Roscommon and Easter 2016
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Roscommon & |
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The day of the scheduled Rising was a confusing time of silence and misinformation. Due tonthe sudden cancellation of the Easter Sunday show of force by Eoin McNeill, Volunteers throughout the country were at a loss as to what direction to take. In Roscommon, “Easter Week and the Rebellion found this part of the country (around Strokestown) unorganised (militarily) or any preparation made and so no incidents took place around here .....” The only knowledge the townspeople had that anything of significance had occurred in Dublin was the scant supply of mail that arrived. Ordinarily, the horse-drawn mail car would arrive from Longford with letters and newspapers. Not on Easter Tuesday! The mail carrier informed the disappointed customers that “the Sinn Feiners had occupied Dublin and that the railroad was cut between Dublin and Mullingar”. In the Castlerea area, “the Rising in 1916 came upon (them) and found (them) in a completely unprepared state of action. There were no arms amongst (the) members except some few small arms and no concrete military organisation. This, coupled with the confusion brought about by orders and countermanding orders and finally no orders, all left (them) in a state of bewilderment, with the result that nothing was attempted and the Rising was over in Dublin before we could think logically and make an estimation of the situation”. In the northern part of the county, Alec McCabe, the IRB Commandant from Sligo and member of the Supreme Council, had travelled to Boyle the Sunday before Easter and mobilised the IRB circle there. He told the men to expect arms from Kerry and Donegal and to be ready for a fight. McCabe journeyed to Dublin, where on Easter Saturday he met with the council to receive further instructions. He travel back next day, proceeded to Boyle, joined up with James Feely, who had no arms to lend to any spontaneous uprising. Continuing on to Ballaghaderreen he contacted John Coleman. Again, no arms available. Throughout the coming days no arms arrived and no mobilisation took place in north Roscommon. In the extreme south of the county, the plans for the uprising included assembling men from the Coosan and Athlone area, marching to Shannonbridge where they were to hold their ground until Roger Casement’s rifles arrived and men sent by Liam Mellows would bring further orders. Zero hour: 6p.m. Sunday night. Halfway to Shannonbridge, the countermanding orders came. For several days afterwards, some men maintained their state of readiness while others returned to work. Volunteers around Tubbercurry had attended the local football match after which they assembled and marched together to the Town Hall. There they received a message from a courier from Ballaghaderreen that the Rising had been called off by Eoin MacNeill (who knew nothing about plans for a Rising until a few days before its projected date). Later that evening a member of the IRB met with Volunteers in a house urging them to proceed with 3 assault plans; but question marks duelled with exclamation points and won out. The most auspicious day in Irish history (at least for the previous seven hundred years) passed without incident in and around County Roscommon. The politicians of the county, however, lost little time in disassociating themselves from the melee in Dublin. On 18 May 1916 the Roscommon County Council passed a vote of condemnation against the Rising and all who had taken part in it. The Council pledged its support for the Irish Parliamentary Party of John Redmond and John Dillon. The official voice of the county had made a statement, but the ring of Republican rhetoric was yet to resound o’er the fields of Roscommon. A short two months before the Easter Rising we find the Council earnestly requesting his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to have the Connaught Rangers trained and billeted in Connaught. They suggested County Roscommon as a suitable place for the soldiers and indicated that their presence in the county would have very beneficial effects. This unusual statement did not represent a watering