Thomas Francis Bourke
(1840-1889)
Fenian, Veteran of the American Civil War and the Fenian
Rising of 1867
 Thomas Francis Bourke
was born in Fethard,
Co. Tipperary, Ireland on December 10, 1840,
the second of six children born to Edmond Bourke and
Mary Bourke (nee)
Dwyer. Both parents were well educated having come from middle
class families. Edmond Bourke owned a successful
painting and decorating business and as a result of
family connections, garnered a large share of the contracts in his
county. Nonetheless, the devastation caused by the famine years
ruined his business causing the Bourke's, like so many other
families, to leave Ireland or, possibly starve to death
In 1850, the Bourke's arrived in New York were Edmond was able to start a
new painting and decorating business. After a few years in New York his wife's health
began to fail and, in order to help her cope with her illness, the
family relocated to St. John's Newfoundland where the
climate was more suitable to her state of health. Being a good
businessman, Edmond Bourke succeeded in setting up a thriving business
in St. Johns. In all, Edmond Bourke had managed to
establish three businesses in three different countries; a testament
to his tenacity and endurance.
In the meantime Thomas had
acquired a certain competency in his father's business. When his
father's health failed, possibly due to lead poisoning, the family
relocated to Toronto. At this juncture Thomas became the sole
breadwinner for the family. He relocated to Boston where work was plentiful
in the large Irish community. When the financial panic hit in
1857 he was forced to travel around the country finding work
where and when he could.
After his father died in 1859 the family
relocated to New York. Thomas continued to support them until the
early 1860's when other members of the family came of age and found
employment.
Bourke was working in New Orleans, the centre
of a large Irish population when the Civil War began and like most
Irishmen fought with the state in which they lived. In the
latter half of 1861, Bourke joined the 7th
Louisiana Infantry regiment. It is not known
exactly if Bourke enlisted or was conscripted. Either way he took
part in the fighting around New Orleans in April of 1862. By
May of 1862 the 7th
Louisiana Infantry Regiment was in the Shenandoah Valley under
the command of General “Stonewall” Jackson. The regiment engaged in
a number of successful battles during the Valley Campaign which
ended in June of 1862.
At the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)
in September of 1862, the 7th
Louisiana took part in the some of the fiercest fighting during the
deadliest one-day battle of the Civil War. The regiment was
decimated suffering losses as high as 50% Bourke was one of the
lucky survivors.
During General Robert E. Lee's second march
north
the 7th Louisiana fought a number of skirmishes and battles
including Marye's Heights in Virginia in early
May of 1863. By the end of June 1862, Lee's army had bypassed
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania his original target, and were dispersed
north and west of Gettysburg. The ensuing Battle of Gettysburg which
was fought on July 1st to 3rd
was Bourke's last battle.
On July 3rd, possibly during the early
morning assault on Culps Hill two bullets passed through his
upper thigh. Although he received the best care possible in a Union
army hospital he never fully recovered the full use of his limb
ending up with a limp. For the duration of the war he was held in a prisoner-of-war
camp at Fort Delaware on the Delaware River near Wilmington.
On his return to New
York in 1865 he set about finding work in the painting trade. Once established
he joined the Wolfe Tone Circle of
the Fenian Brotherhood and was made organizer for district of
Manhattan shortly afterwards. His pleasant demeanor and easy going
manner earned him the respect of his fellow Irishmen resulting in a
huge increase in membership and a substantial boost to the Fenian
treasury.
At the Fenian Convention in Philadelphia in 1865 a split occurred within
the organization that pitted John O'Mahony of New York, who wanted to
support an uprising in Ireland, against
Colonel W. R.
Roberts, who wanted to invade Canada. Bourke sided with O'Mahony arguing that
an invasion of Canada was doomed to fail resulting in a terrible
waste of lives and money.
In May of 1866,
James Stephens, the leader of the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland
arrived in New York after
his escape from Dublin's notorious Richmond
Prison.
