas Francis Meagher.
Prizefighter in Virginia City, note on building plaque, from author visit.
Freemasons, from Leeson, A History of Montana.
Meagher’s position against monopolies, from Spence, Territorial Politics.
Chumaserro on Meagher the whoremonger, letter, March 12, 1866, courtesy Montana Historical Society.
Trip to trapper’s ranch, reading Shakespeare, etc., from a long letter Meagher wrote to Father De Smet, December 15, 1865, reprinted in the Irish Monthly, September 1902.
Letter from Meagher to Pepper on settling in Montana, December 17, 1865, reprinted in Donahoe’s Magazine 41 (1899).
Meagher and Father Kuppens on Yellowstone, from Yellowstone National Park: Its Exploration and Establishment by Aubrey L. Haines, Department of the Interior, 1974. Interesting note: Meagher is credited, and not just here, with being one of the first American authorities to talk up the idea of what would eventually become, in 1872, the world’s first national park.
Hanging Tree, from author visit and tour of execution sites in Helena, Montana.
Vigilante spree, Daniels case, the pardon and Sanders’s threat—“dead beyond all hope”—all from Allen, A Decent, Orderly Lynching.
Daniels hanged with Meagher’s reprieve in pocket, from “Montana Vigilantes,” Montana, the Magazine of Western History, Spring 2001.
Deadliest campaign of vigilante executions in American history, from Allen, A Decent, Orderly Lynching.
TFM letter to Secretary of State Seward, February 20, 1866, about Sanders, from Spence, Territorial Politics.
“Carp and deprecate,” quoted in Beyond the American Pale: The Irish in the West, 1845–1910 by David M. Emmons, University of Oklahoma Press, 2012.
Second thoughts on death of Daniels, from Vigilante Days and Ways by Nathaniel P. Langford, University of Montana Press, 1957.
Note in Daniels’s pocket threatening Meagher as next victim: There are various accounts of the note. Mine is taken from three sources: a modern newspaper story reassessing the era, “Thomas Meagher Was a Man of Many Lives,” the Missoulian, July 4, 2010; a book, Bloody Bozeman, by an authority on Montana in the 1860s, Dorothy M. Johnson, Mountain Press Publishing, 1983; and another history, The Calamity Paper: Western Myths and Cold Cases by Dale L. Walker, Tom Doherty Associates, 2004.
CHAPTER 21: THE REMAINS OF A LIFE
History of the Blackfeet, from The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis, Taschen, 2005.
The quotes from TFM to Father De Smet, from a letter, December 15, 1866, reprinted in the Irish Monthly, September 1902.
Indian agent’s disgust, from Montana 1864 by Ken Egan Jr., Riverbend Publishing, 2014.
Meagher turns down offer of buffalo robes, from “Account of the Drowning of General Thomas Francis Meagher,” Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 8 (1917).
Sioux war, Red Cloud, from The Heart of Everything That Is by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, Simon & Schuster, 2013.
Sherman’s view of Indians, ibid.
Sherman note to Meagher, February 16, 1866, Montana Territorial Papers, Montana Historical Society.
Legislative session, from Spence, Territorial Politics.
Firing Dimsdale, from “The Death of Thomas Francis Meagher Re- visited” by Angela Faye Thompson, M.A. thesis, University of Montana, 1998.
Meagher’s bar bill, from “Thomas Francis Meagher’s Bar Bill” by Elliott West, Decies 59 (2003).
Meagher turns down $2,500 salary, from a formal note signed by Meagher, March 19, 1866, courtesy Montana Historical Society.
Meagher letter to Seward, “everything is delightful,” from Spence, Territorial Politics.
Pattern to vigilante-led deaths, from Emmons, Beyond the American Pale.
Store owner given a pass, from Alder Gulch and Virginia City, Montana by Larry Barsness, Hastings House Publishers, 1962.
