The Ohermong Ambush
The following song about an ambush at Ohermong during the Civil War was composed by Michael ‘Dan’ O’Shea.
On the morning of Monday 4th September 1922 a convoy of three Model T Fords left Caherciveen. There were four men in each car including drivers and officers. The overall command of the convoy was held by Captain Billy Foley with Lieutenant Jack Singleton as Second in command. The N.A (National Army) convoy travelled to Waterville with pay money, made available from by the banks in Caherciveen for the remaining Brig. Column there. The convoy was spotted passing over Ohermong Bridge by A.T (Anti-Treaty) scouts posted on duty on the high ground in Killoe and Laharn and reported it back to their command. A decision to ambush the convoy on its return journey was made and a force of approximately twenty riflemen were deployed above and below Ohermong bridge with the main attacking force deployed on the land of Mike ‘Gibber’ Keating on the south side of the road about 400 yards from the bridge on the Caherciveen side. At around 6.30pm the N.A convoy left Waterville to return to the barracks in Caherciveen. From Kenneigh all along the road to Aghatubrid, people were coming out on the roadway to warn them that an ambush was set up for them at Ohermong, and that they would be greatly outnumbered. But Captain Foley and his men would not heed the warning saying, “We never ran away from a fight and we’re going right through to Caherciveen”. The cars were ordered to spread out so as to not present themselves as a compact target. It was around 7.30pm with about half an hour of daylight left when the convoy entered the ambush area and came under fire, the bullets smashed through the hoods of the Model T’s and stalled them. There was an exchange of fire between the opposing forces which continued for more than thirty minutes. The combined casualties were two dead, two seriously wounded. Others sustained minor wounds and one prisoner was taken.
(Extracted from ‘The Ohermong Ambush’ by Michael Christopher (Dan) O’Shea.)
Source: Michael ‘Dan’ O’Shea (Private Collection)
Air: Men of the West
The September sun was setting,
Is still, save the stream’s onward rush;
Near Ohermong Bridge we’re waiting
Captain Foley three Fords to ambush
When the sound from the engines roared loudly,
The time for the battle was near;
Our orders to man our posts proudly
And the foe, bravely face, without fear.
We salute the boys of that column,
Who to Ireland, her cause, loyal and true;
And rallied to fight for her freedom.
Brave soldiers of sad Roisín Dhú.
The model T’s stalled on the roadway;
When rifles spat leads lethal hail;
The quiet of that still Autumn Monday,
Was shattered o’er Laharn’s vale.
And throughout the dale like a salvo,
Rang quick bursts from John ‘Gilpin’s’ Lewis gun;
All Coom, Lettercastle and Killoe,
Knew that hour of hell-fire had begun.
We salute the boys of that column,
The gallant, the daring, the few;
And rallied to fight for her freedom.
And whose spirit no jail could subdue.
Came a lull in the conflicts mad thunder,
Was the time of our victory at hand;
And the foe under duress surrender,
Or now should he fight a last stand?
This tempted our boys to move early,
With scant thought of the volley to come;
‘Jama’ Connell’s great wound soon proved dearly,
That the bullets they used were Dum Dum.
We salute the boys of that column,
The gallant, the daring, the few;
And rallied to fight for our freedom.
And whose spirit no jail could subdue.
The wounded were nursed by our Red Cross,
Who attended their needs with such care;
By God’s grace we suffered no grave loss,
And to him offered thanks in our prayers.
Most comrades were told at the ‘Fall in’
As by nightfall the skirmish was done;
With a volley farewell to the fallen,
We cheered that our column had won.
We salute the boys of that column,
Who to Ireland, her cause, loyal and true;
And rallied to fight for our freedom,
Brave! Soldiers of dark Twenty Two.
Michael Dan’ O’Shea
“Above verse is dedicated to the memory of all who suffered from the sad, sad ‘War of the Brothers’.”
‘Michael Dan’ O’Shea
A Bard of Iveragh.