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Illuminations: William Bernard O’Donoghue and the Last Fenian Raid
- iIrish Admin
- December 26, 2024
- Edited 6 hours ago
Table of Contents
By Mike Finn
The Fenian Brotherhood (the Fenians) was a secret Irish republican society founded in the United States in 1858 by John O’Mahony and Michael Doheny. Members of this movement tried to take Canadian territory by force, so they could then broker an exchange with Britain for Irish independence.
From 1866 to 1870, the Fenians launched three armed attacks against Canada. Each raid was put down by Canadian militia and British forces. Dozens were killed or wounded on both sides. There was, however, a fourth and final raid into Canada in 1871.
William Bernard O'Donaghue
William Bernard O’Donoghue was born in Sligo, Ireland in 1843. He moved to New York while still young. He carried with him a strong hatred towards England and an equally strong feeling of Irish patriotism. There is no evidence that William was ever a member of the Fenian Brotherhood. In 1868, William was living in Port Huron, Michigan. There he met Oblate Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin, then bishop of Saint Boniface Diocese, in the area of western Canada known as Rupert’s Land (now the province of Manitoba). He offered O’Donoghue an opportunity to serve in the western Canadian missions of the Catholic Church. O’Donoghue traveled with Bishop Grandin to the Red River Settlement in Rupert’s Land. The Settlement was a colony built at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. It would later become the city of Winnipeg. There he taught mathematics at the College of St Boniface and began studies to enter the priesthood. By the autumn of 1869, O’Donoghue questioned his religious vocation and was drawn to the Métis (French pron: meh-TEE) protest movement headed by Louis Riel. The Métis were a Canadian indigenous tribe who were descendants of French fur traders who intermarried with indigenous tribes. The Métis were mostly Catholic, spoke the French language and lived along the Red River. They were concerned about the expansion of Anglo-Canadian authority and sought a guarantee of their political rights and culture. Their fight for recognition was known as the Red River Rebellion. Most of western Canada was administered by the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), and efforts were being made to transfer sovereignty to the Canadian Confederation. The HBC functioned as government in Rupert’s Land for nearly 200 years, until the HBC relinquished control of the land to Canada in 1869. Métis opposition to the Confederation in late 1869 caused the Canadian government to refuse to take over the territory, and matters soon escalated when Riel's followers seized the HBC funds at Fort Garry. A provisional government was declared by the Métis, with Riel as its leader. O’Donoghue was appointed treasurer. By August 1870, government patience had worn thin and, when troops arrived at Fort Garry, Riel and O’Donoghue were forced to flee to the USA. Riel and O’Donoghue had come to a parting of the ways: O’Donoghue saw Riel as too pro-British and compromising, and Riel saw O’Donoghue as more concerned with striking a blow against Britain than sincerely working to alleviate the plight of the Métis.
The Invasion of Canada
O’Donoghue devised a plan to seek American support to invade Canada and combine forces with the Métis against the larger British Confederation. In late 1870, O’Donoghue took his plans to Washington, DC, where he received a hearing before the US Senate and an audience with President Ulysses S. Grant on January 28, 1871, but neither made any promises regarding his proposals for assistance.
O’Donoghue next turned to the Fenian Brotherhood in New York. There he met with Fenian leaders John C. O’Neill, the hero of the Battle of Ridgway, and Colonel John J. Donnelly. O’Donoghue promised the support of the Métis rebels, O’Neill offered the Fenian army, and they believed their combined forces would succeed in liberating Manitoba.
O’Neill and Donnelly agreed to assist in presenting it to the Fenian Council, of which O’Neill was a member. The council was not thrilled with the idea of another invasion and politely refused.
They were, however, able to work out a compromise: The Council promised to provide funds and the necessary arms. In addition, they would not publicly denounce O’Neill or the raid.
The plan was to invade from North Dakota, declare a republic, and hope that the Métis and numerous Irish veterans of the US Civil War would join the cause. O’Neill and O’Donoghue then went to St. Paul, Minnesota to enlist the aid of workers sympathetic to his cause, and to obtain a promised 250 Springfield rifles, courtesy of O’Neil’s fellow Fenian, Henri Le Caron.
Remarkably, O’Neill was unaware that Le Caron was a British spy who had infiltrated the Fenian Brotherhood. Caron promptly passed on details of the conspiracy to Canadian Police.
In the early morning of October 5, 1871, O’Neill, O’Donoghue, Donnelly and about thirty-five other men crossed the Red River from Minnesota into Rupert’s Land and captured the Custom House at Pembina, Manitoba, as well as the nearby HBC trading post, taking 20 hostages. Their hopes of joining forces with Louis Riel’s Métis came to nothing; Louis Riel had disavowed them. The Métis cavalry and volunteers from the Red River Colony turned out against them.
Unknown to O’Neill and O’Donoghue, shortly before this invasion took place, the United States and Canadian governments had redrawn the border between their respective nations. Pembina was now one mile south of the Canadian border and firmly within the bounds of the United States. The invaders had used forty men to invade abandoned buildings within the United States.
The U.S. Cavalry promptly liberated Pembina and the Métis captured O’Donoghue and Donnelly, turning them over to American authorities. O’Neill made a run for it but was soon arrested by American law officers.
None of them, however, were ever convicted of a crime. No causalities resulted.
Fenian Raids
The Fenian raids took place at a time of growing concern over the threat posed by American military and economic might. This led to increased support for Confederation, which led to Canada becoming an independent country. Fear of Fenian attack plagued the Lower Mainland of British Columbia during the 1880s, as the Fenian Brotherhood was active in both Washington and Oregon, but no raids ever materialized.
In 1885, Louis Riel lead another rebellion, the North-West Rebellion. He was executed for treason on November 6, 1885. Today Riel is recognized as the “Father of Manitoba.”
William Bernard O’Donoghue became a teacher in Rosemount, Minnesota, but died in poverty of tuberculosis in St. Paul on March 16, 1878, at age 43. He is buried in old St Joseph’s Cemetery, in Rosemount, the cost of the burial and headstone being borne by his American friends.
Read more of Mike’s Illuminations Columns HERE
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*J. Michael Finn is the Ohio State Historian for the Ancient Order of Hibernians and Division Historian for the Patrick Pearse Division in Columbus, Ohio. He is also past Chairman and Life Member of the Catholic Record Society for the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio. He writes on Irish and Irish-American history; Ohio history and Ohio Catholic history. You may contact him at [email protected]
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