James Hickey ( – ) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

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 ...

and Land Leaguer.

Early life and war service

Hickey was born near

Barna Barna (Bearna in Irish) is a coastal village on the R336 regional road in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. It has become a satellite village of Galway city. The village is Irish speaking and is therefore a constituent part of the regions ...

about 1837 or 1838, is stated to have received a good education and settled in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

at an unknown time prior to 1861. When the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

began, he enlisted joined Company A, Irish Ninth, commanded by Captain James A. McGunnigle. Hickey was promoted to sergeant, and was wounded twice during the course of the war.

Invasion of Canada

A member 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). M ...

, Hickey became involved in the organisation's invasion of Canada ( Fenian raids in 1866. He fought at the

Battle of Ridgeway The Battle of Ridgeway (sometimes the Battle of Lime Ridge or Limestone Ridge) was fought in the vicinity of the town of Fort Erie across the Niagara River from Buffalo, New York, near the village of Ridgeway, Canada West, currently Ontario, Ca ...

but was captured and sentenced to death, being prepared for the

scaffold Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely used ...

by Archbishop

John Joseph Lynch John Joseph Lynch (6 February 1816 – 12 May 1888) was an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Congregation of the Mission, he served as the third Bishop (1860-1870) and first Archbishop of Toronto (1870-1888). He founded O ...

. However, his sentence was commuted to twenty years' imprisonment of which he spent five years and eight months imprisoned near

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, before eventually being reprieved.

Return to Ireland

Hickey returned to the family farm in

and became involved in the

Irish National Land League The Irish National Land League (Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmer ...

during the

Land War The Land War ( ga, Cogadh na Talún) was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 18 ...

of the late 1870s and early 1890s. He organised the tenants, fought the landlords and succeed in improving the condition of the local peasant population. His work made him a marked man in the eyes of the authorities, and he was forced to return to U.S. to gain employment, leaving his wife and four children in

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 ...

Death in New York

He moved from Boston to

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 ...

and obtained a job via the postmaster at the Federal Building, in July. His health was bad, and was already prematurely grey. He died while preparing for Sunday mass at the home of his cousin, Patrick Carrick (foreman of '' The Irish World'' newspaper) in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Flatbush, Long Island.

References

* ''Bearna agus Na Forbacha:A Local History'', ed. Tom Kenny, Shantalla, Galway, 1983 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hickey, James People from County Galway Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) People of the Fenian raids 1830s births 1885 deaths Irish soldiers in the United States Army United States Army soldiers