ROINN COSANTA. BUREAU OF MILITARY HISTORY, 1913-21 ...

STATEMENT BY TED O'SULLIVAN,GlenHouse, South Douglas Road,Cork.I was bornin Bantry on 26th July 1899. My parentswere. farmers. I was educated at Gurtycloon National Schoolwhere, on completion of my education, I was engaged as amonitor. I intended to enter the teaching profession.I joined the Irish Volunteers in Bantry in 1914. Thestrength of the unit was about 120. The pioneers in the workof organisation were:- Michael Murray, Michael O'Donovan,Michael O'Sullivan and James O'Callaghan. Training in theform of close order foot-drill was carried out under Gordona reserve officer of British Marines.When John Redmond, leader of the Irish ParliamentaryParty, appealed in his speech at Woodenbridge, Co. Wicklow,for recruits for the British army, saying that" would be aitdisgrace forever to our country reproach to her manhoodand a denial of the lessons of history, if young Irelandconfined their efforts to remaining at homeand shrinking from duty of proving on the field of battlethat gallantry and courage which have distinguished theirrace all through history" the members of the original IrishVolunteer Provisional Committee issued a manifesto to theIrish Volunteers repudiating Redmond's speech and expelling thenominees of the Irish Parliamentary Party from the IrishVolunteer Executive. This led to a split in the IrishVolunteers. The followers of John Redmond, to the number ofabout 30, now formed a new organisation The Irish NationalVolunteers. They were trained in the Redmondite Hall underDenis O'Shea. The majority of the original company continuedto serve as Irish Volunteers and trained in the Town Hall.

3.Barytes Mines, arid the second on Kelly's Hardware shop. Inthese raids they obtained a supply of explosives which werealso handed over to my section for safe keeping. The dumps inmy area were made by burying earthenware sewer pipes closedcrosswith concrete at one end, in the centre of a stone-faced fence.The open end of the sewer pipe was then sealed with the stonesfacing the fence so that there was nothing to indicate thatthe fence had been interfered with.Normal training continued throughout 1917 and 1918.When the enforcement of Conscription was threatened by theBritish in the spring and early summer of 1918, there was abig influx of new recruits. Public parades were held and themembers of the Irish Volunteers attended anti-conscriptionImeetings. They collected all shotguns which were the onlytype of arms available.- throughout the area. Bantry companyhad about 12 shotguns dumped with my section in addition to alarge quantity of pikes. There was also a supply of home-madebombs which were made by filling paint tins, cocoa tins andsuchlike with scrap metal and charging them with gelignite,detonator and fuse. The fuse protruded through a hole in thelid of the tin.The Irish Volunteer organisation had been steadilygrowing in strength following Easter Week 1916. Units werenow operating in Bantry, Glengarriff, Coomhola, Kealkil,Durrus, Kilcrohane, Caheragh and Droumsullivan. These unitswere now organised into Bantry Battalion, which became 14thBattalion, Cork Brigade. The officers of this unit, as faras I canrecollect, were:- 0/C.. Dan O'Mahoney; V.0/C. (Icannot recollect); Adjutant, Ted O'Sullivan (witness); Q.M.(I cannot recollect).Companies were later organised at Drimoleague,Inchingeraghand Durrus Road to complete the organisation of the area

:If.Before. i was appointed Battalion Adjutant, Bantry Battalion,I joined the I.R.B. Iwas sworn in by Dan O’Mahoney (Ba1talion0/C).When America entered World War I in 1917, my brotheil Dan,who was serving in the American army, was sent to France.;Some time towards the end of 1917, or perhaps early 1918,, hecame home to Bantry on ten days’ leave. I arranged with himto send ariyiar.material he could lay hands on to me by othersoldiers coming on leave to Ireland. At different times hesent me two Colt automatics (.Il5), puttees, American antblouses — these were later dyed green to m1ce uniforms. Thelast supply was received from him in August 1918. The soldierwho hadtaken along a •tj5 Colt, puttees and some ammunititonhad only just left my home when it was raided by a strongforce of military and R.I.C. I managed to hide the gun andammunition in a sack of flour while my father led the midingparty into a room in which I was alleged to be sleeping.I later appeared from my awn room, which was also searchd andin which the supply of An tOglach, which had arrivea thad day,was found. The officer in charge was piacthg me under arrest,but after a discussion with my father and the R.I.C. offi4cer,he decided to leave me behind. However, he took away theparcel of An tOglach- the official organ of the IrishVolunteers. When they had gone, I learned from my father thathey had asked him to prevail upon me to give up my activitieswith the illegal organisation. As I continued my normalactivities as BattalionS djutant, my home became subject tocontinuous raids from now on, and I was compelled to go ‘onthe run’. This situation continued to exist up to the Trucein July 1921 during which period Iwas on continuous srvice.On 23rd September 1918, some members of Bantry Companydisarmed an R.I.C. patrol in the vicinity of the town and

5.seized a carbine and a .45 revolver. These arms wereimmediately passed to my section for dumping.Early in December 1918, the members of the Bantry Companyto the number of about 40 mobilised on two occasions. toambush a military patrol at Sadler's Cross on the Bantry-Durrus road. We were armed with a carbine, a Martini-Enfieldrifle (single), two or three revolvers, while the remainder ofthe ambush party had pikes. However, the enemy patrol didnot put in an appearance. Several raids for arms mainlyshotguns were carried out at this period. Al].a rms obtainedin these raids were dumped in Baurgorm area.There was no contest in the area during the GeneralElection to Dáil Éireaim in December 191&. Sean Hayes theSinn Fein candidate was returned unopposed..Cork Brigade now contained some 20 battalions and itwas'decided to divide it into three brigades. Tomas McCurtain was0/C. at this time, but I cannot recollect the names of theother officers. Bantry Battalion now became a unit of one ofthe new brigades Cork III. This new brigade was establishedon 6th January 1919, at a meeting held at Kilnadur at whichTomas McCurtain presided. As far as I can recollect, thefollowing battalions in West Cork were represented:Bantry (Dan O'Mahoney, Ted O'Sullivan witness)Skibbereen (Bernie O'Driscoll and Denis O'Shea)Bandon (Tom Hales)Dunmanway (Con Ahearne, Michael McCarthy)..Clonakilty (Cannot recollect)Castletownbere (I don't think they were represented).The following brigade officers were appointed at this meeting:0/C. Tom Hales; Vice 0/C. Sean Hayes (I think); Adjutant,Denis O'Connell or Michael McCarthy; Q.M., Denis O'Shea.Normal training continued at this time, but the membersof the Volunteer organisation were beginning to become more

6.military minded. Special services, such as intelligence,engineering, scouting and first aid were organised and, asBattalion Adjutant, the organisation of these services devolvedon me. The training was also becoming more intensive and thisnecessitated regular visits to all companies to ensure thatthey were being properly trained. Regular meetings of companyand battalion staffs were held.My duties as adjutant of Bantry Battalion involvedtravelling considerable distances each week as the companiesto be visited were distributed over a wide area, e.g.,Kilerohane (16 miles), Glengarriff (11), Coomhola. (12),Kealkil (10), DroumsuJaivan (8), Durrus (6), Caheragh (6) andBantry (5). I was continuously on the move at this time,travelling mainly by cycle. I was responsible for the trainingand organisation of the unit as well as the organisation ofdances, aeriochts and other functions in order to raise funds.In addition, Battalion Council meetings were held each monthat which the work of the battalion was discussed and arranged.Early in 1919 I carried out araid on NewtownHouse,,Bantry, to search for two rifles and a shotgun which werereported by our Intelligence section to be held there. Despitea thorough search of the building we failed to find the rifles.We later learned from our Battalion I.0. (Tom. Reidy) that therifles were to be sent to Cork by rail, as they had been handedover to the R.I.C. I sent a member of Cumann na mBan MissChristina Cotter) to Bantry railway station to travel onthe train by which the rifles were supposed to be sent so thatshe could signal to me at the next station Aughaville toindicate'tetherthe, box containing the rifles had been putoh the train by the R.I.C. I had a partyready at Aughavilleto raid the train if the box was on it. When the train arrivedMiss Cotter signalled to indicate that the arms were not on

