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Show MONTANA'S MONUMENT TO MEAGHER'S MEMORY Patriotic Demonstration Attending the Unveiling Un-veiling of Equestrian Statue of Meagher at Helena. (Special Correspondence'.) ITIflona. Mont.. July 4. A heroic -equestrian bronze statue of General Thomas Francis Meagher, leader of the Irish brigade in the civil war, and i i:. r ecn tary and acting governor of the territory ! Montana, was unveiled in the capitol ground's afternoon "in the presence' of people from all p.irl of the state. Governor ,. K. Toole, Lieuton- I .-.i,t Governor Xnrris and other Montanans partici- parted in the ceremonies. Colonel John F. Finerty ..t Chicago delivered the principal address, paying an eloquent tribute To Meagher and the Irish soldiers sol-diers of the civil war. As Miss Anastasia 0Meara of Butte pulled the ' cord removing the flags around the bronze figure, a tiring squad from the Twenty-fourth United States infantry fired a salute and the audience sar.gr patriotic pat-riotic airs. I The statue was designed by Sculptor Mulligan of Chicago and is pronounced a faithful likeness of the dead general. It is made of bronze, about nviee life-size, weighing about rive tons, and cost ;" vicinity of $10,000. The general sits astride :i charger. Beneath the horse's feet lies a dismantled disman-tled cannon, with broken carriage wheel and ram-' j rod. as though they had been disabled by a shell and were being trampled on by the horse. General Mci.gher siis upon the steed with reins in left hand, while in ihe right is an uplifted sword, the idea being meant to portray his noble charge at the battle of Fredericksburg, where he led the Irish j brigade against the almost impregnable position of I I i ne coinederate army. Un the sides of the granite bae are inscriptions from his noted tribute to the word. as well as extracts from other notable ad-drosses ad-drosses delivered by him in Ireland, Xew York and Montana. July 1. 1867. thirty-eight years and three days ago today. General Meagher fell from a steam- II boat at Fort Benton into the Missouri river and I 'was drowned. His body was never recovered, al though $2,000 reward was offered. His widow still lives at Rye. X. Y., while a son by a former wife is in the Philippines. ' The idea of honoring General Meagher with a statue had long been in j contemplation and in an embryonic state until such men as Senators W. A. Clark and Thomas H. Carter, former Senator T. I C Tower, F. Augustus Heinze. F. Warren Toole, j .1. I). Ryan, J. H. Lynch, P. J. Brophy, John Cap- I lice. Bishop Brondel and William Svallon and hosts I of other well known citizens, not only made lib- 1 rial contributions, but gave the matter their per- I sonal attention, with the result that the necessary j funds were forthcoming, and the statue ordered. : Permission was readily obtained for its erection in Rthe state house grounds. The committee of arrangements who had the affair in hand today consisted of Mayor Purcell, j John J. Gorgan, James A. Walsh. William Stuewe, W. M. Biggs. General C. D. Curtis and Judge Frank P. Sterling. $ The finance committee consisted of - Senator jj Tarter. R. C. Wallace. John J. Clark, Finlay Mc- -- Rae and Joseph L. Callalian. H LIFE OF GEN. THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER. P Born in Waterford, Ireland. , Of the gallant Irish gentlemen who drew sword f in the defense of liberties of their adopted coun- f i 1 ry none occupies a more picturesque place in his- 'y than Thomas Francis Meagher, patriot, sol- j h 'i'-r, orator, journalist, fiery enthusiast, wit, good j '..mpanion and loyal friend. . If . Thomas Francis Meagher, eldest son of Thomas II -Meagher, was born in Waterford, Irelt nd, Aug. 3, 11 Is:.'.'!. His father, a merchant who had made a for- 11 "nie in the Newfoundland trade, had been mayor his city, and represented it in parliament for' i-' veral years. At the age of 9 the boy Thomas I v-;is sent to the Jesuit college of Congowes Wood, I ounty Kildare, where he remained six years, and I "li' ti entered Stonyhurst. college, near Preston. I l'.ngland. also conducted by the Jesuits. Graduated I Ji' -re m 1843, he won every prize offered in the de- paitments of literature and oratory, and spent i feine time in travel on the continent. I When Thomas returned to Ireland Daniel i ( '"Council was at the height of his power and fame. "imp Meagher took no immediate part in the t: ouster meetings of the year save once, when he ; rpf arcd as a speaker at a national meeting at Kilkenny, over which Daniel O'Connell presided, first important speech was made when he was This was delivered at Conciliation hall, in 1'nl lin, Feb. 16, 1846, and attracted the attention t O'Conncll himself. Others took notice of the V'tirig man, and soon after Meagher formed an al-- - nee with William Smith O'Brien, brother to the l arl of Inchiquin, who had become a co-leader v-li O'Conncll in 1844. He soon became one of leaders of the Young Ireland party, whose ob-.i' ob-.i' ' t was to obtain Irish independence by force of niis. and rallied the young men of the "repeal as-t"" as-t"" iatioii' to his standard. -: Meagher Wins Fame. lii 1840 came the change of administration in l-.'