Convoy visited Skibbereen, Rosscarbery, Clonakilty and Bandon in the hours before fateful ambush.

NEWSPAPERS are the first draft of history, it’s often said. And after the death of Michael Collins, The Southern Star played its part in recording this far-reaching event.

This weekend marks the 104th anniversary of the ambush at Béal na Bláth, which will be commemorated on Sunday.

Some details of the events on August 22nd 1922 remain shrouded in mystery, like the identity of those behind the killing of the most famous Irishman of his time.

Known fact is that two months into the Civil War, on August 20th, General Michael Collins left Dublin to visit National Army forces in the South. Less than a year earlier, he was in London as part of the delegation that signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, ending the War of Independence and paving the way for an Irish Free State and partition. On his tour, Michael Collins and his convoy visited South Cork army posts and stopped in Skibbereen for lunch at the Eldon Hotel, where crowds lined Bridge Street to see the Big Fella. The convoy also passed through Rosscarbery and Clonakilty. With bridges destroyed and roads blocked, there was no direct route back to Cork. Hours before his death, Collins and his men stopped in Bandon where the last known photo of him was taken outside Lees Hotel, now the Munster Arms. At around 8pm the convoy passed Béal na Bláth where the ambush happened.

The people are splendid

On August 26th 1922, The Southern Star carried a full-page on the death of Michael Collins. The main news article described the moments after Michael Collins got hit in the head by a ricochet bullet.

‘From the very first it was obvious that the wound was fatal. But the Commander-in-Chief, though mortally wounded, still fired away from the ground, encouraging his men by his magnificent bravery. In a feeble voice, he asked for Major General Dalton, and his officer and General Sean O’Connell went to the dying hero. Broken-hearted, they whispered a few prayers, reciting the Act of Contrition, before General Collins breathed his last.’

The article went on to say that the last words of Michael Collins were ‘Forgive them’. His body was taken to Cork’s Shanakiel Hospital in an armoured car. A notebook was later found in Collins’ coat, a working record of the last days of his life. Eventually, in 1993, it found its way to the Collins Barracks Museum in Cork, where it is now on display. The last two sentences he wrote were: ‘Civil Administration urgent everywhere in the South. The people are splendid.’

Marianne’s Journal

On the day of the ambush, Marianne McCarthy Slyne, who was a second cousin of Marianne O’Brien, mother of Michael Collins, made a note in her journal at her home near Clonakilty.

Shortly after Collins’ death, members of the anti-Treaty IRA came into Marianne’s kitchen and demanded a horse from the stable. An argument broke out and one of the IRA men fired a warning shot into the ceiling.
Marianne’s daughter Elizabeth was upstairs in bed when the bullet came through the ceiling. She was lucky and did not get hit. But the Civil War experience left Marianne shocked and traumatised. The day she wrote about the death of Michael Collins was the last time she wrote in her journal.

Curtain pulled

‘She never spoke about it,’ said Tim Crowley, of Michael Collins Centre Museum, about his grandmother Elizabeth. ‘That’s how that generation dealt with the divisions, the split in families and the pain of civil war. There was a curtain pulled across much of it.’

He added: ‘We have to thank Michael Collins, the other leaders and that whole generation for their work and sacrifices.’
Tim wasn’t too happy with depictions of the events at Béal na Bláth, so in 2013 he and his wife Dolores commissioned artist Cathy Twomey to paint a new version. The large painting is now part of the collection at the Castleview museum.
To mark the centenary of his death in 2022, Skibbereen & District Historical Society dedicated a plaque outside the Eldon Hotel to Michael Collins. The society’s chairperson John O’Neill points out the Big Fella’s vital role in the defeat of the occupying British forces after centuries of failure.

‘The vast majority of the population approved of the tactics and gave the Volunteers their full support,’ he said. ‘The Anglo-Irish Treaty he signed, in his own words ‘gave us not the ultimate freedom but the freedom to achieve it’.’

Namesake TD on the revolutionary who inspires him

DEPUTY Michael Collins  has said General Michael Collins is an inspiration and ‘his power and determination is something we all should aspire to’.

The co-founder of Independent Ireland spoke about his admiration for the revolutionary leader and former commander-in-chief of the National Army ahead of the commemoration at Béal na Bláth this Sunday. He will be attending alongside many other politicians and dignitaries.

In an interview with this newspaper in February Deputy Collins (58) revealed that his home was filled with memorabilia, with framed pictures of his historical namesake in most rooms.

The Bantry-born politician also has an image of General Collins on the wall of his Skibbereen constituency office, along with a framed copy of a memorial card handed out following his death in 1922.

He said: ‘I look back at his legacy as a leader who knew when to fight when he had to but still have the vision of peace when Ireland needed to build itself for a brighter future, a peace he eventually gave his life for.’

Deputy Collins said that on many occasions throughout his life he’s been asked if he had any family connections with Michael Collins.

‘Sadly I don’t, but I have such admiration for General Michael Collins I named my son after him also,’ he added.

The leader of Ireland’s youngest political party was born 46 years after Michael Collins lost his life during the ambush close to Bandon. Both grew up in the West Cork countryside and were involved in farming from an early age.

Apart from sharing the same name and leaving school at ages 15 and 13 respectively, the only other similarity in their biographies is that both men ran election campaigns and have served as TDs: The Big Fella was a Sinn Féin TD for Cork South in the first, second and third Dáil from 1919 until 1921. The current-day Michael Collins was first elected as an Independent TD representing Cork South West in 2016.   

‘General Michael Collins leaves a legacy that will be around long after we are gone. His power and determination is something we all should aspire to.

‘His short life on this earth has had an unbelievable effect on all of us in this country,’ he said.