The Immortal Irishman

  Davis first quote, from his essay “The Library of Ireland,” cited in ibid.

  Smith O’Brien speech, from Memoirs.

  Duffy recollections on first meeting TFM, from Four Years of Irish History, 1845–1849 by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., 1883.

  Death of Davis, ibid., and from Memoirs.

  Jane Elgee (Speranza) disguised as a man, from Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  Speranza quotes on TFM, and poetry in general, from Mother of Oscar: The life of Jane Francesca Wilde by Joy Melville, Allison and Busby, 1999.

  One acre could feed a family, from author visit to Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut.

  Types of potatoes grown, from St. Mary’s Famine History Museum, www.faminemuseum.com.

  What will happen to Ireland, question on first notice of potato failure, from Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger.

  Lord Mounteagle “alarming” report, ibid.

  Frederick Douglass, from “The Black O’Connell” by Christine Kinealy, Irish America, October/November 2013, and from “Frederick Douglass’s Irish Liberty” by Tom Chaffin, New York Times, February 2, 2011.

  Prime Minister Peel ousted, from The Great Shame: The Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World by Thomas Keneally, Anchor Books, 2000.

  Peel “cordially detested” the Irish, from Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger.

  Meagher witnessed ships leaving under armed transport, from Memoirs.

  Death of Thomas Davis, from Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  Meagher speech on Davis, from The Life and Times of Thomas Francis Meagher by P. J. Smyth, The Irishman Office, 1867.

  Arthur Griffith quote, from the book he edited, Meagher of the Sword.

  Davis quote, ibid.

  Conversation between Meagher and O’Connell, at his home, from an undated letter by TFM on file at Montana Historical Society.

  Father Mathew quote, from Paddy’s Lament by Thomas Gallagher, Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1982.

  Alexis de Tocqueville quote, ibid.

  Mitchel on famine, and Brits, from The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps) by John Mitchel, University College Dublin Press, 2005, first published in 1858.

  Meagher “savagery” quote, from Memoirs.

  Speranza poem, from Melville, Mother of Oscar.

  O’Doherty writing on hunger scenes he witnessed, cited in Heart of Exile by Patsy Adam-Smith, Nelson Publishers, 1986.

  Riot in Cork, from the Cork Examiner, September 30, 1846.

  Deaths at Skibbereen workhouse, from Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger.

  Quaker relief, and Routh taking issue with Trevelyan, ibid.

  1846 crop biggest ever, from Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  Landlord quote, “what the devil,” as reported in the Freeman’s Journal, July 1846.

  Poem on hunger, from the Nation, November 8, 1846.

  Trevelyan on famine being God’s will, from letter of Charles Edward Trevelyan to Lord Mounteagle, October 9, 1846. Thanks to the National Library of Ireland, which has a copy on file, author visit. “Do not encourage,” from Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger.

  Brits wouldn’t keep mortality count, from author interview with Dr. Christine Kinealy, professor of Irish Studies at Quinnipiac University and founding director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute.

  Mitchel quote on “surplus” and Skibbereen, from Mitchel, The Last Conquest.

  Mitchel meets Meagher, from Smyth, The Life and Times of Thomas Francis Meagher.

  Mitchel quotes on first meeting Meagher, from Lyons, Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher.

  Duffy arrested, from Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  Meagher’s sword speech, from Memoirs.

  Reaction to speech, from Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  CHAPTER 4: PITCHFORK PADDIES

  Conditions in workhouses, and notations, from copies seen by author on visit to Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University.

  Protestant soup kitchen and “soupers,” from Irish Miscellany by Dermot McEvoy, Skyhorse Publishing, 2015.

  Soyer’s recipe for soup, and Lancet, from Gallagher, Paddy’s Lament.

  Soup kitchen picture, from the Illustrated London News, April 17, 1847.

  Prime Minister Russell closing of soup kitchens, and “cannot feed the people,” from author interview with Professor Christine Kinealy.

  “Hardly been decent,” from Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger.

  Speranza poem, from Memoirs.

  Coercion law, crime to be outside, from preface to Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  Doctor stopped by curfew, as quoted in Memoirs.

  Speranza’s feelings on love, from Melville, Mother of Oscar.

  TFM’s home in Waterford, from Memoirs. Not voting for his father, from Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  Speech on “burning black field,” ibid.