.gland. Lord John Russell becoming premier in !ae of Sir Robert Peel. At this time Daniel OVonnel was inclined to ally himself with the ,i,s under the Russell leadership, and winked ai ihe election of Richard Lalor Shiel, a whig, in 1 the borough of Dungarvin. This policy was stren uously opposed by O'Brien and his followers, who f'W-ated a more independent attitude, and de- I'-'-ied any begging of place from the English party. J he tone of the Young Ireland party, Both in prose :hm1 poetrv, was at this time romantic and warlike. i fn'l O'Conncll, who desired to get rid of them as . I i ' l-tructionists. 'is credited with having approved ' j ! famous peace resolutions, which were brought 1" fere a meeting in 'Conciliation hall, declaring in j '-ftvl that under no circumstances would the Trih I People resort to pbygical force, and that the great- ; -! " ' est of sublunary blessings was not worth the shed- ding of a single drop of human blood. j Daniel O'Connell himself was not present when, the resolutions were presented by his son, John O'Connell, who had a feud with the Young Ireland Ire-land party. It was in the debate that followed that Meagher made the speech which won him fame and name, attracted the attention, of statesmen, and writers of Europe and America and caused William Makepeace Thackery, writing for London Punch, to christen him "Meagher of the Sword." - Talks to Lord Mayor. The lord mayor of Dublin was presiding at the meeting when John O'Connell introduced his resolutions. res-olutions. Xo sooner had they been read than Meagher was on his feet and had begun his world-famous world-famous apostrophe to the sword, saying among other things: ".Nor do I believe, my lord, that the use of arms is immoral. The man that will reason, let him be reasoned with, but it is the weaponed hand of the patriot that can alone prevail against battalioned despotism. "Xor do I believe that the King of - Heaven, Lord of Hosts, God of Battles, withholds his benediction bene-diction from those who draw the sword in the hour of a nation's peril. From the evening, when in the valley of Bethulia, he nerved the arm of the Jewish girl to smite the drunken tyrant in his tent, down to this, our own day, when he has blessed the insurgent in-surgent chivalry of the Belgian priest, his almighty hand has ever been stretched forth from his throne of light to consecrate the flag of freedom and bless the patriot sword. . "Be it for defense, my lord, or he it for the assertion as-sertion of a nation's freedom, I hail the sword as a sacred weapon. And if it has sometimes taken the shape of the serpent' and reddened the shroud of the oppressor with too deep a dye, it has at other times, and as often, like the anointed rod of the high priest, blossomed into celestial flowers to deck the freeman's brow. "Abhor the sword! Stigmatize the sword! No, my lord, for amid the cragged passes of the Tyrol, it cut into pieces the banner of the Bavarian and through those rugged hills struck a path to immortality im-mortality for the peasant insurrectionist of Inns-pruck. Inns-pruck. "Abhor the sword! Stigmatize the sword! Ko, my lord, for by the magic of its touch and the quivering quiv-ering of its crimson light a new nation arose from the waters of the Atlantic and the fettered colony became a daring, free republic, prosperous, limit- less, invincible. : "Abhor the sword! Stigmatize ihe sword! Xo, my lord, for it scourged the Dutch invader from the fine old town of Belgium back to his old phle-matic phle-matic swamps and knocked his laws and flag, his scepter and bayonets into the muddy waters of the Sehledt." ' . . Irish Confederation. . As Meagher was proceeding,. John O'Connell interrupted. O'Brien asked that Meagher be permitted per-mitted to finish, but to this O'Connell objected, and after some disturbance the members of the Young Irish party left the hall. Soon after there was formed the Irish confederation, with O'Brien as its chief, and in thi society Meagher, with such men as Colonel Michael Dohony, Thomas d'Arcy McGee, John Mitchell and the late Judge Richard O'Gorman of Xew York worked consistently until 1848. The blight of the potato crop, the subsequent famine and the year of desolation sent a million people to their graves and as many more to seek habitation and life across the seas. Daniel O'Connell. O'Con-nell. old and broken, died in 1847, and the people were hopeless and spiritless. Slung t5 madness, William Smith O'Brien appealed ap-pealed to arms. The rebellion was crushed almost al-most before it had begun. Tn 1S4S Meagher went to Paris with an address to the provisional govern- ment .of Fraoice. from tlie Irish confederation, and on his return he presented the citirens with an Irish tricolor, making a most fiery patriotic address. ad-dress. On March 21 Meagher was arrested, charged with sedition and bailed to appear at the court of the queen's bench. After the passage of the treason-felony act he was arrested again, and in Octo- . ber, 1848, convicted of treason and sentenced to death. So were William Smith O'Brien, Terrence Bellew McManua, Patrick O'Donohue and some other leaders all condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered. These sentences were commuted to banishment and transportation beyond the seas, and Meagher was taken on ' July l849, to Van Dieman's Land, now known as Tasmania. In 1852 he escaped and sought refuge in this country. He had married Miss Bennett of Hobart i Town, Tasmania, and she, unable to