History of the E. Company Inchigeela from 1917 to the end of the Civil War.
(Our thanks to Mary Lynch (nee O'Connell)
for poviding us with the following article).
This Company (Coy.) was formed in the early
part of 1917. Prior to this a very strong
branch of Sinn Fein was working in Inchigeela.
From this branch sprang the Volunteers.
Our first bit of excitement was when the Sinn
Fein flag was flown from the western chimney of
the Lake Hotel.
The Local R.I.C. took
this very bad. The flag was flying for
most of a week as the R.I.C. were afraid to
climb that height. Matt Kelleher who
feared no height was the man who climbed the
ladders to this chimney top. His helpers
were Jerh Riordan (Yank) whose laugh often made
this flag ripple, Jack Manning and Danno Reilly.
The Company Officer in Command (Coy. O.C.)
was Denis Quinlan whose age at this time was
around 20 years, was a College educated man,
stood six foot one and was a fearless leader.
Under his command the Company expanded
rapidly and carried out their first activities.
These activities consisted of often drilling,
collecting arms and opposing conscription.
The Company had several trial mobilisations.
At this time the Coy was attached to the 7th.
Batt. Macroom. The Batt. Commandant was
Dan Corkery Macroom. President De Valera
reviewed troops of the 7th. Batt in
Macroom in the fall of 1917, in which all the
men of E Coy. took part.
Pikes from
spring steel were now made in Jack Mannings
forge and men of this Coy. spent many a night
sledging them out, and 'we forged some steel for
Ireland' said Paud O'Donohue. Home made
bombs were made from tin boxes, cement and scrap
iron. When filled with Dynamite these were
very effective. The Coy. O.C. -
D. Quinlan and a section of men took part in a
daring raid on Shorten House in the Coppeen
area. A Grand Hammeless shot gun, a 3.8
revolver, ammunition for both, a large amount of
powder and some dynamite was secured.
A
few nights later in May 1918 this Coy. made an
unsuccessful raid on Norrishe's House near
Coppeen. This man refused to open the door
and hand over the shot gun. The Coy. O.C.
watched him load and cock his gun through the
key hole. It was now a case of who would
shoot first. The Coy. O.C. had a
consultation with his men and they decided that
this shot gun was not worth a life. The
men who took part in the above were D. Quinlan,
T. O'Connell, D.J. Leary, Jack
Kelleher, Jack Manning, Jim
O'Connell, Jerh Twohig and M. O'Sullivan.
On that night the O.C. did not return to
Inchigeela. He stayed with some friends
near Teralton and the following day went to
attend a 7th Batt. meeting in
Macroom. He was carrying his revolver and
on his way home that evening he was accidentally
shot. This caused a severe shock to his
Company and more especially to the men who did
duty with him on the previous night. Even
at this early date this daring man had already
made plans in his own Coy. for the capturing of
the Local R.I.C. Barracks
The 7th
Batt. gave him a glorious Military Funeral from
Macroom to Newestown Cemetery.
A week
later Jerh Twohig was elected Coy. O. C. A
vigorous Boycott was now carried out against the
R.I.C. and after the Mouth of the Glen Ambush,
Martial Law was proclaimed in this and other
Coy. areas. British Military occupied the
Glebe House Inchigeela. Their estimated
strength was about 80 strong. This house
was one time owned by the late Protestant
Minister and stood alone in open grounds and
therefore was a very safe outpost for the enemy.
The enemy was very active in the district now.
The following houses were searched for men and
arms - Jerh Twohig, T O'Connell, M.
Vaughan, D.T. O'Leary, Will
Murphy, and M. O'Sullivan.
Those men were on the run but nothing was found.
The Glebe House outpost were daily sending
out patrols, sometimes towards Macroom, at other
times to Ballingeary. Four men of this
Coy. planned to attack the two men of the Rear
Guard of this patrol. On this evening the
two Rear Guardsmen were close up to the main
body and for that day our plans fell through.
At this time a civilian who was on friendly
terms with the military made a deal to buy two
Rifles. These Rifles were to be delivered
to him after dark at the Weir Cross. Four
men were told off to watch the enemy movements
and if everything went right to secure the
Rifles. The next thing that happened was
the patrol came on and lay in ambush. Our
men got wise to the move and were able to slip
quietly away.
To the delight of the E
Coy. The British Troops evacuated the Glebe
House at the end of 1918 and the Coy. Area was
again in charge of the R.I.C. who were now
finding it difficult to maintain law and order.
Owing to a temporary break down in health Jerh
Twohig, the Coy. O.C. was forced to resign.
