1798
Rebellion in County Carlow
Some References to Cummins and Related
Families
From the Pat Purcell Papers
A document listing the names of a number of men jailed for being members of the United Irishmen and holding an unlawful assembly, and a description of their offense. Many of the names have a figure written next to them, likely the amount of bail. Others have the entry "out" or "Cust" next to the name.
Among the list of names of those jailed is written:
True Bill - John Cummins - out
And for that they with divers other evil disposed persons unknown 1st November 38th King at Old Leighlin being Armed with Fire Arms Fire Locks Pistols and other Offensive Weapons Contemptuously Tumultuously Wickedly and Unlawfully Did here Assemble and Appear Armed as Aforesaid to the Terror of his Majesties Subjects to the evil Example and against the peace
And that they on same day year and place Contemptuously and Unlawfully did assume the particular Name and Denomination of United Irishmen and Each of them did assume the particular Name and
Denomination of United Irishmen ...
From the Bunbury Estate Papers
Sworn in as members of United Irishmen in 1798, these men were appearing before the magistrates to answer charges of membership following the failed rising a few weeks earlier ...circa August 1798
This Proclamation was drawn up by B. Bunbury of Carlow in June 1798 following the United Irishmen Rising of May 1798 in Carlow.
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A Proclamation
Whereas It is in the power of his Majesties Generals, and of the Forces under their Command, entirely to destroy all those who have risen in Rebellion against their Sovereign and his Laws, yet it is nevertheless the Wish of Government that those persons who, by traitorous machinations have been seduced or by Acts of Intimidation have been forced from their Allegiance should be received into his Majesties peace and pardon, Major General Charles Asgill commanding in the County of Carlow specially Authorised thereto, does hereby Invite all persons who may be now Assembled in any part of the said County against his Majesties peace to Surrender themselves and their arms, and to Desert the Leaders who have seduced them, and for the Acceptance of such Surrender and Submission the Space of Fourteen day’s from the date hereby is allowed, and the Towns of Carlow, Leighlin Bridge, Gores Bridge, Borris, Myshall, Clonegal and Tullow, and something specified, at each of which places one of his Majesties Officers, and a Justice of the peace, will attend, and upon their entering their names, Acknowledging their Guilt, and promising good behaviour for the future, and taking the Oath of Allegiance, and at the same time abjuring all other Ingagements contrary thereto, they will receive Certificates which will Intitle them to protection so long as the demean themselves as becomes good Subjects.
And in order to render such acts of Submission easy and secure, It is the Generals pleasure that persons who are now with any portion of Rebels in Arms and Willing to Surrender themselves do send to him or to Lieutenant Col Mahon 9 th Dragoons commanding at Carlow any number from each Body of Rebels not exceeding Ten with whom the General or Col Mahon will decide the manner in which they may repair to the above towns, so that no alarm maybe excited and no Injury to their persons to be offered
29th June 1798
[Names included on the list; these are all neighbors from the area of Kellistown
and Tinryland]
James Cantwell to be Sergeant was at the Battle of Carlow, had a pike and threw It away in the Street of Carlow and ran away.
John Bambrich, of Kellystown, Cooper, Sworn by Thomas Cummins of Kellystown,
John Murphy, who was hanged to be Captain,
Thomas Cummins, Sergeant.
Michael Byrne, of Kellystown, Labourer, Sworn by James Cantwell,
Patrick Kinselagh , Sergeant.
Mathew Byrne, of Grangeford, Labourer denys being Sworn and requires a Protection.
James Byrne, of Raheadon, Carpenter, Sworn by William Cummins of Rawhede who was Capt. and admits he was Sergeant had a pike and gave It up to Mr. Newton
George Cummins of Ballycroge, Farmer, as administering Oath to him by William Cummins, Rawhede
Patrick Cummins of Ballycroge, Farmer, Sworn by Patrick St. Ledger [or could be Patrick Mc Gee...but looks like St. L ....??]
From "'98 in Carlow" by Peadar Mac Suibhne, published
1974.
p. 130-131
PETER IVERS
Farrell in Carlow in '98 tells us that Peter, only son of Jimmy Ivers was a young man of good education and of striking personality. He was very prominent in the United Irishmen of Carlow and had great influence with them. He was elected as a member of the provincial committee in Dublin. At a meeting held on 12
April 1798 at Oliver Bond's house all the fifteen members of the provincial committee in Dublin were arrested. Byrne and McCann were executed. The other thirteen including Ivers seem to have been sentenced to transportation.
