Thomas Francis Meagher

Irish patriot and orator; Born in the city of Waterford, Ireland, August 8, 1826; Sent to Paris in 1848 by the Irish confederation and the citizens of Dublin to present an address of congratulations to the French people on the establishment of the French Republic; Indicted and tried at Clonmel Ireland, September 1848, for active participation in the Irish insurrectionary movement against the English rule, and sentenced to be hanged. Drawn and quartered; sentence commuted to transportation for life to the convict colony of Van Dieman's land. (Island of Tasmania  now part of Australia)

Escaped in 1852 and made his way to the United Sates. At the beginning of the Civil War he joined the Army and rose to the rank of Brigadier General. After the war he was appointed  acting governor of the Montana territory. In 1867 he fell off a boat and presumed drowned in the Missouri River. 

Because of his activism some say he was murdered, some say he was drunk and just fell overboard. His body was never found.

This statue is in front of the capitol building in Helena Montana. The extra photo is just a small part of the capitol building.