7.the train. I then travelled by the train to Cork, where Iarranged with the staff of Cork I Brigade to raid the storeat the Railway Goods Yard in case the box containing therifles had been not by an earlier train. There was no. traceofthe arms in Cork, so they must have been dispatched by road.I was accomvanied on the raid on Newtown House by MauriceDonegan, Paddy O'Sullivan and several members of Bantry Company.As I was now more or less on full-time service, the workof the farm at home was inclined to fall into arrears.However, the local Volunteers dealt with this matter by movingin a body at busy periods, such as spring and harvest tithe,and performing the appropriate farming operations as theyfelldue.The work of organising and collecting the loan floatedby the Government of the Republic Dáil Éireann was mainlycarried out by the Volunteers about this time.There was no exceptional activity beyond normal traininguntil a Training Camp was established at Glandore. Theofficers selected to attend this camp were assembled at Shored.cliffe House, Glandore, on Saturday, August 9th, 1917. Allbattalions in Cork III Brigade were represented at this campwhich was under the supervision of Dick McKee, 0/C. DublinBrigade. He was responsible for the general training. Hewas assisted by two other officers Leo Henderson (signalling)and Tom McMahon (engineering). Amongst those who attendedthis camp were:-Bantry Battalion Mossy Donegan, Ralph Keyes, SeanLehane, Ted O'Sullivan (witness),Sean Cotter.Bandon Liam Battalion Deasy, Flor Begley, John O'LearyJim Moloney, Dan Santry, Denis DelaneMick O'Herlihy, Denis O'Brien,Patrick O'Sullivan.Clonakilty Battn Stephen O'Neill, John Nyhan,Tim O'Donoghue.

8.Dunmanway Battalion Sean MurphySkibbereen Battalion Bernie O'Driscoll, Sam Kingston,Pat O'DrjscollThere were a number of others in attendance whose names Icannot recollect. The total number present was in theneighbourhood of 100.The men from Bandon Battalion were billeted in the gatelodge. All others were under canvas in front of ShorecliffeHouse. The camp opened with a talk by Dick McKee on thetraining and activities to be undertaken during the weekTraining started in earnest on Sunday morning. We marchedto Mass at Leap Church and spent the remainder of the day,except for a break for lunch, drilling and skirmishing in thecountry around Glandore. These activities continued as usualuntil Wednesday morning (13 August 1919) when we were alertedabout 5 a.m. to find that the camp had been surrounded by astrong force of British military accompanied by some membersof the R.I.C. All present canwere searched. Four members ofour party were arrested Gearoid O'Sullivan, G.H.Q., BernieO'Driscoll, Skibbereen, Sean Murphy, Ounmanway, and DenisO'Brien, Bandon. As far as Irecollect, they were foundto be in possession of illegal documents. They were takenaway by the military and were later sentenced to terms ofimprisonment varying from three to six months. The enemyraiding party left the e amp about midday and when we hadpartaken of some food, training went on asusual. As anotherraid was feared that night, the whole party moved to a vacanthouse half a mile north of Glandore. The programme oftraining was nearly completed on Thursday evening (14th) whçnthe camp was again moved to Connonagh Wood near Leap. Onthe morning of Friday, August 15th, the whole party wastransported in boats across Glandore Harbour to attend Massin Union Hall. On their return the camp was dismissed and

9.all men were instructed to return to their own units.Although the work of the camp had been interrupted by theBritish raid and the arrest of some of our comrades, it wasa great success. It was the first occasion on which representativesfrom all over the brigade had met. They had ahopportunity of discussing the activities, which had been takingplace in their areas, and of exchanging views with theircolleagues on all aspects of the coming fight against the enemy.A Brigade Council meeting was held in Caheragh on thenight of Saturday, 16th August, following the termination of.the camp at Glandore. Michael Collins, Director ofIntelli-gence, G.H.Q., presided: At this meeting several organisationachanges were made in the brigade and battalion staff personnelThe brigade officers at this time were:- 0/C. Torn Hales,Bandon; V.0/C. Sean Hayes; Adjutant, Michael McCarthy,Duramanway; Q.M. Denis O'Shea, Skibbereen. As it was feltthat Michael McCarthy the brigade adjutant was needed inhis own area, Dunmanway, he was appointed Vice 0/C. DunmnwayBattalion. Denis O'Shea was also replaced as Brigade Q.M.The brigade officers now were:- 0/C. Torn Hales, Bandon;V.0/C. Sean Hayes; Adjutant, Liam Deasy, Bandon; Q.M., PatHarte, Clonakilty; I.0. Sean Buckley, Bandon.At this meeting I appointed 0/C. Bantry Battalion.wasThe other officers were:- Sean I1ehane (Vice 0/c.), SeanCotter (adjutant), Michael O'Callaghan (Q.M.), Tom Reidy, (I.O.Early in November 1919, I s approached by Mossy Donegan,an officer of Bantry unit, and Michael O'Callaghan (Battn. Q.M.regarding the possibility of carrying out a raid on one of theBritish M.L. boats which were based on Bantry. We spent sometine discussing the plans and collecting information.

10.Eventually, on the night of 17th November 1919, the operationwas carried out by about ten men of Bantry Company under MossDonegan, Michael O'Callaghan, Ralph Keyes and Sean Cotter4The boat was tied up at the pier beside the railway station.It was boarded by the four abovementioned who held up themembers of the crew and placed them under guard belowd ecks.The remainder of the party then came aboard and broke open thearmoury.six Ross Canadian rifles and three shortThey seizedWebley Revolvers with a supply of ammunition.Some time before Christmas 1919, I received writteninstructions from Michael Collins, G.H.Q., to ptoceed. toCastletownbere Battalion and to interview the Battalion officerre a large supply of guncotton which had been obtained by thebattalion from Bere Island. Collins became aware of thepresence of the guncotton in the area because the BattalionStaff had been trying for some time to negotiate with G.H.Q.regarding the disposal of the explosives. The Battalion Staffoffered to exchange the guncotton for a supply of rifles, butnothing definite had been settled. I was instructed to collectas much as possible of the guncotton and to arrange for itstransportation to Brigade H.Q. I failed to reach an agreementwith the battalion staff as to the disposal of the material.I then contacted Eugene O'Sullivan, Inchintaglen, and EugeneDunne, Ardrigole. They arranged to let me have a supply of guncottonfor Brigade H.Q. as they were anxious to see the guncottonused to advantage. I then returned to Battalion H.Q.to arrange transport. A motor-boat was made available by TomReidy (Battalion I.0.) at Bantry and, with Sean Lehane, Itravelled along the càast to Ardrigole Pier where the guncottonwas loaded by Eugene Dunne, Eugene O'Sullivan and their men.We then came along by sea to Ardnagashel where the explosiveswere unloaded arid transferred by horse and cart to Kealkil.

11.At this stage I handed the stock of guncotton over to LiamDeasy (Brigade Adjutant), who arranged for its transport toBrigadeH.Q.When Brigade H.Q. decided to arrange attacks on MountPleasant and Timoleague R.I.C. posts on the night of 25thFebruary 1920, some of the guncotton taken from Ardrigole wasused. The guncotton was made up in slabs about 9"x+"xl" witha hole in the centre of each slab. I should have mentionedthat the guncotton was wet and could not be exploded withoutthe insertion of a primer of dry guncotton with detonatorin the hole in the centre of the slab. The explosion of theprimer would explode the slab, but it was essential that theprimer should be perfectly dry. We had no experience of theuse of guncotton at this stage and we were of the opinion that,because the primer was enclosed in a thin damp-proof cylindrica:case, it was dry. However, we found from experience that itwas necessary to heat the primerbefore insertingguncotton if we were to get successful results.in the wetI prepared the charge of guncotton to be used in theattack on Mount Pleasant Barracks at Hurley's, Laragh, Bandon.With a number of local men I proceeded across country towardsMount Pleasant about midnight on 25th February.l920. Iremember that the first consignment of Mills bombs everreceived in the brigade arrived the same evening. I carriedtwo charges of guncotton one under each arm and ahaver-sack full of Mills bombs. When we reached the vicinity of thebarrack was instructed to lay the charges of guncotton againsthe wall of a 'lean-to' at the back wall of the barrack.Various sections were in position in the vicinity of thebarracks. Some ware armed with rifles, but the main armamentwas composed of shotguns. Tom Hales (Brigade 0/C.) was in