down of nationalism but a pragmatic commercial eye for the new business that would be generated by such a move of troops to the county. In the meeting following the Rising there was no mention in the minutes of the dramatic happenings in Dublin. However, a unanimous resolution was passed on 1st August 1916 no doubt inspired by the executions of those leaders who took part in the Rising. The resolution was forwarded to the British Prime Minister and declared: “That we learn with regret that the Coalition Government have no other resource for the immediate government of our country than a Castle system which has been acknowledged by the Prime Minister of England to have been a hapless failure. The Coalition Government have thus admitted their inability to govern a small nation except by the German system of displaying military force; we deeply resent this treatment and we demand as the only alternative course, that the Home Rule Act already on the statute books be put into immediate operation”. At the same meeting the Council pleaded with the Government for the commutation of the death sentence passed upon Sir Roger Casement.After the Rising, the English moved quickly to extract the troublemakers from the populace. Considering the statistics of the Country as a whole, Roscommon County included “the fifth-highest number of arrests in the months after the rebellion.” Twenty-two men from the county were arrested and housed in several of England’s “holiday inns”. The guest list included: Michael Brennan of Carrowkeel, Fuerty (Glasgow Prison, Reading Jail and Frongoch); Peter O’Rourke of Abbeytown, Boyle (Wandsworth Prison); Eddie and John James Doorley of Roscommon town; Alfred McCrann, Pat Smith of Ballyboughan, Roscommon; Jack Brennan of Carrowkeel, Fuerty; George Geraghty of Roscommon town (Wakefield Jail and Frongoch); John Joe Coleman, B.J.Flannery, James Cunniffe, Thomas McCormack, Bartley O’Gara, T.F.O’Hara, Joe Trimble, Patrick J. Ryan (Head Centre for the IRB), Joseph O Kelly, Bertie Shouldice, John F.Morley all of Ballaghaderreen (Lewes Jail); Frank Shouldice of Ballaghaderreen (Stafford Detention Barracks); Jack Shouldice of Ballaghaderreen, Paddy Moran (Kilmainham Jail, Mountjoy, and Dartmoor). Excerpts from They Put The Flag a-Flyin: Reproduced courtesy of Kathleen Hegarty Thorne and also from Roscommon County Council: 100 Years of Local Government 1899 to 1999 |
B’ait an t-am in Éirinn é aimsir an Éiri Amach, leis an méid eolais contráile a bhí ann. Mar gur chuir Eoin MacNéill ar ceal an taispeántas nirt a bhí eagraithe do Dhomhnach na Cásca, bhí na hÓglaigh ar fud na tíre go hiomlán gan treo. Fágadh sin go raibh an taobh seo tíre, contae Roscomáin san áireamh (timpeall Strokestown ach go háirithe), neamheagraithe (go míleata), neamh ullmhaithe agus mar sin níor tharla aon eachtraí timpeall na háite seo. Aon eolas a bhí ag muintir an bhaile, i leith na n-imeachtaí i mBaile Átha Cliath, fuarthas é ón bpost gann a bhí ag teacht ón bpríomhcathair. De gnáth, thógadh an cóiste capaill ó Longfort litreacha agus nuachtáin. Ach níor tharla sé sin ar Mháirt Cásca. Tugadh le fios do chustaiméirí ar an lá sin gur “the Sinn Feiners had occupied Dublin and that the railroad was cut between Dublin and Mullingar”.
I gceantar Chaisleán Rí tháinig an Éirí Amach aniar aduaidh orthu agus bhí siad go hiomlán neamhullmhaithe chuige. Ní raibh arm ar bith i measc na mball seachas mionairm agus iad gan aon eagraíocht míleata. Chuir na hordaithe agus athordaithe mearbhall orthu agus mar gheall ar sin ar fad níor rinneadh aon ionsaithe anseo agus bhí an Éirí Amach i mBaile Átha Cliath thart sular raibh seans acu aon mheasúnacht a dhéanamh ar an scéal. I dtuaisceart an chontae, thaistil ceannfort IRB Alec McCabe (ball den Príomh Chomhairle) go Mainistir na Bhuille ar an Domhnach roimh Cháisc chun na baill a shlógadh. Dúirt sé leis na fir ann bheith ag súil le airm ó Chiarraí agus Dún na nGall agus bheith réidh le hionsaí. Lean mcCabe ar aghaidh go mBaile Átha Cliath, áit a fuair sé tuilleadh ordaithe ón gComhairle Satharn Cásca. Ar theacht abhaile go dtí Mainsir na Bhuille dhó, an lá dar gcionn, bhuail sé le James Foley, ach foraor ní raith aon airm aigesan le tabhairt dó. Ag leanúint ar aghaidh go Bealach an Doirín, chuir sé fios ar John Coleman ach fós diabhal airm a bhí ar fáil dó. Sna laethanta ina dhiaidh sin níor tháinig na hairm agus mar sin níor slógadh na hÓglaigh i dtuaisceart Ros Comáin. I ndeisceart an chontae, bhí na pleananna don Éirí Amach ag dul ar aghaidh. Bailíodh fir ó cheantar Coosan agus Áth Luain chun máirseáil chomh fada le Droichead na Sionnaine agus fanacht ann le raifil Roger Casement agus ordaithe ó fhir Liam Mellows. 