by C R Dempsey
“No, no, no!” he howled. “You cannot hit them shooting from there. Move closer! Move closer!” and he waived Eunan and his men forward.
There was a collective scowl, but they moved forward all the same. They cursed the smoke of the battle, for in their confusion and determination to obey Arlo’s commands they now found themselves shin-deep in water. The men fiddled with their powder and bullets whilst around them the O’Neills let off round after round. They fired again and created another cloud of smoke. The smoke hung in the air as even the normally reliable breeze had abandoned them. They shivered and loaded their guns again.
Beyond the smoke, O’Neill ordered his primary force of shot and pike forward. They charged, but the veterans of Brittany were too much for them and forced them back. The English shot came out from behind their pike to skirmish. Their sleek lines and smooth loading and reloading action proved a source of jealousy for Eunan, as he could only wish for men as proficient as them. But Eunan felt he was not made for this kind of war.
“Curse this thing,” he said, as he threw his gun to the ground. “Barely can I get three shots away before it jams. And if it does not jam, it burns my hands with the heat. All of this to shoot into a cloud of smoke. Give me the bow and axe any day!”
“And every day, you will be condemned to defeat. As you charge with your axes and your pitchforks, the well-trained gunners will shoot you down with one volley,” replied Arlo over his shoulder.
Eunan reached down for his gun. But it was now spoilt, for it had landed in one of the bog’s many puddles. He took up a position behind his men so he could guide their volleys. However, one by one, Eunan’s men stopped firing and held out their empty hands.
“We may as well use our axes, for we have no bullets left,” said Eunan.
He felt embarrassed as to both his flanks the O’Neills continued to fire volley after volley. Arlo saw the look on his face.
“Come! Let us leave this bog, or you will all catch a chill. We pull back and wait for the instruction from the O’Neill. You were given fewer bullets, for you are inexperienced as today showed and wasted most of, if not all, of them. Come speak to me,” and Arlo beckoned Eunan forward.
He put his arm over his shoulder and walked up the hill with him.
“You need to show better self-control in front of your men. The day of the Galloglass is dead. There will be no more great clashes of armour, no more battles decided with the axe. If you want to get ahead and be a battle commander, the gun is the way forward. Heed my words, or you’ll be only good for guarding the baggage train.”
“I trust you, Arlo, and your knowledge. I can promise only to think about what you said.”
They reached the top of the hill, but Eunan was finished for the day. There would be no drawing of axes, no last great charge. They sat and witnessed the dying embers of the battle as little puffs of smoke below signified that the skirmishing continued until both sides ran low on ammo. When the smoke had died down, they saw that the English had slipped away.
34
A time for peace?
Both sides claimed victory in the stalemate of Mullabrack: the rebels for propaganda and the English to save face. Both played to their audiences.
The rebel letters proclaiming the second victory in a row for the O’Neill were well received by the Catholic monarchs of the continent and the Pope. However, the north had been devastated by a failed harvest, something that blighted them frequently in the past decade, and the people were starving.
O’Neill was also running low on ammunition and needed to find alternative sources of supply. The king of Scotland had banned the sale of arms to the Irish lords as he was trying to advance his claim to the English throne should the elderly Queen Elizabeth die. Troubles in the Highlands, the defeat of the Scottish landing party in July and King James’s ban on mercenaries going to Ireland also added to the confederacy’s troubles.
They now had to turn to the continent more than ever to seek help for their cause. But that would take time, given their most significant source of support, the king of Spain had been taken gravely ill. Even after the two greatest victories ever by Irish rebels over the English, the insurgents were vulnerable. Therefore, O’Neill pressed his advantage and sought a ceasefire.
However, after suffering two defeats and large numbers of desertions of their Irish recruits, the English were suffering severe manpower shortages. What soldiers they had could barely be fed. The Crown was in financial trouble and could not readily supply adequate resources. Therefore, they duly agreed to a ceasefire when it was offered. The onset of winter and a further deterioration of supplies led to a truce and formal negotiations.
When the peace negotiations started, the Irish lords tried to play a double game. The northern lords sent priests to Spain and Rome to plead for help while O’Neill played for time in Dublin and Dundalk. He insisted that both he and Red Hugh had to be present for the negotiations, and there was always some excuse why one of them was not present.
The double harvest failure hit the Maguires hard, and Hugh was eager for peace. No matter how much he wanted to continue the war, Donnacha would remind him he did not have the resources to continue. Donnacha promised he could negotiate good terms, and it would not affect whether the Spanish would come. The more the talks ground on, the more he wanted to shut out the Maguire captains and others who may persuade Hugh to reach a lesser deal or even to continue fighting, both of which options Donnacha disapproved. Donnacha sent out his agents to move the negotiations forward.
