Stone replaced at grave of Colonel Thomas J. Kelly, Fenian and US Civil War leader in Woodlawn Cemetery
On Saturday, 31st May 2008, which was forecast to be a rainy afternoon, a large number of intrepid souls braved the sometimes heavy rain to hear Martin Lyons, lifelong Irish Republican activist, open the ceremonies to dedicate the new stone marker on the grave of his kinsman and fellow Galway man, the Fenian leader, Colonel Thomas J. Kelly, in The Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Among those in attendance were a 91-year old native of Mountbellew, and a collateral descendant of Kelly.
Participating in the program were all well known supporters of the cause of Irish Freedom including: the main speaker, Liam Ó Murchú, former Editor of the National Hibernian Digest; Martin Galvin, who read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic; Tommy Enright who explained his choice of music for the occasion; Charlie Laverty, President Emeritus of the New York Irish History Round Table and historian for the Fenian Graves Project; Éamonn Griffin of the National Graves Association, who traveled from County Wexford for the occasion; and, Kevin Kennedy, who laid a wreath at the new headstone that was unveiled by Martin Lyons.
American Civil War re-enactors in full 1863 uniform from a variety of regiments including 150th New York, 11th Connecticut and 27th New York, under the command of Peter Bedrosian, mustered behind the colors of the 150th New York to perform the very stirring graveside ritual of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) for their fallen comrade, Thomas Kelly. Kelly was a member of a New York City GAR Post, which had placed a marker on his grave. The GAR ritual included the firing of three volleys (blanks) from some 21 muskets.
The stone was also blessed by a priest, arranged by Kevin Kennedy.
The 16 yr old Eugene Hogan Bender, winner of the 2007, North American (under 16) Fiddle Championship of the Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann, closed the ritual with a most memorable rendition of “The Bold Fenian Men”, followed by a verse of “God Save Ireland!”
Officer S Hogan from the New York Police Emerald Society Pipe Band then played “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” as a lament for Kelly.
Martin Galvin, one time Editor of The Irish People, gave a brief, but stirring, oration, in which he cited John Devoy’s comments, in Recollections of an Irish Rebel, regarding the death of Thomas Kelly, who had been in declining health in his last years and died in relative obscurity. Devoy pointed out that one of Ireland’s greatest heroes deserved better, and Galvin said that Devoy should be glad that Kelly finally got the honors he deserved, albeit a century later.
Special thanks are due to Mike Bennett and the Admiral Worden Camp 150 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil war for procuring the new, polished granite stone for Kelly, and to Ed Dunn of the Board of Directors of the Veteran Corps of the 69th Regiment of New York and to Jim Stagnitta of All Faiths Monuments of Glendale, New York for arranging for the inscription to be cut into the stone.
The event was declared closed by chairman Martin Lyons after the Last Post was played.
The
Bold
Fenian
Men,
Thomas
Kelly,
the
IRB
and
1916
Dedication
of
Stone,
Woodlawn,
31st
May
2008
Is
iad
a
do
an
tine
beo
-
it
is
they
who
lit
the
everlasting
fire.
So
it
was
said
of
the
men
and
women
of
Easter
Week,
1916,
inspiring
an
orchestral
piece
by
Seán
Ó
Riada
in
1966.
But
the
Easter
Rising
was
not
exclusively
the
result
of
the
rising
of
dragons’
teeth
sewn
by
Tom
Clarke,
Pádraig
Pearse,
James
Connolly
and
the
others
of
the
seven
signatories
of
the
Proclamation
of
the
Irish
Republic.
“1916”
was
brought
to
you
by
Ireland’s
conspiratorial
élite,
the
Irish
Republican
Brotherhood
(the
IRB).
But
whence
the
IRB?
Thomas
Cahill,
author
of
How
the
Irish
Saved
Civilization,
contends
that
history
is
learned
in
pieces,
because
pieces
is
all
we
have
of
the
past,
letters,
photographs,
contemporary
accounts,
etc.
