By Kathleen Hegarty Thorne

Ireland is a very small country in land mass. Compared to industrialized England, it is a poor cousin in the family of imperialists. Challenging the most…

Irish Volunteer Paddy "Bug" Callaghan and his two comrades stared up the road to the east as the cool, crisp air of February 2, 1921, caused their breath to fog the air around them. The three members of the North Longford Battalion of the Irish Volunteers were tasked with the most critical job of…

Volunteer Michael Kenny pulled up the collar of his mackintosh, tightened his scarf, and pulled down his cap against the cold breeze as he stood beside the Old Youghal Road near Dillon’s Cross in Cork City. As the clock neared…

Dick Willis walked up to the Sheehan's farmhouse in Mourneabbey, County Cork, on the pleasant late summer afternoon of Sunday, September 26, 1920. Dick, a member of the Mallow Company of the Cork No. 2 (North) Brigade, could see numerous brigade members from the newly formed brigade…

Two miles east of Strokestown on Spy Wednesday at the dawn

These Gallant men assembled 'neath the crest of ol' Sliabh Bawn

T'was called the Scramogue Ambush where Captain Peek was shot

But Ashbrook was the venue, right well I know that spot

They conquered their oppressors and filled their hearts with…

Friday, February 25, 1921, dawned cool and crisp with a crystal clear blue sky near Coolnacahera, County Cork. Seán O’Hegarty, commanding officer of the 1^st (East) Cork Brigade, stood on a high hill with numerous limestone outcroppings and peered off into the east, his right…

Apparently, a Black and Tan member of the Royal Irish Constabulary in Cappoquin (left) had been in the sights of the I.R.A. for “ill-treating Sinn Fein supporters.” Reportedly, members of the Volunteers (Oglaigh na hEireann) in Cappoquin  were  “reluctant to kill him.”  Accordingly, three, Dungarvan men –…

By the summer of 1920, the I.R.A. policy of attacking British administrative and police structures was bearing fruit. In August the  Waterford R.I.C County Inspector noted:  “there is hostility to the police everywhere…I do not regard it as safe for a single police vehicle to travel. We are losing men every day from retirement and resignations and getting…

It was a lovely spring morning in the foothills of the Knockmealdown Mountains in southern County Tipperary on April 10, 1923. Six members of the Irish Republican Army, then engaged in the Irish Civil War against the Free State…

Dan Breen was startled awake from his dozing slumber by the sound of tramping feet. The small room suddenly flashed to near daylight as a spotlight played across the window looking out to the back of the house. Breen leaped to his feet and grabbed his Mauser pistol off the chair where he had left…

DOMHNAIGH -- On May 3, 1921, the South Mayo Brigade of the Irish Volunteers, commanded by Tom Maguire, ambushed an RIC / Black and Tan supply column of a Crossley tender and a Ford car at Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo on the western shore of Lough Mask. This was the 2nd in a series of major attacks on crown forces in the county…

Irish Volunteer Seán Hogan gazed out the window of the train toward the distant Galtee Mountains to the south. It was early evening on May 13, 1919. The train had just pulled out of Emly, County Tipperary, headed toward the small town of…

I have recently been reading transcripts of British House of Commons parliamentary debates for the period 1919-1921 in search of information relating to the Irish War for Independence and came across the following:

On 12 May, 1921, the Member of Parliament A.E.Newbould asked how many Irish…

The night of November 1, 1920, All Souls Night, was extremely cold in the west of County Waterford. The members of the West Waterford Volunteers flying column huddled along the road at Piltown Cross were not only shivering because of the temperature. Most of them were also trembling slightly as…

By Ivan Lennon

On…

Seán Moylan slowly moved his binoculars back and forth pointed to the west as he scanned the east Kerry countryside in the direction of Scartaglen. He was standing on some high ground in Thade Daly’s Glen in Tureengarriffe, along what is now the R-577 road. Moylan, commanding the Flying…

Now rise up DJ Allman, arise and tell me true

Who fought at Headford Station that day along with you?

Who stood out on that platform board, who fired that signal gun?

Who fought to free old Ireland with you my darling son?

-- From “The Ballad of DJ Allman"…

On top of roof and window,

Those boys stood up to fight,

‘Til the burning of the cottage

And no escape in sight.

It was around 4 pm on a…

Late on Christmas night 1920, Irish Volunteers John Leen (24) and Maurice Reidy (25) stealthily made their way to the home of John Byrne, the creamery manager in Ballymacelligott, County Kerry. The cottage had been raided often, because Byrne was a well-known Republican who had…

On the cool, pleasant night of St. Stephens day, December 26, 1920, over two hundred men and women were dancing, eating and enjoying themselves at Caherguillamore House, three miles northeast of Bruff, in County Limerick. The Martin brothers from Bruff were providing the music. This was not a commonplace dance. It had been…