The United Irish Uprising in Newfoundland was a failed mutiny by Irish soldiers in the British garrison in St. John's, Newfoundland on 24 April 1800. The authorities attributed it to the influence and example of the United Irishmen and their rebellion in Ireland two years prior. Background In 1798, a failed rebellion against British rule in Ireland occurred. A large-scale migration of Irish immigrants to Newfoundland was occurring concurrently, which increased after the rebellion; by 1800, two-thirds of the population of St. John's, and many in the British garrison, were Irish. In April 1800, rumors began to spread in St. John's that as many as 400 Irish people, including soldiers in the Newfoundland garrison (which included the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles and the Royal Artillery) inspired by the Society of United Irishmen had formed a secret society and taken oaths to organize a mutiny. More than 80 Irish soldiers were believed to have planned to rendezvous at the gunpowder magazine of Fort Townshend and murder their officers and several leading townspeople on April 20. Uprising Responding to these rumors, John Skerrett, the highest-ranking officer in the garrison, ordered the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles to be placed on parade on April 20. On the night of April 24, 19 Irish soldiers (consisting of 11 fencibles and twelve artillerymen led by James Murphy and Sergeant Kelly) gathered at the Fort Townshend gunpowder magazine, where they discovered that 30 fellow mutineers from Fort William were unable to join them (their commander, Thomas Skinner, had ordered them to be temporarily detained in response to the rumors). Word of the attempted mutiny quickly spread, and the 19 mutineers fled into the countryside. Fr. James Louis O’Donel, the Catholic Bishop of St. John’s, having got wind of what was afoot, had enjoined his missioners to "oppose with all the means in their power all plotters conspirators, and favourers of the infidel French", cautioning that "the aim of this conspiracy is to dissolve all bonds, all laws by which society is held together". Suppression and aftermath The mutineers were quickly recaptured in a manner of weeks by soldiers from the garrison, except for Murphy and Kelly, who were never caught. Four mutineers who informed on their fellow mutineers were not court-martialled and released, while Skerrett ordered five mutineers to be executed by hanging near the gunpowder magazine. The remaining eight mutineers were sent to Halifax,