Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 - Rebellion

Rebellion

From the 23rd to the 29th of July 1848, O'Brien, Meagher and Dillon raised the standard of revolt as they travelled from County Wexford through County Kilkenny and into County Tipperary. The last great gathering of Young Ireland leaders took place in the village of The Commons on July 28. The next day, O'Brien was in The Commons where barricades had been erected, near the Commons colliery, to prevent his arrest. His local supporters—miners, tradesmen and small tenant farmers—awaited the arrival of the military and police. As the police from Callan approached the crossroads before The Commons from Ballingarry, they saw barricades in front of them and, thinking discretion the better part of valour, they veered right up the road toward County Kilkenny. The rebels followed them across the fields. Sub-Inspector Trant and his 46 policemen took refuge in a large two-storey farmhouse, taking the five young children in the house as hostages. They barricaded themselves in, pointing their guns from the windows. The house was surrounded by the rebels and a stand-off ensued. Mrs. Margaret McCormack, the owner of the house and mother of the children, demanded to be let into her house, but the police refused and would not release the children. Mrs. McCormack found O'Brien reconnoitring the house from the out-buildings, and asked him what was to become of her children and her house.

O'Brien and Mrs. McCormack went up to the parlour window of the house to speak to the police. Through the window, O'Brien stated, "We are all Irishmen—give up your guns and you are free to go." O'Brien shook hands with some of the police through the window. The initial report to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland stated that a constable fired the first shot at O'Brien, who was attempting to negotiate. General firing then ensued between the police and the rebels. O'Brien had to be dragged out of the line of fire by James Stephens and Terence Bellew MacManus, both of whom were wounded.

The rebels were incensed that they had been fired upon without provocation, and the shooting went on for a number of hours. During the initial exchange of fire, the rebels at the front of the house—men, women and children—crouched beneath the wall. So great was the pressure of the crowd that one man, Thomas Walsh, was forced to cross from one side of the front gate to the other. As he crossed between the gate piers he was shot dead by the police. During lulls in the shooting, the rebels retreated out of the range of fire. Another man, Patrick McBride, who had been standing at the gable-end of the house when the firing began—and was quite safe where he was—found that his companions had retreated. Jumping up on the wall to run and join them, he was fatally wounded by the police.

It was evident to the rebels that the position of the police was almost impregnable, and a Catholic clergyman of the parish, Rev. Philip Fitzgerald, endeavoured to mediate in the interests of peace. When a party of the Cashel police under Sub-Inspector Cox were seen arriving over Boulea Hill, the rebels attempted to stop them even though they were low on ammunition, but the police continued to advance, firing up the road. It became clear that the police in the house were about to be reinforced and rescued. The rebels then faded away, effectively terminating both the era of Young Ireland and Repeal, but the consequences of their actions would follow them for many years.