Donegore Moat or Rath: from here men marched to the Battle of Antrim in June 1798. You can see from it into neighbouring counties. Underneath is the graveyard where Sir Samuel Ferguson is laid. You'll remember that Yeats wished to be counted one, with Mangan, Davis, Ferguson. Not far away at Mallusk is the grave of Jimmy Hope, the great-hearted. Then, a few miles off, is the Cave Hill where in 1795 Tone and others took a solemn oath never to desist, etc. All of which, and much more, comes to mind after reading a letter from Dick Roche which announces plans to commemorate 1798 by recovering the remains of an unknown soldier of that Rising and to give him a funeral with military honours in a new resting place, in a specially designed tomb at Oulart Hill in County Wexford.
The idea that such a procedure could be undertaken in the North, at present, is unfortunately not possible, considering the delicate political negotiations now going on. Anyway, this Oulart project has, according to Dick, the support of a number of historians, retired Army officers and figures well-known in Wexford. The recovery of remains will be carried out in secret by a number of experts, and identity, religion, place of origin and rank of the unknown soldier will not be known and will be immaterial, writes our correspondent. "The united Irish Army of 1798 included Protestants, Catholics and Dissenters, gentry, farmers and tradesmen and this ceremony is designed to pay respects to all of them." Including men of no property.
As the committee sees it, the remains should be brought to the City Hall, Dublin, for a lying-in-state as was done with O'Donovan Rossa and Michael Collins. Further, says the letter, the entire ceremony will be non-sectarian, to reflect the pluralist nature of the army of 1798. The funeral cortege route is not yet finalised but will hope to take in places closely associated with the Rising. The tomb has already been designed by Michael Warren of Gorey. Half the cost is already raised. It is an ambitious programme and no doubt will raise interest, and State backing is being sought.
Pity about the North, though. Remember that unforgettable snapshot which Charles Dickson in Revolt in the North and A.T.Q. Stewart record, the latter in The Summer Soldiers. Pits were being dug in the sand at Lough Neagh for the dead insurgents. As a cartload of dead and dying arrived at the sand-pit a yeoman officer asked: "Where the devil did these rascals come from?" one of them raised his gory head and feebly answered: "I come from Ballyboley." He was buried with the rest.