Battle of Knocknanauss
| date | November 1647 |
|---|---|
| place | Knocknanauss , Ireland |
| output | English victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Irish Confederate Munster Army |
English Parliamentarians Army |
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 6,000 | 7,000 |
| losses | |
|
over 3,000 |
1,500 |
The Battle of Knocknanauss ( English Battle of Knocknanauss , Irish Cath Chnoc na nOs ) took place during the Irish Confederation Wars in November 1647 between the Army of the Confederation of Ireland and the English Army of Parliament in the south of Ireland .
In the summer of 1647, Murrough O'Brien (Earl Inchiquinn), commander of the English parliamentary army in Cork , raided the Confederate area in Munster , leaving behind burned towns, houses and fields, earning him the nickname Murchadh na doiteann ( Murrough the arsonist ). During this campaign, O'Brien also conquered the Rock of Cashel , an important religious symbol of the Irish at the time. During the conquest, O'Brien had the local garrison and the Catholic clergy massacred.
The Confederate Munster Army was initially unable to stop O'Brien's army due to internal quarrels - in particular the question of whether the Confederation should enter into an alliance with the English royalists , split them. It was only after the fall of the Rock of Cashel and after the fields burned down that there was hardly any food left that Donagh MacCarthy was replaced as commander of the Munster Army by Viscount Taaffe , who was given the task of fighting O'Brien.
Taaffe was an English Catholic and had little experience as a soldier. Although he had an excellent group of veterans under Alasdair MacColla to support him, most of his soldiers were also inexperienced. Irish troops were also demoralized by the dispute over the alliance with the royalists, and many were not loyal to Taaffe. The English troops, however, commanded by O'Brien since 1642, were battle-tested and well trained. The two armies met in November 1647 at Knocknanauss (near the town of Mallow , County Cork ).
The battle that followed was actually an uncoordinated attack by Irish forces. Taafe positioned his men in two troops on different sides of a hill so that they could no longer see each other. The result was that one wing of the Confederate Army didn't know what the other was doing. MacColla's men hunted down the parliamentary soldiers and killed large numbers of them. Thinking that the battle was won, they began to raid the parliamentary escort train. In the other wing, however, O'Brien's cavalry had put the Irish horsemen to flight and Taaffe could not prevent the Irish foot soldiers from escaping as well - many of them were killed in the process. MacColla didn't realize the battle was over until parliamentary troops surrounded him. Much of his army was also killed as a result. Approx. 3,000 Irish soldiers lost their lives in this battle.