Letters from Jimmy Ivers, Carlow to his son Peter in Dublin in 1798 may be read in Dublin Castle. They
were found in an eating cellar in 10 Duke Street, kept by one Corrigan. It is supposed that Kelly who drove the Carlow mail left them there. Extracts:
"Richard Hayden, Oak Park to die today 6 June. McDonnell the brewer is to die. Mich Tarp (Thorpe) got 50 lashes yesterday..... Between shot, burned and hanged about 100 are dead..... Mick Murphy of Slaty's house is burned..... Nick Lawler and his brother burned to death and all their houses burned to ashes. Disty Healon and his brother is shot dead and likewise Billy Bealey's two sons.
7 June. Yesterday Richard Hayden, Pat Kelly and one Byrne of or at Bagnal's Arms and James Hollogan, Kellistown were executed and Pat Kelly's head put on a spike..... McDonald is found guilty and is to die..... no end to X's swearing. One Y..... swore against everyone of his own side and one Z..... swore against everyone of his own side.
..... Use all means to prevent your being brought to this town, for they would tear you to pieces. (In Dublin there would be a decent trial.) Send everything to a secure place before trial, I am afraid even to go down the street."
There is also a letter to Matthew Kelly. Miss Annie Cummins, Castletown stated 5 June, 1949 that her father's mother's name was Ivers, a native of Tinryland. The family lived in the road as you go from Carlow to Tinryland. There were three families of them, John, Charlie and Joe. They lived and owned the land from Moore's, Tinryland to Darcy's. The Ivers were masons and great tradesmen. Including Joe, an uncle of Miss Cummins' father, they built the spire of St. Mary's Church. Many of them went to U.S.A.; one of them had a son a priest, Rev. Dr. Ivers; who was home in Fr. John Cullen's time; Dick McDarby had all the papers belonging to him. He was a second cousin of Miss Cummins. Dick's mother was Mary Ivers.
p. 154-155
[NOTE: The sister of Cardinal Paul Cullen, Alicia Mary Cullen (1791-1831) married as her second husband Patrick Moran. They were the parents of Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran who later became the Archbishop of Sydney, Australia. They also had a daughter Mary who married a
Patrick Cummins. Mac Suibhne notes that Cardinal Moran was on a committee formed in Sydney to commemorate the '98 uprising, and he quotes the Cardinal's discussion of his family's part in the rebellion.]
"My grandfather, Mr. Cullen just escaped hanging. He owed his life to indignation aroused by the ferocity of those model judges, Norbury and Toler. Three of my granduncles, Mrs. William Cullen, Mr. Brennan and Mr. Walsh were shot as rebels. My father, who when a young man displayed too much patriotic ardour to suit the authorities, was within an inch of losing his life. He was among a batch of men arrested for sedition. Every tenth man as the names were called out was shot. My father did not happen to be a tenth man. So you see instead of looking with coldness on the rebellion and the rebels, I have good reason ro have a warm place in my heart for the men of '98." ...
There are two entries by Moran in his diaries in... St. Mary's Cathedral archives which indicate when he became aware of this oral tradition in the Cullen-Moran-Maher families:
1 In Sept. 1865 when Moran, then vice-rector of the Irish college, Rome was on a visit to Ireland. He wrote down what I presume to be the substance of a conversation with Cullen with whom Moran was staying in Dublin at the time. The entry under 24th Sept. 1865 is: "Dr. Cullen's grandfather and grandmother always spoke Irish; his father and mother understood it and spoke it among themselves but used the English with others.
In 1798 three of Dr. Cullen's uncles were put to death by the yeomen. His, Dr. Cullen's, father was also tried in Kildare, but fortunately escaped. One of his uncles was Paul. He was shot in Bloody Lane in Leighlinbridge. Before execution, he was brought out with others and placed in a row. The Colonel then rode up and offered him his life if he gave evidence against his associates. Paul's father (the archbishop's grandfather) cried out to him to place no faith in the words of the enemies of our creed and
race. So Paul died joyously.
My own poor father (may he rest in peace) was at the same time locked up in Leighlin. About a hundred were in one room imprisoned. They were ordered to walk out one by one, and every tenth one was led off to be shot or hanged.
