The Irish Civil War lasted only ten months, but it had lasting effects. The war split friends, even families apart. My grandfather recounted a story about his father, my great-grandfather:
“My father was stretched out on the couch, tired after a long day of work. My mother told me to go wake him up for supper. As I shook him awake, my mother remembered, just in time, his reflex and pulled me out of the way as his fist went flying up in the air where my face would’ve been. During the Civil War, my father had been harboring a cousin and was shaken awake by another cousin with a gun in his face. The cousin with the gun wanted to kill the cousin that was hiding. From then on, if he was suddenly woken up, he would automatically punch whoever it was.”
So many women were jailed during the war, another prison had to be made. No women died in jail, but many died after being released because of diseases they caught while there. One famous case was Harriette E. Lavery, who died from anthrax, which she got from contaminated straw in the North Dublin Union prison.
Many female leaders remained alive and able to fight because the Irish Free State and the British would not execute women. It should be noted that no women were consulted on the ceasefire.
“My father was stretched out on the couch, tired after a long day of work. My mother told me to go wake him up for supper. As I shook him awake, my mother remembered, just in time, his reflex and pulled me out of the way as his fist went flying up in the air where my face would’ve been. During the Civil War, my father had been harboring a cousin and was shaken awake by another cousin with a gun in his face. The cousin with the gun wanted to kill the cousin that was hiding. From then on, if he was suddenly woken up, he would automatically punch whoever it was.”
So many women were jailed during the war, another prison had to be made. No women died in jail, but many died after being released because of diseases they caught while there. One famous case was Harriette E. Lavery, who died from anthrax, which she got from contaminated straw in the North Dublin Union prison.
Many female leaders remained alive and able to fight because the Irish Free State and the British would not execute women. It should be noted that no women were consulted on the ceasefire.