An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 31 rying out whatever duties were asked of her. The women were charged with watching the rear of the South Dublin Union and were armed with hand grenades made from milk cans to drop over the nearby railway bridge in case of attack from that direction. Dividing into squads, they kept in close touch with the different firing lines, lying on sacks of oats or grain to re- main out of view of the enemy. Among them were five sets of sisters, while one of their youngest members was Josie McGowan, just 18 years of age – having been born in the centenary of that other great rebellion of 1798. Conditions in the garrison were primitive, with men and women sleeping on sacks and straw (the women in the Main Hall), but morale was high. All ate well, due in no small part to the resourcefulness of the Cumann na mBan members who managed to 'procure' some chickens and even a cow and two calves, and made soda bread and but- ter with the milk. Volunteers Robert Holland mentions Josie several times in his Witness Statement: "A volley of shots rang out … and then I fired. The soldiers … returned the fire. This kept on until dark. … Josie McGowan came along with another rifle. (She) stayed with me until it was almost dark and … brought me up a can of tea and some bread and a can of fresh water. "The British are now realising that it is a real fight and are not leaving themselves so exposed to our fire. … I got up another Lee Enfield rifle. … Josie McGowan came along with my ration of tea and bread. … Mick Liston was wounded … in the head and was taken down and dressed. (He) was not long away getting dressed when he was back with a piece of black coat lining stitched around his head like a cap. We asked him not to go up again, but he insisted. Mick was no sooner up in position when he was down again with another head wound, this time more serious. As he passed me I saw blood running down his face. Our hearts sank and I saw the tears run down Josie McGowan's face … as they brought him down". Throughout the week the Garrison held its own against superior forces and by Thursday things were going so well it was decided to hold a victory céilí on the following Sunday. Events elsewhere, however, frustrated this and, at four o'clock, Sunday April 30th, the garrison received instructions to surrender. The men had prepared a tunnel so that the women could escape, but all (including Josie) refused to leave their comrades. They were marched under military escort first to St. Patrick's Park and then on to Richmond Barracks, the women singing in defiance of the insults of the soldiers and the onlookers along the route. The next day wives of men fighting in the First World War threw bottles and horse dung at them as they were marched from the barracks to nearby Kilmainham Gaol. Brigid Lyons Thornton recalled that … "Kilmainham... was a dismal, dreary, frightening place … We went in and there were officers inside... they tried to get more details out of us and then somebody said, 'Take them up and throw them into the cells, we can't get anything'.... then we were marched upstairs and thrown three or four into a cell. We didn't care where we got so long as we got lying down. We were exhausted". The fact that many of the female prisoners knew each other and were permitted to share cells possibly eased their time in jail. The British soldiers permitted their camaraderie, even letting them sing but, when a number of the women did the Sixteen Hand Reel in the Exercise Yard, the noise was so loud that they were forbidden to dance at exercise hour in future on penalty of being kept in their cells! On May 8th the majority of the women were released but Josie was not, suggesting some intelligence about her activities had been received. She was eventually released two weeks later, on the 22nd. Now the women began to reorganise. A meeting of the Irish National Aid Association and Volunteer Dependents' Fund was held in a house in Peter's Place, Dublin in the summer of 1916 and a group photograph was taken. All 60 of the women in the photo had participated in the Easter Rising and among them is Josie McGowan, looking no more than a schoolgirl. She kept up her involvement in 'the movement' and con- tinued on manoeuvres and drilling, as well as carrying out other more militant activities including anti-conscription rallies and demonstrations, carrying messages and distrib- uting or moving arms. One of the main actions undertaken was to disrupt Brit- ish Army recruitment meetings, heckling the speakers and often being arrested for public disorder. They also fought for better conditions for the imprisoned men and women of the Easter Rising, and thus it was that Josie was in the crowd in Foster Place on that fateful Saturday in 1918 when

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