THE MOBILISATION OF Irish-America, first under the Friends of Irish Freedom and later by the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic (AARIR), created a mass movement in the United States.

The Treaty split saw AARIR membership and financial support plummet, though the organisation still managed to generate fund-raising and propaganda opportunities, as seen during three separate anti-Treaty republican speaking tours of the United States in 1922–3.

Advertisement for an anniversary celebration of the Easter Rising in Philadelphia with speakers including Constance de Markievicz, Austin Stack and Kathleen Barry. National Library of Ireland National Library of Ireland

All were fronted by female republicans, who were experienced public performers. The first tour occurred in April and May 1922 before fighting broke out, and was headlined by Constance Markievicz, one of the republicans’ best-known and most effective speakers (Fig. 11a, top).

She was accompanied for most of it by Cumann na mBan leaders Kathleen Boland and Kathleen Barry, and the Gaelic League president, J.J. O’Kelly (anti-Treaty Sinn Féin TD Austin Stack also joined briefly).

Anti-treaty position

The national tour publicised the anti-Treaty position and secured funds for its political campaign during visits to the American north-east, a couple of stops in the Midwest, and a swing along the west coast. Perhaps the most enthusiastic reception was provided in Butte and Anaconda, Montana by militant copper miners, who cheered Markievicz’s uncompromising message and criticism of local working conditions.

The tour was cut short in mid-May by the announcement of the ‘Pact’ general election to be held in Ireland on 16 June. Markievicz was needed at home to contest her parliamentary seat.

Atlas of the Irish Civil War is out now. Cork University Press Cork University Press

The second tour was undertaken by Muriel MacSwiney, the widow of Terence MacSwiney (Fig. 11b, left). She was another global republican figure, who had been well received during a short visit to the United States just after her husband’s death on hunger strike in late 1920.

MacSwiney was joined by Nancy Kearns, a nurse with extensive IRA service. (As Gerri O’Neill points out, the Military Service Pensions Board later recognised Kearns as an IRA officer rather than as a Cumann na mBan member.) Kearns had made national headlines in 1920 when she was arrested in her native County Sligo driving a carload of rifles, and achieved even more notoriety following her spectacular escape from Mountjoy Gaol in October 1921.

Markievics' and Barry's US tour map.

Both Kearns and Muriel MacSwiney served with anti-Treaty forces during the Battle for Dublin, before travelling to New York in September 1922 to raise money for the Irish Republican Prisoners’ Dependants Fund. They spoke at a series of meetings in New York and New England, although these were significantly smaller events than those addressed by republican emissaries in 1920 and 1921.

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The tour was sidetracked by news from Ireland that Muriel’s sister-in-law Mary MacSwiney had gone on hunger strike following her imprisonment. In response, Muriel MacSwiney helped picket the British embassy in Washington DC, and was arrested with a number of female AARIR members. The charges were eventually dropped, though they may have contributed to a health collapse that required MacSwiney to abandon the tour (her fragile health may help explain the presence of the nurse Linda Kearns on the tour). She returned to Ireland in November but was replaced by Hanna Sheehy Skeffington and Kathleen Boland.

Experienced communicators

By this stage, Sheehy Skeffington, Boland and Kearns all had extensive public-speaking experience in the United States (Sheehy Skeffington undertook a national tour there during 1917–18). Their extensive tour lasted from November 1922 until early May 1923 (Fig. 11c, opposite top).

The three women occasionally addressed different meetings to cover more ground, as they appeared across New England, the Midwest and the west coast. They continued to fly the anti-Treaty flag, even as the republican war effort collapsed.

Joanne Mooney Eichacker reports that Sheehy Skeffington, Boland and Kearns raised $123,000 during the tour, helping at least to refill some of the depleted republican coffers.

Atlas of the Irish Civil War: New Perspectives is the third in a series of historical books looking at the Civil War years. It is edited by Hélène O’Keefe, John Crowley, Donal Ó Drisceoil, John Borgonovo and Mike Murphy of University College Cork.  The book is shortlisted for TheJournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year. Click here to cast your vote for the Irish Book Awards.