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#OnThisDay 1827 Brig General Michael Corcoran was born in Ballymote, Sligo. Corcoran had joined the Revenue police in Ireland in 1846, which aimed to stop illicit alcohol production. Corcoran was stationed in Creelough, Donegal but felt his struggle was more akin to the poor farmers and poteen makers than the police. He became involved with the Ribbonmen, a local agrarian group who threatened local landlords to lower rents. The police became suspicious so just before his 22nd birthday, Corcoran left for New York.

He soon became the Colonel in the New York ‘Fightin 69th’ Regiment & in 1860 refused to parade for the Prince of Wales. This was because he could not celebrate the arrival of a member of the English royal family who were responsible for so much death and destruction during the Famine in Ireland. Corcoran was court-martialled for this but the outbreak of the American Civil War saw him reinstated. He led the 69th into battle at the Battle of First Bull Run, where he was captured and spent two years in Confederate prison. Once released he formed Corcoran’s Irish Legion but died in 1863.

#OnThisDay 1920 The Black and Tans sack Balbriggan following the shooting of two RIC officers (who were also brothers. One survived but the other died). The Black and Tans rampaged through the village. They killed two civilians, burned down four pubs, the famous Balbriggan hosiery factory & thirty houses. The incident gained political and media attention worldwide.

#OnThisDay 1920 Kevin Barry, an 18 year old medical student was captured after a failed ambush on British soldiers on Bolton St, Dublin in which 3 soldiers died, one 15 years old as well as a Volunteer. Barry was arrested and tried, with some dubious evidence and became the first republican to be executed since the Easter Rising.

#OnThisDay 1803 Robert Emmet, accused of high treason, was hanged & beheaded in front of St Catherine’s Church on Thomas St. Dublin. From the scaffold Emmet said,

‘‘My friends, I die in peace and with sentiments of universal love and kindness towards all men’.

However, it is Emmet’s speech from the dock at his trial that is his most famous. The abbreviated version goes;

“Let no man write my epitaph…When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then and not till then, let my epitaph be written”.

#OnThisDay 1854 At the Battle of Alma, Sgt Luke O’Connor from Roscommon would become the first recipient of the Victoria Cross. O’Connor was shot in the chest but grabbed his unit’s colours & rushed to the front & motivated his men to bayonet charge the enemy.

O’Connor was from a very poor family, had been kicked off their land, emigrated to the States but O’Connor returned to Ireland as a teenager. He joined the Army and eventually retired as a Major General and was knighted.