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Owen Roe O'Neill's Army - He
repairs to Leinster - Reconciliation effected by Rinuccini between Owen
Roe and Sir Phelim O'Neill - The Papal Nuncio and Owen O'Neill - The
Nuncio finances O'Neill, who collects a Large Army and marches north to
surprise Armagh - Munro marches to meet him - The Opposing Armies meet
at Benburb - Owen Roe's Speech to his Men - The Scots defeated and
routed - Munro escapes to Lisburn.
Owen Roe O'Neill, as we
have seen, was unable to give
Castlehaven, during his invasion of Ulster, the support he
had promised. His army was composed chiefly of creaghts,
those wild nomadic herdsmen who were always willing and
ready to assemble in times of turbulence, and who managed
to escape the consequences of defeat by the ease with which
they were able to disperse. There was no cohesion in an
army composed of such free and independent units as these.
O'Neill had much difficulty in maintaining anything like a
standing army in Ulster with which to oppose the encroachments of Munro.
His sources of supply were gradually cut
off, and as a last resource he was driven to repair with his
wood-kernes and creaghts to Leinster to seek the means of
subsistence which were no longer to be found in Ulster. In
the southern province O'Neill could not control his unruly
followers, who, in lieu of pay, lived on plunder, and so greatly
did their depredations harass the inhabitants that the Supreme
Council at Kilkenny was obliged to follow an indignant
remonstrance with a threat of expulsion by force of arms.
O'Neill, who was still smarting under the affront he had
received in Castlehaven's having been appointed to supreme
command when the Confederates' army invaded Ulster, a
position which he had never doubted would be first offered
to himself, was highly incensed at what he considered this
fresh insult; and it is possible that he would have thrown up
his command and left the country in disgust if at this moment
he had not been summoned to an audience by Rinuccini, who
had resolved to bring about a reconciliation between Owen Roe
and Sir Phelim O'Neill. The Nuncio was also determined to
strike a vigorous blow in the north against the Scots, and,
having cleared Ulster of the invaders, to restore to its ancient
worship the cathedral of Armagh. For this he needed the
help of Owen Roe, and to that end he assured O'Neill of his
sympathy, and promised him practical support by devoting
to his needs the subsidies he received from the Continent.
The Nuncio had a peculiar satisfaction in thus securing
O'Neill's services, for he was at variance with the Supreme
Council with regard to Ormonde's peace, and he therefore
set himself vigorously to secure the efficiency of O'Neill's
army by supplying him with money from the Pope wherewith to pay his men,
giving him at the same time generous
grants of weapons from the stores he had established at
Ardtully.
The Ulster men were now
mobilized, and informed that
they were employed by the Nuncio, who needed their services
in the sacred cause of religion. They were, in addition,
emboldened by the assurance that the Pope had placed them
under the special protection of Heaven. Special efforts were
made to enlist the sympathies of all by playing judiciously
on the religious sentiments of an eminently religious and
emotional race, and by the end of May O'Neill found himself
at the head of a well-provisioned and well-equipped army of
about 5000 foot and 500 horse.
The Confederacy during
the early portion of 1646 was so
weakened by internal dissensions that Munro thought it
opportune to attack Kilkenny. In order to meet with as little
opposition as possible when marching south, it was deemed
expedient that Sir Robert Stewart should invade Con naught
while Munro himself engaged O'Neill, who had marched
north with the intention of surprising Armagh. Munro,
however, had received timely notice of this movement, and
determined to frustrate it. He therefore hastened from Carrickfergus
with a portion of the Scottish army and some of the
forces of the province to meet him, leaving Campbell of
Auchinbreck in command.
The Scottish general's
collective forces on this occasion
are said to have amounted to 6000 foot and 800 horse. In
setting out he had 3400 foot " effective under arms", with
eleven troops of horse and six field-pieces. His army was
thus superior to that of O'Neill, numerically as well as in
equipment ; nevertheless he sent word to his nephew, Colonel
George Munro, who commanded at Coleraine, to join him
immediately with the troops in garrison there, some 240
musketeers and three troops of horse. He appointed Glaslough, in the
north of Monaghan, as their rendezvous, and,
leaving the neighbourhood of Belfast on the 2nd of June,
1646, he spent the night of the 3rd near Dromore.
