Battle of Clontibret
| date | May 27, 1595 |
|---|---|
| place | between Armagh and Monaghan , Ireland |
| output | Victory of the rebels |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Irish rebels |
English troops |
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 4500 men | 1750 men |
| losses | |
|
100-400 men |
100-700 men |
Clontibret - Carrickfergus - Yellow Ford - Curlew Pass - Cahir Castle - Moyry Pass - Kinsale - Dunboy
The Battle of Clontibret took place in northern Ireland (now County Monaghan ) in 1595 during the Nine Years War . Adversaries in the battle were the royal English troops of Queen Elizabeth I and the rebel troops under the leadership of Hugh O'Neill (2nd Earl of Tyrone ). The battle ended in O'Neill's victory and was the first major setback for English troops during the war.
background
The first skirmishes of the Nine Years War coincided with the English attempts to establish a number of garrisons on the southern border of the O'Neill area. O'Neill immediately besieged Monaghan Castle with his troops. Sir Henry Bagenal , commander of the English troops, then set out from Dundalk via Newry to come to the aid of the English garrison. His army was 1750 strong; although it contained a few veterans , the majority consisted of inexperienced recruits. In addition to a few mounted soldiers, the infantry dominated , armed with muskets and pikes .
The battle
The prelude to the Battle of Clontibret consisted mainly of retreating and defending the English army, which was ambushed by the rebels near the city of Monaghan . The Irish rebels had positioned themselves in the woods around the streets near Crossdale (about 6.5 km from Monaghan), from where they fired light muskets at the English troops. There were no hand-to-hand fighting and 12 English soldiers were killed while the English troops flee to Monaghan Castle; about 30 were wounded.
Two days later, on May 27, Bagenal set out with a column in the direction of Newry; he took another route through the Drumlin and Clontibret area . An area with numerous hills, forests and moors - ideal for an ambush. His troops were shot at shortly after leaving and were ambushed near a pass near Clontibret.
O'Neill's army, about 4,500 strong, was composed of contingents of soldiers from the O'Neill, MacMahon and Maguire clans, as well as Scottish mercenaries. Side cavalry fire was very hard on the English troops and many English soldiers died. O'Neill almost got himself killed in that battle when he got into hand-to-hand combat with Seagrave, a leader from the Pale . Seagrave's arm was severed from O'Neill's standard bearer and O'Neill eventually stabbed Seagrave in the back.
As night fell, the attacks by O'Neill's men subsided, and Bagenal took up position on a hill called Ballymacowen . Despite Bagenal's fear of another attack by O'Neill under cover of darkness, it did not take place (allegedly due to a lack of gunpowder), so that at dawn the reinforcements from Newry arrived at Bagenal's troops. No further fighting took place.
Aftermath
The battle was hardly mentioned in the government and the concealment of the number of victims tended to lead to the battle being seen as a great victory for the rebels. The actual numbers of soldiers killed vary greatly depending on which side you want to believe. Bagenal reported 31 dead and 109 injured on this second day of the fight, but his losses are likely to have been significantly higher.
Three years later, Bagenal ambushed another British army at the Battle of Yellow Ford , in which O'Neill was killed.
literature
- Cyril Falls: Elizabeth's Irish Wars . Constable and Robinson, London 1996, ISBN 978-0-09-477220-5 (English, New edition).
- GA Hayes-McCoy: Irish Battles . A Military History of Ireland. Appeltreepress, Belfast 1990, ISBN 0-86281-250-X (English, new edition, paperback).
- Lorcan Ó Mearáin: The Battle of Clontibret . In: Clogher Record, Journal of the Clogher Historical Society . 1956 (English, index ).