“put a quietus on the doings of this pretender,” letter from Wilbur Sanders to James Fergus, February 14, 1866, courtesy Montana Historical Society.
Meagher’s St. Patrick Day speech, from Lectures of Gov. Thomas Francis Meagher in Montana.
Fenian invasion of Canada, from Steward and McGovern, The Fenians.
Report of Meagher as head of Fenian army, from the Waterford News, January 21, 1866.
Cleric’s impression of Elizabeth Meagher, from Missionary to the Mountain West by Daniel Tuttle, University of Utah Press, 1987.
Meagher’s ambition, “champion of the Irish race,” from letter to O’Keeffe, September 26, 1866, courtesy Montana Historical Society.
Latest vigilante killings, from Allen, A Decent, Orderly Lynching.
Naming waterfall after Elizabeth Townsend, from TFM letter to Barlow, June 15, 1867, courtesy Huntington Library.
Letter to O’Keeffe asking for money, September 26, 1866, Montana Historical Society. The plan to give O’Keeffe the byline is explained in a later letter to Barlow, ibid.
Fast friends with Governor Smith, from letter to Barlow, October 26, 1866, courtesy Huntington Library.
Congress throws out legislative session, from “Wilbur Fisk Sanders” by Gary Forney, Montana Pioneer, February 2014.
Meagher stopped and threatened, and letter sent to him with hangman’s drawing, as reported in the Montana Post, August 18, 1866.
CHAPTER 22: RIVER WITHOUT END
Meagher’s desire to go home, from letter to O’Gorman on the day of his death, cited by O’Gorman in his eulogy in New York, from Memoirs.
Meagher out of funds, from letter to J. H. Ming, territorial auditor, July 1, 1867, courtesy Montana Historical Society.
Sherman quote on Sioux, from Drury and Clavin, The Heart of Everything That Is.
Wipe out Indians, from Montana Post, January 26, 1867.
Death of Bozeman: It has long been reported that he was killed by Blackfeet, but new scholarship points to several white suspects, including his business partner. From the Bozeman Chronicle, October 3, 2014.
Meagher organizes militia and goes off to fight in Gallatin Valley, from Montana Post, May 18, 1867.
Meagher’s heart not in fighting, and his restraint, from “Thomas Francis Meagher, Montana Pioneer” by Father Francis X. Kuppens, Mid-America, an Historical Review 14, No. 2 (October 1931). Also, Lieutenant James H. Bradley noted the restraint in his journal, published by the Historical Society of Montana 2 (1896).
Description of I. G. Baker house, where Meagher had his last meal, from author visit to the house in Fort Benton, Montana, where it still stands, in good condition.
Sanders arrives in Fort Benton the same day, from an account Sanders gave, later in life, of Meagher’s last day, reported in detail in the Butte Miner, June 10, 1913.
Further details of Meagher letter to O’Gorman, mentioned in O’Gorman’s eulogy, from Lectures of Gov. Thomas Francis Meagher in Montana.
Meagher letter to Pepper, January 20, 1866, in Donahoe’s Magazine 41 (1899).
Details of last day and death, as reported by pilot John T. Doran, in a letter reprinted by Lyons in Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher.
Sanders’s detailed account of TFM death and his reaction to it, from Raymer, Montana, the Land and the People.
Governor Clay orders thirty days of mourning and reward to find body, from Lectures of Thomas Francis Meagher in Montana.
Enem
ies now complementary, ibid.
Praising TFM, from Montana Post, July 6, 1867.
Tribute poem, from the Irish American, July 20, 1867.
A fund to find the killer, $10,000, from Forney, Thomas Francis Meagher.
O’Gorman eulogy, reprinted in Lectures of Thomas Francis Meagher in Montana.
CHAPTER 23: INQUEST FOR IRELAND
Unveiling of statue, from the Helena Independent, July 5, 1905.
Meagher’s influence in the creation of Yellowstone Park, from Haines, Yellowstone National Park.
