The Mortal Irishman By Timothy Egan

The Mortal Irishman by Timothy Egan is an interesting look at a fascinating prominent Irish, eventually American, man: Thomas Francis Meagher. He was born into a wealthy family in Waterford, Ireland in 1823. In the first few chapters, Egan does a good job going through the history of Ireland and how the English government throughout the centuries mistreated the Irish. Thomas Meagher was a gifted orator and this was evident from the time he was in school. His speeches would later fire up revolts against the English and later help the Union cause in the American Civil War. When Meagher was a young man, the British Empire was at the height of its power. With his family’s influence and his oration gifts, Meagher could have served the English Crown and his career in Great Britain would have been great. But he was an Irishman first, and was influenced by those in Ireland who preached Irish independence. Meagher was friends with newspaper editors, writers, poets who were for throwing off the yolk of Britain and the oppressive laws that were enforced in Ireland at the time. The potato famine happened and the poor and not wealthy people in the country suffered tremendously. While people starved to death, the English exported grain and other supplies that would help the native population. This was one of the events that caused Thomas Meagher and his friends to push for rebellion against the Crown. Eventually after a few events, Meagher and several of his friends were banished to the colony of Tasmania, removed from Ireland forever. In Tasmania, he was put under something that was like house arrest eventually. He made what life he could being under surveillance by his captors still. Meagher met his first wife Catherine and married her despite misgivings about her status from his friends. Eventually he became restless and plotted an escape. New York was the place he eventually landed in and Egan describes the atmosphere that was 1850’s New York City. Immigrants of all nationalities packed on a small island with many other people. His wife eventually joins Meagher in New York and he becomes fascinated by his new country. As the United States became more divided, Meagher became more interested in its politics. He was noticed by influential people and was loved by the Irish in America for speaking out and defying the British. In New York, the Irish were the prominent immigrant group, and that bolstered Thomas Meagher to prominence. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted and used his influence to recruit men for the Union. He was named a brigadier general of the New York 69th, a mostly Irish regiment. A few years before this, his wife died giving birth to a son, and he later married a woman of a prominent New York family Elizabeth Townsend. She and her husband were very in love with each other and Elizabeth helped and supported her husbands regiment during the war. I thought Egan did a good job going through what happened in the war, showing what Meagher and his soldiers went though. More than 50 percent of the regiment died by the end of the war. Fredericksburg was the heaviest loss for Meagher and it took a toll on him for the rest of the war. After the war he went out west and was appointed to the second highest position in Montana eventually becoming acting Governor for a time. Meagher had to deal with anti-Irish sentiment when he was in New York and when he went west. He made enemies of powerful people that led ultimately to his death. A jury in 2012 found that he had been murdered. This book was a good look at an influential  Irish-American man’s life and Egan writes it in a way that is like a novel. I liked the details about the history of Ireland and the details about the Civil War that I did not know. This book was an interesting read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.    Content warnings: some language descriptions of war wounds there is some racist language in some quotes when he is quoting some pro slavery people