12.charge. I laid the charges against the wall of the 'lean to'and lit the fuses. I then dashed back to the cover of a 'fenceat the rear where several shotgun-men were in position. BeforeI reached cover there was a mild explosion the detonatorsin the primers had exploded, but the guncotton had not.Immediately following the small explosion the garrison of thebarracks sent up Verey lights and opened fire. They wereevidently on the alert. I then threw a number of Mills bombson to the roof while, at the same time, fire was opened upby the I.R.A. covering parties. Intermittent firing continuedfor about two hours, but eventually, as daylight approached,we were forced to withdraw.Amongst those who took part in this attack were:- TomHales (Brigade 0/C.), Liam Deasy (Brigade Adjutant), TedO'Sullivan (0/C. Bantry Battalion), Frank Huxley (0/C. LaraghCompany) and Michael McCarthy (V.0/C. Dunmanway Battalion).There were, in addition, a considerable number of others tothe number of about 50 whose names I cannot recollect.Training at this stage became intensified and members ofall units began to realise that we were at war. All unitswere reporting regularly on enemy movements, and on the layoutand activities at enemy posts in their area. Being now onwholetime service I was moving regularly around my area and,towards the end of March, had planned to arrange an attackon Durrus R.I.C. Barracks. Plans and preparations wereproceeding throughout the month of March 1920, and on the nightof March 31st the operation was undertaken. The men selectedto take part to the number of 60 were drawn from Durrus,Caheragh and Bantry companies. The attacking party wasdivided into four sections:(a) covering party in position in the yard of Ross'sstables directly across the street from the front

13.of the barrack. Moss Donegan i/c., 3 riflemen andabout 6 or 7 shotgun men;(b) covering party at rere of barracks under DanO'Mahoney 3 riflemen and 5 or 6 shotguns;(c) covering party on the street under John O'Sullivan(Baurgorm), l rifleman and if or 5 shotguns;(d) storming party to enter house next door, get onto roof of barrack and, having broken in same,set barrack on fire. This party consisted ofJohn J. O'Sullivan, Tom Ward, Sean Lehane andTed O'Sullivan (witness).There were, in addition, several men engaged on scouting,road-blocking and outpost activities. Our plan of attackenvisaged the seizure of a house adjoining the barrack,breaking through the roof, and then climbing on to the roofof the barrack. We had prepared two mines from 6" metal pipesabout 18" long.. These were filled with broken metal andcharged with gelignite which was detonated and fused. We alsohad made about a dozen canister bombs by filling cocoa andpaint tins with scrap metal arid inserting a stick of gelignitewith fuse anddetonator. The fuse protruded through a hole inthelid.When the sections at (a), (b) and (c) above were inposition, the group at (d) approached the house selected forseizure. It was occupied by three sisters who, when they sawus, created a bit of a racket. This must have helped to putthe garrison of the barracks on the alert. However, weproceeded to make a hole in the roof of the house andsucceeded without undue trouble.I then got on to the roof of the barrack which I.smashed in with a hammer. I immediately lighted the fuse ofone of the mines and dropped it through the hole in the roofof the barrack. There was a deafening explosion andconsider-able damage was done to the interior of the building. I thendropped in a second one, but the fuse got caught in a nail onone of the rnfters and the mine fell into the barrack, but did

14.not explode. A number of the small tin can bombs were thenthrown and the garrison was called on to surrender. Theyrefused, so we then poured some petrol through the hole in theroof of the barrack and set it on fire. We continued to feedsmall quantities of petrol to the fire until daylightinter-vened and we were forced to abandon our attempt to capture thepost. I should have mentioned that the covering parties atthe front and rere had opened fire on the building at an agreedsignal 3 shots from me when we dropped in the first mine.All sections withdrew to their home areas at daylight. Thisenemy post was vacated next day.When instructions were received from G.H.Q. at Easter1929to destroy all evacuated enemy posts, the following postswere destroyed: Kilcrohane (witness i/c.); Durrus (Tom Ward i/cKealkil (local Coy. 0/C.). These posts were all set on fireby the members of the local units.After these operations, enemy activities were intentifiedAs a result of constant enemy raids, a number of men were forcedto go on the run. There were about a dozen men on the run inBantry area and I decided to divide them into2 sectionsone to operate north of Bantry and the other in the south.As a large force of British military were landed at Bantry andaccommodated in the Workhouse about this time, the men of thesesections were mainly engaged in evading arrest, raiding mailsand, occasionally, sniping R.I.C. and military posts. Allmails seized were censored, endorsed accordingly and returnedthrough the local post office. No information of any militaryvalue was obtained in these raids. In addition to theseactivities, ambush positions were taken up on several occasions,but the expected enemy patrols did not turn up.

15.About the end of May 1920, information came to handthat a large store of guncotton for fog signals was stored atMizen Head Signal Station. I immediately made arrangementsto carry out a raid on the station, which was over 20 milesfrom Bantry. On 31st May all men on the run in the area tothe number of 12/15 were mobilised in the vicinity of BantryWe then proceeded to Mizen Head about 3 miles west of Goleenin Skibbereen area which was still held by a strong forceof R.I.C. We commandeered a motor lorry at Dunbacon andreached the vicinity of Mizen Head station without incident.The approach to the station was by a series of steps like astairway down the fade of a cliff. We succeeded in gettinginto the station unobserved and then held up the men in charge.We then removed about 30 cwt. of dry guncotton and a quantityof detonators. The guncotton was made up in packages of aboutthree quarters of a cwt. each and had to be carried up thesteps, a distance of about 200 yards, to the lorry. As thiswas dry guncotton, it proved very valuable later on. It wasremoved to dumps in Bantry Battalion area. After this raidthe R.I.C. evacuated Goleen barracks next day. Amongst thosewho took, part in this raid were:- Sean Lehane (Battn. V/C),Tom Ward and the men who were 'on the run' and who formed thecolumn at the time, with members of Goleen and Durris CompaniesSean Lehane, who had been Vice 0/C. of Bantry Battalion,was now appointed to organise the Schull peninsula areaThis area afterwards became the 7th Battalion, Cork III BrigadeSean Lehane, who became the first 0/C. of the battalion, wasreplaced on Bantry battalion staff by Moss Donegan. Theofficers of the latter battalion now were:- 0/C. TedO'Sullivan (witness); Vice 0/C. Moss Donegan; Adjutant, SeanCotter; Q.M. Michael O'Callaghan5 1.0. Tom Reidy.The section of the men on the run operating north of

16.Bantry, of which I was in charge, took up ambush positionsfor a whole week near Glengarriff during the first week inJune 1920. They were in position behind the roadside fenceon the Glengarriff-Bantry road aboutfrom G1enarriff. They were waiting for a patrol of R.I.C.which normally operated in the area, but the patrol never cameas far as the ambush site. We could not find a suitableposition any closer to Glengarriff. However, on Saturdaymorning, one R.I.C. man passed through in the direction ofBantry. As we were expecting some others td follow, we allowedhim to proceed. Although we remained in our position untilabout 4 p.m. there was no appearance by the enemy. We thendecided to move on towards l3antry to meet the R.I.C. manConstable King who .had passed in the morning. We met himin the vicinity of Snave and duly executed him, as it wasreported that he had taken part in the murder of I.R.A. menat The Ragg, Co. Tipperary. Amongst those who took part were:Dan O'Mahoney, John J. O'Sullivan, John Wrynne, MichaelWDriscoll, Denis O'Sullivan. At this stage, Dan O'Mahoneyand Denis O'Sullivan returned to their home areas. Theremainder of the party withdrew to the vicinity of Bantry.The section operating south of Bantry had been operatingon much the same lines, but made no contact with the enemyuntil 22nd June 1920. On this date a patrol of R.I.C. wasambushed at Clonee on the Durrus-Bantry road. One of theenemy party was killed and two were wounded. Amongst thosewho took part in this engagement were:- Moss Donegan, 0/C.,Sean Lehane, Tom Ward, Dan Lehane, Pat Lehane. Arising outof this operation, masked meniaided the houses, of. severalI.R.A. men and Sinn Fein leaders in Bantry on the night of24th'fthJune 1920. They shot Con Crowley who was a member ofSinn Fein. None of the I.R.A. men was at home.

