John Frederick Finerty (September 10, 1846 – June 10, 1908) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.

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John F. Finerty
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885
Preceded by	George R. Davis
Succeeded by	Frank Lawler
Personal details
Born	(1846-09-10)September 10, 1846 Galway, Ireland
Died	June 10, 1908(1908-06-10) (aged 61) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Political party	Democratic

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Born in Galway, Ireland, Finerty completed preparatory studies. He immigrated to the United States in 1864. He enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and served in the Ninety-ninth Regiment, New York State Militia. He was a war correspondent for the Chicago Times in the Sioux War of 1876, in the Northern Indian (Sioux) War of 1879, in the Ute campaign of 1879, and afterward in the Apache campaign of 1881. He was a correspondent in Washington, D.C. during the sessions of the Forty-sixth Congress (1879–1881). He established the Citizen, a weekly newspaper, in Chicago in 1882.

Finerty was elected as an Independent Democrat to the Forty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1885). He served as member of the board of local improvements 1906-1908. He died in Chicago, and was interred in Calvary Cemetery.

Author of two-volume "Ireland: The People's History of Ireland" (1904) New York and London: The Co-operative Publication Society.

Author of "War-path and bivoac: The Conquest of the Sioux^{[dead link]}" (1890), considered a classic account of the Great Sioux War of 1876-1877. He also wrote a thorough but unoriginal 2-volume "People's History of Ireland" by 1904.^[1]