The American branch of the Fenians who made forays into Canada
were also supported for a short time by the United States government.
The US was, at the time, in the "pulling the Lion's tail" stage,
when anything anti-British was generally well accepted. They
re-thought that position when the raids turned out to be rather
more successful and comprehensive than they had anticipated.
   As a point of order, the current political/terrorist group which
is commonly known as the IRA is more properly called the Provisional
IRA or the provos. They are a splinter from the original Irish
Republican Army which faught in the war which liberated the Republic
of Ireland. This group included many of the Fenians.
   The origin of the name "Fenians" comes from Irish folklore. The
   Fenians were a band of heroes loyal to Finn McCool (thats the
   phonetic spelling, not the right one).