The Life of a Fenian On The Run

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This video brings you through the life of James Stephens. Stephens founded the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which in the U.S. became known as the Fenian Brotherhood. The IRB would later be the organisers of the 1916 Easter Rising.

For For James Stevens was born on the 26th of January 1825 and grew up in house in this area I’m currently in fennessy Mills on the river no in keni this town’s land was previously known as archers town after the wealthy and important Archer family of keni now

After aler Cromwell arrived in the city he confiscated the lands of The Archers and he granted this area to the Duke of orand the Duke of orand leased out this area to the warring family and this town’s land became known as Warrington we don’t actually know where the

Original House of James Stevens was and that original house doesn’t exist anymore anyway all we know is that it was beside the Old fenesy Mill now it’s important to note that this is the house he was born in but he didn’t actually grow up here shortly after James Stevens

Was born his family actually moved into keni City into a slightly bigger house and this is the house right Here now a funny thing about about that plaque is it says he founded the Fenian Brotherhood which is not incorrect but I feel like it should really say he founded the Irish Republican Brotherhood because by founding the Irish Republican Brotherhood later the phian Brotherhood

Was founded in the US so it’s just a bit of a funny one in the year 1782 some of the penal laws were repealed which allowed Irish Catholic children to be educated St kieran’s College opened its doors the very same year making it the oldest Catholic Secondary School in the

Whole country this is where I went to school and this is also where James Stevens went to School in 1842 a new Irish revolutionary organization was founded called the Young irelanders they even launched their own Irish nationalist newspaper and that newspaper was called the nation inspired by the French Revolution of February 1848 some of the young irelanders including Thomas Francis Meer and William Smith O’Brien went to Paris

In France in April that year they went to seek French support for an armed Rebellion or revolution in Ireland now it was clear that the new French Republic valued their good relationship with Britain and they didn’t send any soldiers however it wasn’t a wasted trip the young irelanders came back with the

Green white and orange tricolor flag it was flown in Watford for the very first time in April 1848 on the 22nd of July a mass meeting of over 50,000 people was held at SCH Nan the plan now was to launch a rebellion in keni city with the

Aim of taking the Garrison on the 25th of July James Stevens attended a young irelander meeting in Ken City’s town hall with a lack of arms and numbers the men decided to abandon keni and head for local towns they went to Kalen Carrick andure and Cashel instead on the 29th of

July James Stevens took part in the 1848 young irelander Rebellion which is also known as the Battle of Widow McCormack’s Cabbage Patch after their Rebellion some of the leaders were deported to van demon land which is now known as Tasmania however some of them managed to

Escape James Stevens was one of the men that managed to escape he went to Paris in France and he spent the next seven years there while he was there he taught English and he actually spent a lot of his time living with John om manney while he was in Paris he actually faked

His own debt he printed his own obituary and his father actually threw a fake funeral right here in canice’s church in Kenny as The Story Goes they Fil A coffin full of stones in 1856 he returned to Ireland and went on his famous 3,000 M walk it said that the

3,000 M walk was to recruit men for an Irish Revolution however when his surviving Journal was found it looked more like he was writing a book on Irish Landscapes and gardening however on Patty’s Day 17th of March 1858 he founded a new Irish revolutionary organization known as the Irish

Republican Brotherhood later that year in October 1858 James Stevens headed for the United States to raise funds and gather men to join the new revolutionary organization at a meeting in Tam Hall in New York he appointed his old friend John om manney as the head of the United

States branch of the IRB in the following year the IRB in the United States became known as the phenian Brotherhood one event that caused huge problems for a potential Irish Revolution was the American Civil War approximately 20,000 Irish men joined the Confederate forces and over 200,000

Joined the Union Army some of these men wanted to prove their patriotism to their new country some had empty stomachs and empty Pockets that needed filling I guess one positive thing about the Irish men joining the American forces was that the majority of these men had no experience in war and now by

Joining the Confederates or the Union Army they were getting valuable experience and training and they could bring that back to Ireland in the future for a potential Irish Revolution Thomas Francis Mar was one of the men that was actually strongly behind Irish men joining the Union Army he thought that

This was a perfect opportunity to gain valuable experience and training in war and they could bring that back to Ireland for a future Rebellion whatever the reason for Irish men fighting in the American Civil War be it patriotism money or training an Irish Revolution was Now On Hold by 1862 the relationship

Between John O manahan in America and James Stevens back at home in Ireland was well underway to falling apart James Stevens constantly ridiculed the Americans for not sending enough funds and Stevens’s next move for a secret Irish revolutionary organization was a funny one on the 28th November 1863 James Stevens launched an Irish

Nationalist newspaper called the Irish people it was a weekly newspaper based in Dublin City just down the road from Dublin castle and he reckoned that this newspaper would generate more income than the lads from America were sending James Stevens continued to promise the fenians war or dissolution in 1865 and

From June to September 1865 fenians from the states began arriving in Ireland the British became aware of this and they increased their watchful eye on the 15th of September 1865 James Stevens’s less than 2-year-old newspaper was suppressed by the British government they stormed the office buildings of the Irish people

