Thomas Francis Meagher.

Thomas Francis Meagher.. . , (left panel) , American soldier and statesman; Brigadier General United States Army; raised and organized the Irish Brigade in the Army of the Potomac, and personally commanded it in the battles of Fair Oaks, Mechanicsville, Gaines’ Mill, White Oaks Swamp, Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Antietam, and Chancellorsville; appointed to the command of the Etowah District as Acting Major General in November, 1864; Acting Governor of Montana from September, 1865 to July 1, 1867, when he was drowned in the Missouri River, at Fort Benton, Montana., (right panel) , ”My heart, my arm, my life are pledged to the national cause, and to the last it shall be my highest pride, as I conceive it to be my holiest duty and obligation to share its fortunes.” , , from speech at Jones’ Woods, New York, 1861., ”The true American knows, feels, and with enthusiasm declares, that of all human emotions, of all human passions, there is not one more pure, more noble, more conducive to good and great and glorious deeds, than that which bears us back to the spot that was the cradle of our childhood, the playground of our boyhood, the theater of our manhood.” , , from address delivered in Virginia City, Montana, March 17, 1866.