O'Neill, Nebraska

  I stopped for lunch in O’Neill, Nebraska (population 4,000) which is the largest town I have encountered since I left Rapid City, South Dakota.  Upon entering the town, I was struck by the historical marker containing a biography  of John O’Neill, for whom the town was named.  It is confusing to me, after reading the plaque and looking him up on Wikipedia, why they chose his name for the town. 

     The plaque does little to give a positive impression of his accomplishments.  He arrived in the U.S. from Ireland as a teenager during the potato famine.  He joined the U.S. army to fight in the Utah Wars but became bored of the enterprise and deserted.  When the Civil War started he was commissioned as an officer for the Indiana Calvary but did not get the credit he felt he deserved so he deserted again.

    He became famous through his work with the Fenian Brotherhood  (an Irish independence group based in the U.S.) through which he enlisted the assistance of fellow Irishmen in Nashville Tennessee to attack Fort Erie, Canada in 1866 for reasons which remain somewhat mysterious.  The brotherhood had been battle hardened by Civil War and conquered Fort Erie for 3 days much to the consternation of the U.S. government who pointed out that they were not allowed invade sovereign countries without permission of the war department.  Below is a quote from the Wikipedia Article

“To get the Fenians out of the area, the U.S. government purchased rail tickets for them to return to their homes if the individuals would promise not to invade any more countries from the U.S.” 

John returned to Nebraska and they named the town after him.