John F. Armstrong Timeline: 1883
February 1, 2017
1883 Map of Philadelphia, Image courtesy of http://etc.usf.edu/maps/
In March of 1883, John F. Armstrong was a pallbearer at the funeral of Georgia Governor Alexander Hamilton Stephens, a former member of Congress who had served as Vice-President of the Confederate States of America.
During the last week in April, delegates of the Irish Land League of America convened in Philadelphia and voted to merge with other Irish organizations into the Irish National League of America. John F. Armstrong of Georgia was chosen as a member of the Irish National League’s Council of Seven, which was directed to oversee the treasury and operation of the new organization.
In an article published in the Chicago Daily Tribune on April 29th, six of the seven council members, including Armstrong, were named as members of the Clan na Gael.
Armstrong defended the land agitations in Ireland in two letters to the editors of the Atlanta Constitution in May. The letters were written in response to O. A. Lochrane’s criticism of the Irish land reform movement and its leaders. Lochrane was a nationally known attorney and former Georgia Supreme Court Justice who, like Armstrong, had been born in Ireland.
In June, Armstrong was a member of a delegation of Irish-Americans that met with President Arthur at the White House. During his stay in Washington DC, his young son, Luke Parnell Armstrong (April 1883-June 1883) died.
Armstrong wrote of his son’s death in a letter dated July 8, 1883 to well-known American Fenian and Clan na Gael member John Devoy. At the time, Devoy, who had been a delegate at the Irish National League convention in Philadelphia, was serving a sixty-day prison sentence for libel at Blackwell’s Island in New York.
Dynamite bombs planted by American Fenians exploded in Glasgow on January 20th and in London on March 15th and October 30th. Some of the bombs were planted by members of the Clan na Gael. The American Fenians’ Dynamite War in Great Britain continued through 1885.
1883
January 3rd, Augusta Chronicle, p. 5: A meeting of the Augusta chapter of the Irish National Land League was held. John F. Armstrong was asked to explain the purpose of the meeting and invited people to join the National Land League to support the tenant farmers of Ireland who were threatened with yet another famine and eviction.
January 20th, War in the Shadows, p. vii: Dynamite bombs planted by American Fenians exploded in Glasgow, Scotland at Tradeston Gasworks, Possil Street Bridge, and Buchanan Street Station.
March 6th, Augusta Chronicle, p. 5: The mayor appointed delegates to represent Augusta at the funeral of Alexander H. Stephens. John F. Armstrong was named as one of the delegates.
March 9th, New York Herald, p. 3: Description of the funeral of Georgia Governor Alexander H. Stephens in Atlanta. John F. Armstrong was one of the pallbearers.
March 16th, The Sun (New York), p. 3: On March 15th, a small container filled with explosives was detonated at the offices of the Times of London. No one was injured and damage was minimal. At 9 p.m., the Government Board offices at Westminster in London were rocked by an explosion from a dynamite bomb.
Early April, American Rebel, p. 145: American Fenians were arrested in England in connection with the dynamite bombs in Glasgow and London. Five hundred pounds of dynamite were confiscated. Some of the men were Clan na Gael members.
April 28th, Irish Nation (NY), pp. 1 and 5: In Philadelphia at the annual convention of the Irish Land League of America, members voted to merge the Land League and other Irish organizations into the Irish National League of America. The purpose of the new organization was to support Charles Stewart Parnell‘s efforts to promote Irish land reform and home-rule in the British Parliament. President Mooney of the Land League selected a committee of seven to oversee the transition from the Land League to the Irish National League: Andrew L. Brown of Missouri, Congressman P. A. Collins of Massachusetts, John F. Armstrong of Georgia, W. V. Gannon of Iowa, Rev. Fr. Cronin of Buffalo, Rev. Fr. O’Reilly of Detroit, and Rev. Fr. Dorney of Chicago. At one point President Mooney, Alexander Sullivan of Chicago, and Armstrong answered members’ questions about Charles Stewart Parnell and the Irish National League in Ireland. The article noted that the Clan na Gael was well represented among League delegates.
April 28th, Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 9: Rev. Fr. McKenna of Massachusetts, Dr. W. Wallace of New York, James Reynolds of New Haven, M. V. Gannon of Iowa, Judge J. G. Johnson of Wisconsin, John F. Armstrong of Georgia, and US Senator James Fair of Nevada were appointed to the Council of Seven in the Irish National League of America to help the officers and president run the new organization.Various sources at the Philadelphia convention told a reporter that six of the seven men chosen for the Council of Seven were members of the Clan na Gael. John F. Armstrong was one of the six council members named as Clan na Gael.
April 30th, Muskegon Chronicle (Muskegon, MI), p. 1: At the annual convention of the Irish in Philadelphia, the meeting closed with resolutions calling for unity among the Irish in America, the Irish National League in Ireland, and support for Michael Davitt, who was currently in jail. John F. Armstrong of Georgia was appointed to the organization’s Committee of Seven to assist the president and officers.
