Maine Irish Heritage Center

Description

Eugene P. McGillicuddy (1867-1893) is shown here dressed here in the uniform of the Portland Montgomery Guards, an Irish-American militia organization formed in 1872 and known for public demonstrations of close order drill throughout the United States and Canada in the late 1800s.

McGillicuddy worked in Portland as a contractor for much of his short life, and died of typhoid fever and pneumonia in 1893 at the age of 25.

Organizations like the Montgomery Guard provided many young Irish men the opportunity to belong and contribute to the society that gave them hope of a better life, and often kept them from the detrimental consequences of poverty and prejudice of the day.

View additional information about this item on the Maine Memory Network.