The Emmet Monument Association (EMA) was a mid-nineteenth century secret military organization with the special purpose of training men to attack

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and free

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 ...

. It was established in the mid-1850s, by

John O'Mahony John Francis O'Mahony (1815 – 7 February 1877) was a 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 wealthy fa ...

and

Michael Doheny Michael Doheny (22 May 1805 – 1 April 1862Some references give 1862: ) was an Irish writer, lawyer, member of the Young Ireland movement, and co-founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, an Irish secret society which would go on to launch ...

refugees from the

Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 The Young Irelander Rebellion was a failed Irish nationalist uprising led by the Young Ireland movement, part of the wider Revolutions of 1848 that affected most of Europe. It took place on 29 July 1848 at Farranrory, a small settlement about ...

. According to tradition, no monument can be erected to

Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Prote ...

"until Ireland a nation can build him a tomb," therefore, the work of the Association presupposed the freedom of Ireland as a necessary preliminary.

Background

Irish Nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...

s towards the close of 1853 considered it to be a certainty of the

United Kingdom 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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

becoming involved in a war with Russia, anticipating the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

. This conviction would soon lead to the establishment of a new revolutionary society, which came to be known as the “Emmet Monument Association.” The Association was named after

, who was an Irish nationalist rebel leader, who led an abortive rebellion against British rule in 1803 and was captured, tried and executed. Emmet in closing his speech from the dock said: The Association was founded by

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The Association spread quickly and soon numbered within its ranks the greater portion of the organized Irish Nationalists throughout the chief cities of the US. The leaders would enter into confidential relations with the representatives of Russia at Washington and New York.Denieffe, pg. viii

Russian aid

The representatives of the Association were apparently content that the Russians saw the expediency of Russia’s aiding their project of creating a revolution in Ireland and thus striking at the British Empire in its most vital part. The Consul they believed held out to them the “strongest hopes” of their gaining from the Russian Government all the aid they required, which was namely, the means of fitting out an armed expedition for Ireland. The help promised by Russia never materialized until finally the Crimean war came to an unexpected close, ending all hopes of assistance from their new ally.

Association dissolved

At this point it was deemed practical by the directors of the Association to formally dissolve and release the members from their pledges. Before this was done though, they took the precaution of first forming a permanent committee, consisting of thirteen men, representatives of the several divisions of the society. This committee was empowered to resuscitate the organization whenever they deemed the proper time had come for taking such a step. After a period of two years, the “ever watchful patriots” who made up the committee came to the conclusion that the time had again arrived for renewing preparations for an Irish revolutionary movement. They accordingly summoned the members of the Association, and from its members proceeded in the formation of a new organization, which

named 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). M ...

.Denieffe, pg. x

Irish Republican Brotherhood

It was

Michael Corcoran Michael Corcoran (September 21, 1827 – December 22, 1863) was an Irish- American general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and a close confidant of President Abraham Lincoln. As its colonel, he led the 69th New York Regiment t ...

, Owen Considine, Joseph Denieffe and others decided to send out feelers to Ireland to see if there was the chance a rebellion could be generated by the arrival of Irish American troops on Irish soil. Joseph Denieffe contacted James Stephens, who agreed to prepare Irishmen in Ireland for a rebellion. Although in concept it was to be a united organization, Irish-America supplying trained military officers, money and weapons and Ireland supplying the foot soldiers for a rebellion. In concept O'Mahony viewed the organization as a continuation of the Emmet Monument Association. But reality was that two distinct organizations grew out of the agreement: 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 ...

(IRB) in Ireland founded by James Stephens and the

(FB) founded by John O'Mahony in the United States.

References

Sources

*''A Personal Narrative of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood'', Joseph Denieffe, The Gael Publishing Co., 1906 *''Speeches from the Dock,'' T.D., A.M., and D.B. Sullivan, Re Edited by Seán Ua Cellaigh, M.H. Gill & Son, Dublin, 1953

External links

The Irish Experience: A Concise History By Thomas E. Hachey, Joseph M. Hernon and Lawrence John McCaffrey
{{IRB 1855 establishments in the United States 1855 in American politics Irish Republican Brotherhood Irish republican militant groups Irish secret societies Irish-American history