May 9th, Augusta Chronicle, p. 8: In Augusta, John F. Armstrong gave his report on the new Irish National League of America. He had recently returned from the meeting in Philadelphia, where he had been appointed to the Council of Seven.
May 13th, Macon Telegraph (Macon, GA), Reprinted from the Cincinnati Enqirer, “The Rosy Hibernian: Milked by Gath – Judge Lochrane on Ireland and Irishmen Abroad and At Home”, p. 1: Irish-born Judge Lochrane expressed his opposition to both the land agitations in Ireland and the large convention of the Irish in Philadelphia the previous April.
May 20th, Atlanta Constitution, “Lochrane and the Irish”, p. 6: Letter dated May 18th, written by John F. Armstrong to the editors of the Atlanta Constitution in regard to Judge O. A. Lochrane‘s opposition to the land agitations in Ireland and the Irish convention in Philadelphia. Both Armstrong and Lochrane were Irish immigrants and residents of the State of Georgia. Armstrong believed that “Lochrane’s diatribe against the Irish will not have much effect” because he was a “renegade and a demagogue” and a supporter of former President Ulysses S. Grant.
May 23rd, Augusta Chronicle, “Gath Quotes Lochrane: What the Ex-Judge Thinks of the Irish”, p. 5: A reprint of the interview that was originally published in the Cincinnati Enquirer. It also contained some of the reporter Gath’s notes on Lochrane’s background. Gath reported that Lochrane was a native Irishman, who had arrived in the United States at the age of eighteen. He worked at a drugstore in Athens, Georgia before attending law school. Lochrane served as a judge on the Georgia Supreme Court and eventually went into private practice in Atlanta.
President Chester A. Arthur, 1882, Image courtesy of the Library of Congress
May 23rd, Augusta Chronicle, p. 5: John F. Armstrong, in a letter to the Atlanta Constitution dated May 21st, apologized for his earlier letter of May 18th due to its angry and indignant tone. He proceeded to respond point by point to Judge Lochrane‘s criticism of the land agitations in Ireland and the Philadelphia convention.
June 24th, Augusta Chronicle, p. 3: Announcement of the death of baby Luke Parnell Armstrong, son of John F. Armstrong. The child was born during John F. Armstrong‘s attendance at the Philadelphia convention of the Irish National League and died during his trip to Washington to meet with President Arthur with a delegation of Irish-Americans.
July 8th, John Devoy Papers at the National Library of Ireland: John F. Armstrong wrote a letter to American Fenian John Devoy.
July 17th, Ireland, Petty Sessions Court Registers (1883), No page number: Luke Armstrong of Tubbercurry was charged with driving a cart and horse on the road with no one holding the reins. On September 6, it was noted that he had been fined but – the register is hard to read – it appears he was in default and consequently spent some time in Sligo Gaol.
September 19th, Augusta Chronicle, p. 6: At a gathering at Sacred Heart Church, John F. Armstrong gave a farewell speech to Fr. O’Shanahan who was moving to a parish in Selma.
October 30th, War in the Shadows, p. vii: Dynamite bombs exploded at Praed Street and Charing Cross stations of the London Underground Railway.
November 1st, The Times (London), p. 5: It was reported that American Fenian Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa had remarked that the two explosions on the London underground on October 30th were the work of Fenians.
References
(1883). Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved 2014, from http://www.genealogybank.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1883). Chicago Daily Tribune. Retrieved 2017 from https://www.newspapers.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1883). Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY). Retrieved in April 2017 from https://www.newspapers.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1883). Elkhart Daily Review (Elkhart, IN). Retrieved 2014, from http://www.genealogybank.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1883). Irish Nation. Retrieved 2014, from http://www.genealogybank.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1883). Macon Telegraph (Macon, GA). Retrieved 2017, from http://www.genealogybank.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1883). Muskegon Chronicle (Muskegon, MI). Retrieved 2014, from http://www.genealogybank.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1883). The Sun (New York). Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
(1883). The Times (London). Retrieved in February 2017 from https://www.newspapers.com **Note: See dates and page numbers above.
Golway, Terry. Irish Rebel: John Devoy and America’s Fight for Ireland’s Freedom. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Print.
Ireland, Petty Sessions Court Registers. 6 Sept 1883, No page number. Accessed in March 2017 at Findmypast.com at http://search.findmypast.com/record?id=ire%2fpettys%2f4580917%2f00426&parentid=ire%2fpettys%2f4580917%2f00426%2f1450175&highlights=%22%22
Kenna, Shane. War in the Shadows: The Irish-American Fenians Who Bombed Victorian Britain. Irish Academic Press: Merrion Press, 2014. Print.
Moody, T.W. and F.X. Martin, Editors. The Course of Irish History. Dublin: The Mercier Press, 1993. Print.
O’Brien, Gillian. Blood Runs Green: The Murder That Transfixed Gilded Age Chicago. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2015. Print.