Michael Doheny


Michael Doheny was an Irish writer and member of the Young Ireland movement.

Early life

The third son of Michael Doheny, of Brookhill, he was born at Brookhill, near Fethard, Co. Tipperary, and married a Miss O'Dwyer of that county. He was admitted to Gray's Inn in November 1834.

Politics

Doheny became connected with the national movement in the forties, and wrote prose and verse to The Nation over his initials, and signature of "Eiranach." He may also have been "A Tipperary Man," who wrote poems in the same paper between 1842 and 1848. He contributed letters to the Irish Tribune in 1848. Thomas Mooney states in his History of Ireland that Doheny was a parliamentary reporter in London in his early days.

Rebellion of 1848 and life in the US

He took part in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848, eluded arrest, and after being hunted by the police for some time, escaped to New York. He settled in the United States, and became a lawyer and a soldier with the Fenian Brotherhood.
He was also instrumental in the founding of the Irish-American 69th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed the "Fighting Irish", in which he was a company commander. Though it was never involved in liberating Ireland, as Doheny hoped, the regiment would have an illustrious history in the American Civil War and both world wars.

Conclusion

On 1 April 1863 he died very suddenly and was buried in Calvary Cemetery.

Works

Is best known as author of a small work, The Felon's Track,
New York, 1867, and of two poems, "Achusha gal machree" and "The Outlaw's Wife."