100th Anniversary: Shooting of Drumboe Martyrs marked this morning

Several hardy souls braved the frost and ice this morning to mark the exact time of the execution of the Drumboe Martyrs 100 years ago today, (Tuesday).

On this date, March 14, back in 1923, just six weeks before the end of the Civil War, four Anti-Treaty Republicans were executed by a Free State firing squad at Drumboe, Stranorlar.

They were: Charles Daly (26), Knockane, Firies Co Kerry; Daniel Enwright (23), Patrick Street, Listowel, Co Kerry; Timothy O'Sullivan (23), Patrick Street, Listowel, Co Kerry and Sean (Jack) Larkin (26), Ballagherty, Magherfelt, Co Derry.

This morning's 7am event was attended by two relatives of the late Charlie Daly namely Con Daly  and Kieran Daly. They were accompanied by two locals, Cathal McCloskey and Brian Anderson. It was a solemn affair without fanfare or fuss, no bands, paramilitary trappings or triumphalism just a homage to the occasion and the history attached to it.

Civil War

The Civil War, a period, that can be described as probably one of the saddest and most tragic chapters of Irish history, witnessed many unnecessary deaths.

The irony of this period was that this time the war was against former comrades who were now for or against partition.

Some of these men had fought shoulder to shoulder through years of struggle against a common enemy, the British Army or the Black and Tans, who were now pitched in battle against each other in a war that divided families and friends in succeeding generations.

The story goes how on the night of November 2, 1922, following a tip-off from an informer, Free State forces from Falcarragh surrounded two houses belonging to John and Frank Sharkey at Mennabul, Dunlewey, not far from Errigal mountain.

The Drumboe Martyrs (l-r): Charlie Daly, Sean (Jack) Larkin, Daniel Enright and Tim O'Sullivan

There they found Daly, Enright, O'Sullivan and Larkin along with six others. The men were arrested before being taken to Drumboe Castle, where they were held for five months. On January 18, 1923, they received their sentence from a Military Court. The four young men were sentenced to death by firing squad.

They were marched from their cell at Drumboe Castle to an improvised firing range about 300 yards up a gently sloping field beside the woods at Drumboe.

You can see the spot today thanks to the erection of a limestone Celtic high cross-style monument back in 1955.

It was at this spot that the four men were executed by a Free State firing squad and their bodies were thrown into a ready-made grave.

When their bodies were eventually removed from Drumboe in the dead of night and without telling their relatives in August 1924 their grave was never filled in and is possibly the only grave of its kind in Ireland or perhaps even in the world.

They were taken to Athlone's Custom Barracks for re-interment. The Free State Army refused to officially confirm or deny the removal of any bodies until several weeks later when letters were sent to relatives of men executed during the Civil War.

The bodies of the Drumboe martyrs were eventually released on October 28, 1924, and received by family and relatives before being reinterred for a third time in their final resting places in their home counties of Derry and Kerry.

In all, approximately 4,000 lives were lost in the Civil War between June 1922 and May 1923. Officially, there were 77 executions carried out by former comrades at various sites around the country, between 17 May 1922 and May 2, 1923, and Drumboe was one such event.

The monument in Drumboe now serves as a solemn historic artefact commemorating this horrific event during the tragedy that was the Irish Civil War, and it is an addition to the built heritage and social history of the local area.

A second monument was erected on Main Street, Stranorlar. It was unveiled by Miss Treasa McGeehin from Fintown in August 1958.

The martyrs are also remembered in many songs and poems dedicated to them including The Green Woods of Drumboe by Mountcharles man, Eamonn Monaghan and Drumboe Martyrs by Michael McGinley.

Events

Over the past two weeks, commemorative events organised by Donegal County Council and the Drumboe Commemoration Committee have also taken place.

On Saturday last a Spring School entitled: The Woods of Drumboe, The Past, the Present, and What is to Come was held in the Villa Rose Hotel, Ballybofey to remember and commemorate the four men and the Civil War while on Sunday a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the site in Dunlewey where the four men were captured. A small parade to the execution site at Drumboe was also held.

A torchlight procession to the site is also due to take place tonight between Stranorlar and Drumboe while the annual Easter commemoration event will also be held in Stranorlar on April 9.

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