British Spies Among Fenians
British and Canadian officials took the threat posed by the Fenians seriously and directed that spies originally planted to monitor Confederate sympathizers in the northern United States shift their attention to the Fenians. In November 1865, a small number of militia were called out to garrison points in Canada West, or modern-day Ontario, including Sarnia, Windsor, Niagara, and Prescott.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Fenian-raids
From the London Times, Sept. 18, 1865
The Irish Government has at last recognized the existence of the Fenians by an act of politic vigor. At 9 o'clock on Friday night a large force of police was dispatched from Dublin Castle to Parliament Street, where they divided into two bodies and blockaded both ends of the street. Admission was then demanded at the office of the Irish People, the organ of the Fenian Brotherhood, but no response was given, upon which a detachment of constables was sent to guard the back entrance of the house, and the door was broken in. Ten persons, including the proprietor, were made prisoners and carried, under a strong escort, to the College-street police station, the police remaining in possession of the premises. Two men were suddenly arrested as they were following behind in the crowd, and others were taken into custody during the night or in the course of Saturday. The coup was entirely unexpected, and the resolution upon which the warrant was issued had been taken by the Privy Council, after anxious deliberation, but an hour or two before. To this promptitude its complete success was, no doubt, mainly due. No resistance was offered, and the only one who protested was a man named MURPHY, who described himself as an American citizen, and stated that he should invoke the protection of Mr. SEWARD.
WORLD'S WORST SECRET ORGANIZATION
At the 1865 convention the Fenian Council named former Nashville resident Thomas J. Kelly as military representative to Ireland. By 1866 the militant Kelly had replaced Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood founder James Stephens as “Acting Chief of the Irish Republic." In that same year, a militant branch of the Fenians devised an ambitious plan to capture and hold hostage Canadian territory to force the British to free Ireland. Fenians massed along the Canadian border. On June 1 forces including Nashville's Thirteenth Regiment, led by Nashvillian John O'Neill, crossed into Canada and captured Fort Erie. The next day O'Neill's troops won a minor skirmish at the battle of Ridgeway. Nevertheless, the bold Fenian plan failed, and following days of indecision, President Andrew Johnson issued orders to arrest the Fenians. O'Neill's minor success catapulted him to national prominence as head of the Center of the Fenian Brotherhood. In 1870 O'Neill attempted a second attack on Canada. That failure forced O'Neill's resignation, and he led an Irish-American settlement to Nebraska.
https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/fenians-in-tennessee/
Thomas Billis Beach, AKA “Henri Le Caron", born in Colchester, England, moved as a young man to Paris and then to the US where he joined the Union Army – rising to the rank of lieutenant and heading up a scout unit in the Civil War. After the war, Le Caron renewed his friendship with Thomas O'Neil, whom he had met during his wartime service. Le Caron thus begat a 25 year long career as a British spy reporting and thwarting the efforts of the Fenian Brotherhood, and later the Clan na Gael, another militant Irish revolutionary organization. He was 'commissioned' as a Major in the Fenian ranks on 60 dollars salary a month and $7 per diem expenses. He was subsequently promoted to Colonel and became the Inspector General of the Fenian Brotherhood, then Brigadier and Adjutant-General while all the time feeding information back to England and also to the Canadian authorities about Fenian activity including the Fenian "invasions" of Canada in the 1860s and 70s. The invasions failed miserably in part due to the information passed by Le Caron. At one stage every document issued from the Irish Brotherhood organization was passed by Le Caron to his handler in England. Le Caron, Henri. Twenty-Five Years in the Secret Service: The Recollections of a Spy (p. 55). Admon Military History Publishing. Kindle Edition British Secret service has continued to penetrate Irish Secret Revolutionary societies down to the present day. See “Say Nothing: A True Story Of Murder and Memory In Northern Ireland ", Patrick Radden Keef, 2019
As for my stage play, I took artistic liberty regarding the role of Thomas D. Doran, pilot of the “GA Thompson" steamship where Thomas Francis Meagher spent his last night on earth, but I smell a rat. If I am wrong, I will settle up on the other side.
TIMELINE
APRIL 1866 – FIRST FENIAN RAID CAMPABELLO, CANDADA, LED BY JOHN O'MAHONEY AND 700 FENIANS – BRITISH MAN OF WAR WITH 800 BRITISH REGULAR TROOPS WAITING FOR O'MAHONEY.
APRIL 6, 1866 ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS UNDER BRITISH COMMANDER DOYLE WITH 700 REGULAR BRITISH TROOPS CONFRONT AND DISPERSE FENIAN RAIDERS. BRITISH ALWAYS ONE STEP AHEAD.
1867 - British North America Act, also called Constitution Act, the act of Parliament of the United Kingdom by which in 1867 three British colonies in North America—Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada—were united as “one Dominion under the name of Canada" The threat the irregular Fenian armies posed to British North America took place at a time of growing concern [by Canadian authorities] over the threat posed by American military and economic might. This confluence of events led to increased support among British and Canadian officials for Confederation. The end result was the formation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867. (See also Editorial: Confederation, 1867.)
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fenian-raids
British North America Act divided the province of Canada into the provinces of Quebec and Ontario and provided them with constitutions. The act served as Canada's “constitution" until 1982.
https://www.britannica.com/event/British-North-America-Act
None of the Fenian leaders had ever led a rebellion in Ireland. None were as decorated as the leader of
the Irish Brigade during the American Civil War. The “street cred" that TFM possessed probably led to
his early death. It is interesting that the fear of Thomas Francis Meagher in 1867 may have contributed