Nollaig
Ó
Gadhra
points
out
that
these
pieces
can
be
assembled
to
reveal
patterns,
which
can
demonstrate
a
continuity
of
ideas;
one
of
these
constants
is
that,
so
long
as
there
has
been
an
Irish
diaspora,
there
have
been
Irish
exiles
who
have
made
it
their
business
to
support
the
cause
of
Irish
freedom
at
home,
and
to
do
what
they
could
to
further
it
abroad.
After
the
defeat
at
Kinsale
(3rd/4th
January
1602),
Hugh
O’Neill
was
writing
to
the
King
of
Spain,
requesting
to
be
landed
in
the
North
with
the
Irish
regiment
then
stationed
in
Flanders.
In
the
aftermath
of
the
(later
broken)
Treaty
of
Limerick,
most
of
Patrick
Sarsfield’s
Irish
Army
became
the
Irish
Brigade
in
the
service
of
France
–
“The
Flight
of
the
Wild
Geese”
(22nd
December
1691).
The
numerous
Irish
Brigade
regiments
left
their
mark,
one
notable
deed
being
the
decisive
charge
by
the
Irish
Brigade
at
the
Battle
of
Fontenoy
in
1745,
where
the
Irish
battle
cry
was
“Cuimnidh
ar
Luimneach
agus
ar
Feall
na
Sasanach”
(Remember
Limerick
and
the
English
treachery).
Since
that
time,
Irishmen
who
leave
Ireland
to
seek
military
experience
in
the
armies
of
England’s
enemies
or
potential
enemies,
have
been
known
as
“Wild
Geese.”
Much
to
England’s
sorrow,
America,
as
well
as
France,
Austria,
Spain,
and
others,
welcomed
the
Wild
Geese.
An
Gorta
Mór,
the
Great
Hunger
of
mid-19th
century
Ireland,
which
saw
the
population
reduced
by
a
half,
was
proof
positive
of
the
necessity,
as
Wolfe
Tone
had
said
in
the
18th
century,
to
break
the
connection
with
England
(the
“evil
empire”
to
most
19th
century
Americans).
John
Mitchell,
in
An
Apology
for
the
British
Government
in
Ireland,
as
well
as
in
the
pages
of
his
newspaper,
The
United
Irishman,
would
make
the
case
in
a
most
compelling
manner
that
England
had
encouraged
and
aggravated
the
famine
for
the
purpose
of
thinning
the
Irish
population.
Archbishop
“Dagger
John”
Hughes
of
New
York
stated
that
the
food,
which
could
have
fed
the
Irish,
was
“exported
to
a
better
market,
and
left
the
people
to
die
of
famine…”
[See
Thomas
Gallagher,
Paddy’s
Lament]
The
“Famine”
period
would
take
on,
for
the
Irish
of
the
19th
and
20th
centuries,
the
same
psychological
significance
as
the
Nazi
period
has
for
the
Jews
of
the
20th
and
21st
centuries.
After
the
failure
of
the
Rising
in
1848,
the
locus
of
Irish
revolutionary
activity
had
shifted
from
Dublin
to
New
York.
A
conspiratorial
élite
of
Irish
exiles
sought
to
create
an
Irish
Republican
military
force.
Seven
men,
Michael
Doheny,
John
O’Mahony,
Michael
Corcoran,
Thomas
J.
Kelly,
James
Roche,
Oliver
Byrne
and
Patrick
O’Rourke,
gathered
in
the
law
office
of
Michael
Doheny
of
Tipperary
(Chairman,
Emmet
Monument
Association),
to
play
their
part
in
the
future
liberation
of
Ireland.
As
it
would
later
be
articulated
by
Brian
O’Higgins
in
the
Wolfe
Tone
Annual,
the
lesson
of
history
was
clear
to
these
men:
Ireland
had
made
progress
toward
freedom
only
through
physical
force,
or
the
threat
of
physical
force.
This
was
the
cornerstone
of
the
belief
and
purpose
of
The
Bold
Fenian
Men
–
The
Fenian
Faith.
In
part
through
the
agency
of
the
Emmet
Monument
Association,
the
69th
Regiment
of
New
York
had
been
brought
into
existence
on
12th
October
1851
(Michael
Doheny
its
first
Lieutenant
Colonel).
