The private papers of a brigadier in the War of Independence which were donated to Donegal County Archives, have been digitised and made available to view free of charge on Donegal County Council's website.
In 2010, Patrick Murray donated the papers of his late father Joseph Murray, to the Donegal Archive and since then, using funding from the Creative Ireland programme, the entire collection has been digitised.
County Archivist Niamh Brennan said it is an important collection which includes original documents of national significance that disclose the high level of IRA activity in south Donegal during the War of Independence and the at the beginning of the Civil War.
Among the papers are army letters, manuals, telegrams and reports on activities from the Fourth Brigade as well as more personal items including accounts of his life and his interests.
Joseph Murray was born in Monaghan in 1893 and moved to Bundoran in Co Donegal in 1916 to teach in the local national school.
Between 1917 and 1922 he played a prominent part in the War of Independence, becoming Brigadier in command of the Fourth Brigade, South East Donegal, First Northern Division.
He later became a Garda Superintendent and had life-long interests in the GAA and Gaelic League.
The greatest level of IRA activity in south Donegal during the War of Independence occurred during mid-1920 to mid-1921.
Joseph Murray was involved in various raids and attacks on the Royal Irish Constabulary and British forces, including a raid on the Customs office in Ballyshannon on 30 May 1920.
Ms Brennan said the richest collection of material dates from the Truce of July 1921 to the outbreak of the Civil War.
It includes correspondence between Colonel Wickham and Eoin O'Duffy, both in Belfast, relating to the theft of a typewriter from Ballintra railway station goods store - a breach of the Truce - and other letters relating to a threatening letter and the dismantling of the Donegal Vindicator’s printing press .
Several documents also refer to events in 1922 in Belleek and Pettigo when battles took place between the IRA and B-Specials resulting in the deaths of four members of the IRA and several B-Specials.
Ms Brennan said other notable documents include memoranda from Seán MacCumhaill (McCool) to Murray as Vice Brigadier, summoning him to council meetings.
Also included in the collection are a number of newspaper accounts of key events during the Civil War, including the deaths of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith and the first anniversary of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
There are also several letters and newspaper cuttings of tributes to Joseph Murray, on leaving particular Garda posts, on retirement and on his death.
His War of Independence Service Medal is part of the collection and one letter written in 1939 on his departure refers to the "impartiality, unparalleled consideration, fairness and genuineness with which you always met us as an officer and a comrade…as a deep and heartfelt regret at your departure from our charge" .
Another letter praises him for his "genius" in developing the Local Defence Force (LDF) during the Emergency years while he was stationed in Killaloe .
Joseph Murray died in January 1975, aged 82, and is buried in Ballyshannon.
