The invasion meant to free Ireland ended up helping form an independent Canada.
Author: Peter Gallivan
Updated: 7:37 AM EDT March 16, 2021
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Invading Canada to free Ireland: seems like a far-fetched plan, but in 1866, a group of Irish ex-pats conspired to do just that.
It was supposed to be a three-prong assault, with 3,000 men gathering in Chicago and Milwaukee, another 5,000 here in Buffalo and Cleveland, with the main invading force of more than 16,000 in Vermont, attacking Quebec.
Local historian Gene Overdorf says Western New York was not supposed to be the epicenter.
"Buffalo was supposed to be a diversionary tactic, wound up being the only thrust of the Fenians that day," says Overdorf.