2 Early in 1871 or more probably in late December 1870, Moran wrote down details about his family, told to him by his eldest and only surviving sister Mary who had married a
Mr. Cummins, described as a corn merchant. Moran had spent three days with them at Athy at Christmas 1870. The entry is for January 1871 but under no specific day. "She gave many details of which I was wholly ignorant, about my poor father R.I.P. and friends..."
Hugh Cullen, the cardinal's father and my grandfather, was very active in 1798 but always refused to take any secret oath. He fought however when forced by the yeomen and the barbarous oppression of the officers to do so. When with the men one day in the field, two men came to him making the signs of the United Irishmen and asking him on what day he would be ready, he took a fork from one of the workmen and ran them saying, "You wretches, you are trying to sell my blood." This subsequently proved to be true for they appeared as informers against the poor people whom they entrapped...
He (Cardinal Moran's father) was shut up in a room (in Leighlinbridge) with a number of other townsmen and every tenth one whose name was called out was shot. My poor father escaped. Paul Cullen, however, my grand-uncle with another relative was shot.
p. 214-215
ANDREW FARRELL, CROSSNEEN
On 5 June 1949 Miss Annie Cummins of the Greenhouse, Castletown, gave the following note:
The Farrells of Crossneen, Killeshin parish came from Co. Longford; they are over 300 years in Crossneen. They were great cow-doctors, decent, obliging. Martin Farrell is a brother of Patrick, senior and there is one sister. The house was burned about five years ago. John Peevers, verger at Staplestown Church and a respected member of the Old Carlow Society used to play handball there. Pat Farrell, Martin's father, died about 1887. He had an uncle, Andy Farrell in the rebellion. He went to Oylegate, Co. Wexford and about 1795 joined the United Irishmen. He was a captain. He took part in the rising at Vinegar Hill. He came to his home place and was in hiding.
At a great luncheon at Col. Rochfort's, Clogrennane, a visitor said: "I heard that Captain Farrell is in this neighbourhood." Col. Rochford said: "He has escaped so far; we shouldn't interfere with him." "No" said the Colonel's brother Robert, "we must proceed against him." An English butler said to the coachman, Pat McDonald: "Go and warn Farrell if he is in the neighbourhood and take this bottle of whiskey." Pat McDonald either was afraid or got drunk and did not go. The Crown forces walked into Crossneen on a Sunday evening and found him, Andy, rocking a three-month baby in the kitchen. The babe was his nephew Pat who died in 1887. Pat's mother, nee Bolger of Ballyadams, that is Martin's grandmother, went to Wexford and brought the dead body in a car and buried it in Kellistown. As you go in the gate, go up to the church door and a bit further there are six or seven graves there but no headstone.
The Cummins and Farrells were always very friendly. The Cummins came to Kellistown in the thirteenth century. Fr. Campion said the KeIlys beat the Cummins out of Kellistown. Old
Mat Cummins of Cloghna was married to a sister of Pat Kehoe, of Leighlin who was executed in Carlow jail in 1798. It was to this sister that Pat Kehoe wrote the letter the day before his execution.
"Mrs. Farrell, nee Bolger, Ballyadams was a great weight thrower. Captain Andy Farrell was 5' 4" in height and 34 years old when he was executed about 1800. The Farrells were buried in Kellistown up to seventy years ago. They are now buried in Killeshin where there are headstones to them. Martin is buried near the church. Martin's father, Pat, as stated already, was born in 1800, the year his Uncle Capt. Andy was executed.
"There are two houses in Crossneen. It was Farrells below the lane who went to Kellistown for burial. The Farrells and
Cummins were related. A Farrell married a Cummins. That may explain why the Farrells were buried in Kellistown. Martin died in 1942. He was born in 1857. He was an uncle of Pat Jun. who was born about 1890. Pat Jun's mother was a Miss Aughney of Muinebheag. Martin had the Captain's shin-bone in his hand; he was at the burial of a cousin in Kellistown. Martin used to cry at this point."
John Peevers, verger at Staplestown, was present while these notes were being taken. He was by trade a carpenter and hence took a special interest in buildings.
