O'Neill

The raids the plaque calls ill-fated had one victory. On June 1, 1866, O'Neill crossed the Niagara River with about 600 men and took Fort Erie, and on June 2, north of Ridgeway, his Civil War veterans routed a Canadian force under Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Booker before withdrawing across the river that night. Canada designated Ridgeway Battlefield a national historic site in 1921; its plaque credits the raids with a larger militia and greater support for Confederation. O'Neill, born in County Monaghan in 1834, died in Omaha on January 8, 1878.

What the plaque says

O'Neill One of the most colorful leaders in the early development of Nebraska was General John O'Neill, founder of O'Neill. After leading several ill-fated raids against British military posts in Canada 1866-1871, O'Neill lost his leading position in the Fenians -- an American organization promoting Irish independence. Born in Ireland in 1834, he was a U. S. Army officer from 1857 to 1864, when he became active in the Fenians. In 1871, though in disfavor with the leading Irish-American society, O'Neill did not give up the cause. Thousands of Irish were leaving troubled Ireland to settle in crowded American cities. O'Neill became interested in founding agrarian colonies in the West. For his first colony, he selected Holt County, on Nebraska's frontier. The first colonists arrived in May 1874, and his fourth and last group arrived in 1877. General O'Neill died the following year, but the town was already the county seat and growing. Though there were numerous Irish settlements in Nebraska, O'Neill was the largest formal Irish colony. Its citizens have always been proud of their Old World heritage. O'Neill Chamber of Commerce Historical Land Mark Council

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park — 23 mi
  A watering hole in Antelope County where ash from an eruption in Idaho buried rhinoceroses and horses about twelve million years ago, now uncovered in place under the Hubbard Rhino Barn.

More markers nearby

• O'Neill, Irish Capital of Nebraska — 2.9 mi
• U.S. Highway 281 — 7.4 mi
• Page Base Line — 9.7 mi
• The Savidge Brothers, Aviation Pioneers — 18 mi