Thomas J . Kelly ( Irish nationalist ) Thomas J . Kelly ( 6 January 1833 – 5 February 1908 ) was an Irish revolutionary and leader of the Irish Republican Brotherhood ( IRB ) . Biography . The son of a farmer , Patrick Kelly , and Margaret Divilly , Thomas Kelly was born in Mountbellew , County Galway , in 1833 . After serving an apprenticeship in the printing trade in Loughrea , he emigrated to the United States in 1851 , where he worked as a printer in New York . In New York he joined the National Guard and received basic military training . He later joined the Emmet Monument Association , an Irish - American Irish republican group . In 1857 , Kelly went to Nashville , Tennessee , where he soon afterwards started the " Nashville Democrat " , which supported the presidential campaign of Stephen A . Douglas in the Presidential election of 1860 . Following the outbreak of the American Civil War , Kelly , a supporter of the Union , was forced to leave Nashville . He enlisted in the 10th Ohio Infantry for three months , and then re - enlisted for an additional three years . He served in Company " C " , where his military knowledge and ability was soon recognised and he was promoted to Sergeant . By the end of the summer of 1861 he was functioning as First Sergeant of Company " C " . Although shot in the jaw at the Battle of Carnifex Ferry in Western Virginia , 10 September 1861 , he volunteered to return to duty before the end of the year . Part of his jaw and three teeth were destroyed by a bullet that lodged in the muscles of the left side of his neck , from which it was removed surgically . It has been suggested that the goatee beard , which appears in all of his pictures was grown to hide what could have been a disfiguring scar . Kelly was commissioned in January 1862 , and later seconded to the staff of Major General George Henry Thomas ( later “ The Rock of Chickamauga " ) of the XIV Corps , United States Army of the Cumberland , as a Signal Officer . He was promoted to Captain on 17 March 1863 , becoming Chief Signal Officer . During this period his regimental commander requested his reassignment back to the 10th Ohio , in order that he might take command of one of the regiment ' s manoeuvre battalions . General Thomas refused the request , writing that he could not spare Kelly from his duties . On 30 April 1863 , Kelly was administratively transferred , on the books of the 10th Ohio from Company " C " to Company " I " , while continuing to serve at XIV Corps Headquarters . General Thomas ' s need for Kelly ' s services was trumped by a new Army regulation requiring that all officers of the Signal Corps have university degrees by the following February . This being the case ( although too late for battalion command ) , Kelly again requested transfer back to his regiment . On 19 August 1863 he was ordered to return to the " Bloody Tenth " as Captain , Company " I " , from which he was mustered out with the rest of the 10th Ohio on 17 June 1864 . After the end of the war , Kelly learned about the establishment of the IRB and later joined the movement in New York . The Fenian Brotherhood later dispatched him to Ireland as an envoy to meet with IRB leader James Stephens . He returned to New York in April 1866 . He became Deputy to Stephens [ the Irish leader of the Fenians ] in May 1866 , and brought about Stephens ' downfall later in the year . After Stephens was deposed as IRB leader in December 1866 , Kelly , as " Deputy Central Organiser of the Irish Republic " , took control of the organisation . Kelly participated in helping Stephens escape from Richmond Jail . He also planned the raid on Chester Castle , scheduled for 11 February 1867 , which proved abortive . Kelly played an important role in the failed Fenian Rising of 1867 and was arrested . He later escaped , and in August 1867 , called a secret IRB convention at Manchester , where he was declared Chief Organiser of the Irish Republic ( COIR ) , in succession to Stephens . Kelly was wanted by the British authorities , and for a time managed to evade capture . But on 11 September 1867 , Kelly , along with Timothy Deasy , was arrested in Manchester for loitering . Though they gave false names , they were soon identified and charged with more serious offences . Seven days later , Kelly and Deasy were being transferred from the courthouse to the county jail on Hyde Road , Manchester , when about thirty supporters attempted to free them . During the attack , a policeman was killed , but Kelly and Deasy managed to escape . Three men arrested in connection with the attack were later executed , and thereafter known as the Manchester Martyrs . Both Kelly and Deasy escaped to the United States and were never recaptured . Kelly later obtained employment in the New York custom - house . He was later associated with the Irish Republican Brotherhood in New York . In 1871 , he was secretary to the committee which welcomed the " Cuba Five " , a group of released Fenian prisoners , to New York . He died at his residence , 31 East 130th St . in New York , on 5 February 1908 . He and his wife , Anna Frances ( née Dunne ) ( May 1860 – September 1913 ) are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery , NY .