I.R.A. offered to release Potter in exchange for Traynor's release. Traynor was executed. Traynor has since been honoured by the Irish state as one of "The Forgotten Ten". Kept as hostage and executed The Column, under sporadic fire from soldiers alerted at the nearby Clogheen barracks, followed the contours of the mountains to the village of Newcastle. Losing their pursuers, they stayed for a period of time at the townland of Glasha. Here Potter was detained in an out-building of a farm which was regularly used by the IRA as a safe-house. From there the party was guided into the Nire Valley by a contingent of local Waterford Volunteers and on to the Comeragh Mountains. Accounts from Rathgormack, County Waterford suggest he was kept for at least one night at a nearby Ringfort before being taken down the hill to a field then owned by Power's of Munsboro, where he met his ultimate fate. At 7p.m., on 27 April, following news of Traynor's execution by hanging, he was shot to death , and hastily buried in a shallow grave on the banks of the Clodagh River. A diary he kept during his period of captivity and some personal effects and farewell letters (copies of which transcribed below), were returned anonymously to his wife. It was the first confirmation she had that he had been killed. The artifacts were later lost when his son's ship was torpedoed in 1942, during the Second World War. Military retaliation Three weeks after Potter's death, on 18 May, the following notice of officially sanctioned military reprisals appeared in local newspapers :Official Reprisals in South Tipperary14 Homes DestroyedWe are requested to publish the following: (1) The houses of the following persons were destroyed on Friday 13th May and Saturday 14th.Cahir District(1) Mrs. T. O'Gorman, Burncourt Castle (2) Mrs Tobin, Tincurry House (3) Edmund Mulcahy, Coolagarranvoe (4) Pat McCarthy, Drumlummin (5) James Slattery, Killbeg (6) Robert Keating, BallyloobyTipperary District(7) Bryan Shanahan, Grantstown (8) J. Dwyer Ballinavasin (9) J. Barry, Cross of Donohill (10) Patrick Corbett, DonohillCashel District (11) Edmond Riley, Coolanga (12) J. Ryan, Turrabeen (13) O'Keeffe, Glenough (14) John Grogan, ShanballyduffThe contents of the following person was destroyed on Friday 13th MayJames Taylor, Cashel. (2) The destructions were ordered by Colonel Commandant N.J.G. Cameron CB, CMG, ADC Commanding 16th Infantry Brigade and Military Governor on the grounds that the persons concerned are active supporters of armed