Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1870-06-10
NUMBER H..
O'NciII.


he II skntefSfewed gain
Burlington, VT, Correspondence OF the Toronto
Telegraph.
/ arrived here last uigls. and In.
terviewed General O'Neili is iail
this morning. He is heavily built
man, OF middle aye, with red tiluus~
tache and whiskers, aud dark hair
sprinkled with gray. He was in
citizens dress, and received me-
cordially and spoke freely. 1 repre-
sented myself as being connected
with an American paper, aud the
following conversation ensued:
Reporter. General, mauy people
accuse you Of purposely getting Your
self arrested by Marshal Foster. III
you have any explanation to make, T
shall be glad TO lay your statement
before the public.
General O'Neill. There Is no truth
whatever In the story, NV arrest
took place as follows: After the
Skirmish line had fallen back, went
on to the hill To rally my men, who
were behaving quite disorderly. I
saw there was no use attempting to
storm the enemy's position In front,
and determined on u flank move-
ment, but the men on the hill were
not tile material to accomplish it,
being completely demoralized.
sent back for between $50 aud 200 OF
my men from New York. upon
whom | could depend, who had lust
arrived ut headquarters, one mile in
rear. There was considerable delay
In bringing them up, go ] went back
To hurry them on, accom- anied by
Boyle OReiily, reporter of the Bos-
ton Pilot, when, perhaps q" arter OF
a mile To tie rear, was met Ivy Gem
eral Foster, Deputy Marshal Farley,
ana posse OF citizens. who arrested
me, placed me IN hack, aud drove
me back to st. Albans. / handed
over the command of the men on the
hill to Boyle O'Reilly. General
Donneliy was my second In com
mand of the entire forces. The force
which advanced on the road was
simply skirmish line. There was
no intention to attact the enemy'a
| position In the front until we had
learned their strength. The idea
was To draw their fire, ascertain tn 4ir
strength, aud be guided accordingly.
There Was no flight, simply the fall
ing back of the skirmish line. I
fully expected on Tuesday morning
To have found between 500 and l.
to0 men on the ground, instt nd OF
which there were ouly sixty.tive.
Reporter. What was your plan Of
campaign?
General O'Neill You will readily
see that, for obvious reasons, it would
not Ice prudent To divulge any details.
My Intention was to take position
on the Canadian side, and bad good
reason To believe that had we once
established "A base of operations there,
thousands, both nf our countrymeti
ami Americans, would have come to
our aid. i wanted To form base of
operations on the Canadian soil be-
fore the United States authorities had
time To interfere. Everything de-
pended upon the start, but we were
disappoiuted in that.
Reporter. Had you any eSpeeta.
tiou of assistance from Canadians?
General. Yes. sir, had the assur-
nnce of aid from our country men and
Others In Canada, when once we
should have established ourselves
there. ....# ...
Reporter. suppose you intend
to make another attempt. What are
your plans for the future?
General. | should prefer not say.
ing anything on that point, shall
In few days issue an address, de-
Tending my position In connection
| with Feninnisni, and giving correct
statement OF the circumstances i'm
connection with my arrest. The ac~
counts of the battle and my arrest
published I'm the New York papers
are entirely false.
Reporter. How about Red River?
General. We intend To make u
movement In that direction-which
IL all can tell you | am In hopes
tile Red River column will redeem
our Ill success I'm this country. .s
Reporter. suppose the present
movement may be considered over?
O'Neill. Yes fancy 80, IA far IA
the vicinity Of Malone aud st. AL
bans Is concerned.
Reporter. You have not lost heart
or hope I'm the couse?
General. No, sir; the cause is
good and cannot lie.
Reporter Great evil appears to be
the dissension among the officers.
When | was at Malone yesterday,
nobody seemed to know who was in
command?
General. That arose from my ar
rest and General Donnelly wounded.
| meant to have sent him To COM
mand the force In that direction.
Reporter. Good morning. Ger.
erai. L hope to see you at liberty
soon.