XV.
At this time I was out West, and receiving a telegram from O’Neill, directing me to meet him in Buffalo, I hurried thither without delay. I reached that city only to find that O’Neill had ordered an immediate movement on Canada, and that, as he phrased it, “no power on earth could stop it.” This condition of things startled and surprised me. His determination in the way of immediate action was opposed to the decision of the last council of war, and my chiefs in Canada would, I feared, be quite unprepared. I at once telegraphed the authorities at Ottawa, and was soon in personal communication with their trusted agents in Buffalo. Fortunately, as matters turned out, the plan of action was the same as decided upon at the last council of war, the full details of which the authorities possessed; and so the situation was not so complex as I had at first feared.
The next few days were busy ones. All military commanders were ordered to report at given points with their commands; instructions were issued for the placement of arms by the following Tuesday, at rendezvous near the line at Franklin and Malone, and I was appointed Adjutant-General with the rank of Brigadier-General. We had quick promotion and brave ranks in the Fenian army!
On Saturday, April 22, 1870, O’Neill and I left Buffalo for St. Albans, he full of enthusiasm and the belief that the Canadians would be taken entirely by surprise, I laughing to myself at his coming discomfiture. We arrived at Milton, Vermont, at daylight on the following morning, to find that everything was proceeding most satisfactorily. Prompt action had been taken by those in charge of the munitions of war, and by the following Tuesday morning sufficient war material for our army was ready at the appointed places.
This second and last invasion of Canada differed in many respects from that of 1866. Then the raid was loudly advertised for months before it actually took place. This time everything was different. Secrecy (as it was supposed) covered every move and intention. Had not the Canadian authorities been fully advised, the results, under the circumstances, would have been undoubtedly serious. There was another important feature about this second raid, and that was its preparedness. Matters in connection with the first affair had been of a very happy-go-lucky character. Now the services of a number of ex-military men of undoubted ability had been secured, and war material for at least twelve thousand men was actually on the ground.
O’Neill’s ideas may be set forth in very few words. The chief object he had in view was to obtain possession of Canada, not as the permanent seat of an Irish republic, but as the only vulnerable point of attack—the base for operations against England. His theory was that the Fenians needed the ports and shipyards of the Dominion from which they could despatch privateers to prey upon English shipping. By the possession of territory he anticipated they could claim and obtain the rights of belligerents from the United States. In this event he held the promise of many men, eminent on the side of both North and South during the War of Rebellion, to enroll themselves under the Irish banner, and to command expeditions which it was fondly hoped and expected would wrest Ireland from the hands of the oppressor.
His plan was to get across the boundary line without delay, and then to intrench himself at a point where his small contingent would form the nucleus round which a large army and unlimited support would rally from the United States. Buffalo, Malone, and Franklin were the three points from which attacks were to be made. However, “the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft aglee.” O’Neill expected 1000 men to meet him at Franklin on the night of Tuesday, April 25, 1870. The history of 1866 repeated itself. As was the case then, so now, only a quarter of the number presented themselves. By the following morning only 500 had mustered. Every hour’s delay added to the danger of failure and collapse; and so he feared to postpone the arrangements any longer. I viewed the situation with a good deal of equanimity, for on the previous night all my trusty messengers had departed, carrying full details as to the time, exact points of crossing, numbers, place of operations, &c., to the enemy’s lines.
At eleven o’clock on Wednesday, O’Neill left the Franklin Hotel to place himself at the head of the Fenian army, not without hope and confidence, yet struggling with the disappointing fact that one-half his men had not arrived. His chief anxiety appeared to be that the Canadians would not give him a chance to fight. He misapprehended the situation on this score, however, as subsequent events showed.
Hubbard’s Farm, the Fenian camp and rendezvous, was situated about half a mile from Franklin, and here all the available “invaders” were mustered. Arranging them in line, O’Neill addressed them as follows:—
“Soldiers, this is the advance-guard of the Irish-American army for the liberation of Ireland from the yoke of the oppressor. For your own country you enter that of the enemy. The eyes of your countrymen are upon you. Forward. March.”
And march they did, O’Neill, as he departed at their head, instructing me to bring to his support on their arrival a party of 400 men then en route from St. Albans.