Musgrave, writing in 1801, describes the trial of Andrew at Wexford, 22 May 1800. "William Furlong, a Protestant, swore that he was taken prisoner by the rebels on Whitsun Tuesday 1798 and taken to the Windmill... Andrew Farrell had a sword in his hand and was called Captain by the rebels. He desired the loyalists to fall on their knees and prepare for death as they should be killed directly... John Mooney swore he saw Farrell head a party at the attack on Borris, the seat of Mr. Kavanagh. That after it, he saw him sworn in as a Captain, on which Fr. Kearns the priest kissed him. He was called St. Ruth. Morgan Byrne and he disputed who should be eldest Captain. The former said he had subscribed a long time to the United Irishmen. Farrell answered that he had subscribed full as long."
p. 219
CUMMINS' RATHWADE
The home of the Cummins family of Rathwade was burned in 1798 and the family evicted. Frs. Joseph and Mathew Tierney who were born in Ballyknockan were their uncles. Fr. Joseph brought three nieces, Cummins, to live in France where also they died. A nephew
Patrick settled in Tinryland where his grandson Patrick lived. Fr. Joseph was a student of Carlow College 1795-1802. Fr. Mathew was a student in Carlow College 1809-16. C.C. Kilcock 1817. Caragh 1831-57. The Tierneys were in Ballynockan till
about 1943.
from "A History of the City of Dublin" by J. T. Gilbert, Vol. 1
(1854)
Chapter IX. The Old Bridge - The Bridge-street - Gormond's Gate - The New-Row - Mullinahac.
At the sign of the "Crown" in Bridge-street a masonic lodge used to assemble in 1751, on every second Thursday. David Gibson (1755) and Bartholomew Gorman (1763-1771) publishers, also resided in this street, which in the middle of the last century was chiefly occupied by merchants of wealth and eminence, amongst whom was Thomas Braughall, afterwards distinguished as an active advocate of the removal of the disabilities of the Irish Roman Catholics. Braughall's house, No. 13, Bridge-street, came in 1785 into the possession of another merchant named Oliver Bond, a native of the north of Ireland, who, from the year 1782, had traded in Pill-lane as a wholesale woollen draper. Bond became a prominent member of the original Society of United Irishmen of Dublin, and on the 1st of March, 1793, he, together with the Hon. Simon Butler, were committed to Newgate by the House of Lords, and condemned to pay each a fine of £500, for having, as chairman and secretary of a meeting of the Society, authorized the publication of a document condemning the inquisitorial proceedings of Parliament, and setting forth the limits of the powers of the House of Peers. At a full meeting of the Society held on the same day, Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, chairman, and Thomas Russell, secretary, a resolution was passed that "a deputation of five do wait, as early as possible, on the Hon. Simon Butler and Mr. Oliver Bond, to express the feelings of this Society as men, as citizens, and as United Irishmen, on the events of this day; to testify our warmest sense of gratitude for their dignified and magnanimous avowal of the resolutions of this Society before the House of Lords; and to pledge to them our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour, that we will never forsake our officers, nor abandon the post of legal and constitutional principle which we and our officers have hitherto maintained, unshaken, unseduced, and unterrified." Bond and Butler were obliged to discharge the fines imposed upon them, and excluded from making any appeal by the payment having been enforced at the Treasury without passing through the ordinary medium of the Revenue side of the Exchequer. On their egress from gaol, on the 16th of August, 1793, after the expiration of the term of their imprisonment, the Society presented them with a congratulatory address on the sacrifices which they had made in support of the objects of their institution. Bond, who became "prosperous in a very extensive trade, and by that tie connected with every part of the kingdom," was described as "a man of strong mind and body, and of talents which, if perverted to the purpose of mischief, would become formidable indeed." In 1797 he was exceedingly active in administering the oath of the United Irishmen, and in arming and embodying men for the promotion of the objects of the Association, whose meetings were generally held at 10 a. m., at his house, where Thomas Reynolds, the informer, was sworn in early in the year 1797. On the 19th of February, 1798, a provincial meeting, held at Bond's, passed a resolution: "That we will pay no attention to any measure which the Parliament of this kingdom may adopt, to divert the public mind from the grand object we have in view, as nothing short of the entire and complete regeneration of our country can satisfy us." This meeting was adjourned to Monday, the 12th of March, which was appointed for the general assembly of the Delegates from the province of Leinster. Information relative to those movements having been conveyed to Government by Thomas Reynolds, a warrant was issued against the suspected members of the Society, and committed for execution to William Swan, justice of the peace, who having on the night of the 11th of January privately reconnoitred Bond's house, proceeded thither at 11 on the following morning, accompanied by 12 sergeants in coloured clothes. Sergeant-Major Galloguely was the first who entered the house, and finding Bond standing in the middle of his office, on the left side of the door, talking to two ladies and gentlemen, repeated to him the pass-words, "Where's Mac Cann? Is Ivers from Carlow come?" Before Bond had time to make any reply, Swan entered and stated he had a warrant against him for high treason, and that he and all his inmates were the King's prisoners. Bond was secured without any resistance; and Swan gives the following account of his subsequent proceedings:
