Fenian Memorial Committee Provide Headstones for Irish Revolutionaries

By Mike Morley

The not-for-profit Fenian Memorial Committee of America works to honor the memory of Fenians and other Irish revolutionaries now buried and forgotten in the USA. The Committee has located the unmarked U.S. graves of six Fenians who were rescued from an Australian prison colony in a daring 1876 escape organized by Irish Americans: The Catalpa Rescue. To date we have provided headstones for the graves of James McNally Wilson (Rhode Island), Michael Hogan (Chicago) and Robert Cranston and Thomas Darragh (Philadelphia).  We also placed a commemorative stone at the gravesite of Father Patrick McCabe (Minnesota), who helped facilitate that escape and later lived a life of exile in America as a parish priest.

Two members of the Catalpa Six, both from Cork, (pictured left to right), Michael Harrington and Thomas Hassett lie today in unmarked graves at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York.  We hope to place their gravestones by the end of this year. Thankfully, an anonymous donor has pledged a matching fund of $3,500 for this effort.  Every dollar you donate will be doubled and will help us significantly with the remaining costs ($10,000) for the two engraved head stones and ancillary expenses. Without you, our work cannot proceed.

But, with your help, these brave Fenians and other such Irish men and women will not lie in anonymity. Please help us to honor these two Cork men, Michael Harrington and Thomas Hassett.  You may donate by mailing a check to Fenian Memorial Committee of America, P.O. Box 10416, Cranston, RI 02910.                                   

For more information, contact us by email via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by telephone at 401-688-2463.

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Go raibh maith agat aris!  Thank you again! Is mise le meas,

George Thomas McLaughlin, Director. Fenian Memorial Committee of America, fenianmca.org

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