Ireland

by Vincent McDonnell

  The rebellion was badly planned and an attack on Dublin Castle, the base of English power in Ireland, never took place. Rebellion did break out in Ulster, led by Phelim O’Neill, and many terrible atrocities were committed against the Protestant settlers. The worst atrocity occurred in November 1641 when 100 men, women and children were murdered on a bridge at Portadown, many being thrown into the River Bann and drowned. Atrocities were also committed by Protestants against Catholics, and the rebellion was both cruel and bloody. It struck fresh terror in the Protestant people, and made them even more fearful. This fear was so strong that it never eased, and it still exists in the north of Ireland to this very day.

  The rebels soon held most of Ulster and marched south to attack Drogheda and Dundalk. They were joined by Norman families who had lost their lands, and who were also suffering religious persecution. The leaders, Irish and Norman, along with other important men, met in Kilkenny in October 1642 to discuss what should happen next. This meeting, which is known as the Confederation of Kilkenny, was virtually an Irish parliament. Unfortunately, distrust arose between the Irish and the Norman members and the Confederation failed.

  The English appealed to the Scots for help and a Scottish army under General Munro landed at Carrickfergus, County Antrim, in April 1642. Munro marched south to engage the rebels in Leinster, who were still commanded by Phelim O’Neill. He was a poor leader and the rebels were feeling demoralised when Owen Roe O’Neill, a nephew of the great Hugh O’Neill, returned to Ireland from the continent and took over the leadership. He had served in the Spanish army and was a brilliant soldier.

  When O’Neill learned of Munro’s march south he realised that he would have to stop him joining with the rest of the English army. O’Neill led his men to a place called Benburb, County Tyrone, determined to prevent Munro going any further. On 4 May 1646, the two armies met in a fierce battle. Munro and his soldiers suffered a terrible defeat and retreated in disarray.

  O’Neill now decided to march on Dublin and join up with another group of rebels led by a man named Preston. But Preston betrayed O’Neill, who returned to Ulster with his soldiers. Preston’s army was eventually defeated on Dangan Hill, County Meath, while another group of rebels was defeated at Knocknanoss, near Mallow, County Cork. O’Neill’s army was still undefeated, but the rebellion was already lost, and the Catholic people of Ireland were about to pay an unimaginable price for it.

  The rebellion infuriated Oliver Cromwell, who was now the most powerful man in England. When he learned of the atrocities against the Protestants, he swore to punish those who had committed them. He was determined to enforce English rule in Ireland and ensure that there never again would be a rebellion, nor would Protestants be massacred. He was also intent on making Ireland a Protestant, Puritan country.

  Like all tyrants, blinded by his own twisted beliefs, he refused to believe that massacres and atrocities had also been carried out by Protestants, and by English and Scottish soldiers. Nor did he wish to acknowledge the injustices that had been done to the Irish people. Instead, he chose to believe the lie that tens of thousands of Protestants had been murdered, and was intent on avenging their deaths.

  With an army of 20,000 men, Cromwell landed in Dublin on 15 August 1649, one of the darkest days in all Ireland’s long history. He was intent on revenge, and crushing all opposition to his rule. The headquarters of those who opposed him was in Drogheda. The soldiers there were not Irish, nor did they have an Irish leader. They were English soldiers who had supported King Charles, and were led by an English Catholic, Sir Arthur Ashton.

  Drogheda was a fortified town, but the thick walls were quickly breached by Cromwell’s artillery, and the town was taken on 11 September 1649. Cromwell, a cruel, merciless man, driven by religious fanaticism, ordered that all the soldiers in the town should be put to death. However, his bloodthirsty soldiers showed no mercy to anyone, and ordinary men, women and children were also massacred. Sir William Ashton was beaten to death with his own wooden leg. The soldiers thought that the hollow leg contained gold but it did not.

  Townspeople, terrified by the awful slaughter, sought refuge in Saint Peter’s Church. There were a great many women and children among them, as well as the elderly and the sick. They huddled together in the church amidst much wailing and crying, hoping that they would be spared. But the soldiers were driven wild with bloodlust. They set fire to the church, and those within who were not burned to death were massacred as they tried to escape.

