Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, the unscripted show that celebrates unsung

heroes, myth busts historical lies, and rediscovers the forgotten stories that changed our world.

I'm your host, Scott Rank.

Did you know the group of 800 Irish Americans invaded Canada in 1866, with the goal of

taking it over so they could pressure Britain into granting Ireland's freedom?

Well, this actually happened.

This was the 1866 Fenian rates, in which a group of Irish-American Civil War

veterans crossed the border on ship and actually won a few battles, no matter how implausible it seems.

Today I'm talking with Christopher Klein, who's the author of the new book, when the Irish invaded

Canada, the incredible true story of the Civil War veterans who fought for Ireland's freedom.

When the Fenian raids happened, Ireland had been

subjugated by Britain for over 700 years. And when the great hunger struck in the 1840s,

and many Irish starved, this planted the seeds of a revolution. Those of escape famine and fled to

America were inspired by revolutionary actions of the Civil War to fight for their own country's

freedom. So a group, the Fenian Brotherhood, planned on how they could do this. First, they thought of going to Ireland

and liberating it directly, but then they realized that would never work because they had no Navy

and they couldn't launch an amphibious assault. Then they thought, why not go to British Canada?

It's right across the border. Interestingly enough, this group received a promise from President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward not to interfere in any military plans because America was still sore of some soft British support of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

So the Fienian Brotherhood, which included a one-armed Civil War hero, an English spy posing as a French sympathizer, and an Irish

revolutionary who faked his own death to escape capture, began to implement their plan to secure

Ireland's freedom. Well, the plan didn't work, but it did plant the seeds for the Irish Republican

Army in the 20th century, Irish liberation, and many other historical events that happened.

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