National Museum of Ireland The flag of Dillon's Regiment, Irish Brigade of France.

DOMNAIGH -- On February 1, 1702, the Irish Brigade of France added to its growing reputation as elements of the Brigade fought at the battle of Cremona during the War of Spanish Succession. With the city nearly overrun by Prince Eugene's Austrians, only the taking of the Po Gate and its bridge stood between Eugene and complete victory. But guarding that bridge and gate were 600 men of Dillon's and Burke's regiments. Neither bribery, nor pleading, nor 12 hours of fighting could move them; the gate was held, and the town was saved. The brave soldiers of the Irish Brigade had won the day for France, but their courageous stand had cost them 60 percent casualties.

• Read the full story of the Irish Brigade's desperate fight at the battle of Cremona

'The Rough Riders' by Theodore Roosevelt (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899) Capt. Buckey O'Neill, 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry

LUAIN -- On February 2, 1860, William O. 'Buckey' O'Neill, sheriff, politician, and one of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, was born, possibly somewhere in Ireland. Son of a veteran of the American Civil War's famed Irish Brigade, young William left Washington, D.C., in 1879 hoping to find excitement in the Arizona territories. He found enough for three men. He won fame during many exploits against outlaws as a sheriff and eventually won an election for mayor of Prescott. At the start of the Spanish-American War, O'Neill -- nicknamed 'Buckey' after his favorite card game -- raised a company for Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. It was then that he first listed his birthplace as Ireland, after years of claiming U.S. birth. 'Buckey' O'Neill was one of the most popular men, enlisted or officer, in Roosevelt's regiment. He was killed just before the regiment's famous assault up Kettle Hill (not San Juan Hill) on July 1, 1898.

• Read more about Western hero William O. 'Buckey' O'Neill.

'Atlas and Cyclopedia of Ireland' James Stephens, who founded the IRB, Irish counterpart to John O'Mahony's Fenian Brotherhood

SATHAIRN -- On February 7, 1877, John O'Mahony, founder of the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States, died in New York. O'Mahony was a member of the Young Ireland party in the 1840s; he escaped to France after the failed rising in 1848. In Paris, he met James Stephens before moving on to New York in 1853. On March 17, 1858, O'Mahony founded the Fenian Brotherhood in New York, as Stephens was founding the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in Dublin. O'Mahony led the entire Fenian organization until 1865, when internal disputes led to its splitting into three factions, one being O'Mahony's. His faction's failed in its attempt to invade Canada through Campobello Island in April 1866. Eleven months later, a rising in Ireland failed. In the wake of these debacles, O'Mahony's Fenian wing ceased to exist and he lived out his last days in poverty until his death in 1877. Like Terence MacManus, O'Mahony's body was returned to Dublin where he was given a huge funeral and was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery..

VOICES

'The Rough Riders' by Theodore Roosevelt (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899) An illustration of William O. "Buckey" O'Neill

'The Irish performed there the most important piece of service for Louis XIV, that, perhaps, any King of France ever received from so small a body of men since the foundation of that monarchy. This action by the Irish, by any impartial way of reasoning, saved the whole French army in Italy.'
        -- The English writer Forman, remarking on the battle of Cremona

'The iron-nerved, iron-willed fighter from Arizona ... a staunchly loyal and generous friend. ... he, alone among his comrades, was a visionary, an articulate emotionalist ... He was less apt to tell tales of his hard and stormy past than he was to speak of the mysteries which lie behind courage, and fear, and love.'
        -- Teddy Roosevelt describing William "Buckey" O'Neill

'Sergeant, the Spanish bullet isn't made that will kill me!'
        -- William 'Buckey' O'Neill, just moments before a bullet hit him in the mouth, killing him, July 1, 1898

'Ere long there shall be an Irish Army on the Irish hillsides ready to do battle for Irish independence and drive back from the green and sacred Isle of Erin those ruthless tyrants who have desolated our homes and driven us wandering exiles over the whole earth.'
        -- John O'Mahony, September 1865, when hopes ran high among the Fenians

February - Feabhra

BIRTHS

1, 1878 - Thomas MacDonagh (Poet, revolutionary - Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary.)
2, 1860 - William O. "Buckey" O'Neill (Rough Rider, Span-Am War - Ireland)
2, 1895 - John Ford (Movie Director)
2, 1882 - James Joyce (Author - Dublin)
2, 1911 - Richard "Killer" O'Kane (US Navy MOH winner - Dover, NH)
3, 1793 - Charles Stewart McCauley (Commodore, U.S. Navy, Civil War, Philadelphia, PA)
4, 1868 - Constance Markievicz (Revolutionary - London, England)

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

1, St. Brigid's Day.
1, 1315 - Edward the Bruce of Scotland and his Irish allies win the battle of Skerries in Kildare.
1, 1702 - Irish Brigade of France fights at the battle of Cremona.
1, 1796 - Theobald Wolf Tone, United Irish leader, arrives in France seeking assistance.
2, 1880 - Charles S. Parnell addresses the U.S. Congress.
2, 1918 - Former Heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan dies.
2, 1922 - James Joyce's "Ulysses" published in Paris.
2, 1942 - Lts John F. Fitzgerald and James F. McCarthy fly the first two B-25s off the USS WASP to begin Doolittle's Tokyo.
3, 1537 - Lord Thomas Fitzgerald and his five uncles hung drawn and quartered at Tyburn.
3, 1801 - PM Pitt resigns over Royal veto on Catholic emancipation.
3, 1881 - Irish Land League organizer Michael Davitt is arrested.
3, 1896 - Lady Jane Wilde - Speranza of the Nation, Mother of Oscar - dies in London.
3, 1919 - Harry Boland and Michael Collins engineer Eamon de Valera's escape from Lincoln Jail in England.
5, 1733 - Arthur Dillon, 7th Viscount Dillon, first commander of Dillon's regiment, Irish Brigade of France, dies at St. Germain-en-Laye, France. 
5, 1969 – Thomas P. Noonan (Medal of Honor) is killed attempting to save a comrade in the A Shau Valley, Republic of Vietnam.
6, 1685 - Coronation of King James II.
6, 1860 - Spanish Gen. O'Donnell wins the battle of Tetuan in war against Morocco.
6, 1971 - First British soldier killed by Provos.
7, 1549 - Composing of any poem or song about anyone other than the King prohibited by statute.
7, 1589 - Burkes rise in revolt in Co. Mayo.
7, 1877 - John O'Mahony, founder of Fenian Brotherhood in US, dies in New York.