A contributing object to the Montana State Capitol Campus Historic District, the Thomas Meagher Statue, by Charles J. Mulligan of Chicago, is a life sized bronze sculpture of former territorial governor Thomas Francis Meagher astride his steed, depicted as a Union soldier of the Civil War. The sculpture stands atop a large granite stele of at least eight feet in height. Mounted around the stele are several bronze plaques containing quotations from Meagher, as well as biographical homages to him.
Following is a short news article on the Meagher statue, one of many published over the years since its dedication in 1905.
Montana Capitol statue
memorializes colorful character
Gazette Staff | Oct 3, 2010
A statue of Thomas Francis Meagher, a former governor of the Montana Territory, was placed in front of the Montana Capitol and dedicated on July 4, 1905.
According to Montana Historical Society records, the statue was intended to portray Meagher as "the gallant commanding officer of the Irish Brigade in the American Civil War, guiding his Irish brothers through some of the most difficult battles of that war."
Through the Meagher Memorial Association, Montanans raised $20,000 in the early 1900s to pay for the statue made by Charles J. Mulligan of Chicago. The granite pedestal was designed by Charles Lane and constructed by the James Welch Co. of Butte. The statue was restored in 2004 by the Montana Historical Society and the Helena Hibernians.
Meagher was an Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Rebellion of 1848. After being convicted of sedition, he was sentenced to a penal colony in Australia. In 1852, he escaped and made his way to the United States, where he settled in New York City. At the beginning of the Civil War, Meagher joined the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of brigadier general. After the war in 1865, he was appointed acting governor of the Montana Territory. In 1867, Meagher drowned in the Missouri River at Fort Benton after falling from a steamboat.
From the Montana Standard