Friday 5 February, 1915
by John T Adams
In early February 1915 Col Fitzgerald led a large party of 220 men of 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers through County Armagh on a recruiting march. John Adams was one of the men chosen for this trip. His personal notes have enabled us to trace the possible route of the march:
| Friday 5 February | Lurgan to Birches | 16 miles |
| Saturday 6 February | Birches to Loughgall | 9 miles |
| Sunday 7 February | Loughgall | |
| Monday 8 February | Loughgall to Armagh | 5.5 miles |
| Tuesday 9 February | Armagh | |
| Wednesday 10 February | Armagh to Richhill (via Hamiltonsbawn) | 7 miles |
| Thursday 11 February | Richhill to Tynan | 13.5 miles |
| Friday 12 February | Tynan to Newtownhamilton | 16 miles |
| Saturday 13 February | Newtownhamilton to Bessbrook | 10 miles |
| Sunday 14 February | Bessbrook (including being at home in Lisadian) | |
| Monday 15 February | Bessbrook to Poyntzpass | 9 miles |
| Tuesday 16 February | Poyntzpass to Markethill | 12.5 miles |
| Wednesday 17 February | Markethill to Tandragee | 10 miles |
| Thursday 18 February | Tandragee to Portadown (and train to Belfast) | 6 miles |
We have traced the route on Google Maps below. They covered a fair distance, we estimate approximately 115 miles in 2 weeks. It was probably a foretaste of the footslogging they were to do through France through the rest of the war.
(unfortunately Google maps only allows 10 layers, so we couldn’t show the last leg from Tandragee to Portadown!).