born March 8, 1834, County Monaghan, Ire.
died Jan. 7, 1878, Omaha, Neb., U.S.
Irish-born military leader of the American branch of the Fenians, a secret Irish nationalist society.
He arrived in the U.S. in 1848 and settled in Tennessee, where he joined the Fenians. A supporter of its scheme to invade Canada to win Irish freedom from Britain, in 1866 he led a group of 600 men across the Niagara River and captured Fort Erie before fleeing back to the U.S. In 1870 he led a raid along the Vermont border that was repulsed; he led another raid on Manitoba in 1871. See also John O'Mahony .