"I then bounced up stairs; the sergeant had got into the lower part, but I bounced immediately after, and proceeded to the room - a back room - that appeared to be an addition to the house, where I received positive information they were to meet. Upon entering the room, I saw a number of persons about the room in small groups, and one man sitting at the table, with pen, ink, and paper, and a prayer-book. I snapped at the paper directly; my anxiety to seize the paper was so great that the man sitting at the table took advantage of it, and went among the groups, so that I could not identify him. The paper was fresh written - the ink hardly dry. I then, after seizing the paper, directed the several persons to hold up their hands, to prevent their destroying their papers, as I had previously directed the serjeants to be particularly attentive to watch the hands of the people, and if they saw any papers to bring them immediately to me." Under the table was found a shamrock made of green ribbons, inscribed in gold letters, "Erin go bragh," underneath which was a harp without a crown; and Sergeant Mac Dougall of the Dumbarton Fencibles raked with his bayonet from under the borate a small account or memorandum-book, with some other papers. The prayer-book found on the table had been used by the Delegates in swearing that they had been duly elected to attend the Council; and among the documents seized, which consisted of various letters, provincial returns, and accounts, was a list of printed toasts and sentiments, including the following: "The green flag of Ireland-May her sons unite and support it." "Ireland a republic and the world free." "A speedy and radical reform." "May revolution never cease till liberty is established." "The United Irishmen - success to their efforts." "Mother Erin dressed in green ribbons by a French
milliner, if she can't be dressed without her." The Delegates arrested at Bond's were - Peter Ivers, Laurence Kelly,
George Cummins, John Lynch, Laurence Griffin, Thomas Reynolds, John Mac Cann, executed on 28th July, Patrick Devine, Thomas Traynor, William Michael Byrne, hanged on 19th July, Christopher Martin, Peter Bannan, James Rose, and Moore's friend, young Edward Hudson, who was said to have fainted when Swan entered the room. Bond was brought to trial for high treason on the 23rd and 24th of July, 1798, and although defended by Curran and Ponsonby, the jury, after a deliberation of seven minutes, returned a verdict of guilty. When asked what he had to say why sentence should not be passed upon him, Bond made no reply, and Justice Day, addressing him, remarked: "It is a melancholy subject of reflection that a gentleman of your condition and figure in life, - who, under the existing laws and constitution, which you would have subverted, have flourished and accumulated great property - in the prime of life and vigour of health - endued by nature with rare accomplishments of mind and person, should have unfortunately, not only for yourself and afflicted family, but for that country to which you might have been an ornament, perverted those precious gifts of Providence, and have made so unhappy and calamitous a use of them." At the conclusion of his address, Judge Day pronounced the following sentence upon the prisoner: "You, Oliver Bond, are to be taken from the place in which you stand to the gaol from whence you came, and thence to the common place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck, but not until you are dead, for while you are yet living, your bowels are to be taken out and thrown in your face, and your head is to be cut off, and your head and limbs to be at the King's disposal." Bond subsequently received a conditional pardon, but died of an apoplectic attack in Newgate; his house is now known as No. 9, Lower Bridge-street.
From "The Year of Liberty", by Thomas Pakenham
p. 60
Kildare - the county of great wooded demesnes, liberal landlords and the most highly organized United movement in Leinster - had come off relatively lightly from the arrests at Bond's. Of its three delegates who were due to attend the Dublin meeting that day, only one,
George Cummins the apothecary - had been arrested. His place was quickly filled by a respectable farmer called Michael Reynolds. The other Reynolds, Lord Edward's nominee, Thomas Reynolds, had not of course been arrested; though it would have been safer for him if he had been. He soon learnt that the Sheares brothers in the name of the Dublin Executive had officially reported to the Kildare Committee that he was the man who had betrayed the meeting at Bond's. Reynolds retreated to his new castle, understandably disturbed. That spring a number of prominent men had disappeared without a trace - a Catholic priest, a respected doctor and so on... And all they had done was to warn people against the movement. With no illusions about his own prospects, Reynolds barricaded himself in the ancient keep of Kilkea.
