American Irish Give Bronze Bust Of
The society, a coalition of Irish American organizations, was responsible for erecting the Civil War Irish Brigade Monument at Antietam National Battlefield in 1997. Waterford city officials asked the society to make a replica of the monument’s bust featuring the brigade’s commander, Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, for the Waterford Museum of Treasures in Ireland. A successful fundraising campaign was held in the Irish American community. Sculptor Ron Tunison duplicated the bas-relief of General Meagher in bronze from the original mold of the Antietam monument. Through the kindness of Aer Lingus, it was shipped to Ireland and delivered to Waterford City. Exiled General Meagher is now home in his Irish hometown. “Everyone who has seen the bust has been absolutely amazed at how impressive a piece of sculpture it is,” wrote Museum Director Eamonn McEneaney. “We never imagined it would look so fantastic. It is a real work of art and does a great Irishman proud. It will be a most handsome addition to his native city that he loved so well.” Upon the receipt of the bust, Director McEneaney wrote, “Whatever we do we want it to reflect the greatness of Meagher and your generosity and that of all Americans to Ireland and to Waterford.” The bronze Meagher bust was recently installed on the exterior wall of the famous Waterford Museum of Treasures on Merchants Quay. A formal dedication ceremony will be held next year. “It will be the beginning point of the Meagher Trail,” O’Brien explained, “which will take visitors to various places in Waterford City associated with the life of this Irish patriot and American hero.” The trail will pass Meagher’s birthplace, the Wolf Tone Club where he flew the Irish tricolor flag on March 7,1848, and the house where the British arrested him on July 12, 1848. After visiting France in 1848 as a delegate for the Young Irelanders, Meagher returned home with the Irish tricolor flag, which he flew for the first time in Waterford in 1848. That tricolor flag was adopted as Ireland’s national flag upon independence in 1921. Born in Waterford in 1823, Meagher was well-educated. As a committed Irish nationalist, he joined the Young Ireland Movement, which was dedicated to securing Irish independence by advocating armed insurrection. Meagher’s fiery public speeches earned him the title of “Meagher of the sword.” As a result of his involvement in the 1848 rebellion, Meagher and other rebel leaders were sentenced to death. Queen Victoria, after international pressure from the Irish Diaspora, commuted the sentences to exile for life in the Australian penal colony in Tasmania. In 1855, after a daring escape, Meagher made his way to New York City where he received a hero’s welcome. There he became a lawyer, a popular speaker and established newspapers for the Irish immigrant community. At the start of the Civil War, Meagher recruited Irish immigrants into New York’s “fighting 69th, the nucleus of the Irish Brigade. President Lincoln then made him a general. In September l862, on the bloodiest day of the war, Meagher’s horse was shot out from under him as he led his fierce charge at Bloody Lane against Confederate forces at the battle of Antietam. Three months later he was wounded during the carnage of repeated charges on Marye’s Heights in the battle of Fredericksburg. The Irish Brigade was largely decimated, but Meagher survived the war. At the end of the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson sent Meagher to Montana Territory where he served as acting governor. In the summer of 1867 at age 44, Governor Meagher fell off a riverboat and drowned in the Missouri River. His body was never found. Today, a visitor to Waterford City will see General Meagher’s bronze bust on the front of the Waterford Museum of Treasures. “It is a gift of the Irish American community, especially the Ancient Order of Hibernians,” said O’Brien. Down the street a new equestrian statue of Meagher proudly stands in tribute to this noble Irish and American patriot, revolutionary, orator, journalist, general, and politician — a proud son of Waterford — a proud son of Ireland.
|
