Seán Mac Eoin

He was born John Joseph McKeon on 30 September 1893 at Bunlahy, Granard, County Longford, the eldest son of Andrew McKeon and Katherine Treacy.[4] After a national school education, he trained as a blacksmith at his father's forge and, on his father's death in February 1913, he took over the running of the forge and the maintenance of the McKeon family. He moved to Kilinshley in the Ballinalee district of County Longford to set up a new forge.

He had joined the United Irish League in 1908. Mac Eoin's Irish nationalist activities began in earnest in 1913, when he joined the Clonbroney Company of the Irish Volunteers. Late that year he was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood and joined the Granard circle of the organization.[5]

MacEoin was a member of the Knights of Saint Columbanus.[6]

Seán Mac Eoin's work site in Ballinalee, Ireland

He came to prominence in the War of Independence as leader of an Irish Republican Army (IRA) 'flying column'. In November 1920, he led the Longford brigade in attacking Crown forces in Granard during one of the periodic government reprisals, forcing them to retreat to their barracks. On 31 October, Inspector Philip St John Howlett Kelleher of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) was shot dead in Kiernan's Greville Arms Hotel in Granard. Members of the British Auxiliary Division set fire to parts of the town. The next day, Mac Eoin held the village of Ballinalee situated on the Longford Road between Longford and Granard. They stood against superior British forces, forcing them to retreat and abandon their ammunition. In a separate attack on 8 November, Mac Eoin led his men against the RIC at Ballinalee. An eighteen-year-old Constable Taylor was killed. Constable E Shateford and two others were wounded.[7] The story was that the small garrison sang "God Save the King" as they took up positions to return fire.

On the afternoon of 7 January 1921, a joint Royal Irish Constabulary and British Army patrol consisting of ten policemen led by an Inspector, with a security detachment of nine soldiers, appeared on Anne Martin's street. Mac Eoin's own testimony at his trial (which was not contested by any parties present) states that:

"I was at the table writing when I was informed of the advance of the party. My account books were left in this house for safety. I was in partial uniform, wearing Sam Browne belt and revolver with two Mills No. 4 bombs in my pocket. Owing to some females being in the house, I had to get out as I could not endanger them by putting up a defence in the house, and as this Officer and Police Force had already signified to my sister and mother their intention to shoot me on sight, I decided to give them a run for their money. I stepped out on the street, about three paces directly in front of the oncoming force, and opened fire with my revolver. The leading file fell, and then the second file in the gateway brought their rifles to the ready. I then threw a bomb, and jumped back behind the porch to let it burst. When it had burst and the smoke had lifted, I saw that the whole force had cleared away, save the officer who was dead or dying on the street."[8]

The casualties from this incident were District Inspector Thomas McGrath killed, and a police constable wounded.[9]

Seán Mac Eoin and Alice Cooney on their wedding day, 21 June 1922.

On 2 February 1921, the Longford IRA ambushed a force of the Auxiliaries on the road at Clonfin, using a mine it had planted. Two lorries were involved, the first blown up, and the second strafed by rapid rifle fire. District Inspector Lt-Cmdr Worthington Craven was hit by two bullets and killed.[10] District Inspector Taylor was shot in the chest and stomach. Four auxiliaries and a driver were killed and eight wounded. The IRA volunteers captured 18 rifles, 20 revolvers and a Lewis gun. At the Clonfin Ambush, Mac Eoin ordered his men to care for the wounded British, at the expense of captured weaponry.[11] This earned him both praise and criticism, but became a big propaganda boost for the war effort, especially in the United States.[12] He was admired by many within the IRA for leading practically the only effective column in the midlands. In July 1920, he was among the majority of commanders who were prepared to sign the Agreement recognizing the Volunteers as the Army of the Republic. The Oath of Allegiance was "for the purpose of ratifying under the Agreement under which the Volunteers came under the control of the Dail".[13]

On 5 February 1921, The Anglo-Celt ran an article claiming the discovery of the body of William Chalmers, a local Protestant farmer. Mr Elliott was also a farmer, whose body was found on 30 January, lying face down in a bog.[14]

Mac Eoin was captured at Mullingar railway station in March 1921, imprisoned and sentenced to death for the murder of an RIC District Inspector McGrath in the shooting at Anne Martin's street in January 1921.[9]

Mac Eoin's family forge was near Currygrane, County Longford, the family home of Henry Wilson, the British CIGS. In June 1921, Wilson was petitioned for clemency by MacEoin's mother (who referred to her son as "John" in her letter), by his own brother Jemmy, and by the local Church of Ireland vicar, and passed on the appeals out of respect for the latter two individuals. Three auxiliaries had already given character references on his behalf after he had treated them chivalrously at the Clonfin Ambush in February 1921. However, Nevil Macready, British Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, confirmed the death sentence; he described Mac Eoin as "nothing more than a murderer", and wrote that he was probably responsible for other "atrocities", but also later recorded in his memoirs that Mac Eoin was the only IRA man he had met, apart from Michael Collins, to have a sense of humour.[15] His second-in-command was from North Roscommon. Sean Connolly had a colourful career as head of Leitrim brigade.