6 a chlog san iarnóin, oíche Domhnaigh: Leathbhealach go Droichead na Sionnaine, tháinig na hordaithe. Sna laethanta ina dhiadh sin, d’fhan rionnt fir ar an airdeall ach d’fhill roinnt fir eile abhaile.I Tubercurry, tar éis cluiche peile áitiúil, bhailigh na hÓglaigh le chéile agus mháirseáil said go dtí halla an bhaile. B’ansin a fuair siad teachtaireacht ó Bealach an Doirín gur cuireadh an Éirí Amach ar athló ag Eoin Mac Néill (a bhí aineolach ar na pleananna ar fad go dtí roinnt laethanta roimh an dáta socraithe). Níos déanaí an tráthnóna sin, bhuail baill den IRB leis na hÓglaigh áitiúla chun iad a ghríosú chun troda ach ar deireadh thiar thall bhí an lá ag an gciall agus de bharr sin chuaigh an lá cinniúnach sin thart gan éacht thar timpeall Contae Roscomáin.Ní raibh morán moille ar pholaiteoirí na tíre iad féin a scaradh ón anord i mBaile Átha Cliath. Ar an 18ú Bealtaine ritheadh rún ag cruinniú ag cáineadh na n-ionsaithe agus iad siúd a ghlac páirt iontu. Thug siad móid dílseachta do pháirtí John Redmond agus John Dillon. Ba é sin an ráiteas oifigiúil ón gContae ach bhí macallaí an náisiúnachais fós le cloisteáil thar mhachairí an chontae. Dhá mhí roimh an Éirí Amach feicimid an Comhairle Chontae ag iarraidh ar Leifteanant na hÉireann go mbeadh na Connacht Rangers lonnaithe i gCúige Connachta. Mhol siad Contae Roscomáin mar áit oiriúnach do na saighdiúirí ag rá go mbeadh sé tairbheach don chontae iad a bheith curtha ar billéad ann. Ní lagú sa mhothú náisiúnachais a bhí san iarratas neamhghnách seo ach iarracht lán tairbhe a bhaint as an trádáil agus an gnó nua a chruthódh seo don chontae. Feictear ó na miontuairiscí ón gcéad chruinniú i ndiaidh an Éirí Amach nach raibh tagairt as bith do na himeachtaí drámata i mBaile Átha Cliath. Rithead rún, áfach, ar 1ú Lúnasa 1916 a bhí spreagtha ag dúnmharaithe na gceannairí a ghlac páirt sa troid. Seoladh an rún seo chuig Príomh Aire na Breataine agus d’fhógair sé “That we learn with regret that the Coalition Government have no other resource for the immediate government of our country than a Castle system which has been acknowledged by the Prime Minister of England to have been a hapless failure. The Coalition Government have thus admitted their inability to govern a small nation except by the German system of displaying military force; we deeply resent this treatment and we demand as the only alternative course, that the Home Rule Act already on the statute books be put into immediate operation”. Ag an gcruinniú céanna, d’impigh siad ar an rialtas pionós báis Casement a hiomalartú. Sa tréimhse i ndiaidh an Éirí Amach, níor chaill na Sasanaigh aon am ag aimsiú na ngríosóirí. De réir na staitisticí don tír ar an iomlán, bhí an mhéid gabhálacha i Ros Comáin ar an gcúigiú is airde sa tír. Gabhadh 22 fir ón gContae agus cuireadh ar lóistín iad i dtithe Sasana. Ina measc bhí: Michael Brennan of Carrowkeel, Fuerty (Glasgow Prison, Reading Jail and Frongoch); Peter O’Rourke of Abbeytown, Boyle (Wandsworth Prison); Eddie and John James Doorley of Roscommon town; Alfred McCrann, Pat Smith of Ballyboughan, Roscommon; Jack Brennan of Carrowkeel, Fuerty; George Geraghty of Roscommon town (Wakefield Jail and Frongoch); John Joe Coleman, B.J.Flannery, James Cunniffe, Thomas McCormack, Bartley O’Gara, T.F.O’Hara, Joe Trimble, Patrick J. Ryan (Head Centre for the IRB), Joseph O Kelly, Bertie Shouldice, John F.Morley all of Ballaghaderreen (Lewes Jail); Frank Shouldice of Ballaghaderreen (Stafford Detention Barracks); Jack Shouldice of Ballaghaderreen, Paddy Moran (Kilmainham Jail, Mountjoy, and Dartmoor).Excerpts from They Put The Flag a-Flyin: Reproduced courtesy of Kathleen Hegarty Thorne and also from Roscommon County Council: 100 Years of Local Government 1899 to 1999  |