  With Drogheda secure, Cromwell marched south. Terrorstricken by what had happened at Drogheda, other towns surrendered. Some of the people in these towns were treated fairly well. But Wexford suffered a similar fate to Drogheda. The town had agreed to surrender, but before that happened, Cromwell attacked. Here again, the defenders as well as the innocent inhabitants were massacred.

  Cromwell continued his course of revenge against the Irish people by taking their land. He then planted it with his supporters and soldiers as a reward for their loyalty. He gave the Irish a simple choice. They could flee ‘to hell or to Connacht’. Those who could flee to Connacht did so, and the countryside was thronged with thousands of terrified men, women and children fleeing for their lives. Connacht had the poorest land in Ireland and many of those who fled there found no sanctuary, but died of hunger and disease. Those who survived were the lucky ones, if one could call those who’d lost everything, and had to flee for their lives, lucky.

  Those who could not flee quickly died of hunger and disease, or were hunted down by Cromwell’s soldiers and killed. During those years, tens of thousands of Irish men, women and children perished in war, or died from starvation and disease. Such was the calamity to befall Ireland that it became known as the ‘curse of Cromwell’. It ensured that he would be the most feared and hated man Ireland had ever known, or would ever know.

  Cromwell returned to England in 1650 and declared himself Lord Protector of the people and ruled with an iron fist. Though hated by Catholics, and those who had supported the king, nevertheless he was greatly admired by his own Protestant people, and by the Protestant people of Europe. They saw him not as a tyrant but as the guardian of their rights and their Protestant faith.

  Oliver Cromwell died on 3 September 1658 and his son, Richard, became Lord Protector. But he soon gave up the position and in 1660 the son of Charles I returned from exile and was crowned Charles II. He was secretly a Roman Catholic, though he pretended to be a Protestant. He persecuted those who had been involved in the trial and execution of his father, and had many of them executed. He also banished many Protestants, who went to live in Holland, which was a Protestant country. Thirty years later, a Dutch Protestant, William of Orange, would become king of England and Ireland. This event was to lead to another battle fought on Irish soil. This battle, one of the last great battles fought in Ireland, took place on 12 July 1690, and is known as The Battle of the Boyne.

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  The Battle of the Boyne

  The Battle of the Boyne was fought between a Catholic king and a Protestant king, both of whom claimed the right to the English throne. This situation arose because when Charles II died in 1685, he left no heir. On his death, his brother James was crowned King James II. He was a Catholic, and wished to restore the Catholic religion to his kingdom. Like many other kings, he was a cruel man, and his supporters carried out terrible atrocities against Protestants, especially in Scotland. The people’s hatred of James grew and, when a son was born, they realised that he would succeed his father. They would continue to have a Catholic monarchy, something they wished to avoid, and they acted to prevent this.

  James’s daughter, Mary, was married to Prince William of the Dutch House of Orange. Both were Protestants and the English people asked them to be their king and queen. They accepted, and on 5 November 1688, William landed with his army at Torbay in southern England. He was a small man but, riding on a great white horse, and with his polished armour gleaming, he looked every inch a king as ro
de into London. There, he and his wife were crowned king and queen.

  When James learned that William was on his way to England, he fled to France with his wife and son. There he asked Louis XIV for help. Louis was at war with the Dutch and offered to help James. He gave him soldiers and with these James sailed for Ireland. He knew the Irish would not support William, the Protestant king, but would support James because he was a Catholic. Like Edward Bruce before him, James saw an opportunity to win back his throne by fighting a war in Ireland.

  James landed at Kinsale in March 1689 and marched to Dublin. The country was still devastated by the previous wars and the displacement of the Irish population. Hunger and disease were rife and the Protestant settlers were living in a state of fear. There was famine too, and food was difficult to obtain. When the Protestant settlers in Ulster learned of James’s arrival, they left their lands and sought refuge in the towns of Enniskillen and Derry.

