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Essex's Administration - His
Fatuity - The Futility of his Methods - Death of Sir Thomas Norris - Essex
marches South - His Campaign in Munster - Death of Sir Henry Norris - Sir
Conyers Clifford directed to relieve Coloony Castle - Defeated by O'Rourke
and O'Donnell - Dies on the Field - Submission of O'Conor Sligo to Tyrone.
Essex issued a proclamation
on his arrival, offering pardon and restoration of their property to such
of the Irish as submitted, but very few availed themselves of the
proffered favours. His commission, as already stated, was of the most
ample kind. He was empowered to lease the lands of all rebels, especially
those affected by the attainder of Tyrone and others in his province, and
in Tirconnell, Leitrim, Fermanagh, and the Route. An exception was made in
favour of O'Dogherty, and also in the case of Sir Arthur O'Neill, who
were, it was considered, driven into disloyalty by necessity and not from
choice. Pardons might be granted by the Lord-Lieutenant for all treasons,
but it was stipulated that the arch-traitor, Tyrone, who had "so vilely
abused" the Queen's mercy, was only to be pardoned for life, and not for
lands, and even this mercy was only to be extended to him on his giving
some kind of guarantee of future good behaviour. As in Lord Burgh's case,
knighthoods were not to be given away wholesale, strict injunctions being
given to the Lord-Lieutenant to "confer that title upon none that shall
not deserve it by some notorious service, or have not in possession or
reversion sufficient living to maintain their degree and calling".
The Lord-Lieutenant, "this
noble and worthy gentleman", having taken "the sword and sway of this
unsettled kingdom into his hands", proceeded to confer with the Council,
and, as the result of many meetings, it was decided not to attack Tyrone
or O'Donnell, but rather to attack their allies. The Council advised "a
present prosecution in Leinster, being the heart of the whole kingdom", a
plan which, however, was not carried into effect. About 30,000 rebels
altogether were reported to be in arms, and of these Leinster contained
3000 natives, in addition to 800 mercenaries from Ulster. The country was
in a state of ferment. Meath and Westmeath were full of armed bands;
Longford and Louth suffered greatly from incursions from Ulster.
Essex sent reinforcements
to the garrisons of Carrickfergus, Newry, Dundalk, Drogheda, Wicklow, and
Naas. A force of 3000 foot and 300 horse was sent forward to Kilcullen,
and on the loth of May he set out from Dublin to take the command. He
then, instead of marching, as originally intended, towards Ulster,
proceeded south.
It is as necessary here to
follow the fortunes of Essex as it was on previous occasions not to keep
strictly within the confines of the province under consideration, for the
fatuous conduct of the Lord-Lieutenant, and the futility of his efforts to
grapple with his evil star, ultimately affected the country at large and
Ulster in particular.
The English army was
repeatedly attacked along the route by Owny MacRory and the other Leinster
confederates; and in one of these conflicts Essex lost, according to
O'Sullivan Beare, some 500 men, the place being called Bearnanag-Cleti, or
the Pass of Plumes, from the number of plumes collected there after the
battle. Ormonde made his appearance, accompanied by his kinsmen, Lords
Mountgarret and Cahir, both of whom had been considered in rebellion.
Mountgarret made his. submission, and Essex then besieged the castle of
Cahir, which was held by James, another of the insurgent Butlers, but was
thrown open after part of the building had been demolished by heavy
artillery, and Lord Cahir had called in vain on his brother to surrender.
Essex repaired the damage done, and, placing a garrison of 100 men in the
castle, he marched northward along the left bank of the Suir.
Sir Thomas Norris, Lord
President of Munster, while waiting the advent of the Lord-Lieutenant at
Kilmallock, exercised his men in forays against the Irish, and in one of
these was mortally wounded by Thomas Burke, brother of the Baron of
Castleconnell. The wound, it was first thought, would not prove fatal, for
Norris announced that he had recovered sufficiently to accompany Essex in
part of his Munster campaign, but in August he was dangerously ill, and in
September commissioners were appointed to execute duties neglected since
his death.
Near Limerick, Essex, who
was accompanied on this expedition by the Earl of Ormonde, was joined by
Sir Conyers Clifford, President of Connaught, the Earls of Thomond and
Clanrickard, and Donough O'Conor Sligo. Clifford and Clanrickard returned
to Connaught, and Essex, with the other commanders, marched against the
Geraldines, who gave them a warmer reception than they anticipated.
After some hard fighting,
in his second day's march from Limerick, when he had been entertained with
two orations in English, "in which", remarks Harrington, "I know not which
was more to be discommended words, composition, or oratory, all of which
having their peculiar excellencies in barbarism, harshness, and rustical,
both pronouncing and action", the Viceroy pitched his camp a little to the
east of Askeaton, and, having succeeded in conveying some ammunition to
that garrison, he was again attacked in marching to Adare, at a place
called Finneterstown, by the newly-created Earl of Desmond with 2000 or
3000 men. Here Captain Jennings was killed, Sir Henry Norris had his leg
broken by a bullet, and a third officer was shot through both cheeks.
Norris "endured amputation with extraordinary patience", but died a few
weeks afterwards, "making", says Mr. Bagwell, "the third of these famous
six brothers who had fallen a victim to the Irish service".