* * *
Eunan returned to the island to discuss his experiences at the battle of Mullabrack with Desmond and get advice on what he should do next. With assurances from the latter, he spent the autumn in the fields around Enniskillen, using up valuable bullets, training his men the art of musketry. However, before that could happen, he had to fix any lingering friction with Arlo, as Arlo was the best trainer in modern warfare under the employment of the Maguire. After much persuasion, he came to an understanding with Arlo. If his colleague made the men of south Fermanagh the best shot available to the Maguire, Eunan would help him escape back to Spain. Arlo agreed, thinking little of the bargain for his hope had long since sunk into the bogs of Ireland. Eunan’s men were no worse than most of the farm boys he was asked to train, and at least Arlo found Eunan to be pleasant company. The Maguire shot at Mullabrack had much room for improvement, so it would not be hard to show progress.
The second rock in a river of obstacles Eunan had to cross was the domestic positions of his men. He had to battle with the prospect of continuing war and the need for the men to go home and feed their families. He kept a core of men together who did not have the burden of a family, and the Maguire agreed to take on the strain of feeding them. The rest trained when they were available. Improvements were slow and steady, but a constant irritant to the impatient young man.
* * *
The depths of winter came, and through the darkness and sheets of rain, a loan cart came and sought entrance into Enniskillen Castle. A rider led the way and called to the gate. Eunan watched from a window high in the tower, for the cart was more entertaining than the rain. One guard at the gate went to the tower. Out rushed Donnacha, which piqued Eunan’s interest. MacCabe Galloglass surrounded one man from the cart and the rider, who appeared to have one arm and rushed them into the tower. Eunan could not contain his suspicion and went to investigate. He could hear the strangers being ushered in, and so followed the commotion to the private room of the Maguire. Caolan Maguire appeared from the doorway and stepped in his way.
“This is a private meeting. No one else but the Maguire and Donnacha are allowed in.”
“Who are his guests? You can tell me that at least.”
“Why don’t you go back upstairs and mind your own business. If the Maguire wants you to know, he’ll tell you!”
Eunan could see that he would get nowhere with Caolan, who had not forgotten about the instance in the forest and disliked t
he perceived favouritism shown to him. Eunan turned around, for he knew a trick from his youth shown to him by Desmond when he wanted to know what Cúchonnacht was up to.
He fetched Óisin to stand guard while he went into a small room used for storage. It shared a wall with the Maguire’s private room and smelt of deceit. He removed some loose mortar from the wall and placed his ear upon the hole.
“…you’re not negotiating directly with the Crown. I represent the king of Scotland, an interlocutor meaning to bring about peace between the kingdoms of Ireland and England. War in Ireland damages us all. We can sound out your demands in Dublin and London without getting them mixed up with the demands of the O’Neill or the O’Donnell, who I can guarantee you are having their own private negotiations on the side with the Crown.”
“No one will sign any treaty without the nod from the Queen. Now I know who you are, who are you?”
Eunan guessed Hugh was addressing the other guest.
“I am a special envoy for her Majesty that allows my friend to travel the land unmolested. I can get you the approval you seek. Her Majesty is prepared to grant you a full amnesty and other favourable terms, but you would need to show her some goodwill.”
“What kind of goodwill?”
“Change sides and fight against your former allies.”
Eunan slipped from his perch, and some of the dry mortar tricked out of the other side. There was a momentary silence, but he did not know if he had been rumbled. He wanted to believe that they had not caught him, for he wished to hear Hugh Maguire’s reply. He crouched beneath the hole and prayed.
Donnacha spoke next and louder than the previous voices.
“Let us meet again in a week, and we will give you an answer then. My brother’s daughter is to be betrothed to Connor Roe’s son, Art. Go to Derrylinn and enjoy my brother’s hospitality, and we will meet you there before the wedding to give you our answer.”
Donnacha smiled when he heard the faint noise of the hole he so frequently used himself being refilled.
Eunan ran out of the room and grabbed Óisin.
“Have men watch the tower. I want to know when our guests leave.”
* * *
The two guests left the castle at daybreak. They left their cart, which was full of foodstuffs, as a goodwill gesture because of the famine, and set off on horseback. Eunan was a half-hour behind them, leaving Óisin with instructions to get Seamus if he had not heard from him within a week. Seamus had the ear of the O’Donnell, and if he proved what was happening, the O’Donnell would be in the best position to do something about it. Eunan declined Óisin’s offer to accompany him and only took two men with him.
He rode as fast as he could towards Derrylinn, the direction the two guests had been seen riding. Eunan rode full pelt into one of the many forests along the way. He tore ahead of his guards, eager to catch the emissaries from Scotland and the Crown. He was determined to catch the strangers unescorted before they made it to Derrylinn and so dug his heels into the side of his horse. This was it. His big chance. Save the Maguires, save the rebellion. No more living under either of his father’s shadows; Odin and his cronies banished forever. Eunan the her….. Everything stopped.
Out of nowhere he was suddenly wrenched from his horse, and his head hit the ground, leaving a trail of blood. A rope vibrated between two trees on either side of the path.
His next memory was seeing the clouds in the sky, hurting all over and dying of thirst. He raised his head to see the mask of Shea Óg.
“You’re gonna wish they let me kill you after what they are going to do to you, ya little bastard!”
