This collection contains materials related to the Fenian Brotherhood, a secret society founded in New York in 1857 by Irish refugees, and their unsuccessful attempts to spark revolution in Ireland by the invasion of Canada from Buffalo, New York at the close of the United States Civil War. The Fenian Brotherhood not only had an army but also a "Navy" consisting of a tugboat carrying a gun that steamed up and down the Niagara River between Buffalo and Fort Erie. After 1870, the Brotherhood was gradually absorbed by the Clan-na-Gael. This collection contains correspondence, minutes, and other materials related to the invasion. Much of the correspondence are letters received and sent by Frank B. Gallagher, a senior member the Brotherhood. These materials are owned by the American Catholic Historical Society and maintained at the Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (CHRC) 6740 Roosevelt Blvd., Philadelphia , PA 19149.  For more information please see: http://www.chrc-phila.org/