On the following morning
Munro detached a troop of
horse, under Daniel Munro, with orders to cross the Blackwater at
Benburb and meet George Munro at Dungannon.
O'Neill, on being informed of this, sent two of his officers,
Colonels Bernard MacMahon and Patrick MacNeny, with
their regiments, to intercept George Munro, but they did not
effect anything. O'Neill's cavalry had reached some hilly
ground commanding the Blackwater, and he now determined
to concentrate his forces and take up his position at Benburb.
The night of the 4th
Munro's army spent at Hamilton's
Bawn, and in the morning the General himself went through
Armagh to view the bridges and ford at Benburb. These
are commanded by high rocks, and to attempt a passage in
front of O'Neill's forces was not possible. Munro therefore
marched to Kinnaird, and, crossing the river a long distance
to the rear of the Irish, approached them in front by a circuitous route
from the east and north, arriving late in the
afternoon.
After this forced march
Munro might possibly have halted
until morning but that his men were eager for the fray.
"All our army, foot and horse," the General declared, "did
earnestly covet fighting, which it was impossible for me to gainstand without being reproached for cowardice, and never
did I see a greater confidence than was amongst us." MacMahon and
MacNeny now returned from their fruitless expe-
dition in search of George Munro, whose uncle at first took
them to be the reinforcement he was expecting, and, on learning his
mistake, became alarmed and ordered a retreat.
O'Neill, observing this momentary hesitation on the part of
the Scots, ordered his men to advance, and the two armies
met at Drumflugh, between the Oona brook and Benburb.
In Sir Phelim O'Neill's
journal, and all contemporary
accounts of the battle of Benburb, mention is made of Owen
Roe's short speech to his army, a speech which, whether it
was delivered in Irish or in English, evidently made a deep
impression on the men. It is, however, variously reported.
In the journal it is stated that O'Neill said: "Behold the
army of the enemies of God, the enemies of your lives. Fight
valiantly against them to-day, for it is they who have deprived
you of your chiefs, of your children, of your means of sub-
sistence, spiritual and temporal; who have torn from you
your lands, and made you wandering fugitives." According
to a British officer, "MacArt spoke in front of his own men
these words, as I was told, or to that effect: "You have arms
in your hands, you are as numerous as they are; and now
try your valour and your strength on those that have banished
you and now resolve to destroy you bud and branch. So let
your manhood be seen by your push of pike; and I will
engage, if you do so, by God's assistance and the intervention of His
blessed mother and all the Holy Saints in Heaven,
that the day will be your own. Your word is Sancta Maria;
and so, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
advance, and give not fire till you are within picket-length."
It was now about six in
the evening, and the sun, which
had been in the eyes of the Irish, was now well in the eyes of
the Scots, who also had the wind adverse, blowing dust and
smoke in their faces. As the Scots advanced, their passage
was disputed in a narrow defile by Colonel Richard O'Farrell;
but this obstacle was soon removed by Munro's artillery, and
the whole Scottish army advanced against O'Neill's position,
which was admirably selected, being protected in the rear by
a wood, with the Blackwater on his right and a bog on his
left, the plain in front being full of bushes and scrubby
timber. The ground thus selected made Munro's front too
narrow, and overcrowding resulted in confusion, which was
increased by a squadron of his own cavalry acting wildly.
O'Neill saw that the
moment was decisive, and ordered
his men to charge, and the Irish rushed upon the Scots and
English with an impetus that was irresistible. The Scottish
cavalry twice charged to break the advancing column of the
Irish, but were themselves thrown into disorder by the impetuous charge
of the Irish horse. The ranks of Munro's
foot and horse were now broken, and, the Irish continuing
to press on vigorously, the confusion was soon converted
into a total rout, a result to which Munro's own cavalry
contributed not a little, for he tells us one squadron, "consisting for
the most part of Irish riders, although under the
English command", "did not charge, but retreated disorderly through our
foot, making the enemies' horse to
follow them at least one squadron". This may possibly
have been inspired by treachery.
