#OnThisDay 1780 Miles Byrne was born in Monaseed, Wexford. Byrne fought at many battles during the 1798 Rebellion including leading a pike charge at Vinegar Hill. He then joined Michael Dwyer’s guerrillas in Wicklow & later joined in Emmet’s 1803 ill-fated rebellion. After all that he fought as an officer in Napoleon’s Irish Legion, eventually becoming a Brigadier General in the post Napoleonic French army.
It is possible that he was (and this is ) the first Irish man ever photographed.
The Irish at War 