accompany I him, went to .his father's home in Waterford, where a son was born to her. She died soon after the birth ef the boy. Meagher Arrives in Am'erioa. Meagher's arrival in this country was welcomed by his compatriots, and he almost immediately started on a lecture tour. He came to Chicago in 1857 and spoke in old Bryan hall, the presiding officer of-ficer of the meeting being the late Colonel James A. Mulligan. In 1855 he had begun the study of law and was interested in the Xew York Irish Xews. which he edited with John Savage, the poet. When Sumter was fired on Meagher abandoned hig profession, orgainzed a company of zouaves and attached them to the Sixty-ninth Xew York regiment, regi-ment, then commanded by Colonel Michael Corcoran. Corco-ran. At the first battle of Bull Run he was acting major of his regiment and his horse was shot under un-der him. When his three months' service had expired ex-pired he returned to Xew York and organized three Irish regiments, the Sixty-ninth, Sixty-third and Eighty-sixth. These, supplemented afterward by the Twenty-eighth Massachusetts and One Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania, became the famous Irish brigade of the army of the Potomac, with Brigadier General Thomas Francis Meagher in command. When the brigade was first completed Meagher offered the command to General James Shields, but the soldier declined, saying: "Meagher, you raised the brigade and you shall have the honor of its command. My country can find another place for me and my sword." 1 In the seven days' battle around Richmond Meagher fought bravely. He was at the second Bull Run and Fredericksburg, being wounded in the leg at the latter place. At'Antietam a second horse was shot under him. After Chancellorsville his brigade had become so decimated that it was a mere battalion, hardly a major's command, and he resigned. In 1S64 he was recomm'issioned brigadier briga-dier general of volunteers and assigned to command com-mand the district of Etowah. In January, 1865, he was relieved from duty in Tennessee and ordered or-dered to report to .General Sherman in Savannah. The close of the war, however, closed his active service and he was mustered out. At Fredericksburg. It was at the battle of Fredericksburg where General Meagher achieved undying fame, he himself him-self being wounded while leading the charge against Marye's heights. The confederates were intrenched behind a long stone wall and on heights crowned with artillery, and were enabled to repulse the repeated assaults of the Union troops. In this battle the federal loss was more than 12,000, nearly half of wh6m fell 'before the fatal stone wall. This solid stone wall, four feet high, completely complete-ly sheltered the confederate troops, while they poured a murderous fire upon the attacking party. In the assault Meagher's Irish troops especially distinguished themselves, leaving '.two-thirds 'of their number on the field of heroieaetion. V Vj.., (Continued on Page Four.) MONTANA'S MONUMENT j TO MEAGHER'S MEMORY t . (Continued From Page One.) ! The London Times correspondent, who watched I the battle from the heights, speaking of their des- perate valor, paid them a handsome compliment iu . ' a cablegram to his newspaper, which is well wor- i thy of repetition. lie said: "Never at Fontenoy. Albuera nor at Waterloo j was more undoubted courage displayed by the sous of Erin than during those six frantic dashes which -they directed against an almost impregnable position po-sition of their foe. That any mortal man could have carried the position, defended a it wa-. seems idle for a moment to believe. But the bodies which lie in dense mass, within forty-eight yards of the muzzles of Colonel Walton's gur are tho best evidence what manner of men they were wh pressed on to death with the dauntlessness of a race which has gained glory on a thousand battlefield-. i and never more richly deserved than at the foot, of Ma rye's Heights on the thirteenth dav of December, De-cember, 18:i2." Meagher in Montana. L'pon the recommendation of General V. S. ijrant. General Meagher was in 1$"5 appointed secretary of the territory of Montana, arriving in Helena during that year., together with his wife, tho trip having been made by boat from St. Louis I to Fort Benton, and thence overland to the capital. During the absence of General Edgerton for several mouths iu the following year, he was acting act-ing governor of the territory, and it was while serving the young commonwealth in that capacity that he lost his life. Governor Meagher had gone to Fort Benton for ammunition and armament with which to equip a body of men he hud organized to repel the Indians. Indi-ans. While en route he was taken ill and was con- Jl fined to his bed for six days at Sun river. This illness is believed by many to have affected hi mind. During the evening of the day of his arrival aft Fort Benton he called upon a friend. John T. Do-ran, Do-ran, the pilot of the steamer George A. Thomp- -j son, and after spending an hour or more in conversation con-versation and reading, he retired for the night. Shortly afterward a splash was heard, and the cry ' went up, ''Man ovei board!'' General Meagher had fallen from' the boat, and although systematic-search systematic-search 'was made four years afterward, the body was. never recovered. 4 i : ! |