Where Mountainy Men Have Sown

by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin

Where Mountainy Men have Sown gives a first-hand account of the fight for freedom in West Cork from 1916–21. It chronicles the social and military aspects of the War of Independence and describes the IRA's activities in the area, from Macroom to as far west as Ballingeary and Coolea, and covering Inchigeelagh to Ballyvourney and the Derrynasaggart Mountains. Micheál Ó Súilleabháin joined the armed struggle for freedom in his local area of Kilnamartyra at the age of thirteen and describes attacks on armed police patrols, barracks and a large-scale engagement against the elite of Britain's specially recruited fighting forces in Ireland – the infamous Auxiliaries – all ex-commissioned officers and decorated veterans of the First World War. This is a personal record of ambushes, etc., carried out by young Volunteers, who did not wait to be confronted, but went on the attack against better armed and trained men, and emerged victorious.

186 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1965

Reviews

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a clear, readable, and interesting firsthand account of one local man's experience fighting in the Irish war for independence. Considering that he was 13 at the start of the book, our man Ó Súilleabháin was kept out of some of the worst of the fighting, but he has deep local knowledge of the territory and that really shows in his terrain descriptions of the battle. There were lots of unusual elements here -- the use of bicycles as combat vehicles was pretty eyebrow-raising for me. I see the advantages -- they're quiet, they're faster than anyone on foot, and you can pick it up and run away over fences and the like with it, which is advantageous in Cork. But it's a daunting thing to consider (soooo, cyclocross, but you get shot if you're too slow?), and indeed, Ó Súilleabháin's account contains several admiring comments about the physical fitness of the Auxiliaries that they had to leg it away from. I was impressed with the kindness and courtesy that some members of both armies managed to show to the other -- there were horrors aplenty in that era, and many senseless murders of noncombatants, but I appreciated Ó Súilleabháin's focus on the acts of kindness and mercy committed across the lines, and his honoring of the character of people who behaved well despite being the enemy. (I also appreciated his inclusion of moments of humor and fellowship in the midst of guerilla warfare, as well as all the poetry.) Overall, far less grim than I had been expecting, and a humanizing account of a difficult period in history.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a disappointing read. I gave it three stars because I'm immensely interested in the subject matter -- the 1919-21 Irish War of Independence, primarily -- but for anyone who doesn't start with that level of interest, it'd probably rate lower.

WMMHS (odd title, BTW) is a personal account of the author's involvement with the Irish Volunteers and Irish Republican Army prior to and during the Irish War of Independence. It's possible to write a great book about this subject -- see below -- but this isn't it, either because the author's particular involvement wasn't particularly thrilling, and/or because he wasn't a particularly great writer. I tend to think both things are true.

Many of Ó Súilleabháin's stories portray, presumably accurately, a patriotic but very poorly trained and equipped group of mostly young men who TRY to take on the British, but more often than not fail to find them, or let them get away. It's hard to blame them, given their youth and inexperience, but "another one that got away" just doesn't make for a compelling read. Sometimes there's even a Keystone Cops aura surrounding the boys; it's commendable that he portrayed these events honestly, but honesty isn't necessarily the best approach for writing a book worth reading -- unless you're a researcher, in which case this could be a valuable resource and reference book.

The author, who probably never imagined people far beyond his region reading his book almost a century after he wrote it, also provides far too many details of no consequence, leading to infuriating sentences like this:

"At Cathair Cross they left the road and, taking the bicycles on their shoulders, crossed over Carraig na Dabhaire, down through Gurteen Owen wood, up Coom Dorcha, down Doire na Buairce, out on the road at Scrahán Mór, near Muing na Biorraí, where Smith was buried [note: this is the first mention of "Smith" in the book] after Cath Céimaneigh. Down Túirín Lahárd, across the river at Túirín Dubh, and out on the road to Céimaneigh. Along the road to Céimaneigh for a short distance, then up the steep boreen to Richie Walsh's."

Aaaaaghh! Bottom line: skip this book unless you're either a local or a serious student of "War and Peace in Rebel Cork in the Turbulent Years 1916-21," and read Tom Barry's great "Guerrilla Days in Ireland" instead!