Canada General Service Medal, with bars for Fenian Raid 1866 & Fenian Raid 1870, awarded to Cpl. J. Smart 1899
Obverse, a bust of Queen Victoria with veil |
Reverse, Canadian flag surrounded by a maple wreath |
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Obverse, a bust of Queen Victoria with veil |
Reverse, Canadian flag surrounded by a maple wreath |
Colonial Canada's nineteenth-century history did not lack for secessionist movements, all ultimately unsucessful. One of the more serious threats was that posed by the Fenian Brotherhood, also known as the Irish National Militia, a body which gathered an increasing amount of support in the Northern United States, support which with the end of the American Civil War often came in the form of disbanded military contingents looking for a new war to fight.
Such men were offered their wish by a Fenian self-proclaimed Colonel by the name of O'Neil, who in 1866 used a large force of such men to attempt an invasion of British Canada. The Fenian army was dispersed by a single engagement with Canadian forces and mostly arrested on their return to the USA. O'Neil subsequently attempted the same thing again with equal lack of success twice in 1870, on the latter occasion being arrested before even leaving the USA.
This medal was awarded in 1899 to those who had fought the Fenians in any of these raids or the related Red River expedition. This one was awarded to Corporal J. Smart of the Royal Canadian Rifles. Lester Watson purchased it at some point before 1928.