Lord Blaney's regiment
first met the brunt of the Irish
onset, and, after a stubborn resistance, was cut to pieces, all
the guns being taken and the commander slain. Colonel
Conway had two horses killed under him, but escaped on
a third to Newry, accompanied by Captain Burke and about
forty horsemen. The regiment of Sir James Montgomery
was the only one that retreated in tolerable order. Lord
Montgomery of Ardes, who led the cavalry during the battle,
was taken prisoner with about twenty other officers. The
infantry fought on bravely till sunset, when they broke and
fled, the majority seeking the ford of the Blackwater; but
Sir Phelim O'Neill held possession of the ford, and the
slaughter there was grim and great, for he specially charged
the horse whom he commanded to take no prisoners and to
give no quarter. Of those who crossed the river, many were
killed in passing through the county of Armagh. Others
fled towards Caledon, and many were drowned in Knocknacloy lake. George
Munro got back to Coleraine without the
loss of a single man.
Munro himself escaped to
Lisburn, and with him most
of his cavalry. He fled so precipitately that his wig, hat,
cloak, and sword were found among the spoils. All the
Scottish artillery, tents, and provisions, with a great quantity
of arms and ammunition and thirty-two colours, fell into the
hands of the Irish. Munro acknowledges a loss of 500 or
600 men; but the Irish accounts state that from 3000 to 4000
dead were counted. The Irish loss was 70 men killed and
200 wounded.
Sir James Turner
maintained that Munro's greatest fault
as a general was a tendency to underrate his enemy. Munro
himself said of the Benburb disaster: "The Lord of Hosts
had a controversy with us to rub shame on our faces, as on
other armies, till once we shall be humbled; for a greater
confidence did I never see". The British officer whose
account of O'Neill's speech as given in History of the Wars
in Ireland has been quoted, attributes the defeat of the Scots
primarily to over-confidence, and also to the fact that the
soldiers were wearied by their long march from Lisburn,
having had but little rest or refreshment on the way, and
having had to stand to their arms for at least five hours.
To these he adds another reason, the shortness of the Scottish pike.
"The Irish pikes", he says, "were longer by
a foot or two, and far better to pierce, being four square
and small, and the other pikes broad-headed, which are
the worst in the world."
Owen Roe, having won a
victory, Irish -like did not
follow it up. In this he followed the example of his great
namesakes, Shane O'Neill and Hugh, Earl of Tyrone. Had
he continued to advance, the consequence might have been
still more disastrous to the Parliamentarians in the north;
but, not being his own master, being servant to Rinuccini,
he was peremptorily ordered to return as soon as possible
to the south. O'Neill did not return immediately, but started
raising new regiments, which he armed with the weapons
taken from the Scots. Four days after the battle he sent
Bartholomew MacEgan, definitor of the order of St. Francis,
to Limerick with a letter to the Nuncio, who, in recognition
of the services of O'Neill's army, sent to Ulster Dean Mazzari, with instructions to give three rialls (about one-and- sixpence)
to each soldier and larger sums to the officers
a fact which increased the belief of the rank and file that
they were indeed the army of the Nuncio.
Munro, in the panic of
the moment, burned Dundrum,
abandoned several strong posts, and called all the English
and Scots of Ulster to arms; but the Irish made no further
attempt to molest him, and he awaited at Carrickfergus the
arrival of fresh supplies of men and money from the Parliament. The fame
of O'Neill's victory made many flock to his
standard, and his effective force was soon increased to 10,000
men. These he designated "The Catholic Army of Ulster",
and thereby excited fresh jealousies, for it identified him as
being in alliance with the Nuncio, and thus increased the
hatred of Preston and the Ormondists. Another cause of
unpleasantness was due to the fact that the victorious Ulster
troops plundered the adjacent borders of Leinster, O'Neill
being unable to control them. Ormonde, however, recognized this fact,
and rightly attributed the unruly behaviour
of the Irish "to the necessities imposed on General O'Neill
for want of means to go on or to keep his men in better order
where he is".
Thus want of money and
ill-feeling between the native
and Anglo-Irish leaders prevented the greatest of Irish
victories from having any permanent results. |
