War Years
See also: Indianapolis in the American Civil War and Fenian raidsAt the start of the War, the Irish in Indianapolis mostly resided at Irish Hill, which gained a reputation as the toughest part of town, and Fountain Square. These areas tended to be next to railroad and streetcar lines, which relied on Irish workers. Other major employers of the Irish were construction and pork-packing.
At the start of the War, the Indianapolis Irish formed the 35th Regiment, also called the 1st Irish Regiment, recruited at the parish school of St. John's. They would later be combined with the 61st Regiment/2nd Irish Regiment. Some of the Irish, particularly those that belonged to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (Fenians) thought the War would be good practice for eventually fighting Great Britain. Two rival chapters of the Fenians in Indianapolis recruited 150 Irish veterans to invade Canada from Buffalo, New York, in hopes of severing Canada from Great Britain in May 1866. All Fenians who attempted this, including the 150 from Indianapolis, were arrested under orders of President Andrew Johnson on June 6, 1866.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Irish In Indianapolis
Famous quotes containing the words war and/or years:
“War talk by men who have been in a war is always interesting; whereas moon talk by a poet who has not been in the moon is likely to be dull.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The measure discriminates definitely against products which make up what has been universally considered a program of safe farming. The bill upholds as ideals of American farming the men who grow cotton, corn, rice, swine, tobacco, or wheat and nothing else. These are to be given special favors at the expense of the farmer who has toiled for years to build up a constructive farming enterprise to include a variety of crops and livestock.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)