“No grounds” for suicide, from “Account of the Drowning of Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher,” based on the ms. of James Bradley, published in Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 8 (1917).
Accepted account of Montana history, from A History of Montana by Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Lewis Publishing, 1913.
Wilbur Sanders, Pioneer Day quote, and his role in historical society, from Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 4 (1903).
Sanders’s version of Meagher’s death, from the Butte Miner, June 10, 1913.
Frank Diamond confession, from the Missoula Sentinel, May 29, 1913.
Kennedy ancestry, from the John F. Kennedy Library, http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/John-F-Kennedy-and-Ireland.aspx.
JFK “like a rainbow,” from JFK in Ireland by Ryan Tubridy, Collins Publishers, 2011.
Easter Rebellion prisoners, from A History of Kilmainham Gaol by Pat Cooke, OPW Publishing, 2006, and from author visit to the prison in Dublin.
O’Doherty’s life, from Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5 (1974).
Balfe’s life, from Petrow, Judas in Tasmania.
Mitchel’s life, from McGovern, John Mitchel: Irish Nationalist, Southern Secessionist.
Meagher inspiration to the rebels of 1916, from Griffith’s introduction to Meagher of the Sword.
TFM’s father’s “affection for his son is extreme,” from the Waterford Chronicle, November 1, 1848.
Death of Mrs. TFM, from the Montana Daily Record, July 6, 1906.
Death of Thomas Bennett Meagher, from his obituary, cited in the Journal of the California Genealogical Society 3, No. 2.
Meagher’s descendants, from Meagher papers, Montana Historical Society, including a letter from the widow of Thomas Francis Meagher III.
Total number of Irish immigrants to 1924, from Miller, Emigrants and Exiles.
Kennedy’s speech, from the John F. Kennedy Library, http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/lPAi7jx2s0i7kePPdJnUXA.aspx.
Waterford details, statue, banners, etc., from author visit to Waterford.
New bridge named for TFM, from the Irish Examiner, January 19, 2015.
Modern inquest in Montana, from author interview with Paul Wylie, who staged the inquest. Wylie also made available a DVD of the event, Coroner’s Inquest into the Death of Thomas Francis Meagher.
Artist commissioned to create Meagher sculpture at Green-Wood Cemetery, from Irish America, February/March 2013.
Index
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.
A
Abbey of Innisfallen, 97–98
Aborigines, 89, 91
Acorn (ship), 134
Act of Settlement (Ireland), 10
Act of Union (Ireland), 20–22, 24–26, 46–48
Adrian IV, Pope, 5
Albany Argus, 171
Allen, Frederick, 283
American Nativist Party, 141–43
American Party, 163
American Revolution, 15–16, 46–48, 136
Anderson, Robert, 172, 173, 174
Antietam, Battle of, 220–27, 224
Appomattox Court House, 265
Astor House (New York), 139
Atchison, David, 160, 161
Australia
Aborigines in, 89, 91
added to British Empire, 20
class system in, 104–5, 115–16
English settlement efforts in, 88–90
gold in, 124–26
Irish orphans sent to, 57–58
transportation to, 62, 89–90
B
Baker, I. G., 302, 312
Balfe, John Donnellan, 56
informant against Young Ireland, 59, 63, 72, 109–10
later life of, 316
Meagher’s writings against, 113–15
