Come, my countrymen, to liberate Ireland at some future date, but not now, not with what was left after this slaughter. Come, my countrymen, a call of duty, honor and the like, words that could not seem more empty to families of those who’d answered the summons. They had come, all 540 of the dead, lost or dying, because Meagher’s words could move men to sacrifice. But to what end? What was the point of claiming a victory when one side had lost 12,000 men and the other 11,000?