He went to a Cork hospital and later went to
work in the City where again he became an active
Volunteer and had a distinguished Record through
the Tan and Civil wars.
In the early
months of 1920 R.I.C. Barracks attacks
were the order of the day. The 8th
Batt. now planned an attack on the Inchigeela
Barracks which took place on January 3rd.
1920. This attack was to start at 8.30pm.
All men were to be in their positions by that
time. A week before 6 men of this Coy.
were told off to watch the movements of the
R.I.C. and close up scouting of the building had
to be carried out.
The plan was like
this:
The Batt. Commandant P.
O'Sullivan was in charge of this attack. A
number of picked men from Coolea, Ballyvourney,
and Kilnamartyra Companys were met at the Weir
Cross by guides from this Coy. They
crossed the Weir and moved westwards by the
River Lee. A section of these men took up
positions behind the fence which was 20 yards in
front of the Barrack, while 4 men were to take
up positions at the gate and 2 men were to throw
petrol on the door by throwing a lighting cloth,
and set it on fire. When the door burned
down the 4 men at the gate were to rush through
and enter the building while the section behind
the fence covered them with rapid fire.
Another section, some of them Ballingeary men,
who had taken up positions at the back or west
of the Building were to do likewise.
Another section of men took up positions in the
village, and a strong barricade was erected and
guarded at the Weir Cross.
As the 4 men
were silently moving from the South towards the
gate where an R.I.C. man was now standing
peeping over the pillar. It was 10 minutes
before the opening time set for the attack, but
the R.I.C. man and the I.R.A. opened fire
simultaneously and the fight was on. The
R.I.C. man escaping into the Barrack, the
windows which were steel shuttered were now
ringing with rifle and shot gun fire.
While the R.I.C. flung hand grenades in all
directions, and fired their pistols in the air
in an effort to attract reinforcements, the
I.R.A. now cut off all communications from
Inchigeela. One R.I.C. who was in a local
Pub and who tried to reach the Barracks during
the attack was fired on and badly wounded.
The hand grenades prevented the I.R.A. setting
fire to the door. Their ammunitions were
running low. The attack which had now
lasted almost 3 hours was called off at 11.00pm.
The I.R.A. suffering no casualty.
At this
time R.I.C. were also in occupation of
Ballingeary Barracks and a section of the Coy.
erected and guarded a barricade two miles west
of Inchigeela near to O'Connells Cottage.
The M.O. Dr. Good who was visiting a patient was
held up at this Road Block when returning home
to Raleigh. He was taken into the cottage
where old Mrs. Connell made him at home with a
good hot cup of tea. He enquired
"What the Devil is all this about" and was
told by his guard from the cottage door
"You may be wanted before the night is over".
About 3.00am. he was left pass through in his
old Model T. Ford. A few days later the
Cork Examiner published a long story of the
Doctor's ordeal.
Another funny incident
took place while this attack was on. An
old man by the name of Jim Brien, who was on the
spree, came singing into the firing line, in
front of the Barrack and after each volley used
to shout "Fire again". There was a
short cease-fire by both sides and Jim returned
again to the pub. The following men took
part in the above attack: Con Cronin,
T. O'Connell, D. T. O'Leary, Denis
S. Murphy, Jim Connell, Jack
Kelleher, Syl J. B. Cotter,
Mick Vaughan and M. O'Sullivan.
While 12 more of the Coy were scouting.
The Inchigeela R.I.C. were now
reinforced by 7 more men and a wireless receiver
and transmitter was installed. Both gables
of the building were doubly loop-holed and
barbed wire entanglement erected. After
the above attack the R.I.C. made several raids
on I.R.A. men's houses and the following men
were constantly on the run: Con Cronin,
T. O'Connell, D.T. O'Leary and M.
O'Sullivan. The R.I.C. were now compelled
to stay within Barracks from dusk until dawn.
The next attack on Inchigeela Barracks was
planned for March 8th. 1920.
This was planned by the Officers of the first
Cork Brigade who brought with them a large
trough packed with explosives. This was to
be placed against one of the gables, and it was
electrically detonated, owing to barbed wire and
tin cans. They were unable to reach the
gable. Had this plan succeeded 6 or
8 picked men from the Battalion were to rush
trough the breach using revolvers and hand
grenades. The usual precautions of
blocking and guarding the roads were taken.
A large number of men from the 8th
Battalion mobilised at Cooleen, 3 miles
north-west of Inchigeela. Here they were
met by men from the E. Coy. and led into their
positions, where they waited for hours on snow
covered ground. The greatest credit is due
to those men who had to travel 10 - 12 miles
back to their Coy. areas, and shoulder this
heavy trough back to Kilnamartyra.