  James’s forces now marched on Derry. The city was fortified with walls, yet as the army approached the people in the town grew terrified. They feared that if they resisted the attackers, they would be massacred if the town was taken. They decided to surrender, but a group of thirteen young Protestant apprentices, who happened to be in the city, raced to the gates and closed them. The attackers had no other choice but to lay siege to the city. They surrounded the walls and built a wooden barrier across the River Foyle, on which Derry was built. This barrier, or boom, was designed to prevent ships sailing up the river with food and water to relieve the city.

  The siege lasted 105 days. During this time no food was allowed into the city. As a result of this, the people inside the walls were soon starving. Yet they would not yield, even when, having eaten all the horses and dogs, the people were forced to eat rats and mice, and even to chew the skins of the animals. Disease soon spread and about 4,000 people – half the population of the city – died.

  Their only hope was that help would come from England. But no help came. When the soldiers and the people were barely able to stand, never mind fight, and were on the verge of surrendering, three ships were glimpsed sailing up the Foyle. The longed-for help had come at last.

  The leading ship was the Mountjoy, and she sailed straight at the boom. Those besieging the city, and those within, held their breaths as the ship smashed into the barrier. There was a tremendous crashing sound, but the boom, though damaged, held firm. The Mountjoy was damaged and sank into the mud of the river. The besiegers cheered while those within the walls groaned in despair. It seemed as if they were doomed.

  The second of the three ships now sailed directly toward the boom. Again there was a tremendous crashing noise. The already-damaged boom broke apart and the ship passed through and sailed on into the city. It was the inhabitants’ turn to cheer while the besiegers looked on in dismay, knowing that the siege had failed. They had no other choice but to withdraw. The war, however, was not yet over.

  William decided to come to Ireland and engage James in battle. William arrived in Carrickfergus in the summer of 1690, and was joined by other soldiers in Ulster. At the head of 40,000 men, he marched south towards Dublin, while James, with 26,000 men, marched north.

  The two armies met at the River Boyne on 12 July 1690. The scene of the battle is not far from Drogheda, where Oliver Cromwell had carried out his first massacre forty-one years before. William’s army was well armed and well trained, while James’s soldiers were poorly armed and poorly disciplined. William was a fine leader while James was almost useless, and was also a cowardly man.

  The outcome of the battle was inevitable. James’s army was defeated and he fled the battlefield. It is said that when he reached Dublin he told a woman there that he had lost the battle because his ‘cowardly Irish troops had run away’. The woman, no doubt aware of James’s cowardly reputation, replied: ‘Then it seems Your Majesty has won the race’. James continued his flight and returned to France, leaving his Irish supporters to fight on in his name. The Protestant people of Ulster celebrated King William’s victory at the Boyne, and still do so every year on 12 July when they march through the cities and towns of Northern Ireland.

  After his victory at the Boyne, William took Dublin. Meanwhile, the Irish and French soldiers retreated west, intending to halt William’s advance across the River Shannon at Limerick and Athlone. In Limerick, one of the Irish commanders was Patrick Sarsfield. He was a brave man, who had fought in the French army, and he was determined that Limerick would not surrender.

  William’s army marched west to lay siege to Limerick in August 1690. The city was defended by strong walls, and heavy artillery would be needed to breach them. Over 150 wagons laden with cannon, cannonballs and barrels of gunpowder, and drawn by hundreds of horses, set out from Dublin, bound for the attackers.

  Sarsfield learned of this wagon train and realised that if William’s army got the artillery they would be able to breach the walls. The Irish had no choice but to prevent the wagon train from reaching the attackers. At midnight on 11 August, Sarsfield, along with a troop of cavalry, slipped out of the city under the cover of darkness. Their plan was to find the wagon train and blow it up.

  The wagon train had stopped overnight at Ballyneety, nor far from Limerick city. But Sarsfield and his men could not ride directly there because William’s army was between them and Ballyneety. They had to take a roundabout route through the dark countryside. Sarsfield was not familiar with the area, and he and his men were guided by a man named ‘Galloping’ Michael Hogan. He was a raparee, a type of highwayman, and was so nicknamed because he usually rode a horse. Stories claim that earlier that day Hogan had stopped to buy apples from an old woman, and she had told him that the password to be used that night by those guarding the wagon train was none other than ‘Sarsfield’.