revealed as informant, 109–10
in Tasmania, 102–3, 109–10, 113–15
Ballingarry, Ireland, 72–73
Bannack, Montana, 274
Barlow, Samuel L. M., 154, 295
Barrett brothers, 120–22
Barry, John, 249
Bass Strait, 120–23, 124–26
Beaumont, Gustave de, 10, 13
Beauregard, P.G.T., 173, 181
Beecher, Henry Ward, 165
Bell, John, 169–70
Bennett, Bryan, 104
Bennett, Catherine. See Meagher, Catherine Bennett
Bennett, William, 53
Bermuda, 96
Betts, Captain, 127
Bierstadt, Albert, 273
Blackfeet, 288–90, 300–301. See also Native Americans
Boleyn, Anne, 8
Booth, John Wilkes, 264
Boston Pilot, 134, 171, 244, 248
Bowes, John, 4
Bozeman, John, 300
Bozeman Trail, 300
Brady, Mathew, 169
Breakspear, Nicholas, 5
Breckinridge, John C., 169–70
Brenham, Charles, 115
Brian Boru, 26, 30, 97, 154
Brooks, Preston, 160
Brown, John, 160
Bryant, Mary, 124
Buchanan, James, 168
Bull Run, Battle of, 180–88
Burke, Edmund, 11
Burnside, Ambrose, 225–26, 234–40, 243, 247
Burren, Ireland, 9
Burritt, Elihu, 41–42
bushrangers, 91
Byron, Lord (George Gordon), 22
C
Callan, Ireland, 71
Campbell Town, Tasmania, 93
Canada
in British Empire, 20
emigration to, 87
Fenian invasion of, 271–72, 294
Carlyle, Thomas, 60
Carrick, Ireland, 71–72
Catholic Church
Act of Union on, 21
Irish loyalty to, 12
in Irish rebellion, 70
Mitchel on, 147
nativist attacks against, 141–43
Oath of Supremacy and, 24
opposition to Meagher, 151–52
outlawed in Ireland, 3, 4, 5–8, 10–12
Penal Laws on, 10–12, 13–14
Cavanagh, Michael, 61, 136–37, 239
Chancellorsville, Battle of, 249–50
Charleston Mercury, 174
Chartists, English, 56
Choctaw Nation, 40
Chumaserro, William, 281
Church of England, 8
civil rights
for blacks, 261–62
in Ireland, 10–12, 20–22, 52, 68
religious freedom, 3, 5, 164, 280, 290–91, 318
for women, 151, 158–59
Civil War (U.S.). See also Irish Brigade
Antietam, 220–27
British vessel seized in, 193
buildup to, 160–71
Bull Run, 180–88
camp conditions in, 196–97, 200, 220–21, 228–29, 243–44
carnage in, 203–4, 226
casualties in, 185, 200–201, 207–8, 212, 219, 223, 224, 226–27, 238–39, 240, 249, 252, 265–66
Chancellorsville, 249–50
deserters, 233, 243, 263
draft in, 199, 251
draft riots, 250–55
early enthusiasm for, 176–77
Fair Oaks, 202–6
Fort Sumter in, 172
–74
Fredericksburg, 234–40, 279, 318–19
Gettysburg, 252
hospital conditions in, 207–8, 221, 246–47
last months of, 259–67
malaria in, 208
McClellan in, 195–96, 199, 207, 212, 221–22, 226
militias called up for, 174
passions over, 175
Provisional Army of Tennessee in, 262–63
radical Republicans on, 276
recruitment for, 190–95, 213–20
Richmond, 199–200
secessions and, 170–71, 174–75
Seven Days Battles, 208–12
Shiloh, 200–201
69th New York State Militia in, 175–77
spectators in, 180–81, 185
troop training in, 177–80
weaponry in, 195, 196, 201, 212, 223
Yorktown, 200
Clarendon, Earl of (George William Frederick Villiers), 54–55, 59–60, 73, 102
Clongowes Wood school, 14–15, 17–18, 24, 56
Clontarf, Ireland, 26
Clooney, Patrick, 226
Cobb, Howell, 259
Coercion Acts (Ireland), 52
coffin ships, 57
Collegians, The (Griffin), 304
Colored Orphan Asylum, 252
Conciliation Hall (Dublin), 29–30, 43, 46–48
Connolly, James, 318
Conyngham, David P., 204–5, 212
Cook, James, 89
Cooke, Tommy, 278
Cooper (shepherd), 106, 107, 118–19
Cooper Union, 169, 307