SNIPPET: Michael CORCORAN was the son of an Irishman who had made a career in the Royal Army. He was born in "Carrowkeel," Ireland.* In 1845, at the age of 18, CORCORAN joined the Revenue Police, which, along with the Irish Constabulary, was organized along military lines. He was posted to Donegal to help suppress the trade in illicit liquor. The advent of the famine heightened the role of the constabulary and the army in Ireland, already the most policed and garrisoned part of the British Isles. By 1848 their combined total was at an all-time high of forty thousand - almost twice the size of the expeditionary force that the British government would soon send to the Crimea at a cost nine times what it spent on famine relief in Ireland. Whether CORCORAN, a member of the Revenue Police, was called to the support of the army or constabulary is unknown. Both forces were active during the famine, especially in the areas like Donegal. They helped distribute relief as well as guarantee the all-important rights of property. In the latter capacity they not only assisted in mass clearances but guarded the convoys that carried grain and beef to England throughout the famine. The image of those convoys became a touchstone of Irish bitterness in later years, alleged proof of the charge leveled by the Irish nationalist John MITCHEL that "the Almighty indeed sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine." Over the course of the famine, more grain may have entered Ireland than left. But often the imports didn't reach the most distressed parts of the country, or were spoiled by the time they did. Unfamiliar with processing or cooking the yellow corn imported from America, people were made sick by it. The memory of soldiers and police guarding precious stores of food from the starving wasn't an invention. Mrs. Asenath NICHOLSON (an American temperance worker from NY) testified to the sight of well-fed, well-armed soldiers and "haggard, meagre, squalid skeletons ... grouped in starving multitudes around them." In 1847 ("Black '47") the Irish called it - two thousand people were transported to Australia for cattle stealing. On Spike Island, in Cork Harbor, three hundred adolescents were imprisoned for "taking bread while starving." Whatever CORCORAN witnessed or took part in as a policeman may have been part of what led him to break his oath to the Crown. In August 1849 he was "relinquished" from his duties on suspicion of belonging to one of the secret agrarian societies that were violently resisting evictions. Before he could be arrested, he slipped aboard an emigrant ship and escaped to New York. There was little to distinguish him from his fellow immigrants when he landed in October 1849. But he quickly made a name for himself. He got work in a tavern and became a district leader for Tammany Hall, which was just awakening to the potential of the Irish vote, and he was an early member of the Fenian Brotherhood, the secret Irish revolutionary society fueled by the burning intent to revenge the famine and overthrow British rule in Ireland. Five years after he arrived, he was elected a captain in a heavily Irish militia unit, the 69th New York. Not long afterward he was commended for helping defend the quarantine station on Staten Island, which a mob had attempted to burn. In 1860 the Prince of Wales (the future EDWARD VII) paid the first visit by a member of the royal family to the United States. The militia was ordered to parade in the prince's honor; CORCORAN, now the colonel of the 69th, refused to march his men for someone they called the "Famine Prince." He was court-martialed for what in many eyes confirmed the worse suspicions of Irish disloyalty to American institutions. The outbreak of the Civil War saved CORCORAN from being cashiered. He returned to his regiment, which he commanded at Bull Run, where he was badly wounded and captured. Freed a year later in a prisoner exchange, he returned to service as head of his own "Irish Legion." He again fell under an official cloud when he shot and killed an officer who had not only assaulted him, CORCORAN said, but had called him "a damned Irish son of a bitch." Before any official judgment could be reached, CORCORAN died - partly as the result of his wounds - and was given a hero's funeral in New York. As with generations of immigrants to come, Irish and otherwise, CORCORAN was eager for the opportunities that America had to offer and grateful when they proved real. He readily took on American citizenship and showed no hesitation about defending the Union. Yet he was equally unwilling to turn his back on the culture and people that had formed him. Fiercely loyal to his new homeland, he had no intention of abandoning his religion, disguising his ancestry, or detaching himself from the struggles of his native land. No one who observed Michael CORCORAN could doubt that a powerful new element had been added to the American ix. -- Excerpts, Peter QUINN, "The Tragedy Of Bridget Such-A-One," December 1997 issue of "American Heritage" magazine. Mr. QUINN is also the author of "Banished Children of Eve," a novel about the Irish in New York during the 1860s, published by Penguin in 1994. Quinn's latest book, "Looking for Jimmy: A search for Irish America," (2007), comprising 22 essays in which he reflects upon Irish American history. (*My note - it is believed that CORCORAN was born in Carrowkeel, near Ballymote, Co. Sligo. Apparently there are more than one locations in Ireland with that name and some literature gives his birthplace as Carrowkeel, Co. Donegal).