Nor
was
the
69th
the
only
such
Irish
revolutionary
unit
in
the
organized
militias
of
the
several
States.
Realizing
that
activity
in
America
would
be
futile
without
cooperation
in
Ireland,
these
exiles,
meeting
in
New
York,
reached
out
to
their
former
comrades-in-arms
at
home,
with
the
result
that
Joseph
Denieffe,
Thomas
Clark
Luby
and
James
Stephens
brought
into
existence
the
Irish
Revolutionary
/
Republican
Brotherhood
(the
IRB)
in
Dublin,
Saint
Patrick's
Day
1858.
The
IRB,
which
brought
about
the
Rising
in
Dublin
and
the
Proclamation
of
the
Irish
Republic
during
Easter
Week
1916,
can
trace
its
origin
to
this
band
of
1848
exiles,
meeting
first
at
6
Centre
Street,
and
then
often
in
the
Hibernian
Hall
managed
by
Michael
Corcoran
(of
the
69th
New
York
State
Militia),
near
Saint
Patrick's
old
Cathedral
on
Prince
Street
in
New
York
City.
“The
Wandering
Hawk”
Stephens
became
the
Head
Center
of
the
IRB
in
Ireland,
and
the
scholar
O’Mahony
was
Head
Center
of
the
organization
in
America.
O’Mahony,
would
later
command
the
99th
New
York
State
Militia
“Phoenix
Brigade”
in
the
American
Civil
War.
It
was
another
“Fenian”
regiment,
but
of
brigade
strength,
consisting
of
some
forty
(40)
independent
companies.
O’Mahony,
in
1858,
was
already
a
scholar
of
international
repute,
thanks
in
part
to
the
wide
acclaim
for
his
translation
of
Geoffrey
Keating’s
History
of
Ireland
from
early
classical
modern
Irish
into
English.
He
was
inspired
by
the
example
of na
fianna,
the
élite
national
guard
of
third
century
Ireland.
He
coined
the
word
Fenian
for
the
brotherhood
in
America.
Soon
the
terms
Fenian
and
IRB
became
interchangeable.
The
Fenian
Brotherhood
grew
exponentially
after
the
refusal
of
Colonel
Michael
Corcoran
to
parade
the
69th
for
the
visiting
(so-called)
“Prince
of
Wales,”
11th
October
1860,
and
the
many
ceremonies
en
route
of
the
’48
man,
Terrence
Bellew
M’Manus,
who
died
in
San
Francisco
in
1861,
and
was
eventually
buried
in
Ireland.
This
growth
was
compounded
in
both
armies
during
the
American
Civil
War,
as
well
as,
thanks
in
large
part
to
the
exertions
of
John
Devoy,
among
Irish
in
the
British
Army.
Thomas
J.
Kelly
was
part
of
the
founding
leadership
of
what
would
become
known
in
song
and
story
as
“The
Bold
Fenian
Men,”
and
has
the
distinction
of
being
a
hero
of
two
countries.
A
native
of
Mountbellew,
County
Galway,
and,
like
Ken
Tierney,
educated
in
Saint
Jarlath’s
College,
Tuam,
where
among
his
teachers
was
Michael
J.
McCann,
a
regular
contributor
to
the
Nation
(edited
originally
by
the
great
nationalist
poet
Thomas
Davis).
McCann
wrote
“O’Donnell
Abú”,
the
stirring
war
song
set
in
16th
century
Ireland,
which
was
so
popular
among
Irish
throughout
the
world,
that
it
was
regarded,
for
a
time,
as
a
virtual
Irish
national
anthem.
Thomas
Kelly
had
seen
the
Repeal
Movement
(attending,
with
some
40,000
others,
a
“Monster
Meeting”
at
Caltra,
on
21st
May
1843),
the
Great
Hunger
and
the
Rising
of
1848
(with
trails,
speeches
from
the
dock,
and
exile
of
many
leaders)
first
hand,
but,
like
Robert
Emmet
in
1798,
was
apparently
too
young,
and
too
careful,
to
attract
the
attention
of
the
Constabulary
in
1848.