They took forms and documents and money they froze the irb’s bank account and they began making arrests James Stevens however managed to escape arrest and stayed in the Dublin suburbs as you can imagine the fenians taught that right now was the perfect time to strike James Stevens however told all the men to

Stand down and that they weren’t ready for an uprising just yet however two months later on the 11th of November 1865 James Stevens was arrested at his house in the Dublin suburbs he was brought to Richmond Bridewell prison in Dublin 2 weeks later James Stevens managed to escape the prison with the

Help of a prison employee by the name of John Breslin meanwhile in the United States in November 1865 the fenians leased the headquarters in the mofat Mansion at 32 East 17 Street on the Northern edge of Manhattan’s Union Square they paid $188,000 in advance for this mansion and flew the sunrise fenan

Flag above it the fenians then issued their own Bond notes and this would split the fenan Brotherhood in half joh o mahy wanted to sell the bonds to fund money for an Irish Rebellion however Thomas Sweeny wanted the funds for an invasion of Canada Jon om mahy began to

Sign bonds and issue them even though he didn’t have the authority to do so he had violated the Fenian Constitution and oats and was removed from the presidency of the Fenian Brotherhood the fenians under John omah now had a new strategy they planned to invade campello Island

Which is just on the Far Eastern corner of Maine the idea was to take over the island and use it to launch an attack on Ireland John om Mani had no interest in this he only really wanted to have a rebellion in Ireland however he reluctantly agreed to it the whole

Expedition was a complete disaster and got infiltrated by British spies on the inside on the 14th of April 1866 some of the fenians actually landed on New Brunswick’s Indian Island just between Eastport Maine and Campa belloo Island they didn’t fire one shot and all they achieved was they robbed a Union Jack

Flag when the fenians arrived back to the United States they realized that the expedition to Campa belloo Island had cost them $26,000 and all they had achieved was they got a Union Jack Flag the the fenians then blamed John omahi for mismanagement of military Affairs and financial affairs they essentially

Blamed him for everything that was going wrong with the phenian Brotherhood now the fenians were just about to expel John ommani from the Fenian Brotherhood however ommani was just after receiving a letter from James Stevens saying that Stevens was just after leaving France

And he was on the way to New York so the fenians decided when James Stevens arrived in New York he could decide the fate of John omy when James Stevens eventually arrived in New York he was staying at the Metropolitan Hotel on Broadway and he actually went out onto

His balcony and gave a speech to a massive crowd of Irish Americans during his speech he said that he was going to reunite all of the Irish in America and launch a massive rebellion in Ireland he didn’t mention a single word about John omy John om manne didn’t even bother to

Wait for his fate he decided to leave the Phan Brotherhood the following day James Stevens appointed himself as the head of the Phan Brotherhood in the United States his main aim was to reunite all of the fenians and to get rid of this idea of launching ing a

Rebellion in Canada he wanted an Irish Rebellion when James Stevens went to mofat mansion on Union Square he found the Phan headquarters basically empty the majority of the men had left and there was only $500 left in the treasury he decided to relocate the Fenian headquarters into the New York daily

News building on chadam Street on the 28th of October 1866 James Stevens appeared at Jones’s wood in the upper east side of Manhattan he addressed the crowd and told everyone that he was going back to Ireland and he was launching a rebellion this year in 1966

Before the year was over so after the rally he disappeared and the majority of people thought well he’s gone back to Ireland but no news had come from Ireland about his arrival so some people thought he was gone back to France but there was also no news of his arrival

There just like in 1848 James Stevens had disappeared Stevens had taken a fake name William Scott and was staying in a room 50 blocks down from where he was last seen in public on 308 East 13 Street Manhattan and the question that always arises here is is why did he tell

Everyone that he was going back to Ireland now this is one of the strangest Parts 2 months later on the 15th of December 1866 James Stevens called for Athenian meeting in the United States they realized during the meeting they didn’t have enough weapons they didn’t have enough money for a rebellion in

Ireland so we called it off the fenians were now absolutely enraged James Stevens had promised a rebellion in 1865 he had promised one in 1866 he also said that he was going back to Ireland in late 1866 but was staying in Manhattan at the time so the fenians overthrew

James Stevens as the head of the phenian Brotherhood in January 1867 after weeks of raising funds James Stevens got a ship from New York back to France after leading the secret Irish revolutionary organization of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the fenan Brotherhood for nearly a decade he had failed to

Launch a rebellion in Ireland and overthrow British rule the fenians wanted a man of action and that wasn’t James Stevens his head role or lead role in the Irish Republican Brotherhood was officially over it wasn’t until 1891 that James Stevens would finally return to Ireland he was allowed to return on the

Condition that there would be no public demonstrations against the crown he resided in Black Rock in Cork as a poor and pied old man James Stevens passed away on the 29th of April 1901 during his funeral his coffin was draped in the green white and orange tricolor and he

Was brought to Glass Nevan Cemetery to the Republican plot and he was actually buried just steps away from his old Fenian brother John omahi James Stevens had many critics in his life due to his lack of action style leadership however it would have been worse to just have

Never done anything at all he founded the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1858 and although the 1860s rebellions were a complete failure the 1900s were still yet to come and the Irish Republican Brotherhood were far from Finished