“What do you think of affairs now?” “I don’t know what to think,” said Meagher. “I never saw such a change in public opinion. I feel like one carried away by a torrent.” Would Irish America’s best-known voice join the volunteers to defend the capital? Where, exactly, was his heart? Hadn’t he expressed sympathy for the South? “Damn them!” he snapped. “Damn them that didn’t let that flag alone!” “If you feel that way, perhaps you might think of coming with us,” a member of New York’s 69th suggested. “I’ll think of it.”
