Commandant James Burke

Cross 1st Battalion

Seamus Burke was from Kildun, The Neale. Seamus was shot in the hip and wounded in the gun battle with British Forces that took place on the mountain above Túr na bhfód. It is said that Seamus O’Brien and Michael Shaughnessy were the men who carried him across the mountain to King’s house.

“During the night of the ambush, a wounded man, Seamus Bourke arrived exhausted in driving rain at the house. After rendering first-aid to his wounds, Mr. King offered him his mare to ride to safety, but Bourke refused to take the mare and insisted on walking across the mountain. ‘I remember him walking out into the rain badly wounded and I watched him head up into the mountains. He went across to Hoban’s in Erriff where he was safe’ … ”

Dr. Madden from Westport was led to Hoban’s house by a woman from Cumann Na mBan, where the doctor removed the bullet from Seamus’s hip and bandaged him up. The three volunteers were led out of the Erriff Valley by John King who had earlier himself taken part in the Ambush. Seamus Burke eventually got home to Kildun and recovered. He later married Katie O’Brien, Adj. Michael O’Brien’s sister. Katie and Seamus had an only daughter Bríd Burke.