When Michael Collins left Dublin on 20 August 1922, he was ill and feverish and his doctor recommended that the trip be postponed. Had he merely been going on an inspection trip, it could have been delayed, but it appeared Collins had something more in mind.
That evening, Collins met his sister, Mary Collins-Powell, and her son, Seán, at the Imperial Hotel in Cork City and the rest of the evening was spent in consultation with the Officer/Commanding (O/C) of the area, Gen Emmet Dalton. Dalton felt that “normality and law and order would not be too far off. We were in possession of the principal towns in County Cork. Michael Collins and I discussed this on the journey through West Cork." Most of the escort spent the first evening in the Victoria Hotel.
On Monday, 21 August, Collins visited some local banks in an effort to trace republican/IRA/anti-Treaty funds lodged during their occupation of the city.
First, they visited the Hibernian Bank, then the Bank of Ireland, then the Land Bank, and finally other smaller institutions to try to recover the funds. During July, the IRA collected £120,000 in customs revenue and had hidden this money in the accounts of sympathisers. At each bank, Collins told their managers to close the doors, and they would allow the banks to be reopened only if the managers cooperated fully.
He then met Florence O’Donoghue, who was in the IRA and was one of its leaders in County Cork in the War of Independence, but who was neutral in the Civil War. The first phase of the Civil War was ended, O’Donoghue later wrote. He and many others recognised at this point that the IRA/Republicans could not win the war, and that Collins came south searching for peace. Collins was desperately trying to bring the War to a close, as well as trying to give some face-saving agreement to the leaders on the other side. It is thought that he asked O’Donoghue how to stop the War and to mediate for him. After lunch at the Imperial, they headed out to review the military in Cobh, and then returned to Cork in early evening.
Collins’s party left the Imperial Hotel, Cork, at 6.15 am on Tuesday, 22 August.
The military detail was far too small for the protection of the Free State Commander-in-Chief, especially as they would be travelling through some of the most active anti-Treaty areas of south Cork.
In the afternoon, the convoy went to Roscarberry and Collins had a drink in the Four Alls Pub (owned by his cousin Jeremiah) at Sam’s Cross where Collins declared: “I’m going to settle this thing. I’m going to put an end to this bloody war."
But there is no sign he was open to compromise. Clearly, any hope he had of settling the Civil War would not be done at the expense of the Treaty.
Collins told his brother, Johnny, that he would “go further with the British government once there was peace here." His principal aim was to end the Civil War. He said, “The British have given up their claim on us. When we begin to work together we can help those in the northeast."
The convoy left the Eldon Hotel in Skibbereen at 5 pm and headed back to Cork.
The convoy detoured around Clonakilty on the way back because of a roadblock. It stopped at Lee’s Hotel in Bandon for tea. (It has never been fully explained why the convoy returned this same way they came out in the morning, however, when the anti-Treaty forces left Cork City, they blew up most of the bridges and cut most of the roads, so there were few passable ways to travel in County Cork.)
On the road out of Bandon, Collins said to Dalton, “If we run into an ambush along the way, we’ll stand and fight them." Dalton said nothing.
In the early morning of Tuesday, 22 August, the ambush party met in Long’s Pub. The plan to ambush the party was decided as part of the general policy of attacking all Free State convoys, not as a specific plan to ambush this convoy. They saw the opportunity to overpower an enemy convoy on its return journey, and they decided to take up the challenge and ambush it.
The ambush party remained in place all day, but there was no action. In the late afternoon, a message was received that Collins’s party was in Bandon, but as it was thought unlikely that the convoy would come through Béal na mBláth a second time, they began to disassemble the mine and evacuate the position.
Originally, the ambush party numbered between 25 and 30, according to varying sources. Some men stayed all day, others came and went as the day went on.
The ambush took place at Béal na mBláth (between Macroom Crookstown, about ten miles short of Bandon) just before sunset, at 7:30 pm. When the first shots were fired, Dalton ordered, “Drive like hell." Collins countermanded the order just as he had predicted and yelled, “Stop, we’ll fight them."
Collins and Dalton first fired from behind the armoured car, and then Collins shouted “there – they are running up the road."
The Lewis machinegun in the armoured car jammed several times, and when it did, the IRA/Republicans took advantage of the lull in firing to move their positions.
Then Collins ran about 15 yards up the road, dropped into a prone firing position, and continued shooting at the IRA/anti-Treatyites on the hill.
Dalton said then he heard the faint cry “Emmet, I’m hit." Dalton and Commandant Seán O’Connell ran over to where Collins was lying face-down on the road, and found a "…fearful gaping wound at the base of his skull behind the right ear. We immediately saw that General Collins was almost beyond human aid."
The ambush was over in approximately 30 minutes, and before it ended, darkness had fallen, so it was impossible to get off an aimed shot. No one in the anti-Treatyite party fully knew that Collins had been shot or that the convoy suffered any casualty. It was only when Shawno Galvin came back to Béal na mBláth that they got the first report of any casualties.
Though he was within a few miles of Béal na mBláth on the day Collins was killed, Éamon de Valera had hoped to meet him, but no plan had been made. Moreover, de Valera had had no involvement in the ambush; he had little political influence on the IRA at the time, and no military influence at all. By this time, de Valera was trying to bring the Civil War to a halt, as well.
Liam Deasy spoke with de Valera the night before, and de Valera’s position was that having made their protest in arms, and as they could not now hope to achieve a military success, the honourable course was for the IRA/Republicans to withdraw. Deasy explained that there were over a thousand men in the area and they would not agree to an unconditional ceasefire. Despite rumour and innuendo there is no evidence that de Valera was involved in the planning or the ambush being laid for Collins. Later de Valera was quoted: “A pity. What a pity I didn’t meet him”. And “It would be bad if anything happens to Collins, his place will be taken by weaker men”.
On the morning of 23 August, Richard Mulcahy, as Chief of Staff, issued the following message to the Army:
"Stand calmly by your posts. Bend bravely and undaunted to your task. Let no cruel act of reprisal blemish your bright honour.
"Every dark hour that Collins met since 1916 seemed but to steel that bright strength of his and temper his brave gaiety You are left as inheritors of that strength and bravery.
"To each of you falls his unfinished work. No darkness in the hour: loss of comrades will daunt you in it.
"Ireland! The Army serves – strengthened by its sorrow."
The British press acknowledged Collins’s part in the struggle for Irish freedom. The Daily Chronicle called him a ‘young and brilliant leader’. The Evening Press described his death as a “staggering blow."
The Daily Telegraph wrote: "He was a bitter and implacable enemy of England while the English garrison remained in Ireland and Ireland was not free to govern itself in its own way. …The dead man, without a doubt, was the stuff of which all great men are made."
The London Daily Sketch editorialised: "The hand that struck down Collins, guided by a blinded patriotism, has aimed a blow at the unity of Ireland for which every one of her sons is fighting.
"Collins was probably the most skilled artisan of the fabric of a happier Ireland.
"Certainly he was the most picturesque figure in the struggle; and in the rearing of a new State a popular ideal serves as the rallying point to draw the contending elements. The death of Collins leaves the ship of the Free State without a helmsman."
Seven years later, Winston Churchill would pay homage to his one-time military enemy and political ally. He admired Collins but evidently continued to be ignorant of the ideals that had driven and permanently separated the two men:
"He was an Irish patriot, true and fearless. His narrow upbringing and his whole life had filled him with hatred for England. His hands had touched directly the springs of terrible deeds. We hunted him for his life, and he had slipped half a dozen times through steel claws. But now he had no hatred of England."
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