The last thing Eunan remembered was the butt of an axe rapidly coming towards his face.
* * *
“No!”
Eunan awoke to a bucket of slops thrown over him. The cold floor pushed up its slime into his skin. The cell stank of excretion and death. Eunan grabbed onto a nearby wooden stool and hauled himself up to sit on the ground. Two guards and the grinning face of Shea Óg appeared in the doorway.
One guard took a letter from his pouch and moistened his lips.
“By order of Sir Richard Bingham, governor of Connacht, and the law courts of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, you have been declared a traitor. The crimes you have committed are rebellion, killing the Queen’s agents, raiding and theft of goods rightfully belonging to her Majesty’s subjects and any other crimes we may discover before you are tried. You will appear before the court in due course and, if found guilty, be hung, drawn and quartered. You will remain in jail until you appear in court. May God rest your soul.”
“I told you you’d wish I killed you,” sneered Shea Óg.
The door slammed shut. It sucked out life, light, and hope. Eunan fell to the ground.
“Is this to be the end of me?”
He noticed one little window with bars towards the top of the wall. It was a light to the outside world. But on that sill sat Odin, Loki and Baku. They leapt down towards him.
35
A phoney war
The months grew colder as the year slipped into December. Famine once again blighted Ireland as the ever-present threat of harvest failure became a reality for the second time in a year.
The ceasefire seemed not to affect Connacht, for it had become overrun with would-be rebels, and the lack of experienced men crippled the governor’s ability to act. Therefore, the English and their allies had taken to hiding behind the walls of their towns and castles.
While O’Neill had concluded a ceasefire in Ulster and the east, Red Hugh did not consider that it applied to him in Connacht and continued to support his allies and subordinate clans in the province. He sent Seamus to the province along with other captains of the O’Donnells. Their mission was to sow the seeds of rebellion in those clans who had not yet sided with Red Hugh and reinforce with men and equipment those clans that had. They were to disrupt the rule of the Crown through raids, kidnap, and assassination.
In early October, Tibbot MacWalter Kittagh Burke (known as Kittagh) won a notable victory when he ambushed an English column near Belleek, County Mayo, after the English tried to relieve a castle he was besieging. Red Hugh made much noise about this for propaganda in order to persuade other clans and chieftains who wavered on the sidelines and declare for him.
The next significant event was the assassination of Captain William Fildew by his men and the commandeering of his galley. Captain Fildew was the leading English naval commander. His death meant that Bingham could no longer conduct amphibious raids along the coast of Tirconnell.
The third was the death of the MacWilliam Burke. The two leading powers in the province were the MacWilliam Burkes and the Earl of Clanricarde, from another branch of the old Norman Burke clan. This gave Red Hugh the opportunity to stamp his authority on the province and place someone loyal to him as the MacWilliam Burkes leader. The tanistry title of MacWilliam Burke had recently been abolished, and Red Hugh was keen to reinstate it.
The Lord deputy became convinced that the troubles in Connacht were no longer solely motivated by the resentment of the native population to Governor Bingham, but that they had joined the rebellion in Ulster. Because of the restriction in men, equipment and supplies, the Lord deputy could do little but launch small expeditions into the province and strong-arm minor lords on the periphery into renouncing O’Donnell and declaring for the Crown. By December 1595, most of Connacht was under the control or influence of Red Hugh. He decided it was time to reintroduce tanistry to the province, a culture that Governor Bingham had done his utmost to destroy.
* * *
Into this maelstrom rode Seamus, as he emerged from the dusk in front of the gates of Galway town with several carts strung out behind him. He had five men with him, including the ever-loyal Sean O’Toole.
“Who goes there?” exclaimed the guard from the tower.
“A travelling merchant responding to a summons by the Earl of Clanricarde asking for supplies of food to be brought. I un
derstand the famine has bitten that Galway town hard?”
“Aye, that it has. I hope you’ve not come armed, for no weapons are allowed on the orders of Governor Bingham.”
“I thought the Earl of Clanricarde ruled these lands?”
“That he does, but the governor resides here as well.”
Seamus already knew these facts, but he sought to play dumb to make his role more believable.
“Are you going to open the gate, then? Can I pass?”
“As soon as we search your wagons and are satisfied you are who you say you are, then you can go.”
The man waved to his men to leave the safety of the walls and conduct their search.
Seamus expected as much, and his party was unarmed. He waited patiently and was soon on his way to refresh the town stores. It was a slight loss to the Confederacy, but given the aim of Seamus’s mission, potentially very worthwhile.
* * *
Meanwhile, down at the docks, a mysterious ship cut its way through the night, moored, and unloaded its cargo. The guards picked up their weapons and went down to investigate. They illuminated the dock.
“Who goes there? Who permitted you to unload these barrels?”
The captain of the ship walked over from his position of supervision and handed the guards a letter.
“These are a gift from the MacWilliam Burkes to the governor and his men. It looks like an early Christmas present for you as these barrels are full of wine!”