After
his
classical,
theological
and
nationalist
education
at
Saint
Jarlath’s,
where
he
mastered
not
only
the
Gospel
according
to
Matthew,
Mark,
Luke
and
John,
but
also
the
Gospel
of
Tone,
Thomas
Kelly
apprenticed
to
the
printer’s
trade
in
Kelly’s,
the
business
of
a
relation
in
Loughrea.
His
apprenticeship
complete,
he
emigrated
to
America,
the
land
of
opportunity,
in
1851.
Directly,
he
fell
in
with
1848
exiles
in
New
York;
his
rapid
acceptance
into
the
leadership
of
the
Republican
movement
is
testimony
not
only
to
his
ability
and
dedication,
but
also
to
the
credentials/recommendations
which
must
have
accompanied
him
from
’48
men
at
home.
Thomas
Kelly
participated
both
in
the
Emmet
Monument
Association
and
in
the
New
York
State
Militia
(1851-57).
Although
he
was
in
the
New
York
State
Militia,
and
associated
with
Doheny
and
Corcoran,
both
officers
of
the
69th,
we
cannot
say
for
certain
that
Kelly
was
in
the
69th,
rather
than
being
assigned
to
organize
in
one
of
the
other
Irish
regiments
in
New
York.
The
problem
is
that
enlisted
rosters
from
the
1850s
have
not
survived,
not
in
the
New
York
State
Division
of
Military
and
Naval
Affairs,
nor
in
the
archives
of
the
New
York
Historical
Society,
nor
in
the
records
of
the
69th
Regiment
of
New
York.
So,
while
all
the
circumstantial
evidence
all
points
to
the
69th,
it
cannot
be
claimed
as
a
certainty;
what
is
certain,
however,
is
that,
thanks
to
the
opportunity
presented
by
the
New
York
State
Militia,
Thomas
Kelly
was
both
a
student
and
a
practitioner
of
the
military
art.
A
co-founder
of
the
Fenian
Brotherhood,
Thomas
Kelly
later
moved
to
Tennessee
to
start/edit
the
Nashville
Democrat.
[The
large
number
of
Fenians
found
in
Nashville
after
the
war
suggests
that
he
busied
himself
with
more
than
journalism.]
It
is
said
that
the
flag
on
his
newspaper
office
was
the
last
“Stars
and
Stripes”
in
Nashville
to
come
down
after
the
secession
of
Tennessee.
Like
many
other
Fenians,
Thomas
Kelly
answered
Lincoln’s
call
for
volunteers
to
fight
to
preserve
the
United
States.
A
personal
friend
and
political/conspiratorial
associate
of
Michael
Corcoran,
Thomas
Kelly
was
preparing
to
return
to
New
York
to
the
69th,
when
he
was
introduced
to
a
new
Irish
regiment,
the
10th
Ohio
Volunteer
Infantry,
and
threw
in
his
lot
with
them.
The
10th
Ohio
was
originally
enlisted
for
three
months,
and
then
re-enlisted
for
an
additional
three
years.
A
member
of
Company
“C”,
his
military
knowledge
and
ability
having
been
recognized,
Kelly
was
promoted
to
Sergeant
upon
this
reorganization.
By
the
end
of
the
summer
he
was
functioning
as
First
Sergeant
of
Company
“C”.
Although
receiving
what
should
have
been
a
“million
dollar
wound”
in
the
Battle
of
Carnifex
Ferry
in
Western
Virginia,
10th
September
1861,
he
volunteered
to
return
to
duty
before
the
end
of
the
year.
Kelly
had
been
shot
in
the
jaw
by
a
bullet
that
destroyed
part
of
his
jaw
and
three
teeth
and
then
lodged
in
the
muscles
of
the
left
side
of
his
neck,
from
which
it
was
removed
surgically.
It
is
possible
that
the
goatee,
which
appears
in
all
of
his
pictures
was
not
only
in
fashion
in
the
1860s,
but
also
hid
what
could
have
been
a
disfiguring
scar.
Kelly
was
commissioned
in
January
1862,
and
later
secunded
to
the
staff
of
Major
General
George
Thomas
(later
“The
Rock
of
Chickamauga”)
of
the
XIV
Corps,
United
States
Army
of
the
Cumberland,
as
a
Signal
Officer.
