operations as early in the spring of 1870 as the roads would permit of
the movement of troops. Brigadier-General M. Kerwin was then the Fenian
Secretary of War, and during the next few months was very busy with his
staff, getting everything in readiness. His orders and addresses to the
Irish Republican Army were of such a patriotic and inspiring character
that the officers and men of the various commands were constantly kept
in a state of warlike excitement, which they controlled with marvellous
secrecy. The months of January and February were spent in quiet
preparation, and in March Gen. Kerwin issued a mandate that all military
organizations of the Fenian Brotherhood should hold themselves in
readiness to move forward to the Canadian frontier as soon as the final
orders were issued. Meanwhile cases of arms, ammunition and other war
material were being secretly shipped to different points along the
border under various guises, and trusted officers were at the designated
points to receive them and store them away in secluded hiding places
until they were required. Everything was going along very satisfactory
to the Fenian leaders, and it seemed to them as if Uncle Sam and the
Canadian Government would both be caught napping.

During the first week in April Gen. O'Neil and some of his staff arrived
at a point on the Vermont border to inspect the munitions of war and see
that his directions were being properly carried out. Fifteen thousand
stands of arms, and almost three million rounds of ammunition, had
been actually received and carefully stored at various places along the
frontier between Ogdensburg and St. Albans. Several thousands of these
arms were breech-loading rifles of heavy calibre, for which there was an
unlimited amount of cartridges.

Malone, N.Y., and St. Albans, Vermont, were again selected as bases
of operations by Gen. O'Neil, and these towns were to be his principal
places of muster. When he had concluded his examination of "affairs at
the front," the valiant General was in high spirits, occasioned by the
belief that he would steal a march on the Canadian Government and again
be over the border before his intention was observed. He had taken great
pains to have every preliminary preparation minutely made, and the fact
that he had already smuggled an armament for fully 15,000 men to
the frontier without exciting the suspicion of the usually vigilant
officials of the United States, gave him considerable