Captain Sean Heuston - Sean Heuston was born in Dublin in 1891, moving to Limerick as a railway clerk he became an Officer in Na Fianna Eireann, it was he who made it possible for the poorer members among the Fian to get their uniforms by implementing a weekly pay in for it to ensure his Fianna boys could all be equal. In 1913 Sean joined the Irish Volunteers, it is believed he was already a member of Irish Republican Brotherhood at this time. On Easter Monday 1916 Heuston reported for duty, he was given direct orders from Cmdt-General Connolly to take the Medincity Institute and hold it for as long as possible, 4 hours if you can was Connollys orders. His garrison of 26 men was soon attacked by 400 British Imperial Troops, so 4 hours would have seemed a great achievement. Heuston and his men held that Institute under fierce and intense fire for 2 full days, after the two days Heuston sent 2 men with a dispatch to Connolly informing him of their position (Connolly had assumed the position would have fallen long ago already). Captain Sean Heuston at this point surrounded and running low on ammunition to avoid the slaughter of his men surrendered to the Imperial forces. The British seeing how few had held their much numerically superior forces for 2 days mistreated and beat the garrison, Captain Heuston was transfered to Arbour Hill barracks and later Richmond Barracks where he faced court martial on May 4th. Sean Heuston was sentenced to death and shot on May 8th 1916.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 10:17:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015