He
was
promoted
to
Captain
on
17th
March
1863,
becoming
Chief
Signal
Officer.
During
this
period
his
regimental
commander
requested
his
reassignment
back
to
the
10th
Ohio,
in
order
that
he
might
take
command
of
one
of
the
regiment’s
manoeuvre
battalions
(which
would
probably
have
entailed
a
at
least
a
temporary
promotion
to
major
or
lieutenant
colonel).
General
Thomas
refused
the
request,
writing
that
he
could
not
spare
Kelly
from
his
duties.
[The
Army
of
the
United
States
had
a
“regimental”
system,
whereby
personnel
secunded
to
other
units
are
still
carried
on
the
rolls,
on
30th
April
1863,
Kelly
was
administratively
transferred,
on
the
books
of
the
10th
Ohio,
from
Company
“C”
to
Company
“I”,
while
continuing
to
serve
at
XIV
Corps
Headquarters.
It
should
also
be
noted
that,
as
Chief
Signal
Officer,
Kelly
was
well
situated
to
maintain
communications
with
Fenians
in
the
Army
of
the
Cumberland.]
Unfortunately,
General
Thomas’
need
for
Kelly’s
services
was
trumped
by
a
new
Army
regulation
requiring
that
all
officers
of
the
Signal
Corps
have
university
degrees
by
the
following
February
(and
a
war
on!).
This
being
the
case
(too
late
for
battalion
command),
Kelly
again
requested
transfer
back
to
his
regiment.
On
19th
August
1863
he
was
ordered
to
return
to
the
"Bloody
Tinth"
as
Captain,
Company
“I”,
from
which
he
was
later
mustered
out
with
the
rest
of
the
10th
Ohio.
His
military
service
continued
with
the
Fenians,
the
Irish
Republican
Army.
American
Fenian
uniform
buttons
bore
the
letters
“IRA”.
With
the
end
of
the
American
Civil
War
in
1865,
the
Fenian
Brotherhood
in
America
sent
its
most
trusted
military
officer,
Captain
Thomas
Kelly,
home
to
Ireland
to
assess
the
prospects
for
a
Rising,
and
to
advise
on
military
matters.
By
summer
1865,
John
Devoy
was
convinced
that
the
time
was
ripe
for
a
rising.
The
Fenian
Chief,
James
Stephens,
was
captured
in
Dublin;
Kelly,
with
John
Devoy
and
others,
rescued
Stephens
from
Richmond
Gaol
–
much
to
the
consternation
of
Dublin
Castle.
Kelly
then
arranged
their
harrowing
escape
from
Ireland,
via
a
collier
to
Kilmarnock
in
Scotland,
thence
by
rail
to
London,
whence
to
Paris
and
ultimately
to
America.
In
May
1866
Stephens,
then
in
New
York,
appointed
Thomas
Kelly
his
deputy.
After
the
visionary
organizer
Stephens
stepped
down,
29th
December
1866,
now
Colonel
Kelly,
the
pragmatic
military
man,
became
Chief
Organizer
of
the
Irish
Republic
(Virtually
Established)
and
leader
of
the
Fenian
Brotherhood
/
Irish
Revolutionary/Republican
Brotherhood
(IRB).
Kelly
promptly
sailed
for
England
and
Ireland
in
January
1867,
to
assess
the
situation,
organize,
and
plan
for
a
Rising.
Colonel
Kelly
and
Captain
Timothy
Deasy
were
arrested
in
Manchester.
On
18th
September
1867,
they
were
rescued
from
a
prison
van
by
a
group
of
bold
Fenian
men
in
what
has
become
know
to
history
as
“the
smashing
of
the
van.”
During
the
rescue
a
policeman,
Sergeant
Brett,
was
accidentally
killed.
Kelly
and
Deasy
escaped
to
America.
There
were
nearly
eighty
arrests,
and
twenty-seven
charged.
Five
Irishmen,
none
of
whom
had
fired
the
shot,
were
condemned
to
death
in
a
hasty
show
trial.
One
turned
out
to
be
an
uninvolved
Royal
Marine,
who,
after
a
campaign
by
journalists
who
had
attended
the
trial,
was
released.
