Thomas Francis Meagher

Thomas Francis Meagher , 1823-67, Irish revolutionary and Union general in the American Civil War, b. Waterford, Ireland. A leader of the Young Ireland movement, he was arrested and condemned to death for his part in the abortive rebellion of 1848, but the sentence was commuted to penal servitude in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). Escaping, he went to New York City in 1852, practiced law, and edited the Irish News. In the Civil War, Meagher fought at the first battle of Bull Run with the famous 69th Regiment and organized (1861-62) the Irish Brigade of New York. His brigade was eventually decimated in fighting with the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsular campaign through Chancellorsville, and Meagher resigned (1863) as brigadier general of volunteers. His resignation was soon canceled, and at the end of the war he was serving under General Sherman. He was appointed secretary of Montana Territory in 1865 and served as temporary governor, but his rule was unpopular. He drowned in the Missouri River near Fort Benton while awaiting a shipment of weapons for the Montana militia. His Speeches on the Legislative Independence of Ireland was published in 1853.

Bibliography: See biography by R. G. Athearn (1949); P. J. Jones, The Irish Brigade (1969).

Meagher, Thomas Francis ˈmähər (1823–67) Union army officer, born in Waterford, Ireland. He raised the famed Irish Brigade, which he commanded during the Peninsular campaign and at Second Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg (all 1862). When denied replacements for casualties suffered in the last encounter, Meagher resigned his commission (1863) but later accepted an appointment as a military administrator. During the last year of the conflict he assisted with the military occupation of Savannah, Georgia. After the war he served as acting territorial governor of Montana until his death by drowning.

As an Irish nationalist who advocated violent overthrow of the British, Meagher was convicted of high treason and condemned to death in 1848. The following year his sentence was commuted and he was banished for life to Tasmania. He escaped in 1852 and made his way to New York City.

Meagher, Thomas Francis (1823–67), Young Irelander. The son of a merchant in Waterford, his attack on Daniel O'Connell's peace resolutions in 1846 earned him the title ‘Meagher of the Sword’. A member of the war council of the Irish Confederation, he was transported to Tasmania, but escaped in 1852. He became a journalist in New York, and commanded the pro‐Union Irish Brigade during the American Civil War. He was appointed temporary governor of Montana territory in 1866, but was drowned in the Missouri the following year.

Peter Gray