Peadar Bracken (23 January 1887 – 19 January 1961) was an Irish Volunteer during Ireland's War of Independence. In 1914 he was elected Captain by the men of the Tullamore Company Irish Volunteers, before later being appointed Commandant of the Athlone Brigade area by Patrick Pearse. Bracken, alongside his comrade Seamus Brennan, are credited with firing the first shots in the 1916 rising in Tullamore. Bracken was under order from Pearse and took command off him for the duration of the 1916 rising. He commanded the critical GPO garrison outpost at O'Connell Bridge, Dublin during the Easter Rising. Later on in his career, in 1920, he was a senior officer in the Irish Republican Brotherhood branch in Tullamore, and commanding officer in chief of the Athlone Brigade. Bracken died on 19 January