17.The members of the Bantry Company were practically oncontinuous service at this period. They were engaged nightlyinraids of one kind or another on enemy stores passing throughBantry to Bere Island military post. Amongst the militarygoods seized at this time was a large consignment of boots,shirts, underwear, socks. These were seized in a raid onBantry railway stores. They were carried around by the Strandto a dump in Newtown and were later removed to dumps wherethey could be used by the brigade column.During July 1920, a number of ambushes were laid for amilitary curfew patrol operating in the town of Bantry, butthe enemy never entered the ambush positions. At this periodguards were posted on the homes of I.R.A. men and theirsupporters, which were likely to be burned as reprisals bythe enemy. The provision of guards of this nature threwadditional work on the members of the local companies as wellas on the officers of the battalion staff who usually tookcharge. The normal training and organisation continued andall units were now, more or less, on a war footing men beingspecially trained in the use of the rifle and smallarmsas 3/4well as in the manufacture of bombs and mines. Several raidswere carried out during this period on the mails; both localand provincial, but no information of military value came tolight.At this stage the main Bantry-Glengarriff road had beenunder observation by me for some days to cheek on the routineof a British military convoy which travelled the road. Ieventually decided that I had sufficient information andselected an ambush position at Snave, about 5 miles from Bantry.The column of men on the run were billeted at Connally's, HollyHill, where we made a road mine by filling a 12" sewer pipewith concrete, shrapnel. We charged it with aboutcwt.of

18.guncotton suitably set for detonation. Two lorries of militarypassed by Holly Hill towards Glengarriff while we werepreparing the mine. If they followed their normal procedurethey would be returning through our position at Snave aboutnightfall. The men of the local company (Coomhola) weremobilised to co-operate with the column of men on the run.When the mine was ready it was transported to O'Driscoll's,Snave, whence Denis O'Driscoll took it in a horse and carttowards the ambush position at Snave Bridge. Just as O'Driscolwas approaching Snave Bridgewherewith Moss Donegan, I was placingthe men in position the enemy convoy of two lorries 'drovetowards us at a fast rate firing as they came. When the manwith the horse and cart (Dents O'Driscoll) heard' the firinghe drove up a side road beside Snave Bridge leading to CoomholaInstead of continuing on to Bantry, the military followed thehorse and cart up the Coomhola Road. The enemy had arrivedat the ambush site at least two hours ahead of normal time.Having regard to the manner in which they approached ourposition and followed the horse and cart, it was quite obviousthat they were in possession of information regarding ouractivities and we were taken completely by surprise. DenisO'Driscoll and Flor O'Sullivan, who accompanied him with themine, were taken prisoners and removed to Bantry, while allsections of the ambush party dispersed some to their homeareas and the men on the run to new billets. The majority...of the, men who took part were members of Glengariff andComho].a Companies, In addition to the members of thecolumn.The Brigade 0/C. (Torn Hales.) and Brigade(Pat Harte)Q.M.were captured by the enemy on their way to a brigade staff

19.meeting on 27th July 1920. They were arrested at Hurley asLaragh, Bandon. The vacancies created by these arrests ledto a further change in the personnel of the brigade staff,which now became: 0/C. Charlie Hurley; Vice 0/C. TedO'Sullivan (witness); Adjutant, Liam Deasy; Q.M. Dick Barrett.I was now appointed Brigade Vice0/C. and was replacedas 0/C. Bantry Battalion by Moss Donegan, I was immediatelymade responsible for organising special services which includedintelligence, engineering,, signalling, communicationsthrough-out the brigade. This duty involved journeys throughout thebrigade, visiting all battalions, arranging meetings ofBattalion Councils and selecting suitable officers forappoint-ment to the new posts. In a it was dditionpart of my dutyto organise operations in the various battalions an to assistand encourage the battalion officers in the carrying out ofsame on their own initiative.I was also charged with the setting up and maintenarceof a Brigade H.Q. This H.Q. could never be kept in a fixedplace for any appreciable length of time. It was often movedwithin 24 hours of establishiment in a district, but onoccasions it was possible to maintain it fora period of two'to three weeks at a time in the same area. Flor Begley, Bandonwas officer in charge of records at Brigade H.Q. Theestablishment of H.Q. in an area necessitated the provisionof scouts, dispatch riders and other security arrangements suchas the provision of guards. Dumps to hold records, typewritersand important documents had to be constructed in closeproximity to H.Q. so that all documents could be hidden atshort notice in the event of a surprise raid by the enemy;.All documents and typewriters were dumped at night. The scoutsoperating during the day were replaced at nightby armedguards.

20.The organisation of. this system occupied quite an appreciableamount of time. While working on the-organisation of thisaspect of the work I arranged call houses and dispatch ridersfor Brigade Communications. The men engaged on this work hadto have suitable transport available at particular points, e.g.,boats to cross rivers; horses to travel cross country andbicycles in good condition in every area. I can say withsafety that never once during the progress of the war didarrangements on the communications lines fail.At this stage Brigade Council meetings were held atmonthly intervals. They were attended by the officers on thebrigade staff and the 0/C. of each battalion. As occasiondemanded,other battalion officers with local or specialisedknowledge were called in to assist and advise. As there wasno fixed H.Q., the journeys to Brigade Council meetings oftentook two or three days. H.Q. was continually moving around thearea, being located at various centres for periods of two tothree weeks at a time. As stated in the previous paragraph,there were a few occasions on which it had to be moved at veryshort notice. Amongst the houses at which Brigade H.Q. was setup at one time or another were:- Delaney's (Coppeen), Farrell's(Clogher, Dunmanway), Hurley's (Shanacrane), Manning's(Shanacrane West), Nugent's (Dunbacon, Durrus), McCarthy's(Charagh), Kingston's (Toureen, Skibbereen), Humphrey Ford's(Ballymurphy), O'Mahoney's (Belrose, Upton), Crowley's(Trenamadree) and Nyhan's (Castletownkenneigh).With Liam Deasy and Mossy Donegan I travelled to Cork Cityon the evening of 12th August 1920. We had been summoned toattend a meeting at the Courthouse, Cork, at 9 p.m. When wearrived at the meeting place we were met by Donal ÓgO'Callaghan who informed us that a mistake in our' notices had

21.been made, as the meeting was to be held at the City Hall. Weimmediately left the Courthouse and proceeded in the directionof the City Hall to find, when we reached Parnell Bridgejust beside the Hal]. that the City Hall area had been investedby military. We remained in the vicinity, amongst the generalpublic, until we saw a number of prisoners escorted from theHall and placed in the enemy lorries. Amongst the prisonerstaken were:- Terence McSwiney (0/C. Cork I Brigade); SeanO'Hegarty (Vice 0/C. Cork I Brigade); 'Joseph O'Connor (Q.M.Cork I Brigade); Dan O'Donovan (0/c. 1st Battalion, Cork IBrigade); Michael Leahy (0/C. '4th Battalion, Cork I Brigade);tiara Lynch (0/C. Cork II Brigade); Patrick McCarthy CO/C.Mallow Battalion, Cork II Brigade). There were four or fiveothers whose names I cannot recollect. We then withdrewquietly and were thankful for the mistake in the noticeconvening the meeting which saved us from capture.The Oath of Allegiance to the Republic was approved byDáil Éireann in August 1919. It was administered to allofficers of the Irish Volunteers. We were now the IrishRepublican Army. Throughout August 1920, I toured the brigadearea administering the oath to all officers and men at publicparades of the various companies. At the same time I wasendeavouring to boost activities by organising attacks on enemypatrols and posts. I also utilised this trip to selectsuitable men in each area for call up to a training camp whichwas about to be established.The brigade adjutant (Liam Deasy) had attended a meetingof the Munster brigade 0/Cs. with the members of G.H.Q. staffin Dublin at August weekend. The meeting was presided over bythe Minister for Defence; Cathal Brugha. When he returned fromthis meeting, a meeting of brigade staff was held to discussthe best method of intensifying our activities. It was

22.generallyagreed that before we could attempt any large scaleattack, it would he necessary to intensify the training 61selected men. The problem facing us was to find a trainingofficer with experience. The Brigade I.0. (Sean Buckley)stated that he had received an offer to serve with the I.R.A.from a man who had served throughout the l9l4-l8 war. SeanBuckley, who had known this man before he left Bandon to servein the British army, was strongly in favour of accepting theoffer. He assured us that the man in question Tom Barryhad helped him in his intelligence duties and he was quitesatisfied with his national background. Although the majorityof the members of the staff were not enthusiastic about theselection, it was decided that Tom Barry should be interviewedby the new Brigade 0/C. (Charlie Hurley) and the Vice 0/C.(Ted O'Sullivan, witness). We proceeded to Cork where weinterviewed Tom Barry at the Camden Hotel, Camden St. We weresatisfied that Barry's offer to serve with the I.R.A. wasgenuine and we reported accordingly to the brigade staff on ourreturn to H.Q. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided toappoint Tom Barry Brigade Training officer.Arrangements were then made to organise a training campin Bandon Battalion area. Similar camps were later organisedin other areas. The camp in Bandon area was established atClonbuig, Kilbrittain, during the first week in September 1920.This camp catered for selected officers from the companies inthe battalion. The camp was attended by about 30 officers aswell as the Brigade 0/C. (Charlie Hurley), Brigade Adjutant(Liam Deasy), and the Q.M. of Bandon Battalion (Tadhg O'SullivanThe lattet was appointed Camp Q.M. and Tom Barry was in chargeof training. ,This camp was carried on for a week and all themen were thensent home with instructions to return in threedays. When the men reported back it was decided to seek an