Essex now returned, without
even attempting any further service with his fine army, by a circuitous
route, through Fermoy and Lismore, into Leinster, the Geraldines hovering
on his rear and cutting off several of his men in the early part of the
march, while the Leinster insurgents were equally unmerciful to him in the
latter portion of it.
O'Conor Sligo, on returning
from Munster, was blockaded in his only remaining castle of Coloony by
O'Donnell, and Essex directed Sir Conyers Clifford to hasten with all his
available forces to relieve him, and to dispatch by sea, from Galway,
materials for the construction and fortification of a strong castle at
Sligo, to defend that passage against the men of Tirconnell. Clifford
proceeded to obey these orders, and while the naval expedition sailed
round the coast, under the command of Theobald of the Ships (so called
from his having been born at sea), he himself, with a well-appointed army,
advanced from Athlone towards the Curlieu mountains, beyond which, in the
famous Pass of Ballaghboy, O'Donnell awaited him, with such men as he
could spare, after leaving a sufficient force under his kinsman, Niall
Garv O'Donnell, to continue the blockade of Coloony Castle.
Clifford, with a force of
something under 2000 men, went to Boyle, and, in spite of Essex's caution
against over-confidence, resolved to pass the Curlieu mountains without
resting his men, after two days* march in the hot harvest weather. The day
(i5th of August, 1599) was already far advanced when the Irish scouts from
the hill-tops signalled the approach of the English army from the abbey of
Boyle, where it had encamped the previous night; and O'Donnell, having
addressed his people in a few soul stirring words to encourage them, sent
the youngest and most athletic of his men, armed with javelins, bows, and
muskets, to attack the enemy as soon as they should reach the rugged part
of the mountain, the way having been already impeded by felled trees and
other obstructions, while he himself followed with the remainder of his
small force, marching with a steady pace, and more heavily armed for close
fighting.
Clifford does not seem to
have expected any opposition, but O'Donnell had been watching the pass for
weeks, and had given orders that the army should be allowed to get well on
to the mountain before they were attacked. The Irish scouts saw them leave
the abbey of Boyle, so that there was plenty of time for O'Donnell to
bring up his forces. On arriving at the narrowest part of the pass,
between Boyle and Ballinafad, Clifford found it strongly defended by a
breastwork and held by 400 men, who fired a volley and then fell back. The
English army continued to advance in a solid column by a road which
permitted twelve men to march abreast, and which led through a small wood,
and then through some bogs, where the Irish made their principal stand. It
is clear that the latter behaved with desperate bravery from the outset.
Their musketeers were few, but they made up for the smallness of their
number by the steadiness of their aim.
The road up the mountain,
which consisted of "stones six or seven foot broad, lying above ground,
with plashes of bog between them", ran through boggy woods, from which the
Irish galled the English, who exhausted their powder with little effect.
Sir Alexander Radcliff, commanding the advance-guard, was slain early in
the fight, and the English vanguard soon after was thrown into such
disorder that it fell back upon the centre, and in a little while the
whole army was flying panic-stricken from the field. Indignant at the
ignominious retreat of his troops, Sir Conyers Clifford refused to join
the flying throng, and, breaking from those who would have forced him from
the field, even after he was wounded he sought his death from the foe. The
Four Masters say he was killed by a musket-ball, but according to
O'Sullivan Beare and Dymmock he was pierced through the body with a spear.
Sir John MacSwiney, an Irish officer in the Queen's service, faced the
enemy almost alone, cursing the vileness of his men, and "died fighting,
leaving the example of his virtue to be intituled by all honourable
posterities". Only the horse (Lord Southampton's cavalry), under Sir
Griffin Markham, behaved well, covering the retreat and charging boldly
uphill "among rocks and bogs, where never horse was seen to charge
before". Markham had his arm broken by a shot. O'Rourke, who was encamped
to the east of the Curlieus, arrived with his hosting in time to join in
the pursuit and slaughter of the Queen's army, which lost, according to
O'Sullivan Beare, 1400 men; but Harrington, who was present, says
Clifford's whole force hardly amounted to that number. The English and the
Anglo-Irish of Meath suffered most, as the Connaught Royalists were better
able to avail themselves of the nature of the country in the flight.
O'Donnell, though at no
great distance from the fight, took no part in it; and O'Rourke, who
remained in possession of the field, recognizing the dead Clifford after
the battle, cut off his head and sent it to O'Donnell and MacDermot,
accompanied by a letter " barbarous for the Latin, but civil for the
sense", announcing that for the love he bore the Governor he had sent his
decapitated body to be buried in the old monastery of Lough Ce. Clifford's
head was later taken to Coloony and shown to O'Conor, who, on receiving
this evidence of the failure of his friends to relieve him, surrendered
his castle to O'Donnell, who magnanimously restored his lands to the
fallen chief, together with cattle to stock them. O'Donnell and his late
foe now seemed to be on friendly terms, and Theobald of the Ships, before
returning with his fleet to Galway, also made peace with the triumphant
Chief of TirconnelL "The immediate result of the battle", says Mr.
Bagwell, "was that O'Conor Sligo submitted to Tyrone, and became a loyal
subject of the real King of Ireland." |