Mac Eoin wrote the following letter to his friend (and classmate at Moyne Latin School) Father Jim Sheridan, a combatant in the Old IRA and a 'flying column' member, who had been ordained and sent to Milwaukee to study theology:

Dear Jim, Last week I was tried, convicted and sentenced to die three weeks from today. My poor mother was here yesterday to request that my body be turned over to her for Christian burial. They refused and told her that my body would be buried in quicklime in the prison yard. If you write immediately, I will receive your letter before I died. Farewell, Jim. Pray for my soul.

According to Oliver St. John Gogarty, Charles Bewley wrote Mac Eoin's death-sentence speech. Michael Collins organised a rescue attempt. Six IRA Volunteers, led by Paddy O'Daly and Emmet Dalton, captured a British armoured car and, wearing British Army uniforms, gained access to Mountjoy Prison. However, Mac Eoin was not in the part of the jail they believed, and after some shooting, the party retreated.[16]

Within days, Mac Eoin was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1921 general election, as a TD for Longford–Westmeath.[17]

He was eventually released from prison — along with all other members of the Dáil, after Collins threatened to break off treaty negotiations with the British government unless he were freed. It was rumoured that Sean Mac Eoin was to be the best man at Collins' wedding.[16]

In the debate on the Anglo-Irish Treaty, Mac Eoin seconded Arthur Griffith's motion that it should be accepted.[1]

Mac Eoin joined the National Army and was appointed GOC Western Command in June 1922. During the Civil War he pacified the west of Ireland for the new Free State, marching overland to Castlebar and linking up with a seaborne expedition that landed at Westport, County Mayo. His military career soared thereafter: he was appointed GOC Curragh Training Camp in August 1925, Quartermaster General in March 1927, and Chief of Staff in February 1929.

Seán Mac Eoin's burial site in Ballinalee, Ireland

He resigned from the Army in 1929, and was elected at a by-election to Dáil Éireann for the Leitrim–Sligo constituency, representing Cumann na nGaedheal. At the 1932 general election, he returned to the constituency of Longford–Westmeath, and—with the merging of Cumann na nGaedheal into Fine Gael—continued to serve the Longford area as TD in either Longford–Westmeath (1932–37, 1948–65) or Athlone–Longford (1937–48) until he was defeated at the 1965 general election.

During a long political career he served as Minister for Justice (February 1948 – March 1951) and Minister for Defence (March–June 1951) in the First Inter-Party Government, and again as Minister for Defence (June 1954 – March 1957) in the Second Inter-Party Government.

He unsuccessfully stood twice as candidate for the office of President of Ireland, against Seán T. O'Kelly in 1945, and Éamon de Valera in 1959.

The attempt at freeing him from jail is referenced in the Jack Higgins novel The Eagle Has Landed.[18]

Mac Eoin retired from public life after the 1965 general election, and died on 7 July 1973. He married Alice Cooney on 21 June 1922, at a ceremony attended by Griffith and Collins; she died on 16 February 1985. They had no children.[4]

British Army intelligence file for John J McKeon

On 16 June 2013, during the 'General Sean MacEoin Commemoration Weekend', a statue of Mac Eoin was unveiled in his home town of Ballinalee; on the same day a plaque was unveiled in Bunlahy, his birthplace. Both the statue and the plaque were unveiled by Enda Kenny, the then Taoiseach, who laid a wreath at the statue.[19][20]

The forge that he worked in is still standing and is known as 'Mac Eoin forge'.[21]

• 'The Seán Mac Eoin Story' by Padraic O'Farrell (1981)
• 'Blacksmith of Ballinalee: Sean Mac Eoin' by Padraic O'Farrell (1993)
• Witness Statement of Seán Mac Eoin submitted to the Bureau of Military History in 1955

• Jeffery, Keith (2006). Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: A Political Soldier. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820358-2.
• Lawlor, Pearse, 1920-1922: The Outrages (Cork 2011)
• MacEoin, Uinseann (ed.), Survivors (Dublin 1980)
• O'Farrel, Padraic, The Seán Mac Eoin Story (Mercier Press, Cork 1981)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sean MacEoin.

• 40 minute interview with Mac Eoin
• Audio recording of Mac Eoin
• Mini-documentary about the capture of Mac Eoin in Mullingar, March 1921
• Biography of Mac Eoin at seanmaceoin.ie
• Seán Mac Eoin papers
• "MacEoin, Major-Gen. Sean" . Thom's Irish Who's Who . Dublin: Alexander Thom and Son Ltd. 1923. p. 150  – via Wikisource.