- John O'Mahony
:"For other people called John O'Mahony, see
John O'Mahony (disambiguation) .John O'Mahony was born in 1816, inKilbeheny , inCounty Limerick ,Ireland . He was the founding member of theFenian Brotherhood in America, sister organisation to theIrish Republican Brotherhood .Early life
His father and uncle had been members of the
United Irishmen , and had taken part in theIrish Rebellion of 1798 .He ignored the ban by theRoman Catholic Church on its adherents attendingTrinity College, Dublin , where he studiedSanskrit , Hebrew and Irish.Politics
He joined
Daniel O'Connell 's movement for the Repeal of the Union, but quickly became dissatisfied with the lack of progress.Rebellion in 1848
He joined the "
Young Ireland er" movement and took part in their failed rebellion in 1848.Paris
He left Ireland for
France , where he lived in great poverty, and moved to theUnited States in 1852. It has been said that the Fenian Society originated in America and was transplanted toIreland ; but, as a matter of fact the plans for both the Irish and American organizations were drawn inParis by a small group of the Irish revolutionary exiles in 1848.Fenian Brotherhood
In 1854-58, he organized the American wing of the IRB, initially known as the
Fenian Brotherhood . Its principal object was to supply money and arms to the Irish branch. The Civil War in the United States gave the Fenians a great opportunity to obtain military training. A large part of the Irish soldiers engaged on both sides in the struggle were Fenians. Because of his popularity among Irish-Americans he was soon-after made a colonel in the mainly Irish 69th Regiment of theUnion Army , which fought in theAmerican Civil War . He helped organise the first of the Fenian Raids into the then Britishcolony ofCanada in 1866 and theFenian Rising in Ireland in 1867.Conclusion
In his later years he had a hard struggle to secure the bare means for subsistence. He died in New York in 1877 and was interred in
Glasnevin Cemetery inDublin .Works
* "The History of Ireland by Geoffrey Keating, D. D., Translated from the Gaelic and Copiously Annotated" (1857)
Publications
* Alfred Webb, "A Compendium of Irish Biography" (Dublin, 1888)
References
ources
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