Irish Rebel Leader Liam Lynch Suffers Fatal Wound in Skirmish with Free State Troops

April 11, 1923, will be remembered as a fateful day for Eamon De Valera and his Republican forces in Ireland. Liam Lynch, the cunning and dominant chief of staff of the Irregular forces, was mortally wounded and captured by Free State troops at Knockna salad, near New Castle. The Irishman’s fate was sealed after a fierce engagement in which he suffered a devastating blow to his abdomen. De Valera, the Countess Markievicz, and other prominent figures in the republican movement were reportedly with Lynch when he fell into enemy hands. A dispatch from Clonmel revealed that they managed to evade pursuit, but the damage had already been done.