23.engagement with the enemy before calling up another group fortraining. Those who had attended the Clonbuig camp were thenmarched across country to Fanlobbus in Dunmanway area underLiam Deasy (brigade adjutant). At Fanlobbus they were joinedby the Brigade 0/C. (Charlie Hurley) and Brigade Trainingofficer (Tom Barry). Positions were taken up on theDunmanway-Ballineen road, 3 miles east of Dunmanway, in theearly morning, but there was no appearance by the enemy.The column then withdrew to billets and the brigade officersreturned to H.Q. to make arrangements for a second trainingcamp. The column had been left in charge of Sean Hales (0/C.Bandon Battalion). Next day they moved into Newcestown areawhere that evening they ambushed two lorry loads or the EssexRegiment. There was a number of casualties amongst the enemyincluding two officers. The I.R.A. column which had nocasualties was then disbanded and the members returned to theirhomes.Training at the second camp was similar to that at thefirst. The same officers were in charge. The Secondcampwas assembled at Ballymurphy. When training had beencompleted., the men trained at this camp took up an ambushposition on the main Cork-Bandon road near Innishannon, butagain, there was no appearance by the enemy. This was aboutthe end of September 1920. This unit was then sent home withinstructions to return to the camp in three days. In themeantime, a fresh position had been selected and, October 22nd,this party moved into position at Toureen on the Gork-Bandonroad, about 3 miles east of Innishannon. The strength ofthis column was about 36. It was divided into three sectionsof approximately equal strength. They took up positionsextending over a distance of about 150 yards south of the road.A mine was laid in the road and it failed to explode. Asthis explosion was to be the signal for opening the attack

24the first lorry passed through unscathed.. However, thesecond lorry was fired on by the main body stationed inthe centre of the ambush position under the column 0/C(Tom Barry).' and halted, lit came under fire of the westernand. middle sections.. Five of the enemy party were killed.Four surrendered. The I.R.A. parts' had no casualties andcaptured eight rifles, a revolver and a large quantity ofammunition. The column then withdrew. towards. BallydalyPier and were ferried across the: Bandon river to KilmacsirnonQuay. They then moved into billets. I was not presentat this engagement as I was engaged, in making arrangementsfor a. training campS in Bantry battalion area. at Kealkil.The camp at Kealkil was attended by the officersof all companies in Bantry Battalion. It was carried onfor a week a similar routine to that employed at Clonbuigand Ballymurphy being followed.. This column when trainedtook up: positions in the area, but there was no appearanceby the enemy.At this. stage, the Brigade 0/C (Charlie Hurley)was; of the opinion that a permanent brigade columnshould be established'. His suggestion was. discussed indetail at a. Brigade Council meeting held at Kelly's,Gloun, Dunsuanway. It was finally agreed to establisha column on the lines suggested and to place Tom Barryin charge as column 0/C.. The main difficulty was tolay down some rules governing the relations between thebrigade 0/C,, column 0/C,. battalion and company commanders.Battalion and company 0/Cs were instructed to facilitatethe column and its 0/C in every possible waywhen it was in their districts.. It was suggested

25.to the battalion 0/Cs. that it would be advisable for them tobe with the column when it was in their areas. It was alsoagreed at the Meeting that only a limited number of battalionand company officers would be called for service with thecolumn as the work of maintaining the local organization wasregarded as most important. It was agreed to invite asvolunteers to make up the first column as many men as possiblewho were not battalion or company officers. The area in which'the column was to open operations was also s elected at thismeeting. The column 0/C. (Tom Barry) was anxious to operatein Bandon area where he was more familiar with the terrainthan he was with any other area. However, I strongly opposedthis suggestion, pointing out that we were now handing over tothis column practically the whole armament of the brigade, andthat there was a better chance of operating with success inthe mountainous area around Dunmanway, where the enemy forceswere not so strong, than it had in the level country aroundBandon where the enemy held very strong forces. After a longdiscussion, the brigade 0/C. (Charlie Burley) agreed with mysubmission. Eventually, it was decided to assemble the columnat Farrell's, Clogher, Dunmanway, on Sunday, 21st November '20.Here the column was to undergo a week's training with a view togoing into action in that area as soon as contact could bemade with the enemy. The officers present at thebrigade,Council meeting were unanimous in the view that there would beno difficulty in finding volunteers for the column.When the Brigade Council decided to put a column in the"field" on a permanent basis, it was the general opinion thatsome effort should be made to raise funds to supply the menof the column with clothing, cigarettes and suchlikenecessi-ties. We were of the opinion that, except when driven intothe poorer regions where the people could not supply the food,

26.the feeding of the men would be attended to by the generouspeople amongst whom they were operating. It was, howeve,decided to impose a levy on the business and farming communityof the area. The amount of the levywasfixed on the P.L.V.of business premises and on the number of stock carried onfarms. The amounts varied from £1 to £50. The responsibilityfor collection was placed on the battalion 0/Cs who, in turn,held the company commanders responsible for the collection intheir areas. The total amount collected was in theneighbour-hood of £10,000. The first instalment of this levy was handedin at the Brigade Council meeting held at Kelly's, Gloun,Dunmanway, on 21st November 1920. This levy was called theArms Fund Levy. It was used to provide the men of the columnand those on wholetime duty with waterproof clothing,cigarettes, tobacco and other necessities. I was allocatedthe duty of organising and arranging fat eo1lection of thisfund..The column representative of the 6th (Castletownbere,)arid 7th (Schull) Battalions assembled as arranged at Farrell'sClogher, Dunmanway, on 21st November 1920. There was somedifficulty with regard to the food supply and it moved aftertwo days to Kenneigh Company area. By Saturday, November 27th,the column was at O'Sullivan's, Ahilina. The strength of thiscolumn was,I think, 36. All were armed with rifles and about40 rounds. On Sunday morning, 28th November 1920, the columnmoved into an ambush position at Kilmichael and remained therewithout incident until about 4 p.m. About this time twolorries of Auxiliaries travelling from Macroom moved into theposition. They were ambushed by the column. All, with theexception of one, were killed and the column captured 15 rifles.a number of revolvers and a considerable Quantity of' ammunitionI was not present on this occasion, being engaged on duties

27.in the Skibbereen battalion area where I had lain in ambushon numerous oceasions in the vicinity of Leap without makingNcontact with the enemy. I continued to travel around thearea organising for the Arms Fund, inspecting companies andgiving 'pep' talks to the officers of all units.It was now moving on to Christmas and, as the column hadbeen over three weeks underarms, it was decided to disbandthem and allow them to go to their home areas for Christmas.In the meantime, the various battalions were advised to makeevery possible effort to keep the enemy 'on the move'. Therewas no exceptional activity by the enemy in the area at thistime, except in the region of Dunmanway where a strong unitof Auxiliaries had taken over the Workhouse. Their arrivalwas the prelude to a reign of terror in Dunmanway districtin the course of which the Rev. Canon Magner, P.P. and TadhgCrowley a member of the I.R.A. were shot dead. Conditionsin the area were so bad that most people in the area withnational sympathies were afraid to sleep in their homes atnight. In some cases the morale of some members of the armywas affected and it required constant attention to maintaina virile organisation in this district. This particular unitof the Auxiliaries were more aggressive than usual about thistime. It is possible that this attitude was due to the factthat they had some knowledge that the column had beendemobbed,and they felt that they had the I.R.A. on the run.However, the brigade 0/C. (Charlie Hurley) decided to hold aBrigade Council meeting in Dunnanway Battalion area atBallinacarriga on December 28th, 1920, to examine the positionThis meeting was attended by:- Brigade 0/C. (Charlie Hurley),Brigade V.0/C. (Ted O'Sullivan, witness), Brigade Adjutant(Liam Deasy), Brigade Q.M. TadhgO'Sullivan), Sean Hales(Bandon), Jim Hurley (Clonakilty), Sean Murphy (Dunmanwar),

