A war that was truly a case of David versus Goliath

"The grief that followed the deaths of Terence MacSwiney and Kevin Barry served only to stiffen the resolve of the youth to resist"

CENTENARY OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE IN MAYO

The town of Westport was 'greatly changed' as a result of the measures adopted by the British authorities following the political assassination of John Charles Milling, the Resident Magistrate, in March 1919.

In a witness testimony, Thomas Hevey, Brigade Adjutant, West Mayo Brigade, 1919-2021, recalled the measures included banning all fairs and markets in and around the town, which had been declared a martial law area.

Stated Mr. Hevey: “The result was economic depression, with several businesses nearly ruined and many employees gone to England and elsewhere.

“Much speculation was caused by the shooting of Milling and many theories were offered concerning the affair.

“One of the most persistent of these was that the shooting was carried out by the RIC District Inspector of the period who was said to have established a liaison with Mrs. Milling. But there was no truth in this.

“Milling was shot as a result of indiscreet remarks he himself made in the bar of the Railway Hotel, occupied by the Jeffers family.

“Joe Ring was at this time awaiting trial on some political charge or other. I think it was on account of his resistance, on the occasion of a political meeting, to the RIC efforts to break up the meeting.

“A sergeant of Head Constable Sheridan was injured in the melee and Joe was arrested. It appears Milling remarked in the bar of the hotel that Ring would be before him the following week and that Joe 'would get a good, long rest'.”

The remark, of course, was replayed to Joe's friends and on a Saturday night before retiring in an upstairs room, Milling was shot from the far side of the road by three men, subsequently named as Joe Gill, Joe Walsh and Joe Ring.

“The deed was probably decided by the IRB. We never talked much about it.

“Mrs. Milling and her family were in due course and process of law awarded £5,000 compensation, the entire sum to be levied on Westport Urban Council.

“The council, rather than strike a rate, resigned in body, so there was no statutory authority left to collect Mrs. Milling's award. The British Government, no doubt, paid the compensation.”

Mr. Hevey said in and around July, 1920, the West Mayo Brigade, later to become the No. 1 Brigade, 4th Western Division, was formed.

The first to command the brigade was Tomás Ó Deirg, who at the time was on the teaching staff of Ballina Technical School.

Recalled Hevey: “A cool, clear-headed man was Ó Deirg.”

In the early days of the newly-formed brigade, Ned Moane was Adjutant, and Tom Kettertick, Quartermaster.

“Moane was serious-minded, much given to periods of reflective silence.

“A first rate organiser, he tramped the brigade area night after night, and later on, day after day appointing officers, promoting and demoting until he had established a complete unit with its communications and intelligence services in good order.

“Moane had an almost pathological horror of being captured. He had already spent two periods in British prisons and was determined never to return,” wrote Hevey.

The new brigade had four battalions based in Castlebar, Westport, Newport and Louisburgh.

James Chambers covered the Castlebar Battalion, Joe Ring the Westport one, while Patrick Kelly and Michael Kilroy commanded Louisburgh and Newport, respectively.

In the winter of 1920, a gloom deeper than any winter shadow was cast over the nation by two events – the death of Terence MacSwiney on hunger strike in Brixton Prison, London, and the hanging in Mountjoy Jail of Kevin Barry, a volunteer of 18 years of age.

Stated Hevey: “The grief that followed those events served only to stiffen the resolve of the youth to resist, to fight to the kill, to kill and destroy the evil British Empire because, at last, it had appeared in all its ghastly barbarity - naked and ashamed - before the world.

“And so it was that organisation and drilling went on apace and one Saturday night Tomás Ó Deirg awoke in his father's home to find a British bayonet at his throat.

“He was ordered to dress and before long he was on his way to Athone British Army Barracks, en route to Park Internment Camp, where he spent the rest of the war.”

It was then that Michael Kilroy was appointed commanding officer with Ned Moane his second in command and Johnny Gibbons Adjutant.

Sometime towards the end of February, 1921, Joe Ring informed Hevey he was forming a Flying Column and he accepted an invitation to join.

“On the 13th day of May, 1921, the first big planned operation took place. We advanced on the town of Westport. We took over the town completely until long after midnight, but we failed to find any RIC patrols.”

However, the same could not be said five days later when the Kilmeena Ambush took place as four brigade members were killed, five wounded and captured and one was captured unwounded during an attack on a RIC lorry party, leaving one RIC member dead and others wounded.

“It speaks volumes for Kilroy's coolness and courage that he succeeded in getting any of our 30 men away that day,” recalled Hevey.

“It must be remembered that our men were armed mostly with shotguns and that their armament and equipment of every kind was greatly inferior – improvised, almost primitive – to the splendid arms and equipment of the enemy, which had all the implements for modern war at its disposal and the resources of a great empire to sustain it, truly a case of David versus Goliath.”

* The Connaught Telegraph's coverage of the centenary of the War of Independence in Mayo is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media as well as Mayo County Council.