After John Mitchel escaped from Van Dieman�s Land, he eventually reached California, where he received a tremendous welcome. Travelling on to New York, he was re-united with his mother, wife and family. He established the `Citizen` magazine, and wrote several books, including `The History of Hugh O�Neill` and `the History of Ireland.

Having acquired a plantation in Virginia, John Mitchel fought on the Confederate side in the Civil War. His health and eyesight were too poor to be an army volunteer, though Brigadier-General Beauregard would have accepted him on the staff. Instead, he was a member of the Richmond Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and saw crueller things than any staff officer. The wounded had to be lifted on the rough wagons for the slow train to a field hospital.

John�s son, Captain James Mitchel was with General Gordon�s outfit, bearing the brunt of Grant�s army, with heavy casualties. Johnney was Commander of Fort Sumner, which guarded the entrance to Charleston Harbour. It was stated that �adding the name of Mitchel to despatches was of incalculable value, for that told the world that we, too, were fighting for freedom from oppression.� Reports to the U.S. War Department from the Union flagship noted that the Commander was Captain John Mitchel, �son of the Irish patriot.�

James and John Mitchel (junior) were both killed in action, while Willie lost an arm. Young John Mitchel�s son, John Purdy Mitchel was later elected Mayor of New York. One sister, Henrietta, became a nun; Minnie was married to Colonel Page, while Isabella wed Dr Sloan. Publishing the `Southern Citizen, John Mitchel later returned to Brooklyn and his original publication.

Meanwhile, on a visit to Ireland, he was informed that there would be an election to fill the vacant seat of MP for Tipperary at Westminster. So, before returning to New York, he left the copy of a speech with TD Sullivan, editor of the `Nation` newspaper. The result was a highly successful campaign. But shortly after his triumphant return home, John Mitchel died in his former residence at Dromalane.

And a few days after attending the funeral, John Martin also passed away. `The Nation` reported: �It was desired by his compatriots throughout the country that the funeral of John Mitchel should be a great national demonstration. And there were overtures to his family to have the remains interred in our national cemetery at Glasnevin. The Irish nation would have witnessed impressive scenes.

�But the Mitchel family, while conscious that the nation would wish to have those honoured relics treated as a national possession, considered it most fitting that he be interred in the family burial-ground at Newry. So his body rests in that picturesque little cemetery, close to the Poor Clare�s Convent.�

A unique feature of the funeral, at which about 10,000 people participated, was that Catholic clergy led the cortege from John Mitchel�s former residence at Dromalane to the burial-ground in High Street. A large crowd of working-men had assembled at Fathom Line and followed the hearse, while factories and business premises closed, and flags on ships in the harbour were flown at half-mast.

At the family grave in the Unitarian cemetery, over which was a monument to the patriot�s father, Rev John Mitchel, the eulogy was delivered by Rev Craig Nelson, an old friend of the family. He disclosed that the Rev Mitchel had hoped that his son would enter the ministry; and that young John had engaged in a three-year course of studies, under Rev Nelson�s tutelage.

�As a solicitor, John often visited my home in Downpatrick, where he met various clergymen, including Roman Catholic and Protestants. His broad, liberal views, amiable and courteous disposition, as well as his manifest talents, led us all to regard him as one of the rising men in his profession. Though his health was delicate, his spirit was vigorous and strong.

�I must candidly say that, much as I admired and loved the man, I had no sympathy with his political views, nor the means by which he proposed to carry them out. But even his bitterest antagonist did admit his honesty, self-sacrificing devotedness, adherence to his convictions and unswerving truthfulness.

�Some admired and others feared those trenchant and powerful writings, which awoke the interest and kindled the enthusiasm of thousands. Warmly as John Mitchel advocated what was in his heart to be true and right, whether in political or religious matters, he never assumed infallibility,� Rev Nelson concluded.

`The Nation` newspaper declared: �We can but lament the loss of one of the most distinguished men to whom this county has given birth. In ages yet to come, John Mitchel will be reverently spoken of in a story of daring, suffering and heroic constancy. His memory will have more than royal honours in the land for which he laid down his life.

�As he lies in that little vault at a Newry graveyard, he wears a wreath of shamrock on his breast. It is fitting that the emblem rests there, for no heart ever glowed with a more constant love of Ireland, and none was fired with a more implacable hatred of her persecutors.�

�John Mitchel could not have died at a better time. Had he passed away on board the prison ship, or had his death summons come in the English prison colony, where he pined for years, or had he died during that long exile in America, such deaths, far from home would cause a sadness which would touch Irish hearts.

�But Providence dealt more kindly with that noble-hearted patriot, and so ordered that his demise took place in his own land. And he died with the light of victory on his brow; when his countrymen showered him with the highest honours in their power to bestow; and when his name had once again become a complexity and a terror to the enemies of his country. After many years of wandering, John Mitchel has died in his native land, despite those laws which made him an outlawed man. And he sleeps, as he did in infancy, between the bodies of his parents at Old Meeting House Green in Newry.�

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