Fenian Raids of Canada
After the American Civil War, Irish volunteers and soldiers from all states -- north and south -- were clandestinely assembled into what would become the predecessor to the Irish Republican Army. Prominent Irish leaders in the United States plotted to lash out from afar at their longtime enemy England, striking at Canada. The plan was to capture the colony and hold it ransom in return for Ireland's independence, or perhaps equally unlikely, to make Canada a new Irish homeland. The prevailing belief was that the US government quietly supported the bid. A few Fenian raids were staged into Canada throughout the 1860s and '70, all of which were met by Canadian militia and British regulars. The biggest and most infamous of these attacks occurred on the Niagara Peninsula in 1866, at the Battle of Ridgeway. While the encounter was technically a Fenian victory, it went unsupported by the larger Fenian movement and achieved little. Or at least, so one might say. Threat of Fenian incursion from the south is often pointed to as a motivating force in the unification of Canada's territories in 1867. The following are my toy soldier renditions of Fenian invaders and British and Canadian defenders.
Items on this page are from my own collection. These are other manufacturers' figures and are not for sale.