Shortly after arriving he took over control of the Fenian Brotherhood from
O’Mahony and
appointed Colonel Thomas J. Kelly
as his deputy. Immediately after
taking control he started to campaign for a rising in Ireland. However, by December of
the same year Stephens was calling for a delay as
he felt that Ireland was not ready. As a result of his
vacillation, Stephens was replaced by Colonel Kelly and a date was set for
an American supported rising in Ireland.
Bourke together with other Irish American
leaders set sail for Ireland in January of 1867. Although
prepared to help in the planned Irish rising, Bourke, like the other
Irish Americans who joined him, saw no great hope of success. All
felt in honor bound to carry out the pledges they had given to help
to free Ireland
The rising, which was
originally scheduled to start on February 11, was postponed
because the
British were aware of the plans. As always they were well served
by informers and traitors amongst them Massey and Corydon who had
infiltrated the Fenians ranks. The rescheduled
rising for March 5 was a failure for a number of reasons including
poor planning, a breakdown in communications and wholesale infiltration by British
agents.
On March 6, Bourke led a column of poorly armed men who were involved in a
skirmish with soldiers of the 31st
(Huntingdonshire)
Regiment. at Ballyhurst, Co.Tipperary.
Bourke was captured together with forty of his men and taken to Clonmel. He was later transferred to
Kilmainham Jail in Dublin to await trial.
His trial was held in
late April 1867. He was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to
death.
The following is an excerpt from his
"Speech from the Dock" considered by many historians to rank amongst the
greatest:
I have ties to bind me to life and society, as strong as any man in
this court. I have a family I love as much as any man in this court does
his. But I can remember the blessing received from an aged mother's
lips, as I left her the last time. She spoke as the Spartan mother did—"
Go, my boy. Return either with your shield or upon it." This reconciles
me. This gives me heart. I submit to my doom, and I hope that God will
forgive me my past sins. I hope, too, that inasmuch as He has for seven
hundred years, preserved Ireland, notwithstanding all the tyranny to
which she has been subjected, as a separate and distinct nationality, He
will also retrieve her fallen fortunes—to rise in her beauty and her
majesty, the sister of Columbia, the peer of any nation in the world
On pronouncing
sentence the
Chief justice summed up as follows:
As for You Thomas
Bourke, you appear ... to have been one of the ringleaders of this
treasonable design ... You brought your knowledge and your skill as
a soldier to the furtherance of this conspiracy, in which ... you
seem to glory. You have exhibited no hesitation and no remorse. You
have been the Fenian head-centre for the district of Manhattan; your
name is on the list of officers who were to carry out this
conspiracy, and the district of Tipperary was assigned to your
command ... The sentence of the Court is [the Chief Justice at this
point donned the black cap] that you, Thomas Bourke . . . shall be
taken from the place where you now stand, to the place from whence
you came; and that on Wednesday, the 29th day of this
month of May, you be taken on a hurdle, from that place to the place of
execution, and that there you ... be hanged by the neck until you are
dead, and that afterwards the head ... shall be severed from its body,
and the body ... divided into four quarters
On Monday May 27, 1867 two days before his scheduled execution his
sentence was commuted to
penal servitude for life.
After a short stay in
Mountjoy
Jail, he was transferred to Millbank Prison near London with other
Fenian activists. At the end of January 1871 following an amnesty
campaign he was released and returned to America. On arrival
Bourke and his comrades received a heroes welcome. He was chosen for the
Council of the Fenians in New York, on the 27th January 1876. In 1872 he
was a candidate for the office of Sheriff of Brooklyn. He was defeated
but shortly after became Deputy Sheriff. A few years later he became
Clerk of Supply and Repairs in New York Department of Public Works. In
early November 1889, Bourke became ill with acute inflammation of the
kidneys. He died on the 10th November 1889 aged 49 at his home at 209
Thirty-sixth St., New York City.
Contributed by
Tomás Ó Coısdealbha
CEMETERY
Name:
Calvary
Cemetery
ADDRESS:
4902
Laurel
Hill
Blvd,
Flushing, NY
11377
HEADSTONE
click on
the headstone inscription to enlarge
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