My ggrandfather joined the Revenue Police in 1850. it appears to be a family tradition and I believe there is a Robin McLain on the force today. I am looking for information on the McLains (various spellings) from Fermanagh. Anyone who can help me with information I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Lynn McLain - Administrative Assistant John Deere Credit - Johnston 515-267-4995 MclainLynn@JohnDeere.com -----Original Message----- From: ireland-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:ireland-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Jean R. Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 8:03 AM To: IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com Cc: IRISH-AMERICAN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [IRELAND] Michael CORCORAN (1827-63) - Irish Native, Influential In Irish America SNIPPET: Michael CORCORAN was the son of an Irishman who had made a career in the Royal Army. He was born in "Carrowkeel," Ireland.* In 1845, at the age of 18, CORCORAN joined the Revenue Police, which, along with the Irish Constabulary, was organized along military lines. He was posted to Donegal to help suppress the trade in illicit liquor. The advent of the famine heightened the role of the constabulary and the army in Ireland, already the most policed and garrisoned part of the British Isles. By 1848 their combined total was at an all-time high of forty thousand - almost twice the size of the expeditionary force that the British government would soon send to the Crimea at a cost nine times what it spent on famine relief in Ireland. Whether CORCORAN, a member of the Revenue Police, was called to the support of the army or constabulary is unknown. Both forces were active during the famine, especially in the areas like Donegal. They helped distribute relief as well as guarantee the all-important rights of property. In the latter capacity they not only assisted in mass clearances but guarded the convoys that carried grain and beef to England throughout the famine. The image of those convoys became a touchstone of Irish bitterness in later years, alleged proof of the charge leveled by the Irish nationalist John MITCHEL that "the Almighty indeed sent the potato blight, but the English created the Famine." Over the course of the famine, more grain may have entered Ireland than left. But often the imports didn't reach the most distressed parts of the country, or were spoiled by the time they did. Unfamiliar with processing or cooking the yellow corn imported from America, people were made sick by it. The memory of soldiers and police guarding precious stores of food from the starving wasn't an invention. Mrs. Asenath NICHOLSON (an American temperance worker from NY) testified to the sight of well-fed, well-armed soldiers and "haggard, meagre, squalid skeletons ... grouped in starving multitudes around them." In 1847 ("Black '47") the Irish called it - two thousand people were transported to Australia for cattle stealing. On Spike Island, in Cork Harbor, three hundred adolescents were imprisoned for "taking bread while starving." Whatever CORCORAN witnessed or took part in as a policeman may have been part of what led him to break his oath to the Crown. In August 1849 he was "relinquished" from his duties on suspicion of belonging to one of the secret agrarian societies that were violently resisting evictions. Before he could be arrested, he slipped aboard an emigrant ship and escaped to New York. There was little to distinguish him from his fellow immigrants when he landed in October 1849. But he quickly made a name for himself. He got work in a tavern and became a district leader for Tammany Hall, which was just awakening to the potential of the Irish vote, and he was an early member of the Fenian Brotherhood, the secret Irish revolutionary society fueled by the burning intent to revenge the famine and overthrow British rule in Ireland. Five years after he arrived, he was elected a captain in a heavily Irish militia unit, the 69th New York. Not long afterward he was commended for helping defend the quarantine station on Staten Island, which a mob had attempted to burn. In 1860 the Prince of Wales (the future EDWARD VII) paid the first visit by a member of the royal family to the United States. The militia was ordered to parade in the prince's honor; CORCORAN, now the colonel of the 69th, refused to march his men for someone they called the "Famine Prince." He was court-martialed for what in many eyes confirmed the worse suspicions of Irish disloyalty to American institutions. The outbreak of the Civil War saved CORCORAN from being cashiered. He returned to his regiment, which he commanded at Bull Run, where he was badly wounded and captured. Freed a year later in a prisoner exchange, he returned to service as head of his own "Irish Legion." He again fell under an official cloud when he shot and killed an officer who had not only assaulted him, CORCORAN said, but had called him "a damned Irish son of a bitch." Before any official judgment could be reached, CORCORAN died - partly as the result of his wounds - and was given a hero's funeral in New York. As with generations of immigrants to come, Irish and otherwise, CORCORAN was eager for the opportunities that America had to offer and grateful when they proved real. He readily took on American citizenship and showed no hesitation about defending the Union. Yet he was equally unwilling to turn his back on the culture and people that had formed him. Fiercely loyal to his new homeland, he had no intention of abandoning his religion, disguising his ancestry, or detaching himself from the struggles of his native land. No one who observed Michael CORCORAN could doubt that a powerful new element had been added to the American ix. -- Excerpts, Peter QUINN, "The Tragedy Of Bridget Such-A-One," December 1997 issue of "American Heritage" magazine. Mr. QUINN is also the author of "Banished Children of Eve," a novel about the Irish in New York during the 1860s, published by Penguin in 1994. Quinn's latest book, "Looking for Jimmy: A search for Irish America," (2007), comprising 22 essays in which he reflects upon Irish American history. (*My note - it is believed that CORCORAN was born in Carrowkeel, near Ballymote, Co. Sligo. Apparently there are more than one locations in Ireland with that name and some literature gives his birthplace as Carrowkeel, Co. Donegal). ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRELAND-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message