I learned this from John McGreevy who was an English instructor at the Altoona Campus of Penn State in the mid 1960's. He was the faculty advisor for our newly formed Ivyside Folklore Society. The Kilmichael Ambush (Irish: Luíochán Chill Mhichíl) was an ambush near the village of Kilmichael in County Cork on November 28, 1920 carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence. Thirty-six local IRA volunteers of the West Cork Brigade's flying column commanded by Tom Barry killed seventeen members of the Royal Irish Constabulary's Auxiliary Division. The Kilmichael ambush was politically as well as militarily significant. It occurred one week after Bloody Sunday, marking a profound escalation in the IRA campaign. The song refers to the Auxiliaries as "Tans" meaning "Black and Tans" although the Black and Tans were not the same unit as the Auxiliaries. The Black and Tans (Irish: Dúchrónaigh), officially the Royal Irish Constabulary Special Reserve, was a force of Temporary Constables recruited to assist the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) during the Irish War of Independence. It was formed in 1919 and dissolved in 1922. The recruits were mainly army veterans returning from the Great War for whom employment opportunities were scarce. Some Irish maintained that the recruits were convicts who were offered shortened prison terms in return for fighting in Ireland. This is probably incorrect since the recruits were considered policemen and a criminal record would have excluded them from service. They earned a reputation of brutality for their conduct toward both IRA combatants an civilians. The nickname "Black and Tans" arose from the colors of the improvised uniforms they initially wore, composed of British Army khaki jackets and dark RIC uniform pants. For an extensive treatment of the history of the Irish struggles for independence, and the songs related to them, see Irish Songs of Resistance by Patrick Galvin. Like "Down in the Willow Garden", this tune is another offspring of "Rosin the Beau". Songs from Irish uprisings and rebellion in this collection are: "Bold Fenian Men" "Boulavogue" "The Boyne Water" "Croppies Lie Down" "The Croppy Boy" "Kevin Barry" "The Old Orange Flute" "The Protestant Boys" "The Rising of the Moon" "The Wearing of the Green" "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"