28Con Connolly (Skibbereen), Tom Ward (Pantry), Liam O'Dwyer(Castletownbere) and Sean Lehane (Schull). Thismeeting,decided to reassemble NORTH the column on 16th January 1921 andinstructions were also issued to Battalion 0/Cs. to organisebattalion columns and to avail of every opportunity to strikeat the enemy.In view of the state of the army organisation inDunmanway area, the Brigade 0/C. now decided that the variouscompanies in this battalion should be visited by some memberof the brigade staff with a view to boosting up any loss ofmorale that may have resulted from the enemy's reign of terrorduring the period prior to Christmas. 1 was delegated to visitthe companies in the area north of the Bandon river, viz:Derrynacaheragh, coppeen, Aultagh, Togher.I was accompanied by Paddy Crowley. The companies south of theriver were to be visited by the brigade adjutant (Liam Deasy)and column 0/C. (Tom Barry). With Paddy Crowley I visited allcompaniesof Bandon river and discussed with the officersand members of each unit the general position in their areaadvising them that the column would again he operating in thenear future and that the enemy forces in the area would meet waswith plenty of opposition provided the local units carried outthe duties allotted to them. Having spent nearly three dayson this tour, I again made contact with the other members ofthe brigade staff at O'Neill's, Shanavanagh. Here we reviewedthe results of the inspection of Dummanway Battalion anddecided on the programme for January 1921. After this meetingthe brigade adjutant (Liam Deasy)brigade Q.M. (TadhgO'Sullivan) and column 0/C. (Tom Barry) moved away to brigadeH.Q. which, at the time, was at O'Mahoney's, Belrose, Upton.The brigade 0/C. (Charlie Hurley) moved to Kilbrittain where

29.an attack had been arranged on the local R.I.C. post. Imoved into Bantry, Castletownbere and Schull areas to see whatprogress was; being made on the formation of battalion columns,etc:.On my way back to brigade H..Q.. after this tour, I madecontact; with the column in the vicinity of Crosspound. Thenit moved in to attack Innishannon B.I.C. Barracks on the nightof January 26th, 1921, I was in charge of a section at BrinnyBridge: with instructions 'to hold' off any enemy reinforcementscoming from Bandon.. Our' party numbered about forty and werearmed? with rifles and shotguns. Dick Barrett was second incommand.Two other sections of the column under the brigadeadjutant (Liam Deasy) and column o/c (Tom Barry) were deputedto carry out the attack on the barracks. The mine laid atthe door of the barracks failed, and despite: intense riflefire by the attacking party we. failed to make any impressionon the garrison. There: was no attempt to send reinforcementsvia, my position. When the signal to withdraw was givenI moved with my section to Crosspound where I joined up withthe remainder of the column..Following this engagement I was deputed to go toCastletownbere and Bantry Battalions on a tour of inspectionthe other brigade officers' being similarly engaged for somedays in the other battalion areas. I: was back again in theKilbrittain area for a. Brigade Council meeting on 5th February1921.. This meeting continued throughout the night, endingsome time about 1 a.m. At this' meeting the brigade 0/C(Charlie Hurley) insisted that there should be increasedactivity in an battalion areas; in the immediate future.Leaving this meeting, I proceeded'. to Pantry area where Idiscussed plans for intensifying the campaign with the: 0/C

30.Tom Ward. He left me to arrange some sniping activities inBantry. I returned to Drirnoleague where I met the company0/C. (Dan O'Driscoll) and we arranged to ambush a patrol ofR.I.C. in Drimoleague that night (Tuesday). It was, I thinkthe first Tuesday in February 1921. Accompanied by Dan0'Driscoll (0/C. Drimoleague Coy.), Michael Harrington (adjt.Bantry Battalion), Sonny Sullivan (Bantry Coy.), Tom Collins(Inchingeragh Coy.) and Con Keane (0/C. Inchingeragh Company)I moved into Drimoleague about 7 p.m. We took up a positionabout 50 yards from the R.I.C. barrack behind a stonewall.All were armed with rifles. There was no appearance by thepatrol at the expected hour, so I sent Dan 0'Driscol]. into thevillage to ascertain whether there were any R.I.C. in thevillage. When O'Driscoll returned, he informed' me that fourR.I.C. men were drinking in Beamish's publichouse. This hadbeen confirmed by an I.R.A. man Tom Young whom he had meton the street.. In the circumstances, we remained in ourposition and, after about 30 minutes, the enemy party madetheir appearance. They walked down the street towards thebarrack in two pairs. As they passed our position we openedfire. Constable O'Connor was killed and his companion,Constable Griffin, was wounded. The other pair escaped. Weimmediately withdrew to Castledonovan where we went intobillets.Shortly after our withdrawal from Drimoleague, strongforces of military arrived from Bantry (10 miles) while aforce of Auxiliaries arrived from Dunmanway (10 miles). Themilitary were apparently first on the scene, otherwise it islikely that Drimoleague would have been burned. out. that nightby the Auxiliaries. Both enemy parties returned to theirbases that night, but the military returned next day. Theyrounded up all available members of the civilian population

31.and formed them into a "Civil Guard". They appointed officersand divided the 'guard' into a number of sections, allocatingperiods of duty to each group. During duty periods thesections were to report to the R.I.C. barracks at fixedintervals.A meeting of Bantry Battalion Council was held at ColomaneWood on the night of 10th February 1921. I was present tohear a report on the efforts being made to carry out thebrigade 0/C's (Charlie Hurley) orders to intensify the campaignagainst the enemy. While the meeting was in progress, thebrigade adjutant (Liam Deasy) and column 0/C. (Tom Barry)arrived. They had been with the brigade column which hadinvested Skibbereen on the previous night. The column was nowbilleted in the neighbourhood. A discussion took place on theprospects of capturing Drimoleague R.I.C. Post and it wasdecided to attack this post on the following night (11thFebruary 1921). Arrangements were made for the column 0/6.(Tom Barry) to drive through Drimoleague next day to inspectthe position. He was driven into the village in a horse andtrap by Miss Bridie Manning, Colomane, a member! of Cumann namBan. Here he held a consultation with Dan O'Driscoll (0/C.Drimoleague) who had been arranging scouts, outposts and road_blocking sections since he had left the Battalion Councilmeeting the previous night.While the column 0/C. (Tom Barry) was engaged on theseduties, the members of the column were preparing for theengagement that night. A large mine was constructed by theengineering section and was mounted on a frame so that it couldbe carried by four men. I believe that this mine weighedbetween and 4cwt. and, as it had to be carried practically onemile, four of the strongest men in the column were s elected forthe job. Three of the men selected were John J. O'Sul1iva

32.(Q.M. Bantry Battalion), Jack Corkerry (Ballinadee) and TimO'Donoghue (Kilmeen). I cannot recollect the name of thefourthman.The column men, led by local scouts, moved into Drimoleagueabout midnight, while I was detailed to take a sectionof the column to the vicinity of Inchingeragh Bridge where wewere to take up positions to hold the Bantry-Drimoleague roadagainst the possible arrival of enemy reinforcements. Thissection numbered about 20. All were armed with rifles.The attack on the barracks was not a success as the mine, althoit exploded, did not breach the wall to enable the I.R.A. partyto rush the barracks. Immediately following the explosion,fire was opened on the building by all sections. This asreplied to by the garrison who sent up Verey lights to callfor assistance. Having besieged the place for an hourall attacking sections were withdrawn, and I withdrew with myprotection unit to Castledonovan area where we made contactwith the main attacking body. Shortly after the withdrawalof the attackers, a strong force of Auxiliaries arrived inDrimoleague from Dunmanway. They rounded up a number of'civilians and compelled them to knock down the wall separatingthe barrack yard from the public road. This party then movedout in the direction of Castledonovan, where the column werebilleted, but did not come close enough to be engaged.The column now moved on to Kealkil area and, after a fewdays, it travelled back to Bandon Battalion area. I wasengaged during the remainder of the month of February atbrigade H.Q. and touring the brigade area arranging, for thecutting. of enemy lines of communication, the demolition ofbridges, blocking of roads, as well as my normal duties ofinspecting and training personnel.

