The Battle of Ballinalee took place during the Irish War of Independence on 4 November 1920. Members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), led by Seán Mac Eoin,[3] drove a mixed group of Crown forces consisting of Black and Tans and Auxiliary Division personnel from the village of Ballinalee in County Longford.[4]
| Battle of Ballinalee | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Irish War of Independence | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Irish Republican Army |
 United Kingdom | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Seán Mac Eoin | ? | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| ~4[1] | ~100[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | Unknown (perhaps 20)[2] | ||||||
Crown forces hoped to burn the town as a reprisal for the deaths of several RIC personnel in the preceding days.[5] This included the killing of an RIC inspector, Philip St Johnstone Howlett Kelleher, the previous week and an RIC Constable, Peter Cooney, the previous day.[1] Cooney had been suspected of being a spy and his execution was reputedly ordered by Michael Collins. At the time of his killing, Cooney was allegedly carrying coded dispatches with the names of Longford IRA men.[6]
The Crown forces (numbering 100 men in 11 trucks) were defeated by about 25 IRA members, of which 4 were involved in the main battle.[1] Mac Eoin had placed several groups at the roads leading into the village, including one at a house, Rose Cottage, on the approach to the village centre.[1] This group, referred to in some sources as the "Rose Cottage Four", engaged the much larger RIC force using rifle fire and grenades, and forced their retreat.[1]
Museum
editRose Cottage, the building from which Mac Eoin coordinated the defence of the village, was developed into an exhibition centre and opened to the public in November 2023.[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f Ó Súilleabháin, Seán (2 November 2020). "The Burning of Granard by the Tans and Lancers and legendary defence of Ballinalee by the IRA". longfordleader.ie. Longford Leader. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
- ^ Coogan, Tim Pat (2002). Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-312-29511-0. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
As many as twenty deaths and several times that number of injured [..] but the exact casualties were never given
- ^ "History of Ballinalee". longford.ie. Longford County Council. Archived from the original on 24 November 2010.
- ^ White, Robert William; Moloney, Ed (2006). Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: the life and politics of an Irish revolutionary. Indiana University Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-253-34708-4.
- ^ Lawlor, Pearse (2011). "The Battle of Ballinalee". The Outrages 1920–1922: The IRA and the Ulster Special Constabulary in the Border Campaign. Mercier Press Ltd. ISBN 9781856359665.
- ^ O'Halpin, Eunan; Ó Corráin, Daithí (2020). The Dead of the Irish Revolution. Yale University Press. p. 211. ISBN 9780300123821.
- ^ "Historic MacEoin cottage in Longford to open to public". rte.ie. RTÉ News. 12 November 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
