Charles Underwood O'Connell (1 August 1838 n gravestone- 22 February 1902) was a

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...

activist from

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He was part of ''The

Cuba Five :::: ''See Cuban Five for Cuban intelligence officers formerly held in Miami prisons.'' The Cuba Five () were a group of Irish rebels released from British prisons in 1871 on condition of not entering Britain (Ireland was then part of the United ...

,'' exiled from the

U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 1871.

History

Different sources give a birthdate from 1838 to 1840. James Stephens, the founder of the

Irish Republican Brotherhood The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...

(I.R.B.) in Ireland, asked O'Connell to organise a Fenian group in his native County Cork, which numbered several thousand. He travelled to the U.S. to get military experience. With the help of the founder of the

Fenian Brotherhood The Fenian Brotherhood () was an Irish republican organisation founded in the United States in 1858 by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Membe ...

in the U.S.,

John O'Mahony John Francis O'Mahony (1815 – 7 February 1877) was a Gaels, Gaelic scholar and the founding member of the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States, sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Despite coming from a reasonably weal ...

, he became part of (Colonel) O'Mahony's Phoenix Brigade, the 99th Regiment New York State Militia which was mustered against the Confederacy for 100 days (and which was part of Captain Thomas Meagher's Irish Brigade). O'Connell reached the rank of captain. Details of plans for a Fenian uprising in Ireland were inadvertently discovered and handed in to

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the se ...

, the location of British administration and headquarters of the police. Later, a document found in Stephens's newspaper, ''

The Irish People ''The Irish People'' was the title of a number of mostly political newspapers in Ireland and America. * *'' The Irish People'' (1863–1865) was an Irish nationalist newspaper of the Fenian movement founded in 1863 by James Stephens. Nationalist ...

'', led to the arrest of leading Fenians and the suppression of the paper. Thereafter, many people arriving on ships from the U.S. were checked. On 20 September 1865, O'Connell was arrested on a vessel at Queenstown which was on its way to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

(the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

(15 January 1867) named the steamer ''City of New York''; ''

The Morning Post ''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''. History The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Po ...

'' (25 September 1865) said he was arrested on a tender conveying passengers to Queenstown from the National Company's vessel, ''Louisiana''). He was found to be in possession of Fenian papers brought from the U.S. and "arms". In the Special Commission in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

on 28 December, the Dublin police informant, Pierce Nagel, who worked at ''The Irish People'' and found the documents which led to the Fenian arrests, said he'd seen O'Connell in Mahony's office in New York. O'Connell was convicted and sentenced to 10 years at the Portland Quarries. There was pressure from the government of the U.S. (lobbied by Fenians), particularly as some prisoners like O'Connell were U.S. citizens and army veterans. There was conditional amnesty for imprisoned Fenians on 5 January 1871. O'Connell was released on 7 January. Five of the released opted for exile to the U.S. on the condition that they were not to return to the U.K. They left Liverpool docks aboard the ''S.S. Cuba''. They arrived at a rapturous welcome in the U.S. and were named ''The Cuba Five''. O'Connell continued to work for causes towards Irish nationalism. It has been suggested that he returned to Ireland to participate in Irish Race Convention in the late 1890s as a representative of the U.S., but he was not listed amongst delegates, Irish or American. He died along with fifteen others in a catastrophic fire in the Park Avenue Hotel, New York, on 22 February 1902. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery, Laurel Hill Boulevard, Flushing, New York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Connell, Charles Underwood Young Ireland Irish republicans Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood Irish Brigade (U.S.) 1902 deaths