re: #531 Decatur Deb

The soundtrack:

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The Fenians’ actions were problematic and often quite wrong, but their cause was fairly just. And there’s no doubt the American Civil War had at the time raised Irish Republican (‘Republican’ in the Ireland sense) spirits greatly, for the defeat of the Confederacy had shown that nasty and exploitative systems could be taken down and the Union had trained many men of Irish origin for war and was now with peace awash in surplus guns.

It wasn’t just the the sons of Erin who liked the idea of going after Canada. Some Union regiments (from Michigan and the other states bordering Canada especially) added an extra verse to Yankee Doodle:

Secession he would first put down,
Wholly and for-ever!
And then from England’s crown,
He Canada would se-ver!