Selton Hill ambush

The Selton Hill Ambush was an incident during the Irish War of Independence, which occurred on March 11, 1921.

An Irish Republican Army flying column was ambushed by members of the Auxiliary Division of the RIC, at Selton Hill, near Mohill, County Leitrim. Six IRA officers of the Leitrim Brigade (including Sean Connolly from Longford, Seamus Wrynne V/C; Joseph O Beirne (or Beirne); John Reilly; Joseph Reilly and Capt M. E. Baxter ), were killed [They Put the Flag a-Flyin The Roscommon Volunteers 1916-1923 by Kathleen Hegarty Thorne www.generationpublishing.com] . The Auxiliaries were based in the town of Mohill.

Ernie O'Malley states that "Men from Bedfordshire Regiment were seen by a badly wounded IRA officer, who survived, to use rifle butts on the skulls of two wounded men." He also says that the location of the column was given to the local D/I of the RIC by a doctor who had been in the British Army. The doctor had been given the information by an Orangeman. The Orangeman was later killed by the IRA but the doctor escaped to England. Leavy says six were killed and that they were betrayed by two of their compatriots. He does say that that one was promptly executed by the IRA and that the other escaped to England but died later in an accident [Sean Connolly of Longford (1890-1921) by Ernie O'Malley / Cormac K.H. O'Malley UCD Press] .

References

ee also

*Chronology of the Irish War of Independence

External links

* [http://www.leitrimcoco.ie/Departments/Library/ Leitrim County Library]