10/15/2026
a chairde,
On 19 September, 2026, a permanent cenotaph in honor of the 1876 Catalpa Rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Western Australia's Fremantle Prison was unveiled at Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. There was a very large crowd in attendance. The Fenian Memorial Committee of America paid for and commissioned the Catalpa Memorial, primarily from generous donations from Irish Americans who support the FMCA. The National Graves Association, as part of their centennial, gave us a place to erect it (which was formerly dedicated to the Mountjoy Martyrs--there is another monument to them now) and their organization paid for a reception that followed the unveiling and commemoration. We are very grateful to the NGA and our donors for making this happen. Three FMCA gratitude plaques--presented to those who work tirelessly to remember Fenian and republican dead--were presented at the reception that followed. The recipients were: Joe Byrne, FMCA Board Member and major fundraiser for the project; Tomas Costello, creator and maintainer of feniangraves.net (which locates Fenian and republican dead and details their lives); and Aidan Lambert, NGA board member, who was the driving cooperative force on the Irish side of the Atlantic for this project. There are many who are more than willing to take bows but few who are willing to do the grueling and often invisible work. These three men fall into the latter category. The Fenian Memorial Committee of America thanks them for their work in honoring the Fenians and in fighting for a united and independent Ireland!
When I composed the text and list of planners and rescuers on the plaque and checked it with Aidan Lambert and Eva O'Caithaoir of the NGA, I was adamant about including "...known and unknown" Fenians and others who made the rescue happen. The poem below, written for this remembrance and read by me at the unveiling, shows our commitment to the Fenians, especially those whose names we will never know.
Again, we want to thank Sean Whelan, NGA Chair for the commemoration; John Crawley, former republican prisoner and author, who gave the wonderful oration; and Liam Ó Culbáird, who read a Catalpa poem, as well as all those who appear on the introductory page of the memorial booklet.
All of this happened without politicians, without corporations and without nationalist/republican revisionists! But it wouldn't have happened at all without those of you who generously contributed to the project. The names of those who gave $100 or more to this project appear in the booklet's "Donor Roll of Honour" which was distributed at Glasnevin. Go raibh mile maith agaibh aris!
Here is a link to a video of the unveiling and commemoration on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05WZD01xbHk
Who were you?
Who were you
Standing with r***e or pike
For dreams that Caitlin had given,
Venturing into the night’s bog
Or dusk’s hedgerow?
Who were you
Lying prone
Without name, red with sacrifice
Murmuring one last word of God?
Who were you
Lingering in the stone block, endless as home,
Half-mad with love, and sometimes hate,
Forgetting which was which?
Who were you
With no regret at the fire that awakened, then blinded you?
My hand goes out to your nameless soul
Grasping at that which I never really knew:
A Fenian heart which died alone, abandoned
But still,
In prayer,
I remember you.
George McLaughlin
19 September 2026
Read at the commemoration for the Catalpa Rescue
Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin
