Speaking of Fenians, I would like to know how to get a list of participants in the "Fenian War" that took place in Buffalo, New York, in 1866. According to family tradition, my great-grandfather, William Cotter, fought in this war. A little history: In 1866, it was decided that an armed invasion of Canada (British territory) would create a diversion, generate a big morale boost, and provide a territorial foothold so that a flag could be raised, and the U.S. Government could recognize an independent Ireland. The Civil War had just ended, and there were plenty of men of Irish descent who had army experience. "We promise" declared the man in charge of the Canada plan, in February 1866, "that before the summer sun kisses the hilltops of Ireland, a ray of hope will gladden every Irish heart. The Green Flag will be flying independently to freedom's breeze, and we will have a base of operations from which we can not only emancipate Ireland, but also annihilate England." According to Robert Kee ("The Green Flag") "Some three thousand armed Fenians had assembled in Buffalo. On the night of May 31, 1866, eight hundred of them, commanded by a Colonel O'Neill, crossed the Niagara River and occupied the village of Fort Erie on the Canadian shore. On the morning of 2 June, they won an engagement with some Canadian student volunteers at Lime Ridge, also known as Ridgeway, but with his rear threatened, O'Neill retired on Fort Erie again hoping for reinforcements to reach him across the lake from Buffalo. But this was now being patrolled by the U.S. Government, which, though it maintained a carefully ambivalent attitude towards the Fenians (finding their nuisance value against the British too valuable to be thrown away), felt obliged to enforce the neutrality laws, now that an actual invasion had taken place. Cut off on the foothold he had won for the Green Flag, O'Neill had no alternative but to withdraw again. In the skirmish at Ridgeway the Canadians had lost 12 dead and 40 wounded, while the Fenian losses had been 8 dead and 20 wounded. About 60 Fenians had been captured, and there had been some desertions. "The Irish Republican Army," as Fenian headquarters described it, had been in action for the first time. This fact alone gives the incident greater historical interest than it otherwise might merit. "Its sponsors seemed in no way dismayed by the failure. 'Arise Irishmen, a glorious career has opened for you. The Green Flag has waved once more in triumph over England's hated emblem.' But as the U.S. Government gently sent the Fenians home from the frontier with their passages paid - though seizing their arms which they later returned to them - the net effect of this rather empty demonstration in Canada was to lend force to Stephens's exhortations to the Brotherhood to strike in Ireland." Actually, the British were aware of the plot through an infiltrator, and they were waiting for them (see "Prince of Spies," by J.A. Cole). Two other "invasions" were attempted in 1870 and 1871, each more lud icrous than the first. There was a rebellion in Ireland in 1867 that was quickly crushed. Paul Cotter Chestnut