OTD: Death of Thomas Francis Meagher, 1823-67.

On this day in 1867 one of Irelands greatest revolutionaries and most memorable expats died while leading a troop of officers from the Montana militia. Thomas Francis Meagher, revolutionary, prisoner, Union General in the American Civil War was travelling with eleven officers from the militia set out to collect a shipment of weapons from Fort Benton, sent upriver by William T. Sherman. While making the journey Meagher had fallen ill with dysentery due to the scorching heat and long days riding. They eventually made it to Fort Benton on 1 July, exhausted both physically and mentally, Meagher sought refuge in the backroom of a log store next to the river.

It is while in this store, that Meagher learned that the shipment had never even made it to Fort Benton but instead was 130 miles downriver at Camp Cooke – the river water was too low for the boat to make the full journey – certainly news he was less than happy to hear. Instead of making the journey over land again, the decision was made to travel by river on the steamboat G.A. Thompson. Later that evening a sentry spotted a figure in his nightclothes running for the rear of the boat - thinking it an officer, the sentry continued on his way to give them privacy until he heard a yelp and a splash.

A man had gone overboard and extensive searches were held on the water but the weak light from their lanterns didn’t extend as far as was necessary and the current of the water was swift. The man overboard was Thomas F. Meagher, and to this day his death remains a mystery. There are hypothesis which make more sense than others, but the remain hypotheses all the same. I have written about Meagher a lot in the past, over three posts, all of which pushed the limits of Substacks email lengths. I’ll attach all three below for any newcomers and those that may have missed them. Please do feel free to share around.

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