Michael Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance in the First Dail of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Members and supporters of Fine Gael regard him as their movement’s founding father.
On the road to Bandon, at the village of “the Mouth of Flowers,” Collins’ column of army vehicles stopped to ask directions. The man they asked was a member of the local Anti-Treaty IRA. An ambush was then prepared for the convoy when it made its return journey back to Cork city. Collins would return by the same route as the two other roads from Bandon to Cork had been rendered impassable by Republicans. When Collins and his men returned, five ambushers on the scene opened fire on the convoy.
The ambushers had laid a mine on the scene but they had disconnected it at the time of the attack. Collins was killed in the subsequent gun battle which lasted approximately 20 minutes. He was the only fatality in the action, killed while exchanging rifle fire with the ambushers. Under the cover of the armored car, Collins’ body was loaded into the tour car and driven back to Cork where it was then shipped to Dublin. His body lay in state for three days in Dublin City Hall where tens of thousands of mourners filed past his casket to pay their respects.
