Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-06

having escaped from prison, arrived in
New York, and his arrival was the oc-
casion of something like a reconciliation
etween the two factions, whose animos-
tiles had been accentuated by the fail
ure of the Calnpobello attempt. Steph-
ems himself is said to have been opposed
to mother border raid. but Roberts, the
ieader of the anti-O'Mahoney faction,
now triumphant in the councils of the
Brotherhood was determined on such a
plan. Neither their own discussions nor
the seizure of more thar 1000 rifles by
the United States government could turn
them from their purpose. The Fenians
from many states assembled and held a
secret convention at Buffalo,, and from
Buffalo disquieting rumors of a Fenian
invasion crossed the Canadian border.
Between the middle of May and the end
of that month there was great military
activity in Canada. Reinforcements of
regulars, sent from England, had al
ready reached the Dominion, and all
along the Niaraga river n the borders
attachments were ready to resist the in
vaders. On May 81, however, when Col
onel O'Neil, the officer selected by Cen
eral' Sweeney, of the Brotherhood, to
carry out this enterprise, crossed the riv-
er at Buffalo, he found FORT Erie, on the
British side, unoccupied. The numbers
of the force which actually landed on
Canadian soil nave been ~variously esti-
mated. They probably did not exceed 900.
For more than a day and night O'Neips
little army ranged about the neighbour
hoood of Fort Erie, and it is said to the
the credit Of their leader that while they
foraged upon the inha bitants, after the
manner of regular invaders, their con-
duct was generally free from excuses.
The actual collision did not take place
until Tune 2, when the Queens w vol
unteers, from Toronto, and the Hamilton
~ tl;k;o ~11A 49, O-- -a-- A. No.
of Ridgeway. Details of the battle are
not plentiful in history. The losses on
the British side were put down at 9 killed
and 80 wounded. and they retired upon
Ridgeway M Port Colborne. A Cana
dian tradition says that a volunteer
bugler sounded the retreat by mistake.
At the same time it is certain that a large
number of Fenians We're taken prisoners
by the Canadian troops. If the defenders
of the Dominion retreated, SO did the in
vaders. Falling back on Fort Erie,
O'Neil found that General Grant, having
arrived at Buffalo that day, had prompt
~ stopped the forwarding of supplies to
the Fenian army across the river. Moth
ing was left for them but to get out of
Canadian territory as quickly as posi-
BILE, which they attempted to do. though
700 of the entire force were cut off by
the United States gunboat Michigan.
General Barry, to HON had been as
signed by Grant the guarding of the from
tier on this side, exacted from a large
number of his Fenian prisoners their
parole ito abandon our expedition
against Canada, desist from any VIOLA
ton Of the neutrality avs of the Uni
ted States, and return Immediately to our
respective homes" The number of whom
this parole was taken must have includ-
ed hundreds who had not succeeded in
crossing the Niagara river.
Two weeks later a proclamation was is
sued in Buffalo signed IN. w. Burns,
%brigadier general commanding Irish army
at Buffalo," requesting the brothers" to
return to their homes. This proclama-
ton bears witness that 1.-THE extreme
vigilance Of the government of the Uni
ted States frustrated u plans. 1t was
the United States and not England that
impeded our onward march to freedom"
But in the meantime otner alarms OF
Fenian invasion had disturbed the Cam
adian frontier. These We're mostly ex-
aggerated, if not altogether ~groundless.
On June Z the Feniani general, Sweeney,
was arrested at st. Adams, VT, from
which place, already memorable for a
raid made upon it from Canada by
confederates during the civil war, it had
been intended to make descent in some
force. The Fenian army, it seems, had
actually crossed the frontier, but upon
he arrest of their general and the APP
proach of a considerable body of Cana
dian volunteers they retired.
After this~Fenian raiding of Canada
languished. O'Neil himself made two
lower Canada, the other in the following
year on Manitoba. Iii the latter case
the vigilance of the United States gov