Shortly before he was executed, Joseph Mary Plunkett was married to Grace Gifford in the chapel at Kilmainham. Grace was the sister of Muriel Gifford MacDonagh whose husband, Thomas was executed on May 3rd.

Joseph Plunkett was one of the courageous seven who signed the Proclamation of Independence. He was the Director of Military Operations and was responsible for overall military strategy. He was stationed at the General Post Office during the Easter Rising.

Edward Daly was the leader of the First Battalion which succeeded in seizing control of the Four Courts. The Daly family was from Limerick and "fiercely Fenian." Edward Daly's sister, Kathleen, was married to Thomas Clarke who was executed on May 3rd.

Michael O'Hanrahan was vice commandant to Thomas MacDonagh (executed May 3rd) at the Jacobs Biscuit Factory. He was an author and promoted the Irish language through the Gaelic League.

William Pearse was the younger brother of Patrick Pearse (executed May 3rd). He fought side by side with his elder brother at the G. P. O. Within the Irish Volunteers, he held the rank of captain. He was a sculptor and his work can be found at St. Stephen's Green, the Rathfarnham Pearse Museum and other locations in Ireland.

John (Seán) MacBride fought at Jacob's Biscuit Factory under Thomas MacDonagh. In 1903 he married the Irish nationalist, Maude Gonne. During the South African Boer War he fought with the Irish Brigade attaining the rank of Major.

From the 1917 book on the Irish Rebellion by Francis P. Jones:

The public horror created by [the executions of May 3rd] was still at high tide, when, the following day, May 4, the announcement was made that Joseph Plunkett, Edward Daly, Michael O'Hanrahan, and William Pearse had been found guilty, sentenced to death, and shot that morning.

Just before his death Michael O'Hanrahan, who was the Treasurer of the Volunteer Arms Fund, speaking to his sister said: "I am ready to give my life for God and my country. In a few hours I shall be with my God, where I will plead the cause of my beloved Ireland and will ask God to bless mother and you." The last words he spoke to his sisters were: "Remember, girls, this is God's will, and it is for Ireland."

When his mother went to see William Pearse shortly before he was executed, hoping to hear that he had been reprieved she asked him: "Well, Willie, what did they say to you?" He replied: "They asked me if I was guilty, and I said 'yes' and that was all."

The following day, Friday, May 5, Major John McBride [MacBride] was shot. The manner of his death could not be better told than in the words of Father Augustine, the priest who attended him during his last moments on earth. In relating to me the incidents of the execution of Major McBride, Father Augustine said:

I had a peculiar feeling that morning. I cannot just describe it. It was a misty, drizzling morning, I think the only misty morning of all those frought with so much sorrow to Ireland. It was the first time I had met Major McBride face to face since the Sunday in Jacob's factory. He said something in reference to a conversation we had at that time and then he put his hand in his pocket and gave me some money for the poor.

I heard his confession and gave him Holy Communion and recited some prayers. Then he told me that he had asked the warder the night before if he could have some water to wash in in the morning. The warder, he said, had promised that he should have it. I rang the bell and when the warder came I reminded him of his promise, and told him that Major McBride wanted some water to wash in. In a little while the warder returned with a small cup of water! McBride smiled rather wanly as he looked at the cup of water and then said:

"I suppose they think I can wash myself in that."

Then we went out. We went down the steps and remained for some time at the exact point where the hall leads out into the corridor. This is the hall where they blindfolded the men.

"It is a fine morning, Father," said Major McBride.

"Yes," I replied, as calmly as I could, "but it is rather chilly."

"Yes," he said, and asked one of the soldiers with us if he might have his coat. They brought it to him and he threw it over his shoulders. Then the soldier began to blindfold him. He asked that they would not do this, and, turning to me, he said, in a quiet, matter-of- fact tone and without ever a trace of bravado:

"You know, Father Augustine, I have often looked down their guns before."

The soldier told him that he would have to be blindfolded.

"I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but it is orders."

The soldier then began to tie his hands behind him and again McBride asked that it be not done, but again the soldier said that he had his orders. McBride assured him that he would stand perfectly quiet and steady, but the soldier insisted and bound his hands behind him. Then I said to him:

"Offer up this sacrifice for any failings or faults of the past."

He looked at me, just for a moment, and then said:

Yes, Father, I will, I am very glad you told me that."

