Centenary of the ‘Noble Six’ remembered

By September 1922 the Irish civil war had raged for nearly three months in a summer that saw the deaths of some of the Irish Revolution’s most prominent leaders including Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith and Cathal Brugha.
In the relatively short period between June and September 1922, pro-Treaty Free State forces had gained the upper hand on their former comrades by taking total control of the main cities of Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Limerick.

Free State forces had also succeeded in re-capturing republican occupied towns across broad swathes of Munster and Connaught resulting in anti-Treaty forces resorting to a campaign of guerrilla warfare as they had down in the fight against crown forces between 1919 and 1921.

Despite such inroads by Free State forces, the north-west region of Sligo and north Leitrim still remained in republican hands. Here the IRA’s 3rd Western Division led by Liam Pilkington fought a running battle against pro-Treaty forces.
In July 1922 the capture by republicans of the Free State forces prized possession, the ‘Ballinalee’ armoured car not only caused embarrassment to government forces but wreaked havoc in military engagements across Sligo and north Leitrim. Such incidents and the failure to capture areas of the north-west prompted commander of Free State forces General Richard Mulcahy to put strong pressure on General Sean Mac Eoin, his Western Command leader, to assert government authority in the area.

In an attempt to take control of the region, Mac Eoin deployed experienced and war-hardened troops to the North Sligo-Leitrim border.
In a co-ordinated military operation, troops from Manorhamilton, Boyle and Sligo, under the command of Mac Eoin, and troops from Finner camp near Bundoran, under the command of Commandant Joe Sweeney, engaged in extensive searches which resulted in the capture of large numbers of republicans.

During Sweeney’s advance south, the republican-controlled north Leitrim villages of Kinlough and Tullaghan were captured and thirty republicans surrendered at Kiltyclogher. On the outskirts of Manorhamilton, fourteen republicans in possession of arms and explosives were arrested.

In their attempts to thwart these advances, anti-Treaty forces derailed trains across the region. At Dromahair, republicans apologized to the train crew informing them that they were compelled to take such action because ‘their comrades had been surrounded by numbers of Free State troops and it was their duty as republicans to take every possible step to checkmate the movements of the Free State soldiers’.

In reaction to the rapid advance of government forces, Pilkington’s headquarters at Rahelly House in north Sligo was evacuated and republicans sought refuge in the nearby mountains.
On their way to a meeting with Pilkington at Glencar in the early morning of 20 September, IRA Divisional Adjutant Brian MacNeill, Brigadier Seamus Devins, Lieutenant Paddy Carroll and Volunteer Joseph Banks were intercepted on the slopes of Benbulben by Pro-Treaty forces and shot dead. Dublin native Mac Neill was the son of Provisional Government Minister of Education Eoin Mac Neill, and two of his brothers were Free State army officers.

The four were taken away from the main body of Free State troops and summarily executed
The nature of the killings proved controversial with claims that the four were taken away from the main body of Free State troops and summarily executed.

While official sources claimed that the men were retreating from an ambush site, pro-Treaty forces commander Captain Charlie McGoohan was accused of directing the killings after the men had surrendered. Ballinamore native McGoohan was a prominent member of the South Leitrim Brigade of the IRA during the War of Independence.

Documents unearthed in the Military Archives indicated that McGoohan had masqueraded as an IRA man, signalled the four men to join him and lured the men into a trap. The archive documents state that after surrendering, the four men were disarmed, identified and killed by a hail of machine gun fire.
Later that morning, two other members of Pilkington’s forces, Harry Benson and Tom Langan, were also intercepted by Mc Eoin’s forces. The bodies of both men were found eleven days later at the bottom of a ravine. Benson’s body contained bullet wounds to the head and shins, while Langan’s body had seven bullet wounds and a bayonet wound.

The funerals of the men attracted large crowds across Sligo. As their remains proceeded through Sligo town, Free State soldiers saluted the remains of their former comrades. The body of Brian MacNeill was taken to Dublin for a private family funeral and his remains were carried to his graveside by his two Free State army officer brothers. Across Sligo and Leitrim, votes of sympathy were passed by a host of local organizations to the family of Seamus Devins, a TD for Sligo-Leitrim and county councillor, and his comrades.

Unfortunately, the controversial killings on the slopes of Benbulben were only a sign of things to come in the course of the civil war across Ireland.
Executions and extra-judicial killings continued with both sides in the conflict conducting appalling acts of terror and brutality against former comrades. Although compared to civil wars in Europe in the early twentieth century, the fatalities at over one thousand dead in Ireland’s civil war, were low, the conflict itself would leave a lasting imprint on the Irish political landscape for many years to come.

Dr Padraig McGarty is author of Leitrim, The Irish Revolution: 1912-23 published by Four Courts Press. As part of the Decade of Centenaries series of events, Dr McGarty will deliver a series of lectures on the civil war in Leitrim in Glenfarne on 7 October, Kiltyclogher and Manorhamilton on 8 October, Aughavas on 14 October, and Ballinamore and Drumshanbo on 15 October. Further details are available in local notes.