  Death rate of 5,000 a day, from the Nation, quoted in Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  Bennett quote on famine, from “Transactions of the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends,” March 16, 1847, National Library of Ireland, http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/the-widows-mite-private-relief-during-the-great-famine/.

  Speech on exports, January 13, 1847, from Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  Song based on ban of shamrock, from Irish America, April/May 2014.

  Clarendon letters to Russell, May 1847, from Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger.

  Death of 400,000, from Christine Kinealy, cited in interview in Irish America, June/July 2012.

  Death of O’Connell, from Liberator: The Life and Death of Daniel O’Connell by Patrick Geoghegan, Gill and Macmillan, 2010.

  Meagher, others attacked, TFM nearly stabbed, from Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  Information on Balfe the spy, from “Irish Plots with a Tassie Twist” by Leon O’Donnell, in the Mercury (Tasmania), www.mercurynie.com/au/print_museum/editors.htm, and from Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, Spring 1969.

  Meagher letter to Duffy, dated fall of 1847, in Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  Emigration figures, from Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger, and from Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America by Kerby A. Miller, Oxford University Press, 1985.

  Orphan girls sent to Australia, Trevelyan comment, from “Lost Children? Irish Famine Orphans in Australia” by Trevor McClaughlin, History Ireland, Winter 2000.

  Storming of Tipperary, Donegal, etc., from Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  TFM speech in early 1848, “be bold,” from Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  Letter to Smith O’Brien, “fix at once the fate of Ireland,” from Memoirs.

  Revolts in France, Sicily, from The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, 2011.

  O’Brien and Meagher speeches at Music Hall, March 15, from Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  Balfe the spy, from “John Donnellan Balfe and 1848: A Note on a Confederate Informer” by Takashi Koseki, Saothar 23 (1998).

  Thomas warned by his father in London, from TFM’s account of the uprising in the Waterford Chronicle, February 15, 1851.

  Experience in France, and Brits intervening, from Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  Beggar in Paris comment, “all drunks,” from Memoirs.

  Advance of British warships, from Woodham Smith, The Great Hunger.

  Speranza at Music Hall, from Memoirs. The witness was Michael Cavanagh.

  Flag quote, ibid.

  Lone Catholic on Meagher’s jury, and the quote, ibid.

  Mitchel trial, etc., and journal, from Jail Journal by John Mitchel, University Press of Ireland, 1982.

  Meagher’s reaction to Mitchel sentencing, from Memoirs.

  Meagher at home, details of the conversation with his father, from Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  Arrest of
Meagher at home, and the near riot, from Memoirs.

  TFM at Slievenamon, speech from Memoirs.

  Last days of TFM in Waterford, from “A Personal Narrative of 1848,” in Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  CHAPTER 5: THE MEANEST BEGGAR IN THE WORLD

  Moving in the shadows, reaction to suspension of habeas corpus, quotes to Smyth, all from TFM’s “A Personal Narrative,” in Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  Young Ireland last days, from The Young Ireland Rebellion in Limerick by Laurence Fenton, Mercier Press, 2010.

  TFM’s movements, from his account in Memoirs.

  “What a hurry we were in,” from Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  Smith O’Brien at Ballingarry, from eyewitnesses, cited in Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  Speranza quote, from Melville, Mother of Oscar.

  Speranza, “Jacta Alea Est,” from the Nation, July 29, 1848.

  Smith O’Brien betrayed by Balfe, cited in Duffy, Four Years of Irish History.

  Rock of Cashel description, from author visit to the site. (Well worth it!)

  Meagher’s last days on the run, including negotiations, and arrest, from a narrative in the Freeman’s Journal, November 14, 1848. Another account, which backs this one, is “The Final Days of Meagher’s Irish Uprising” by William Nolan, in Thomas Francis Meagher: The Making of an Irish American, edited by John M. Hearne and Rory T. Cornish, Irish Academic Press, 2006.

  Rotten potatoes, from Michael Doheny’s unpublished memoir, on file at the National Library of Ireland.

  Kilmainham Gaol details, from author visit and private tour of the prison in Dublin. Additional details from A History of Kilmainham Gaol, published by Ireland’s Office of Public Works, 1995.

