On March 9, the Cambridge Historical Society presents a program at the Warner Lodge on School Street in Jeffersonville to mark the 150th anniversary of the Fenian Brotherhood’s invasion of Canada in 1866. The militant Irish nationalist organization had lost many members who fought for both the Northern and the Southern states, but the battle-hardened survivors of the American Civil War joined forces again to strike a blow for independence of their homeland from British rule. Thousands of veterans gathered by railroad at Buffalo, NY, and at St. Albans, VT, to receive arms stockpiled in the those areas. The eastern wing of the force crossed the border at Franklin, just 30 miles north of Cambridge.

At 7 PM, Liam McKone will describe the role that Vermont played in this little-known aspect of the long struggle to restore freedom to Ireland. He is the author of Vermont’s Irish Rebel, the biography of Captain John Lonergan, recipient of the Medal of Honor for gallantry in the battle of Gettysburg and head of the Fenian Brotherhood in Vermont. Copies of the book signed by the author will be available for purchase. People can also come early to be outfitted with clothing and weapons to take a “selFenian” photo with their own camera.