He was then led out into the yard and I went along with him. They made him stand up close to the wall and the firing squad lined up, armed with rifles, twelve of them, only a few short feet away. I was standing close beside him, and just at that moment I felt that I did not care a whole lot whether I was shot with him or not. This was not any heroism on my part—it is interesting from a physicological point of view—it may have been the morning and the surroundings—I am not sure just what it was—but the feeling came over me at that time.

Then the officer in charge of the squad came to me and pulled me by the sleeve. He led me a few feet away, I think about seven feet. I closed my eyes for an instant. Then I opened them again and looked at that brave man. He was standing there and it seemed as though he were expanding his chest for the bullets. Then came the crash of the rifles. I saw him still standing there, erect and strong. Then the poor knees began to give way under him and he wavered and fell backwards.

I ran to him. It was but a pace or two, but I seemed to want to run to him. I bent over him and saw that the shirt over his chest and the white paper they had pinned over his heart were untouched. There was not a mark on them. Then I noticed a few little specks of blood on his forehead. Then the officer turned him over and I saw—it was terrible-that the whole of the back of his head had been blown away. I could not understand this then, but later I knew.

In the firing squad were ten men with blank cartridges in their rifles. Two others had explosive shells in theirs. These two had fired at almost point-blank range and had shot Major McBride through his eyes. That was why his head was in such a shocking condition.

Comment on a narrative of this kind, simply told by the brave Franciscan priest whose blessed hands, the hands of the Priest Sanctified, were the last on earth to grasp the manacled hands of the heroic leaders of the insurrection, seems almost a sacrilege. But it should not be forgotten that, while the action of the British military in shooting helpless and manacled men through the eyes with explosive bullets could in no way add to the sufferings of those upon whom they vented their lust for blood, the sheer brutal savagery of the act has seldom been equaled even in the annals of the British Government.

Continuing, Father Augustine said:

Not even when the man was dead did the British leave him alone. It was but a short time afterwards that stories were circulated to the effect that he had refused to see the priest before his execution. I do not know who it was who started the story, but I do know that there was not a word of truth in it. He made his confession to me.

Major McBride's last request to Father Augustine was that his rosary beads be given to his mother.

SOURCES

The Executed Leaders of the 1916 Rising
http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Historical_Information/1916_Commemoratio...

"A guide to the historical figures and moments of the 1916 Easter Rising"
-by Dermot McEvoy
http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/An-guide-to-the-historical-fig...

Major John McBride from Easter 1916 Website
(Note: many sources give his name as MacBride.)
(Click "the people" for more biographies.)
http://www.easter1916.ie/index.php/people/a-z/major-john-mcbride/

History of the Sinn Fein Movement and
the Irish Rebellion of 1916
-by Francis P Jones
NY, 1917
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=1ZpnAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcove...
Chapter LXII. The Blood-Lust of the English
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=1ZpnAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcove...
The executions of Plunkett, Daly, O'Hanrahan, W. Pearse, & McBride:
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=1ZpnAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcove...

IMAGES
Irish Rebels, Joseph Mary Plunkett, 1877-1916
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Plunkett
Irish Rebels of 1916, Grace Gifford Plunkett
http://thewildgeese.irish/profiles/blogs/joseph-plunkett-and-grace-gifford
Irish Rebels, Edward Daly, 1891-1916
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Daly_(Irish_revolutionary)
Irish Rebels, Michael O'Hanrahan, 1877-1916
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Hanrahan
Irish Rebels, William Pearse, 1881-1916
http://thewildgeese.irish/profiles/blogs/william-pearse-the-less-known-b...
Irish Rebels, John MacBride, 1865-1916
-from May 13, 1916 edition of The Gaelic American
http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:274297#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&...

See also:

Joseph Mary Plunkett was a poet and
a few of his poems can be found here:
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=gcY-AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcove...

"Great Irish Romances: Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford"
-by Susan McWilliams Lev-Yadun
http://thewildgeese.irish/profiles/blogs/joseph-plunkett-and-grace-gifford

The Mother by Patrick Pearse
(Mrs. Pearse lost two sons to the murderous guns of the British: Patrick on May 3rd and William on May 4th.)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssx0u0EE7Ek width:500 height:315]

Grace - Jim McCann
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03SYJ8sosc4 width:500 height:315]

Grace - Aoife Scott, Danny O'Reilly, Róisin O
(There are so many beautiful versions of this song that
I cannot be content with only one.)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuZPN4cWNpg width:500 height:315]

Grace & Joseph - A 1916 Love Story (Lifford Youthreach)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZGAU6Ck5p4 width:500 height:315]