  Visit of Meagher’s father, working on a deal, from “The Social Origins and Family Connections of Thomas Francis Meagher” by J. Mannion, Decies 59 (2003).

  Meagher on regrets, from Memoirs.

  Smith O’Brien comments at trial, and order of trials, ibid.

  Meagher at trial, ibid.

  Speranza visits, from Melville, Mother of Oscar.

  Meagher trial, sergeant’s testimony, from Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  Speranza came to see him, from Melville, Mother of Oscar.

  Meagher on Saturday night of verdict, from the Nation, no date, reprinted in Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  TFM letter to Waterford friend, November 9, 1848, at the National Library of Ireland.

  Speranza and Duffy, from Melville, Mother of Oscar.

  Speranza and Oscar Wilde, etc., from “Speranza, the Hope of the Irish Nation” by Christine Kinealy, paper presented in 2008, later revised and published in the Oscholars Library, www.oscholars.com/TO/Appendix/Library/Speranza1.htm.

  Global pressure to pardon prisoners, from William Smith O’Brien and His Irish Revolutionary Companions in Penal Exile by Blanche M. Touhill, University of Missouri Press, 1981.

  Smyth visit, observations, from Smyth, The Life and Times of Thomas Francis Meagher.

  Description of Meagher in jail, from an undated piece in the Dublin Nation, quoted in Lyons, Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher.

  Plot to rescue them, ibid. Lyons claims that he was a participant in the ill-fated rescue.

  Commutation, from Duffy, Four Years of Irish History, and from Memoirs.

  Letter to Dillon, undated except year, 1848, courtesy National Library of Ireland.

  Sentence commuted, from Memoirs.

  Last letter, ibid.

  John Lennon family, from Tune In: The Beatles, All These Years, Volume 1, by Mark Lewisohn, Crown Archetype, 2013.

  Final farewell, Smith O’Brien crying, off Waterford, from Memoirs.

  CHAPTER 6: ISLAND OF THE DAMNED

  Description of the journey to Tasmania, from Smith O’Brien’s letters and MacManus’s journal, both quoted in various issues of the Nation, but primarily from TFM, “Narrative of the Penal Voyage to Tasmania,” a long letter to Duffy written in February 1850 and reprinted in serial form in the Nation.

  Mitchel quote “brave men,” from Mitchel, The Last Conquest.

  Meagher poem, from Young Ireland in Exile by Reverend J. H. Cullen, Talbot Press, 1928.

  Homesick, daydreaming, from TFM, “Recollections of Waterford,” in Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  Figures on emigration. The numbers vary, but this one—1. 8 million to North America—is from a scholar on exiles, Kerby A. Miller. All emigration figures used here are from his book Emigrants and Exiles.

  17,000 died in the crossing, from Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger.

  African slave death rate, from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/index.faces.

  “The smallest nail,” etc., from Miller, Emigrants and Exiles.

  Number of Irish slaves sent to Barbados, from To Hell or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland by Sean O’Callaghan, Brandon, 2000.

  Mitchel quote, “the sun never sets,” from Mitchel, Jail Journal.

  Cape Town, plans to go ashore quashed, from Smith O’Brien journal, 1849, cited in Touhill, William Smith O’Brien.

  First fleet, and quote by Robert Hughes, from his book Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia’s Founding, Alfred A. Knopf, 1986.

  Bad reputation of Van Diemen’s Land, and quote from Lake Sorell, ibid.

  Between hell and earth quote, from The Irish in Australia by James Francis Hogan, Robertson & Co., 1888.

  Earl Grey and Denison, ticket-of-leave and gentlemanly oblivion, from an Irish website devoted to the history of all exiles and emigrants, http://www.from-ireland.net/.

  TFM descriptions of the island, from “Narrative of the Penal Voyage to Tasmania,” letter to Duffy, later published in the Nation.

  TFM descriptions of Campbell Town and Ross, ibid.

  TFM quote on Ireland, “I am with her still,” from Cullen, Young Ireland in Exile.

  TFM depressed, no future, letter to O’Brien, December 16, 1849, from William Smith O’Brien Papers, National Library of Ireland.

  Meagher, recounting the depth of his depression and how he had changed, letter to O’Doherty, January 2, 1851, from Cullen, Young Ireland in Exile.

