Uncommon Valour by Paul O'Brien Read Free Book Online

McCarthy’s men. To their surprise they discovered that the post had been vacated leaving the flank of the Union exposed. The caretaker of the distillery stated that the Volunteers had vacated the position because they had no provisions and were unable to hold the building. 28 Captain McCarthy had made the fatal error of withdrawing from his position instead of reinforcing the garrison in the Union.
    Another of Ceannt’s outposts was stationed at Watkins’ Brewery at Ardee Street under the command of Con Colbert, who regarded this position as somewhat ineffective. Unable to make contact with Ceannt, Colbert sent for instructions to Major John MacBride who was stationed at Jacob’s biscuit factory on Aungier Street. The Major directed him to reinforce the Volunteer garrison at the outpost in the Marrowbone Lane Distillery. At 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening, Colbert moved his force under the cover of darkness to support those at Marrowbone Lane. With the addition of Colbert’s section, the garrison increased to over 100 Volunteers, with forty women of Cumann na mBan among its ranks. That afternoon at the Marrowbone Lane Distillery there had been a serious battle between Volunteers and British crown forces. Robert Holland and his colleagues within the distillery stopped a British attempt to storm the building. The crown forces suffered serious losses; their dead and wounded were strewn along the canal bank and the surrounds of the building.
    Throughout the afternoon, however, British sniper fire increased in intensity and accuracy and Volunteer Mick Liston received a serious wound to the head. The continuous fire from the British positions surrounding the distillery forced Holland to evacuate his firing position temporarily. Later he resumed his post and attempted to counteract the British sniper fire. On the previous day Holland had noticed what he thought was a woman leaning from a window at a nearby house, an act he thought reckless due to the gunfire in the area. Holland remarked:
    She had a hat, blouse and apron on her and I got suspicious. I told Mick Callaghan that I was going to have a shot at her. He said, ‘No.’ I said it was a queer place for a woman to be and that it was queer she should have a hat on her, as she must have seen the bullets flying around but took no notice of them. I made up my mind. She was only thirty-five or forty yards away from me and I fired at her. She sagged halfway out of the window. The hat and small little shawl fell off her and I saw what I took to be a woman was a man in shirt sleeves. 29
    Throughout Wednesday, British sniper fire continued as Volunteers Holland and a bandaged Mick Liston returned fire from their concealed positions in the distillery. Liston fired at a British soldier sitting on the branch of a tree 200 yards from his position. The figure of the British soldier jerked as he was hit – his lifeless body slumped forward and hung from the tree for the remainder of the day. The Volunteers noticed that a group of enemy soldiers had taken up firing positions behind a number of tree stumps. Having fired a volley at the distillery, one soldier left cover and was promptly shot dead by Liston. The others, numbering about a dozen, broke cover and retreated along the canal bank. The Volunteers fired rapidly into the ranks of the retreating soldiers hitting all of them. Some collapsed and others staggered back towards the bridge at Rialto.
    By 5.30 a.m. on Wednesday, British troops of the 59th North Midland Division disembarked at Kingstown harbour (Dún Laoghaire). While some of the division remained in reserve, the 178th Infantry Brigade (comprising the 2/7th and 2/8th battalions of the Sherwood Forester Regiment) under the command of Brigadier Colonel Maconchy followed the coast road through Ballsbridge towards Trinity College.
    During Easter week there were a number of Irish Volunteers who attempted to link up with their respective units. Although