Letter from Union Major General John Palmer to Adjutant General Concerning Irish Independence group called Fenians

On March 12, 1866, Union Maj. Gen. John Palmer, commander of the Department of Kentucky, sent this letter and clipping to the adjutant general. He expressed concern that a former Union soldier, “Major Mangin,” and a former Confederate, “Colonel Blincoe,” were organizing and arming an Irish independence group called the Fenians in Kentucky. Three months later Fenians—including some from Kentucky—invaded Canada in an attempt to wrest Ireland from British control.