By the end of January 1923 the Irish Free State had executed 34 anti-Treaty republican prisoners. To put this figure into context, the British authorities executed 24 Irish prisoners between November 1920 and June 1921 during the War of Independence. The fledgling Irish Free State was determined to put-down the rebellion by a small but deadly anti-Treaty force, led with fierce determination, by Liam Lynch.
The Public Safety Act, which threatened execution for anyone bearing arms against the state, was extended to include anyone found in possession of plans or uniforms, anyone who sent threatening letters, or anyone who was found aiding or abetting, would also find themselves subject to the death penalty. On one day alone, 20 January, the Irish Free State executed four men at Tralee, two at Limerick and five at Athlone.
Of the five men executed at Custume Barracks, Athlone, four were from Co. Galway: Martin J. Burke (aged 25 ) of Manusflynn, Caherlistrane, Hubert Collins (23 ) of Keekill, Headford, Stephen Joyce (29 ) of Derrymore, Caherlistrane, and Michael Walsh (26 ) of Derrymore, Caherlistrane. The fifth man was Thomas Hughes of Bogginfin, Athlone.
It is believed the four Galway men were arrested in the Roscommon region while attending a training camp at Clonalis near Castlerea. They were found in possession of weapons. Only informed of their execution in the early hours of January 20, they had just enough time to write letters to family and friends. The letters are remarkable for the acceptance of their fate, and willingness to die for their beliefs. Stephen Joyce wrote to his sister Julia, asking her not to grieve, ‘as it must be God’s holy will that I should sacrifice my life for Ireland. It has been the dreams of my earliest youth.’ *
The execution of Hubert Collins was particularly tragic. He was the youngest brother of Thomas Collins, who was brutally murdered in January 1921 following the Kilroe ambush, about 7km south of Headford. Following this ambush by the local IRA, Crown forces responded by burning houses, barns and crops in the vicinity, firing indiscriminately at civilians, and killing one man. Four days later, they rampaged through north Galway, killing a further three men in separate incidents near Headford, Caherlistrane and Ballyglunin.
Ballyconnell rampage
Earlier that month Prisoners in Galway Gaol attempted to escape by excavating a tunnel under a wall with two old bayonets and a broken spade. They reached a point outside the wall but a great rock stopped their progress. While they were burrowing up a sentry heard and discovered them. For a time it seemed that the National Army was clearly winning the war.
On the morning of February 6 Sean McGrath, a teacher from Milltown, and lodging at Ballyconnell, was dragged out of bed and shot dead apparently for no reason other than the fact that he was lodging at the home of a Free State supporter.
The anti-Treatyites went on the rampage, probably in revenge for the recent Athlone executions. They threw bombs into shops, robbed the local bank, shot a shop assistant dead, and stole two cars. The loss of innocent civilian life, led to further criticism from influential local members of the clergy such as Dean Tom Macken, the parish priest of Dunmore, who described such attacks as ‘diabolical’ and urged the public to ‘save the country from ruin’.
Detecting a growing disillusionment among the ranks of the anti-Treaty forces the government offered an amnesty with advertisements placed in all local newspapers, quoting a prominent dissident, Liam Deasy, asking his comrades to down their arms. In response two lorries carrying National Army soldiers were ambushed at Ballygar, but the resulting gun-fire ended with the death of one of the ambushers.
In the early hours of February 21 a significant anti-Treaty stronghold at Cluid, in the Currandulla area, of North Galway, was surprised by a large force of National Army soldiers. A total of 17 prisoners were taken, and a large arms dump, including bombs, rifles, a deadly landmine and uniforms. The prisoners were marched along the road to Galway gaol.
At the end of march a National Army described the activities of the anti-Treaty forces in North Galway as ’not very active, morale appears broken, merely evading arrest.’
Headford attack
This was a false picture however. An all-out attack was prepared on the Free State barracks at the Square, Headford, before dawn, on Sunday April 8. It had all the appearance of a well planned attack, but it was a totally foolhardy exercise, which would have further tragic consequences..
Some of the attackers had assembled at the Knockma foothills on Saturday night, while others had crossed Lough Corrib in boats from Oughterard. About 24 men entered the town in darkness. Eight men positioned themselves to cover all roads in and out of the town. Other members occupied the public house of Thady McHugh just opposite the barracks. Men, crossing the road ‘in their stockings’, to silently place a landmine at the bull-wire entanglements in front of the heavily fortified building with the aim of blowing part of the outside wall. In the event the mine blew in the front door and shattered the stone steps and windows.
National army soldiers immediately responded with rifle fire, and a lethal burst from a Lewis machine gun. Taken by surprise by the rapid and deadly response, the anti-Treaty forces retreated towards the lake. Captain Joseph Nugent led the Army troops out of the barracks in full pursuit. Shoots were exchanged and John Carty, a National Army gunner, was wounded.
The Army pursued the retreating enemy firing and dodging incoming fire. The Lewis gun jammed and its user, James Lyons, was seriously injured. Anti-Treaty men made their way towards Ross Abbey and Clooneen village, and from there across the Corrib in boats, or hid out in the bogs along the Mayo border. National Army soldiers found traces of blood and one dead body on the road near the courthouse. They also recovered 20 bombs, batteries, cable wires, as well as coats and boots.
Madness of war
The attack on Headford barracks resulted in the death of three National Army soldiers, one immediately and two from wounds later that evening. The soldier who died during the attack was Thomas Keane, a native of Clifden. The two fatally injured soldiers, John Carty and James Lyons, were brought by Nugent and his colleagues back into the barracks following the attack. They were attended by a local doctor and a priest before being transferred to Galway, where they died later as a result of their wounds. John Carty was a native of Taughmaconnell near Athlone, while James Lyons came from Kilconnell, County Galway.
The member of the anti-Treaty force, found dead in a yard near the courthouse was John Higgins, from Gardenfield, Tuam, and a brother of Martin Higgins, a member of the Tuam Rural District Council. A second attacker, Dan McCormack, was found seriously wounded, and after treatment he survived.
However, as a direct consequence of the death of the three National Army soldiers, six men arrested during the Cluid raid on February 21 and imprisoned in Galway gaol, were informed that the next day, April 11, they were to be executed. The harshness of this national execution policy, which would soon reach 81 deaths, following as they did shortly after the five young men, four of whom were from the Headford/ Caherlistrane area, were similarly shot, was received with very mixed feelings in County Galway. Above all the wish was expressed by everyone, that the madness of this appalling war must soon end.
Next week: The aftermath of the Galway executions, and the death of Liam Lynch
NOTES: *Shot by firing squad at 8am on 20 February 1923, the four men were initially buried at Custume Barracks, Athlone. At the end of October 1924, the four coffins were handed over to their relatives at ten-minute intervals. After Mass at Headford Church, they were reinterred at nearby Donaghpatrick Cemetery. The four original coffin plates can be seen at Galway City Museum.
Sources this week include Troubled Times - War and Rebellion in North Galway 1913-1923, by Jarlath Deignan, Civil War in Connacht, by Nollaig Ó Gadhra, War of Friends exhibition at Galway Museum, and Dr William Murphy, Dictionary of Irish Biography.