  “My books, my pen and my horse,” letter from TFM to Smith O’Brien, May 11, 1850, William Smith O’Brien Papers, National Library of Ireland.

  Meagher’s willful delusions, from speech Meagher gave on St. Patrick’s Day, 1866, in Virginia City, Montana. Reprinted in Lectures of Gov. Thomas Francis Meagher in Montana.

  Mitchel’s fate at sea, from Jail Journal.

  Smith O’Brien, failing health, from To Solitude Consigned: The Tasmanian Journal of William Smith O’Brien, Crossy Press, 1955.

  Smith O’Brien quote, ibid.

  Meeting at the bridge, from Griffith, Meagher of the Sword.

  O’Donoghue on vices, from letter to his wife, printed in the Nation, April 27, 1850. His sexual romp, Martin to O’Doherty letters, National Library of Ireland.

  Meeting on the bridge, from The Irish Exiles in Australia by Thomas J. Kiernan, Clonmore and Reynold, 1954.

  Smith O’Brien and the teenage girl, from Keneally, The Great Shame.

  New Yorkers help, from the New York Tribune, October 12, 1850.

  Millard Fillmore appeals to Brits and says prisoners welcome in U.S., from “Men of Honour? The Escape of the Young Irelanders from Van Diemen’s Land” by Stefan Petrow, Journal of Australian Colonial History 7 (2005). Professor Petrow was most kind in sending me his scholarship on the Young Irelanders down under.

  Smith O’Brien’s escape, from a story in the Limerick Chronicle, undated except 1850, and a reprinting of the transcript of a court hearing on the escape that first ran in a Hobart paper, the Irish Exile. Additional details from Cullen, Young Ireland in Exile.

  Smith O’Brien letter on depression, and Governor Denison’s feelings after the thwarted escape, from Adam-Smith, Heart of Exile.

  CHAPTER 7: THE TRAITOR OF TASMANIA
>
  Balfe, from Judas in Tasmania by Stefan Petrow, Crossing Press, 1995.

  Meagher, typical day at Lake Sorell, and his life without purpose, from an undated letter (though several references indicate that it’s early 1851) to Colman O’Loghlen, quoted in Adam-Smith, Heart of Exile.

  Meagher Sr. scolding son on Smith O’Brien escape, from Touhill, William Smith O’Brien.

  Meagher meeting Dr. Hall and Catherine, the dialogue, from The Life and Times of Thomas Francis Meagher by Reg. A. Watson, Anglo-Saxon-Keltic Society, 1988.

  Mitchel, first diary entry on hearing news of being sent to Van Diemen’s Land, February 13, 1850, Jail Journal.

  Mitchel’s description of the place, March 8, 1850, ibid.

  Mitchel’s description of the population, April 30, 1850, ibid.

  Reunion, from Mitchel diary entry, April 15, 1850, ibid.

  Mitchel’s description of flora and fauna being foreign, July 30, 1851, ibid.

  TFM leading “The Bells of Shandon,” from Cullen, Young Ireland in Exile.

  Harsh sentence of the three, and O’Doherty warning TFM, ibid.

  Balfe ghostwriting, and his job as deputy comptroller, from Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3 (1969).

  Balfe’s secret uncovered, from undated letter from O’Donoghue to Meagher, Montana Historical Society.

  Meagher outs Balfe in a series of letters. Fascinating. This has been overlooked by many scholars of Young Ireland. I found the evidence in three sources: the quote from Meagher in his role as Virginius is from the Launceston Examiner (Tasmania), December 7, 1864, recounting the whole affair; in Touhill’s William Smith O’Brien; and in a book published in 1885, a memoir by a Tasmanian newspaper editor, Henry Button, Flotsam and Jetsam, in which Button says he was “personally aware” that TFM was Virginius, http://archive.org/stream/flotsamjetsamflo00buttiala/flotsamjetsamflo00buttiala_djvu.txt.

  Duffy starting to piece it together, from O’Donnell, “Irish Plots with a Tassie Twist.”

  Meagher quote on Balfe and Tara Hill, from Petrow, Judas in Tasmania.

  TFM and Bennie, from Kiernan, The Irish Exiles in Australia.

  Smith O’Brien journal disapproval, from his journal, National Library of Ireland.

  Martin disapproves, from Watson, The Life and Times of Thomas Francis Meagher.