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The fiery Irish-American Fenian Brotherhood planned to liberate Ireland from
British rule by involving the United States in a war with Great Briain; it hoped
to do this by attacking Canada, a British dominion. On June 1, 1866, Fenian
forces from Buffalo, New York, crossed the border and seized the Canadian town
of Fort Eire. Canadian volunteers failed to repulse the Fenians, some 1,500
strong, until three days later, when they drove the invaders back across the
Niagara River. A similar raid occurred the next week from Vermont into eastern
Canada (Quebec), but it also failed. Though US authorities took action against
the Fenian raiders, Fenian troubles persisted and eventually led to other
unsuccessful raids into Canada from Vermont and New Hampshire on May 25-27,
1870. By the next year the Fenian scare had ended because of public pressure and
a crackdown on offenders.
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