Series 12 - Thomas F. Meagher letters

16pp

Arnold Schrier provided transcripts of the Thomas Meagher letters to Kerby A. Miller which he later annotated with notes and punctuation to more accurately reflect the original typography. Miller also created his own transcript for Letter 1. The original manuscripts are held in the Thomas Madigan Collection, New York Public Library [call number MS 3226].

Transcripts of four letters written by Thomas Francis Meagher: an 1851 letter from Tasmania written to fellow Young Irelander Kevin Izod O’Doherty; an 1863 letter written from New York to fellow Young Irelander John Blake Dillon; and two letters written in 1863 and 1865 to his father.
Thomas Francis Meagher (1823–1867) was an Irish nationalist, Union Army officer, and acting governor of Montana Territory. Born in Waterford, Ireland, he became a leading voice in the Young Ireland movement, which sought Irish self-government. After participating in the failed Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848, he was convicted of sedition and sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen’s Land, now Tasmania. He escaped in 1852 and settled in New York City, where he worked as a journalist, studied law, and lectured in support of Irish causes.
During the American Civil War, Meagher recruited Irish immigrants to fight for the Union and became a brigadier general, commanding the Irish Brigade in major battles including Antietam and Fredericksburg. The brigade’s heavy losses contributed to his resignation from command in 1863. After the war, Meagher moved west and served as Montana Territory’s secretary and, at times, acting governor. He faced political tensions as the territory grew and sought to strengthen its government. Meagher drowned in the Missouri River on 1 July 1867, after falling from a steamboat near Fort Benton; his body was never recovered, and the circumstances remain disputed. Remembered in both Ireland and the United States, he is associated with Irish nationalism, the Irish Brigade, and the introduction of the Irish tricolour.