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#OnThisDay 1921 An IRA ASU from Dublin Brigade attacked & set fire to the Shell factory which the British Army was using as their motor repair & ordnance depot on Parkgate Street in Dublin 8. The building was badly damaged but the repair shops were saved. This was one of 93 attacks in June. Another attack saw the IRA fire on a British Army officers’ cricket game in Trinity College. A lady was killed in the crossfire.

#OnThisDay 1864 Hundreds of Irishmen from the Irish Brigade & Corcoran’s Irish Legion were killed at the Battle of Cold Harbor. Wexford-born Colonel James McMahon, commander of the 164th New York, reached the Confederate defences, saw that the attack was faltering. He jumped up on top brandishing his sword and his sword calling on his men to advance. But he and over a hundred of his men were shot down by the 17th North Carolinas. The Union soldiers advanced into the Confederate defences & were slaughtered, earning General Grant the nickname “Butcher”. After some years had passed, Grant wrote,

“I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made … no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained.”

#OnThisDay 1921 The Mayo IRA ambushed a two truck patrol of RIC & Black and Tans at Carrowkennedy near Westport, Mayo. The IRA, led by Michael Kilroy, killed 8 including District Inspector Stevenson (shot by an ex-Connaught Ranger Jimmy O’Flaherty) & temporarily took 16 prisoners while taking no casualties themselves. The IRA captured 22 rifles, eight drums for the Lewis gun, several boxes of grenades, 21 revolvers, and about 6000 rounds of rifle ammunition.
Despite orders from IRA GHQ to kill al Black and Tans, these 16 were disarmed and sent back to the barracks.
This was often seen as revenge for the Kilmeena Ambush two weeks previous where the IRA had 6 of their own killed and 7 wounded.

#OnThisDay 1917 Four Royal Irish Rifles soldiers from Ballymoney, Antrim were sheltering in a shell hole when they were hit by a shell. Three were killed outright. The fourth, George Wales, survived the blast only to be killed a year later at Cambrai.

The dead:

L/Cpl James McCoubrey

Rflm William Wade

Rflm John Hanna

#OnThisDay 1866 The Fenians defeated Canadian militia at the Battle of Ridgeway. After 90 mins of fighting, the Civil War veterans pushed the inexperienced Canadians from the field with a bayonet charge. The Fenian Invasion of Canada started well but this was ultimately the high water mark. Cut off from resupply by the US Navy/Border patrol, the Fenians began to run out of essentials and with British forces mobilizing in Canada, they would soon be outnumbered.
Note IRA on flag. This was the first time the  term Irish Republican Army was used.