James McCormack (Irish revolutionary) most, their goal soon became the establishment of an independent and socialist Irish nation. Other prominent members included Constance Markievicz, Kit Poole, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, Seán O'Casey and P. T. Daly. In 1916, they took part in the Easter Rising – an armed insurrection aimed at ending British rule in Ireland. The ICA uniform was dark green with a slouched hat and badge in the shape of the Red Hand of Ulster. Their banner was the Plough and the Stars. The significance of the banner was that a free Ireland would control its own destiny from the plough to the stars,
Irish Citizen Army authorities tolerated the open drilling and bearing of arms by the ICA, thinking that to clamp down on the organisation would provoke further unrest. A small group of IRB conspirators within the Irish Volunteers movement had started planning a rising. Worried that Connolly would embark on premature military action with the ICA, they approached him and inducted him into the IRB's Supreme Council to co-ordinate their preparations for the armed rebellion which became known as the Easter Rising. On Monday, 24 April 1916, 220 members of the ICA (including 28 women) took part in the Easter Rising, alongside a much