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#OnThisDay 1827 Brig General Michael Corcoran was born in Ballymote, Sligo. He went to America after leaving the RIC police force during the Famine because of their repressive attitude to the starving poor of Ireland. After marrying he joined the New York Militia as a private& became the Colonel in the #NewYork ‘Fightin 69th’ Regiment & later formed Corcoran’s Irish Legion during the U.S. Civil War. His Legion excelled during the war. Corcoran died suddenly while riding his horse in 1863, possibly due to a stroke.

#Ireland #History

#OnThisDay 1922 Six Anti-Treaty IRA men, including Minister of Education Eoin MacNeil’s son, were surrounded by a Free State troops on top of Ben Bulben in Sligo. The AT IRA were disarmed & half if not all, were shot once surrendered. Their bodies were left where they fell. This was in retaliation for the killing of Free State officer Joe Ring a week previous and for the capture of the Ballinalee armoured car which was used to inflict many casualties on the Free State soldiers.

#Ireland #History

#OnThisDay 1920 The Black and Tans sack Balbriggan following the shooting of two RIC men. They killed two civilians, burned down four pubs, the famous Balbriggan hosiery factory & thirty houses. The incident gains political and media attention worldwide. #Ireland #History

#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. Barry’s pistol jammed during the ambush and he jumped under the bread truck the British soldiers were escorting for cover. The rest of the ambushers fled and Barry was soon discovered. He was placed in the truck with the dead body of Private Harold Washington, the 15 year old killed and Barry was beaten.
Kevin Barry was to later become the first republican to be executed since the Easter Rising.

#Ireland #History

#OnThisDay 1803 Robert Emmet, accused of high treason, was hanged & beheaded at Thomas St. Dublin. He said,

“Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance, asperse them. Let them and me rest in obscurity and peace, and my tomb remain uninscribed, and my memory in oblivion, until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then and not till then, let my epitaph be written.“.

Emmet’s final resting place has never been confirmed.

#Ireland #History