Between the raids of 1866 and 1871, General John O'Neill of the Fenian Brotherhood would make a stop in Holyoke on March 13, 1868, as an honored guest of the Brotherhood's unit in that city. With the meeting chaired by builder John Delaney, O'Neill would rally Holyoke's Irish men and women, saying they must be "ready and willing to aid their suffering native land by money and men in its struggle for Irish liberty." In November of 1881, Irish republican John Devoy would make a speech before Holyoke's Fenians, predicting the Easter Rising of World War I, stating "Ireland's opportunity will come when England is engaged in a desperate struggle with some great European power."