Camerons Disarmed Near Midleton

(Irish War of Independence - First Cork Brigade)

At 7.30 pm. on Saturday, June 5, a fully armed patrol of the Camerons left their quarters at Midleton. Twelve men, including two lance-corporals and an RIC man, travelled via a back road towards Carrigtwohill.

Local Commanding Officer Diarmuid O'Hurley and a party of nine volunteers, only three of whom were armed, proceeded towards Carrigtwohill in the hope of encountering the patrol as they returned to their barracks. The volunteers had brought with them a couple of bowls and engaged in a ‘score’ along the road, to convey the impression that the were involved in innocent activity. About a mile from Midleton, the advance men of the party spotted the soldiers returning on their bicycles, about 400 yards from them. The order was given to the volunteers to stretch out a distance along the road. O'Hurley and Tadhg Manley fired their revolvers at the ground simultaneously, signaling the beginning of the attack. Within a few seconds eleven soldiers and the RIC man were lying on the road, having been thrown from their bicycles. Accurate timing had paid off and eleven rifles fully loaded, with bayonets, became at once the property of O'Hurley and his men.

The twelfth soldier was delayed further back having had trouble with his bicycle. Upon seeing the hold-up 200 yards ahead he dismounted and opened fire. However, his companions were quickly ordered to their feet and to put their hands up. The soldier stopped firing and took to the fields, throwing his rifle into a hedge. He succeeded in reaching his base about an hour later.

The soldiers were marched back the main road and then down a side road where they were released. A car on its way from Cork was held up and the captured guns were driven by vice-commandant Joseph Aherne to a house in Carrigtwohill. The car was later returned to its owner

O'Hurley and his men walked back to Midleton. The Camerons eventually got back to their quarters, to report. Shortly afterwards, a lorry packed with heavily armed soldiers arrived at the scene of the encounter although it was then almost dark. The residents of a cottage nearby were abused and interrogated for some time.

When the British returned to the town they began firing indiscriminately, taking prisoner everybody they met. Some of these people were brutally interrogated at the military quarters. The police, upon hearing the firing in their barracks a hundred yards from the military base, opened fire also, convinced that they were being attacked. The firing lasted for almost an hour.

Among those who participated in the Mile Bush ambush were Jeremiah Aherne, the brothers Michael and David Desmond and Michael Hallahan, who were victims of the massacre at Clonmult, on February 20, 1921. Commandant Diarmuid O'Hurley, was shot dead in May, 1921 attempting to escape from British forces.

Almost a fortnight after the ambush, Tadhg Manley, was arrested and sentenced by military court. He served a long term of penal servitude and was subjected to severe treatment for his refusal to wear convicts' uniform.