"Saturday morning we were struck by quietness"
By Saturday British forces had succeeded in isolating the Rebels positions. An eerie silence fell over the city and although the situation was still quite dangerous, people began to emerge onto the city streets. The Headquarters Battalion were located in a number of tenement houses. That afternoon, realising there would be further casualties among the civilian population the Headquarters staff made the decision to surrender unconditionally.
Liam O Briain, a member of the Irish Volunteers, fought with the Citizen Army under Michael Mallin. He describes how the atmosphere changed completely that morning, there was very little action and to his surprise he saw civilians walking by Stephen's Green, having a look at what was happening.
We fired a few shots over their heads and they skidaddled.
Michael Hayes, 3rd Battalion recalls that from the tower in Jacob's Biscuit Factory they could see the fires raging in O'Connell Street. However they were completely cut off from the other garrisons and Thomas MacDonagh, Commandant of the Jacob's garrison believed that a truce was being negotiated.
Captain Simon Donnelly remembers that in Boland's the men prepared the building against possible attack from the British, but nothing happened.
Nora Connolly describes how she and her sister finally got to the outskirts of Dublin city and her horror at seeing a platoon of British soldiers. She realised then they were defeated.
Roddy Connolly had left the GPO earlier in the week. Roddy recalls how he had gone to the house of William O'Brien, a comrade of his father's but the two were arrested a short time after the surrender and taken prisoner to the Custom House.
Piaras Béaslaí, 1st Battalion had guarded a barricade on Church Street the previous night and could hear the battle going on between the Volunteers in Reilly's Fort and the British forces in North King Street. Béaslaí remembers the silence that morning,
After days and nights of constant firing the silence was quite strange to us.
He recalls Commandant Edward Daly's reaction when he heard the news that they had to surrender.
Volunteer John O'Connor, also 1st Battalion and his men finally left their position in Jameson's and made their way to the Fr Mathew Hall which had been evacuated. They got to a barricade and continued to attack the military until they got word to get to the Four Courts. Edward Daly insisted they go there as they would be safer as a unit rather than isolated groups if they were arrested.
There was never a more perfect gentleman that I have met than Ned Daly.
Jim Ryan recalls the last few hours in Moore Street waiting after Pearse had surrendered to General Lowe and describes the order in which they had to surrender.
We were lined up in Moore Street and brought around the the Gresham Hotel and the surrender was taken there.
Peter Carpenter, Citizen Army describes the surrender and how they were kept overnight, out in the open at the Rotunda Hospital.
Volunteer Desmond Ryan recalls seeing his comrades from the other garrisons arriving at the Rotunda as the day wore on.
| Title: | The Week of the Rising : Saturday |
| Clip Duration: | 00.29.14 |
| Material Type: | Audio |
| Clip Title: | "Saturday Morning We Were Struck By Quietness" |
| Series Title: | The Week of the Rising |
| Information: | Using interviews with many men and women who had participated in the Easter Rising, the radio series 'The Week of the Rising' chronicled the events of that week in April 1916. It was one of many programmes produced to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising. The series was broadcast over eight consecutive nights, each episode being a day by day account of the events beginning with Easter Sunday and Eoin MacNeill's countermanding order right through to the surrender on Sunday 30 April. As presenter Proinsias Mac Aonghusa the series "Is not a definitive history of the Rising. We make no judgements, we do not claim to tell the full story. We present for a new generation the story of what happened as the men and women made history that Easter Week describe it themselves." The interviews of at least twenty-five veterans were used in the production of this series including Nora Connolly, Simon Donnelly, Paddy Buttner, Emily Hanratty, Michael Hayes, Cormac Turner, John O'Connor and Margaret Skinnider to name a few. 'The Week of the Rising' was presented by Proinsias Mac Aonghusa and was broadcast from 10 April until 17 April 1966. |
| Local Keywords: | 1916, 1916 Rising, Easter, Easter 1916, Liam O Briain, College of Surgeons, Jacob's, Boland's, Nora Connolly, Béaslaí, Four Courts, Ned Daly, Moore Street, Elizabeth O'Farrell, Surrender, James Connolly, Patrick Pearse, Plunkett, Peter Carpenter |
| Coverage: | Ireland |
| Genre: | Factual |
| Topic: | Wars and Conflict |
| Provider: | RTÉ |
| Contributor(s): | Proinsias Mac Aonghusa (Presenter) |
| Publisher: | RTÉ |
| First Broadcast Channel: | Radio Éireann |
| Production Year: | 1966 |
| Country of Production: | Ireland |
| Original Identifier: | LQD0170A |
| IPR Restrictions: | Rights Reserved - Free Access |
| Rights, Terms and Conditions: | Copyright RTÉ. This material may not be replicated in any form or manner without the prior express permission of RTÉ. Any form of reproduction in print, television, video, multimedia, web site or other electronic media or any form of dissemination for commercial or non-commercial use must be licensed by the RTÉ Archives. If you wish to licence video or audio clips, still images or text, or would like further guidance please contact us. RTÉ Archives are committed to respecting the copyright of others and have attempted to source and credit the copyright owners of all material used here. RTÉ would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified here so that the necessary corrections can be made. If you feel your copyright has not been respected please contact us. |
| Item Type: | whole |
| Sound: | Mono |
| Language: | English (eng) |
| Original Language: | English (eng) |
