#OnThisDay 1919 The British Indian Army fired on unarmed civilians killing 379 & wounded 1200 in the Amritsar Massacre. Ordered by Reginald Dyer, educated in Midleton, Cork & was supported by the Governor of the Punjab, Sir Michael O’Dwyer, from Tipperary.
#OnThisDay 1918 Kerry Volunteers under Tom McEllistrim attacked Gortatlea RIC Barracks for weapons. Vol. John Browne was killed outright & Richard Laide died days later from his wounds. These are often considered the first deaths of the War of Independence.
#OnThisDay 1921 IRA attacked the London & North Western Railway Hotel in Dublin, throwing bombs & shooting at the Auxiliaries inside. One Auxie was wounded but Vol. Patrick Freyne was killed in the attack. Below Auxies gather outside the hotel.
#OnThisDay 1878 Kathleen Clarke, founding member of Cumann na mBan, politician & first female Lord Mayor of Dublin, was born in Limerick. Clarke spent 11 months in prison for the “German Plot” & served as a Republican judge during the War of Independence.
#OnThisDay 1870 Hugh McGinnis was born in Co.Down. The last survivor of 7th Cavalry, present at the Wounded Knee Massacre. “Soldiers of the 7th cavalry massacred in cold blood Indian men, women & children. I still awake from nightmarish dreams of that massacre.”
“The pitiful wailing cries of babies & children mixed with the dull explosions of the old fashioned Hotchkiss machine guns rent the cold air. The sickening thuds as these big lead bullets smashed into the body of a baby or a child, arms & head all flying in different directions. The screams of mothers as machine gun bullets tore their bodies apart. The curses of the ‘Indian’ warriors, fighting machine guns and cannons with old muskets, knives, and tomahawks, being cut down in rows by demon-crazed white soldiers.”
A dark part of our history.
The Irish at War 