Another,
Captain
Edward
O’Meagher
Condon
(US
citizen
and
veteran
of
Corcoran’s
Irish
Legion),
at
the
request
of
the
American
Consul,
had
his
sentence
commuted
to
life
at
hard
labor
–
Condon
would
be
released
eleven
years
later
at
the
request
of
US
President
Hayes
-
who
acted
on
a
unanimous
resolution
of
Congress.
Later
author
of
The
Irish
Race
in
America,
he
now
lies
in
Calvary
Cemetery.
At
the
trial
in
Manchester,
Condon
was
asked
if
he
had
anything
to
say,
he
replied,
“I
have
nothing
to
retract
–
nothing
to
take
back.
I
can
only
say
‘God
Save
Ireland.’”
“God
Save
Ireland!”
repeated
the
three
men
beside
him.
Those
men,
William
Philip
Allen,
Michael
Larkin
and
Captain
Michael
O’Brien
(American
citizen
and
Civil
War
veteran)
were
hanged
on
the
cold
damp,
foggy
morning
of
23rd
November
1867
–
the
Manchester
Martyrs.
T.D.
Sullivan
would
be
inspired
to
write
“God
Save
Ireland”,
which
became
a
virtual
Irish
national
anthem
Ireland
until
superseded
by
Peader
Kearney’s
“Amhrán
na
bFian”
during
Easter
Week
1916.
Patriot
Graves
are
the
hallowed
resting
places
of
heroes,
and
as
such
due
all
respect.
The
proper
keeping
of
such
graves
is
an
obligation
of
the
living,
not
only
to
the
occupants
of
such
graves,
but
also
to
our
posterity,
who
might
better
remember
and
learn
from
the
example
of
our
heroes,
and
of
those
who
keep
their
memory
green.
The
original
headstone
on
the
grave
of
Colonel
Thomas
J.
Kelly
of
the
Fenian
Brotherhood
(6th
January
1833
–
5th
February
1908),
was
found,
after
the
2007
Friends
of
Irish
Freedom
/
Sean
Oglaigh
na
hÉireann
1916
Commemoration,
to
be
melting
under
the
impact
of
a
century
of
acid
rain;
action
was
needed
lest
the
only
remaining
locator
of
the
grave
of
Thomas
Kelly
would
be
in
a
cemetery
computer
data
base.
Under
the
leadership
of
Martin
Lyons
of
Glenamaddy,
a
group
of
kindred
spirits
(including
Kevin
Kennedy
of
Galway,
Martin
Galvin,
Esq.
of
the
Bronx,
Liam
Murphy
of
the
Irish
Brigade
Association,
and
Charlie
Laverty
of
The
Moy
in
Tyrone,
President
Emeritus,
New
York
Irish
History
Roundtable
–
assisted
by
the
Sons
of
Union
Veterans
of
the
Civil
War,
and
by
Susan
Olsen
and
the
staff
of
Woodlawn
Cemetery)
decided
to
replace
Thomas
Kelly’s
stone
with
a
more
durable
polished
granite
stone
befitting
an
American
soldier
and
Irish
hero,
in
order
that
Kelly
might
better
be
remembered
on
both
sides
of
the
Atlantic,
and
wherever
green
is
worn.
Their
research
was
aided
by
a
number
of
people,
most
notably:
Anne
Tierney
and
Tommy
Gavin
in
Galway;
Lieutenant
Colonel
Bob
Bateman,
Deputy
Commander,
88th
Brigade,
New
York
Guard
(lineal
descendant
of
the
88th
New
York
Volunteer
Infantry
of
the
Irish
Brigade
of
the
United
States
Army
of
the
Potomac);
Colonel
James
Tierney,
Regimental
Historian,
69th
Regiment
of
New
York;
Mickey
McPhillips
in
Fermanagh;
and,
Robert
McLernan
of
Virginia
(researching
at
the
US
National
Archives
in
Washington,
DC).
The
families
of
Martin
Lyons
and
of
Thomas
Kelly
go
back
for
generations,
and
are
related
by
marriage.
