#OnThisDay 1922 WW1 vet. John Doyle was found dead outside Castlebellingham, Louth with a note saying “Convicted Spy” on his corpse. A witness stated that days earlier, Doyle was forced to help the FS Army find a certain house & for this he was shot by the IRA.
#OnThisDay 1769 Field Marshal Nicholas Taaffe, Graf von Taaffe died. Born in Ballymote, Sligo in 1685 he joined the Habsburg Army. Taaffe excelled in battle, being promoted to Major General &at 72 years old he helped defeat Frederick the Great at Kolin in 1757.
#OnThisDay 1920 IRA ambush & kill two RIC constables in Midleton, Cork & another constable later elsewhere. What followed was the burning of seven houses in the first British Government sanctioned “official” reprisals against Irish civilians’ property.
#Onthisday 1890 The US Army massacred over 300 Lakota, 200 of whom were women & children, at Wounded Knee. 20 Medal of Honor were awarded that day to 7th Cav, one of them to Pvt. Thomas Sullivan from Meath. Another to Sgt James Ward. A dark day in our past.
#OnThisDay 1829 Fr John Bannon was born in Rooskey, Roscommon. Bannon moved to St. Louis, Missouri & joined the Confederate Army at the start of the Civil War. Captured & released in 1863 he returned to Ireland to discourage recruitment in to the Union army.
The Irish at War 