#OnThisDay 1863 Menomen O’Donnell from Donegal was one of eight Irishmen who were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions in the Battle of Vicksburg. O’Donnell & his men attacked the enemy fort & when the attack wavered, he rallied his men & planted their flag in the enemy fort.
#OnThisDay 1921 The IRA ambushed a patrol of Royal Marines in Ballyvaughan, Clare. The 10 Marines were stationed at the Coast Guard station but were hit as they marched through the village. Two Marines were killed, more injured & their rifles captured.
#OnThisDay 1865 Major General Sir William Bernard Hickie was born in Terryglass, Tipperary. Hickie took charge of the 16th (Irish) Division, commanding victories at Ginchy & Guillemont but was invalided home before the 16th were destroyed in 1918.
#OnThisDay 1919 Lt Michael Tobin, from Cork, died from wounds suffered when the explosives that the IRA had stolen from quarries detonated early. Tobin had been making grenades and the RIC found 262 unfinished bombs under Tobin’s floorboard. Buried in Cork.
#OnThisDay 1836 The Irish Constabulary police force was established. The prefix “Royal” followed their quashing of the Fenian Rising in 1867.
The RIC upheld the law but were armed than their British counterparts and there were more RIC constables per thousand population, than their British counterparts too.
They provided day to day services like weights and scales, petty crimes and others but also were integral to evicting residents from their households. The DMP drafted in RIC constables from outside of Dublin to crack down the strikers during the Dublin Strike and Lockout and it was many of the older RIC constables that pointed out Republican activists and their households to Black and Tans and Auxiliaries who committed atrocities across the country.
A great bunch of lads.
The Irish at War 