33.During the first week in March 1921, I travelled toCastletowubere to select 12 replacements for men who were tobe demobbed from the column. I travelled in a small boatacross Bantry Bay to Ardrigole. over the road now known as theHealy Pass to Lauragh in Kerry and then on to Eyeries. HereI met Sean O'Driscoll, Christy O'Connell, Michael O'Sullivan,and nine others whose names; I cannot recollect.The whole party, armedwith rifles, then travelled to Ardrigoleby the same route. We now loaded a large s took of guncottonon a boat and travelled with it to Gearhies Pier nearKilcrohane. Here we unloaded our supply of explosives and tookit by horse and car to brigade H.Q. which, at 'the time, wasnorth of Dunmanway at Coo].mountain.This party from Castletownbere joined the column at Ahakeeraand, within a week, were at Shippool in the vicinity ofInnishannon. It was now 16th March 1921. On the morning ofMarch 17th the column, to the number of about 100, took uppositions at Shippool with the intention of ambushing amilitary convoy which was expected to travel through theselected position, on the Innishannon-Kinsale road. The columnremained in position from daybreak to dusk on a cold wet day,but there was no appearance by the enemy.While the column were in the Shippool area I was instructeto proceed to Cork I Brigade H.Q. and to endeavour to obtaina supply of .303 ammunition which was getting scarce at thistime. I made contact with some officers of Cork I Brigadein the Cork City and obtained 2000 rounds from Sean Mitchell.This ammunition •was dispatched by rail to Wm. Barrett, Killeady.It was packed in a butter .box and consigned as parts for a stearengine. It was delivered to the column before Crossbarry on19th March 1921.

34•In the meantime, I had proceeded to Bantry on organftationwork and was operating there when I received news of the fightat Crossbarry. This was conveyed to me in a dispatch fromLiam Deasy (brigade adjutant) in which he requested me toprovide a machine gunner for the Lewis gun captured atCrossbarry. I immediately contacted Wm. O'Sullivan, a memberof the Bantry Company who had experience of this gun, andescorted him to column H.Q. where he took charge of the Lewisgun.As Charlie Hurley (brigade 0/C) had been killed on themorning of Crossbarry (19th March 1921 when he endeavoured tobreak through a force of military which surrourided the housein which he was billeted, there were now further changes inthe personnel of the brigade staff. Liam Deasy's name wasnow submitted for approval to G.H.Q. for appointment as brigade0/C. and authority for the appointment came through in duecourse. The officers of Cork III Brigade now were:- 0/C.Liam Deasy; Vice 0/C. Ted O'Sullivan (witness); Adjutant,Gibbs Ross; Q.M. Dick Barrett; 0/C. Column, Tom Barry; 0/C.Engineers, Mick Crowley; 1.0. Sean Buckley; Asst. Brigade Adjt.FlorBeg1eyWithin a short time following these changes, the brigadeQ.M. was arrested and he was replaced by Tadhg O'Sullivanwho had been Q.M. of the column.Many officers and men of the column which fought atCrossbarry were now demobbed for duty in their own battalionareas. They were replaced bya mixture of new recruits andsome veterans who had previously served with the column.The new column assembled in the vicinity of Ahiohill about thelast week in March 1921. Some of those with this columnwere-ChristyO'Connell, Sean O'Driscoll, Ted O'Sullivan (witness),Jim Burley, Tim O'Donoghue, John (Flyer) Nyhan, Stephen O'Neill,

35."Neilus" Connolly, Denis Lordan, John Lordan, Sean Hales,Pete Kearney, Tom Kelleher, Mick Crowley, The strength ofthis column as about 60.This column moved around the area for about a week withoutmaking contact with the enemy and, on the morning of March 30thwe were in the neighbourhood of Benduff, 3 miles west ofRosscarbery. It was then decided to attack the R.I.C. Barracks.in Rosscarbery that night. The day was spent in preparing forthe attack. A mine which had been assembled by Tim O'DonoghueV.0/C. Clonakilty, and Dan Holland, Q.M. Bandon Battalior,was taken to the assembly point by Tim O'Donoghue (V/C.Clonakilty Battalion). The column was then divided into anumber of sections as follows:-(1) a stormingpartyof 10 men to lay a mine at the barrackdoor and rush the breach;(2) a group of 10 men carrying torches to be lightedwhen the breach had been made and the stormingparty had rushed the barracks;(3) a group of 10 men to occupy positions north andeast of the barracks to prevent the garrisonbreaking out;(4) 12 men, divided into 3 groups of 4 each, tohold the roads leading to Rosscarbery;(5) 15 men, divided into 3 groups of 5 men each,to cut communications on all roads in the area.All sections moved into their positions about midnight.I was a member of the storming party at (a) which includedTom Barry, Nick Crowley, Denis Lordan, Jim Hurley, ChristyO'Connell, Pete Kearney, Jack Corkery, Tim 0'Donoghue, TomKelleher, Ted O'Sullivan (witness). The barracks was astrongly fortified isolated building at the eastern end of thetown. A pathway led from the footpath to the door and, withthe exception of this pathway, the area around the barrack wasfilled with barbed wire entanglements. The storming group andthe section with the torches reached their position round acorner near the post office about 30 yards from the barrack

36.about 1 a.m. When the column 0/C. (Tom Barry) had ascertainedthat the gate leading to the barrack was not baked,. the minewas raised on to the shoulders of Peter Kearney, Tom Kelleher,Christy O'Connell and Jack Corkery. The two fuses were lightedby Denis Lordan and we started off at a trot to the barrackdoor. The mine was kept in position on the shoulders of thebearers by myself and the Vice 0/C. Clonakilty Battalion(Tim O'Donoghue). The gate leading to the barrack door wasopenedhy the column 0/C. (Tom Barry) and we carried the mineto the door against which we laid it. We then dashed back tothe corner and threw ourselves on the ground. I should havementioned that, while moving into thesebected positions andapproaching the enemy post, the members of all sections weremoving in their stockinged feet and were armed with revolverscarried in their free hands with their rifles slung acrosstheirbacks.We had hardly reached cover when the mine exploded with adeafening roar. Our party and the following section with thetorches dashed immediately for the barracks. By the light ofa torch we saw that the mine had not damaged the barrack tothe expected extent. It had, however, blown a hole in the doorand not the steel shutters on two windows flying. Before wehad completed the examination of the damaged door the garrisonwere firing through the door and windows. Our storming partyreplied to this fire as did the sections north and east ofthe building. We then threw Mills bombsand some canisterbombs through the hole in the door, but the enemy replied withMills bombs. After nearly two hours fighting we succeeded indriving the garrison from the ground floor. It was thendecided to try to set the barracks on fire and I was instructedby the column 0/C. to procure a supply of paraffin from a shopcolumnclose by. I arranged a human chainofmen with buckets and

37.cans to carry the oil from the shop to the column 0/C. whopoured it into the barracks, having set the first lot thrownin on fire. The stairway leading to the upper floor of thebarrack was now on fire and the continuous supply of paraffinhelped to increase the flames. While the fire was being fedby our section, the other sections were shooting at loopholesand anywhere the garrison appeared to be active. Eventually,after about 4 hours fighting, the enemy were forced to evacuatethe barracks, but they had thrown all their arms down theburning stairway and they could not be saved. Two members ofthe garrison Sergeant Shea and Constable Bowles were killedNine members of the garrison of 23 were wounded. The columnhad no casualties. All sections were now assembled in theSquare, Roscarbery, where we delayed for some time beforemoving off in a westerly direction in order to mislead theenemy. When we had gone a few miles we turned north and,' ashort time later, wheeled east to Rossmore where we went intobillets. We remained in Rossmore until darkness set in thatnight and then marched a distance of over 20 miles east tobillets in Newcestown.I continued to serve with the column for a short periodin the early part of April during which we endeavoured to makecontact with enemy patrols but, for one reason or another, allour arrangements at this stage proved abortive. It was aboutthis time that word was received from G.H.Q. that it wasproposed to land a cargo of arms from Italy in West Cork area.The spot selected was Union Hall. The brigade 0/C. was busilyengaged in organising arrangements for this operation and Iwas recalled to Brigade H.Q. At this period the columnentered Bandon and held the town for practically a whole nightwithout meeting any opposition. When it was decided towith-draw, a few shots were fired at enemy posts, but there was no