Meanwhile, the second counter-measure - the Proclamation of martial law - had dealt a crushing blow to Kildare's capability for war. ...
In Carlow, to the west of Wexford, the Proclamation caused nothing less than panic. No county had suffered worse loss by the arrests, as their chief delegate, Peter Ivers, had kept virtually all the Society's business to himself. "As none of us had any occasion to meddle in such things," one of the Carlow Committee late recalled, "we were quite a set of novices without him." The Proclamation caught them still struggling to fill up vacancies. Terrified of informers, they changed the normal meeting place - a public house in Carlow - in favour of a hide-out in the country.
So many of the committee refused to be nominated as delegates that balloting had to be abandoned. Eventually a farmer called
Mick Heydon agreed to go on the perilous mission to Dublin.
from "Memoirs of the Different Rebellions in Ireland, from the Arrival of the English; also, a Particular Detail of that which Broke Out the 23d of May 1798, with the History of the Conspiracy which Preceded it." by Sir Richard Musgrave, Bart.
"...On the night of Friday the twenty-fifth of May, a party of rebels attacked and entered Mr. Blair's extensive iron works at Lucan, carried off a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition, and compelled some of his artificers to attend them to the hill of Tara. This party was headed by
George Cummins, a popish yeoman, of the Clonsillagh corps, who became a traitor on the breaking-out of the rebellion, though he had taken the oath of allegiance for which he was convicted in Dublin the tenth of July, 1798, and was afterwards pardoned."
from "The Court Martial of 1798-99" by Patrick C. Power
p. 43
One Edmund Cummins [of Wicklow] describes that Terence O'Neill and Mullany came to him and threatened to burn his house if he did not join the rebels. They also
said that they would cut his throat. Then Cummins said that he advised a neighbour to hide himself in the fields "if a party came from Aherlow", that is the rebel band. This method of concealment was widely practised then but it was generally
practised when government forces were about. The letter of A.T. Wilson, already quoted, speaks of the ill-disciplined militia who broke into houses, looted them and ill-treated the inhabitants. Often this happened even to yeomen's dwellings when they were away on duty.
p. 110-111
On 11th July 1798 George Cummings was charged at the Dublin Barracks with being "principally concerned" with a party of rebels in an attack on Mr. Blair's ironworks at Lucan on 25th May and carrying off a considerable number of arms and ammunition. It was said that several of the "artificers" at the factory afterwards joined the rebels at their camp at Tara in County Meath. Cummings was a yeoman in the Clonsilla Cavalry and had taken an Oath of Allegiance to King George III.
Christopher Holdford was charged together with Cummings with seducing John Lunders, a fourteen year old boy and bringing him to the battle of Tara, where he joined the rebels.
Thomas Connor and Thomas Atkinson were also charged with the others with coming to the house of James Brassington at Ballymacarney in County Meath on Thursday 24th May and forcibly taking a yeoman's sword, belt, pistol and arms and boasting that he was at the murders of the police at Dunboyne and the Rea Fencibles at the village of
Clonee.
Cummins was tried first. Francis McFarlan junior said that he knew Cummings as a member of the Clonsilla Yeomen. Then John Lyons, a workman at Blair's, also identified Cummings. He went on to state that Cummings and others came to Blair's yard bearing a sword. He made Lyons a prisoner and afterwards marched off with many of Blair's workmen towards Dunboyne. The men were armed with weapons from Blair's works and said that they were going to the battle of Tara. James Carroll confirmed all that had been stated and added that the weapons were kept in Blair's "office", that is an out-office or out-house. In
response to a cross-examination by the prisoner he said that the raid was at 11 p.m. and about 100 men were in the raiding party. They were variously armed with guns, pikes and sticks.
John Lunders said that he was on the hill of Tara on the day of the battle and that he knew the prisoner for two or three years. He was followed Captain Rickey who stated that John Lyons was a man who deserved credit on his oath, a
matter that had been called in question.
Cummings was sentenced to death and the area general, Lieutenant-General Craig was ordered to make the necessary arrangements for the execution.
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Cummins
Families of County Carlow, Ireland