Martin’s
grandfather,
Michael
Lyons,
a
Fenian,
knew
Thomas
Kelly,
which
fact
was
related
by
his
own
grandmother,
Catherine
Moore
Lyons,
who
told
him
how
Kelly
had
escaped
to
America,
smuggled
in
the
hay
of
a
wagon
driven
to
Galway
by
the
mother.
In
1967,
a
commemorative
plaque
was
placed
on
Kelly’s
house
(now
a
pub)
on
the
square
in
Mount
Bellew
by
Kitty
O’Grady,
a
relation
of
Thomas
Kelly.
Of
the
Fenian
Brotherhood
/
IRB,
co-founded,
and,
for
a
time,
led
by
Thomas
Kelly,
American
soldier
and
Irish
revolutionary,
it
can
truly
be
said,
“Is
iad
a
do
an
tine
beo.”
It
is
the
fire
they
lit
which
continues
to
inspire.
Professor
Eoin
McKiernan,
former
Editor
of
J.J.
McGarrity’s
newspaper
The
Irish
Republic,
and
later
founder
of
the
Irish
American
Cultural
Institute,
felt
that
Ireland’s
best
chance
for
freedom
was
probably
the
Fenians
–
The
Bold
Fenian
Men.
By
20
June
1867,
a
new
organization,
Clan
na
Gael,
was
founded
in
New
York
by
a
New
York
Herald
journalist,
Arctic
explorer
and
the
world’s
first
weather
forecaster,
Jerome
J.
Collins
of
Cork
City,
for
the
purpose
of
bringing
together
the
disparate
factions
within
the
Fenian
Brotherhood.
[Devoy’s
Post
Bag,
Vol.
I,
p.
5]
Shortly,
the
future
leader
of
the
Clan,
John
Devoy,
came
from
Ireland
with
a
reputation
for
decisive
action
and
impressive
organizational
skills.
He
joined
Clan
na
Gael
in
1870,
and
soon
electrified
the
world
by
raising
funds
and
organizing
the
rescue
if
the
Fenian
prisoners
in
Australia,
using
the
whaler
CATALPA.
In
later
years
Thomas
Kelly
participated
in
“Manchester
Martyrs”
commemorations
organized
by
Clan
na
Gael
in
New
York
City.
Devoy
and
Clan
na
Gael
later
supported
the
Irish
War
for
Independence.
John
Devoy,
throughout
his
life,
remained
a
great
admirer
of
Thomas
Kelly.
Captain
Timothy
Deasy
(of
Clonakilty,
Co.
Cork,
and
Company
“I”,
“Irish
9th”
Regiment
of
Massachusetts),
received
a
new
granite
stone
on
his
grave
in
Immaculate
Conception
Cemetery
in
Lawrence,
Massachusetts
on
23rd
November
1992,
the
dedication
organized
by
Bob
Bateman,
great-grandson
of
Timothy’s
brother
Cornelius
–
also
a
Fenian;
the
principal
speaker
was
Derek
Warfield
of
the
Wolfe
Tones,
himself
the
grandson
of
a
Fenian.
[Thanks
to
Mike
and
Tom
Costello
and
the
Fenian
Graves
Association,
and
to
Cumann
na
Saoirse
Náisiunta,
a
more
complete
story
of
Thomas
Kelly,
and
of
the
dedication
of
his
stone
on
31st
May
2008,
will
appear
later
on
the
www.irishfreedom.net
website.
This
event
will
also
be
featured
in
a
video
documentary
about
the
Irish
in
the
American
Civil
War,
produced
by
Michael
McPhillips.
A
complete
report
will
be
sent
to
Éamonn
Griffin
in
Ireland,
who
attended
the
event
on
behalf
of
the
National
Graves
Association
in
Ireland.]
At
Glasnevin
Cemetery
in
Dublin,
at
the
grave
of
O’Donovan
Rossa
in
1915,
Pádraig
Pearse
would
say,
“They
have
left
us
our
Fenian
dead,
...”
Glory
O,
Glory
O,
to
the
bold
Fenian
men
Ar
dheis
lámh
Dé
go
raibh
a
n-anama
uasaile
Go
saoradh
Dia
Éire!