  ‘Galloping’ Hogan led Sarsfield and his men through the dark countryside to Ballyneety. When challenged for the password by soldiers guarding the wagon train, Sarsfield shouted out: ‘Sarsfield is the word and Sarsfield is the man’. The soldiers, caught off guard, were quickly overpowered. The cannon, cannonballs and barrels of gunpowder were piled up in a gigantic heap. A fuse was laid and lit by Hogan.

  The glare from the massive explosion momentarily turned the night into day. The deafening boom resounded about the countryside and was heard by both the attackers and the defenders. Within the walls, the people cheered, aware that Sarsfield and his men had been successful. However, their good cheer was not to last long as William’s men obtained more artillery from Waterford and the siege began.

  The attackers bombarded the walls for weeks, and eventually breached them in places. An attack was ordered, and fierce fighting ensued. The women of Limerick fought alongside their men, pouring boiling water down on the attackers who were eventually driven back with huge losses. William was forced to give up the siege and he returned to England, leaving a Dutchman, General Ginkell, in charge.

  By now, Ireland east of the Shannon was under the control of William’s army. Without help from France, it was only a matter of time before Ginkell would also control the country west of the Shannon. Help did eventually come from France in May 1691 when a French general, St Ruth, arrived in Ireland. He decided to try and hold Athlone against Ginkell’s forces.

  On 23 June 1691, Ginkell’s artillery began to pound Athlone. It was the heaviest artillery bombardment ever seen in Ireland. After days of bombardment, the bridge across the Shannon was damaged. Ginkell’s troops repaired it with planks and got ready to cross it and take the town. It seemed as if nothing could stop them.

  In one of the most courageous episodes in Irish history, a man named Costume asked for volunteers to help him dislodge the planks. Nine men volunteered and, led by Costume, dashed onto the bridge under fierce fire from the besiegers. The ten men succeeded in tearing up some of the planks before all of then were killed in a hail of shot. More volunteers were called for and another ten men rushed onto the bridge. They succeeded in tearing up the remaining planks, b
ut not before eight of them died in the intense fire. Two escaped by jumping into the river and swimming to safety. St Ruth, who was a brave soldier, and who had seen many brave men in battle, claimed that it was the bravest action he had ever seen.

  The bravery of the twenty men saved Athlone for the moment. Eventually, the besiegers crossed the river at another point, and took the town on 30 June 1691. St Ruth decided to retreat and fight one last battle against Ginkell’s forces. This battle was fought at Aughrim, near Ballinasloe in County Galway, on 22 July 1691. Though greatly outnumbered, the Irish fought with the same courage shown by the twenty men who tore up the bridge at Athlone. The Irish might have won, except that tragedy struck. During the battle, St Ruth was killed by a cannonball and, on seeing this, the Irish soldiers lost heart. Ginkell pressed on to victory and the Irish were routed. It is claimed that more Irishmen died in the Battle of Aughrim than in any other battle ever fought in Ireland.

  After his victory at Aughrim, Ginkell took the city of Galway. Only Limerick still held out and, under the command of Patrick Sarsfield, the city prepared again for a siege. Once more, Ginkell’s forces surrounded the walls, but still could not take the city. It was stalemate, and eventually both sides agreed on a treaty. This treaty, known as the Treaty of Limerick, was signed on the Treaty Stone on 3 October 1691. It granted Catholics the right to practise their religion, along with many other rights. Sarsfield and his soldiers agreed to leave Ireland and go to France or Spain, where they could join the armies there.

  Sarsfield, and up to 20,000 Irish soldiers, did go to fight in the armies of France and Spain. Because of their flight from the country, they are known as The Wild Geese. Like the Flight of the Earls nearly 100 years earlier, it was a tragedy for Ireland and its people. Once again, those who might have fought to defend the people sailed away from the country. Once more, Ireland and its people were left helpless and undefended. Sarsfield, and those who left, later distinguished themselves in battle. Sarsfield himself was killed fighting for the French at the Battle of Landan in 1693.