38.reply.Towards the end of April, a meeting was held at Kippaghnear Milistreet at the direction of G.H.Q. with a view todiscussing the formation of the three Cork, three Kerry, WestLimerick and West Waterford brigades into a combined unit tobe called the 1st Southern Division. This meeting was attendedby the brigade 0/C. (Liam Deasy) and column 0/C. (Tom Barry)representing Cork III Brigade. The division was establishedas from 27th April 1921. Liam Lynch (0/C. Cork II Brigade) wasappointed D'ivisional 0/C. and Florrie O'Donoghue (adjutantCork I Brigade) Divisional Adjutant. At this meeting it wasdecided that some action should be taken against the enemyforces as a reprisal for the execution of I.R.A. men takenprisoner under arms. Accordingly,instructions were issued toall units to concentrate on a shoot up of all enemy personnelfound abroad and to attack as maw postsaspossible on May14th, 1921. I was deputed to organise This action in onewestern battalions of the brigade. In this connection Iarranged for attacks at Castletoiinbere, Furious Pier,Skibbereen, Bantry and 1unmanway. At Furious Pier, five enemypersonnel were killed, while at Gastletownbere enemy casualtieswere 3 killed, 2 wounded. At Skibbereen and Bantry, enemyposts were sniped, while at Dunmanway I took charge of theoperation myself, being ssisted by Sean Murphy (0/C.,Dunnianway Battalion) and Paddy O'Brien (battalionadjutant).About 50 men were assem1ed in the vicinity of the town about2 p.m. on 14th Nay 1921. Sixteen were armed with rifles andthe remainder with shotguns. This column was divided intofour sections riflemen and shotgun-men being interspersed.It was proposed to enter the square of the town at 3 p.m.when it was expected that a lorry of Auxiliaries would be atthe 'Market House there, as was usual each day. Three sections

39.of the column were to enter the town from the north werethere were three roads to be held. I took charge. of thesesections with Sean Murphy (battalion 0/C) as second incommand. The section to enter from the south was in chargeof Paddy O'Brien (battalion adjutant). Each of the sectionsfrom the north took with it a horse and cart loaded with bagsof earth to block the roads, on which they were operating,at the entrance to the Square, and. to provide cover for ourmen. All sections from the north reached the Square on time.The horses were moved, into position and shot, effectivelyblocking all exits on the. north side. A small section hadalso blocked' the road leading to Auxiliary H.Q.. by felling atree. This was done in order to prevent the arrivalof;reinforcements or the return of the lorry to its H.Q.However, the' only enemy in sight were two R.I.C. men whomade their escape through a house on to the river bankbefore they could be shots The section under Paddy O'Brienentered the town from the south and took up its allottedposition.. However, there. was no lorry of Auxiliaries on theSquare, so, after holding the town for about an hour, thecolumn withdrew without an engagement. The sole result ofour activities was the insult to the Auxiliaries in that thegeneral public saw that we held the town for over an hourwhile not an Auxiliary dared to make his appearance. Thisgeneral operation had the effect of curtailing the activitiesof the small raiding parties of one or two lorries which hadoperated up to now. As a matter'of fact the enemy forcesin the area only moved about the district in strong columnson foot between May and the Truce on 11th July, 1921.A couple of days prior to the visit to Dunmanway,I attended a meetIng of Bantry Battalion Council at which fina

40.arrangements for the activities in connection With thegeneral shoot-up were discussed. While the meeting wasin progress, a report was received that the force ofAuxiliaries stationed at the Eccles Hotel, Glengarriff,were to evacuate the post next day. They were to travelby train from Bantry. It was decided to attack thistrain at Inchingeragh next day.Towards the end of May 1921, a strong column ofBritish military under Major Percival of the Essex Regimentmoved out from Kinsale on foot. it travelled acrosscountry searching houses and fields as it progressed.The activities of this column made the maintenance o#lines of communication more difficult. Increased scoutinand intelligence services, were necessary in order to keepBrigade H.Q.. in touch with the enemy movements;. Manycivilian prisoners were taken in this operation, and, insome cases, the houses of supporters of ours weredestroyed. This action led to counter-reprisals by uson the homes. of British supporters. in the area. Amongstthe. houses burned by the. I.R.A. as reprisals were.Castle Bernard, the home of the Earl of Bandon. Theactivities, of this column were only the forerunner of abig encircling movement undertaken by troops operatingfrom Bandon, Kinsale, Cork and Killarney in an endeavourto surround] our column which, at the time, was in thevicinity of the. Skibbereen area. The column withdrew toBantry area, but here information was received that theBritish were preparing to land troops on the coast.This; appeared to be borne out by the presence of a numberof enemy naval vessels in Bantry Bay. As a. result, thecolumn moved on to Coomhola. and from there to Gougane Barin Cork 1 Brigade area. At this stage, all intelligence

41.reports indicated that the enemy movement appeared to havebeen called off and the column returned to its own area. Itwas now the end of the first week in June 1921. We were nowsatisfied that we held the initiative in the area as the enemyseldom moved out except in columns of 300 to 400 and thenonly on foot.During the month of June I was engaged at Brigade H.Q.and throughout the area on various administrative andinspection duties. The men in the various battalions wereensuring that the enemy were harassed as much as possibleby constant sniping a few shots at a time at enemy posts,the cutting of lines of communication and suchlike activities.About mid-June, information was received that largereinforce-ments were to be drafted into the area by the British. Asthese forces were likely to be accommodated in Bandon andSkibbereen where two large buildings both Workhouses wereavailable, it was decided to destroy both buildings. Eachof these was capable of holding close on 1000 troops. Thecolumns under the 0/C. (Tom Barry) was in Clonakilty area.The night of 23rd June was selected for the operation and thecolumn was divided into two sections. Tom Barry took onesection to Bandon, and the Brigade 0/C. (Liam Deasy) movedinto Sk±bbereei with the second section. The operations werea complete success and, next morning (June 24th) bothWork-houses were only smouldering ruins. Both in the case of Bandonand Skibbereen large enemy garrisons were holding each town,but they failed to make the slightest effort to save thebuildings. This was further proof that the initiative laywith the men of the I.R.A.The British had been executing men found in possessionof arms or taken prisoner in the course of engagements since

41.February 1921. These men were being tried by courtmartialwhich would seem to indicate that they were prisoners of war,but, despite this fact, a number had been executed. So farno man from Cork III Brigade had been dealt with in thismanner it appeared to be the policy of the military (EssexRegiment) and Auxiliaries operating in our area to shootany-body found engged in military activities out of hand.However, some men from Clonakilty area were surprised by enemyforces while engaged onthe demolition of Jones's Bridge onthe Clonakilty-Ballinascarthy road. After an exchange of shotsWilliam Daly, Shannonvale, Clonakilty, was captured. He wasremoved to Victoria Barracks, Cork, where he was to becourt-martialled. As a coimter-stroke, it was decided to seize ashostages some of the leading supporters of the British in. thearea. On-2lst June 1921, the following were taken prisonerand r emoved to an "unknown destination" words used to describethe place of detention of prisoners taken by the I.R.A.The Earl of Bandon, Deputy Lieutenant of Cork County; Mr. SealyKing, J.P., Bandon; Mr. J. Fitzpatrick, J.P., Clonakilty;and St. Leger Oilman, J.P. Clonakilty. They were held prisonerin various houses throughout the area and the 0/C. of theBritish forces in Cork was informed that they would be executedif Daly or any other prisoner from Cork III Brigade was executerThere was no statement in reply from the British, but Dalywas not executed. The hostages were detained until the Truceon 11th July 1921, when they werereleased.The organisation of the 1st Southern Divisional activitieswas now proceeding on smooth lines. A meeting of therepresentatives of Cork and Kerry Brigades was held at Toghernear Dunnanway towards the end of June. Liam Lynch (DivisionalO/C) and Florried. O'Donoghue (Divisional Adjutant) were presentCork III Brigade was represented by Liam Deasy (0.C.) and Tom

43.Barry (Column 0/C.) At this meeting it was decided toestablish a Diviiàna1 Training Camp in the Clydagh Valle'south of Rathmore, and to initiate a campaign on a divisionalbasis following this camp. Three officers from each brigadewere to attend this camp. The camp was to open during thefirst week in July 1921, and the officers from Cork III Brigade,who were selected to attend, were Liam Deasy (0/C.), Tom Barry(Column 0/C.) and Denis Lordan (Column Adjutant). Arrangementswere then made for their journey to the camp about 1st July 1921and, in the absence of Liam Deasy, I was deputed to take chargeof the brigade. The officers proceeding to the camp in ClydaghValley had actually left the brigade area when word wasreceived that the arrangements for the camp had been cancelled.On Saturday, 9th July 1921, I learned for the first time fromthe "Cork Examiner" that a Truce was to be arranged with theBritish for 12 noon on Monday, 11th July 1921.My rank at the Truce Acting 0/C. Cork III Brigade, I.R.A.The strength of the brigade at the Truce About 8,000At a later stage: I propose to submit a statement coveringthe Truce period and the Civil War.Signed:TedO'SullivanDate:angurt241956Witness: P. O'Donnell