Workers on Deer Island, a small peninsula on the inner Harbour of Quincy Bay, uncovered bones in a mass burial while expanding Boston’s sewer system. The island is located in the Boston Harbour.
They reasoned that Native Americans must have been buried in the graves that were unmarked. However, analysis of the bones revealed that they belonged to Irish immigrants who had fled the Great Famine in Ireland and disembarked from ships known as “coffin ships” before arriving on Deer Island. Their remains were found on the island.
The unearthing of the bones brought to light a hitherto unknown chapter in the history of Boston. In the late 1840s, when people were fleeing the hunger, poverty, and sickness in Ireland, the United States was a beacon of hope for those people. On the other hand, the promised land didn’t live up to expectations for many of the people who ended themselves on Deer Island because they missed their homes.
Many of them arrived very undernourished and sick, and the sheer quantity of them overwhelmed the city’s institutions and posed a hazard to public health.
In the year 1847, which was the most difficult year of the Great Hunger in Ireland and was known as “Black 47,” the City Council established a Committee on Alien Passengers. A short time later, the Deer Island hospital opened its doors to patients.
Those who entered but were deemed unfit to mix with the general populace were isolated at the hospital on Deer Island and placed in quarantine there. During the subsequent two years, there were around 5,000 patients who were admitted. Although many of the patients made a full recovery and were able to continue their lives with their families on the mainland, Deer Island served as the final resting place for many of the patients who did not make it.
On a hill with a view of the Atlantic Ocean, there is a mass grave that has the remains of approximately 850 people. The history of Deer Island was ignored for a number of years, and the location of the mass burial was concealed for a period of time. The efforts that were made to create a memorial were fruitless.
The memorial that can presently be seen was created after a period of thirty years of work. After the initial committee was unsuccessful in obtaining the necessary permissions, they put the concept of the memorial to rest for a number of years. However, after some time had passed, a new generation of Irish people came to the conclusion that the lack of respect for their predecessors was intolerable.
A number of people, including Michael Kearney, Mark Porter, John Flaherty, Peter O’Malley, Bernard Callaghan, the brothers Feeney, and the late William and Rita O’Connell, took up the job.
Mark Porter, a resident of County Donegal who is also a member of the committee, shared the following statement with Irish Star.com: “When it came time to write a plaque to go along with the cross, we decided that it was only important that we let the people know, why we did this, and who we did this for.” Those individuals who gave their lives on this island made it possible for you and I to live our lives today. That has nothing to do with us in any way,”
Michael Kearney, who was instrumental in putting the preparations for the memorial into motion, stated that the most important thing for them was to show respect for their ancestors. Rob Flynn, an artist residing in Pennsylvania, is the creator of a 16-foot Celtic Cross. Flynn erected the monument for free in order to pay tribute to his Irish background as well as the people whose passing made it possible for Irish immigrants to start new lives in the United States.
In 2019, the monument was revealed during a ceremony that was attended by significant individuals from the Boston Irish community, including Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Consul General of Ireland Laoise Moore, and former Mayor of Boston and proud Irish American Marty Walsh.
People have been able to visit the memorial ever since it was established, at which time they can take a moment to halt and reflect on the awful loss of so many hopeful Irish immigrants. The monument, which looks out over Boston Harbour, recreates the vista that these individuals would have seen, with Boston in the distance, appearing to be excruciatingly close but ultimately unachievable.
They share this soil with peaceful Native Americans, who starved in confinement on the island during King Philip’s War in the 1670s, according to archival information acquired by John McColgan, a former Boston City Archivist. Collectively, they are evidence of the atrocities committed by colonial exploiters in Ireland, in the United States, and all across the world.
