The Harp The Eagle Author:Donald R. Jones Thomas Francis Meagher (1823-1867) was such a man. In his short life, he roamed from his boyhood in Waterford, Ireland, to wlid places like the prison-island of Tasmania and Gold-Rush California, and to sophisticated cities like Dublin and New York. In the Civil War, he led the storied Irish Brigade of the Union Army, amd fought in battles from ... more »Bull Run to Chancellorsville. Later in the war, he served with Sherman's forces in Tennessee and Georgia. After the war, President Andrew Johnson appointed him Military Secretary of Montana Territory, where he soon became Acting Governor.
The enigmatic Meagher was a complex and controversial man. He was an Irish revolutionary whose father was a Member of the British Parliment. He was a partisan politician who unhestingly answered the call of the Republic Lincoln to crush the rebellion of his fellow Democrats. He was famous for his patriotic oratory, but he traded on his reputation to make a career as a paid lecturer. He was a faithful Roman Catholic, but he was often involved in disputes with hierarchy of his Church. He bagan his life in America with the prejudices against black people common to most white Americans at the time, but he lost the supporet of his Irish-American compatriots by champoining the rights of the newly-freed slaves. His private life was even more chaotic. He was a charmer who could win the love of a beautiful daughter of New York society, but he had trouble with all the women in his life. Rumors of a drinking problem swirled abour him. He resigned his command in the middle of the war, and did not return to duty until more than a year had passed.
Even his untimely death left unaswered questions. Was it an accident, as officially determined? Or murder? Or suicide? To explain the main, his story is better told as a novel than a biography, interweaving invented characters and incidents with the real people and events in his life. The Harp & The Eagle is Meagher's story as the author imagines it.« less