REBELLION OF O'DOGHERTY, 1608
[Sidenote: Antecedents of Sir Cahir O'Dogherty.]
[Sidenote: Docwra leaves Derry, 1606,]
[Sidenote: and is succeeded by Sir George Paulet.]
[Sidenote: O'Dogherty is suspected.]
The wild territory of Inishowen between Lough Foyle and Lough Swilly
had been for ages in possession of the O'Dogherty clan, who were,
however, not quite independent either of O'Neill or O'Donnell. Sir
John O'Dogherty, who held Inishowen by patent, died in December
1600, and Hugh Roe O'Donnell set up his brother Phelim in his stead,
to the exclusion of his son Cahir, whom he kept in his own power.
Cahir's foster-brethren, the MacDavitts, appealed to Sir Henry
Docwra, and he persuaded O'Donnell to release the young man, whom
the Government then adopted as chief. After the accession of James,
though not with Devonshire's good will, Sir Cahir, who had been
knighted for good service in the field, was confirmed by the King in
his father's possessions. The island of Inch was leased to another,
but after Devonshire's death the King agreed to restore it. Tyrconnel
complained bitterly that Inishowen was excepted from his grant, and
Tyrone grumbled at losing an annual rent of sixty cows out of it,
'never before your Majesty's reign brought to any question.' Docwra
was Sir Cahir's steady friend, but Devonshire's extreme leaning to
Tyrone's side made his position intolerable, and he left Ireland in
1606, having sold his land at Derry to George Paulet, the Marquis
of Winchester's son. He was allowed to compound with Paulet for his
company of foot and the vice-provostship of Derry, and this was done
with Devonshire's approval on the ground that there was 'no longer use
for a man of war in that place.' The King's letter describes Paulet as
'of good sufficiency and of service in the wars,' but Chichester was
not of that opinion. He was established at Derry at the beginning of
1607, and was soon at daggers drawn, not only with the neighbouring
Irish chiefs, but with the Protestant bishop Montgomery. At the same
time he neglected, notwithstanding Chichester's repeated warnings, to
post sentries or to keep any regular look-out. His ill-temper made
him disliked by his own men, and they despised him for his evident
incompetence. After the flight of the Earls Sir Cahir O'Dogherty was
one of the commissioners especially appointed for the government of
Tyrone, Donegal, and Armagh, Paulet and Bishop Montgomery being among
his colleagues. His ambition at this time was a place at Court. He
excited suspicion by landing a few armed men upon Tory island, but
the inhabitants seem to have consented. Sir Richard Hansard, who
gave the first information, did not think that O'Dogherty meant much
harm, for he never had more than seventy men, armed only those of
Inishowen, and refused recruits from other districts. But Paulet took
a view of the case which made his want of preparation inexcusable.
He went with Captain Hart, the governor of Culmore, and others to
O'Dogherty's castle of Burt on Lough Swilly, where Lady O'Dogherty,
Lord Gormanston's sister, was living. He told O'Dogherty afterwards
that he only went on a friendly visit, but to Chichester he said that
he meant to seize the castle had he not found it well defended.
[Sidenote: Paulet's violent behaviour.]
O'Dogherty remonstrated in a temperate letter and subscribed himself
'your loving friend,' but Paulet retorted that he was a traitor and
that he left him to a provost-marshal and a halter. Three weeks later
O'Dogherty went to Dublin, and protested his loyalty; but he was on
good terms with O'Cahan, whose actions were also suspicious, and
Chichester hardly knew what to think. Sir Cahir was at last suffered to
depart after entering into a recognisance, himself in 1,000_l._ with
Lord Gormanston and Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam in 500 marks each, to appear
at all times upon twenty days' notice in writing, and not to leave
Ireland without licence before Easter 1609. About the close of the year
1607, Sir Cahir was foreman of the Grand Jury who found a true bill for
treason against Tyrone, Tyrconnel, and their chief adherents.[46]
[Sidenote: Paulet insults O'Dogherty,]
In February 1608 O'Dogherty wrote to the Prince of Wales protesting
his fidelity, and asking to be made one of the gentlemen of his privy
chamber. On April 18, the very day on which he plunged into rebellion,
an order was sent by the English Government to restore the island of
Inch, and all other lands withheld from Sir Cahir, excepting only the
fort of Culmore, which stood at the mouth of the Foyle, and thirty
acres of land with it.
[Sidenote: who becomes an open rebel,]
[Sidenote: and seizes a fort.]
The Four Masters say, and this has often been repeated, that Paulet
struck O'Dogherty, and that the insult drove him into rebellion. Paulet
was certainly abusive, but a blow is not anywhere mentioned in the
State correspondence, though no Englishman then in Ireland had anything
to say in favour of the unfortunate governor, nor by Docwra, who could
scarcely be ignorant of so remarkable a fact. O'Sullivan Bere, who
published his history at Lisbon in 1621, says Paulet threatened to
have O'Dogherty hanged, but he had evidently not heard of any blow.
The Four Masters wrote in Donegal, between 1632 and 1636, but it is
not certain that any of them were in Ireland in 1608; at all events
there was time for the growth of a traditional addition to the facts.
Whatever may have been the immediate cause of his outbreak, O'Dogherty
behaved with so much treachery as to throw doubt upon all his recent
professions. He invited Captain Hart, the governor of Culmore fort, to
visit him at Buncrana. He complained that Lady O'Dogherty, who was of
the Pale and had English tastes, suffered from the want of society, and
therefore Mrs. Hart was pressed to accompany her husband. After dinner
O'Dogherty took Hart into an upper room under pretence of privacy,
spoke of Paulet's harsh conduct, and told his guest that he must die
or surrender Culmore. Being disarmed, and told to choose, Hart refused
to betray his trust. Lady O'Dogherty then entered the room in tears,
upbraided her husband and his accomplices, and called heaven to witness
that she was no party to the plot. O'Dogherty threatened to throw both
her and his prisoner over the walls, and told Mrs. Hart that she must
devise some means of seizing Culmore or die with her husband, her
children, and the whole garrison. He swore upon a book that not one
person should suffer if the fort were yielded quietly. At last she was
frightened into going with O'Dogherty to Culmore and calling out some
of the guard, saying that her husband lay hard by with a broken arm.
Once outside the gate they were seized by the Irish, who rushed in and
took the fort, surprising the rest of the garrison in their beds. Hart
and his family were ferried over the Foyle and told to go to Coleraine,
the soldiers escaping to Lifford during the confusion of that night.[47]
[Sidenote: O'Dogherty surprises Derry.]
[Sidenote: Treatment of the garrison.]
O'Dogherty marched through the night and reached Derry at two o'clock
in the morning of Tuesday, April 19, with scarcely a hundred men,
not all of whom were armed. They divided at the bog-side, Sir Cahir
attacking the lower forts where the storehouses were, and Phelim Reagh
undertaking the governor's house on the high ground. Paulet escaped
into Ensign Corbet's house, and there a short stand was made. Corbet
fought with and wounded Phelim, but was struck down from behind. His
wife killed the man who had dealt the fatal blow, and was herself
slain. Paulet fell by the hand of Owen O'Dogherty. Lieutenant Gordon
jumped from his bed, seized a rapier and dagger and ran out naked,
killing two of the assailants and calling upon the soldiers to fight
for their lives. He also was overpowered and killed. Lieutenant Baker
gathered a few men together and attempted to retake the lower fort, but
was ill supported, and retired into Sheriff Babington's house. That
house and the bishop's were held till noon, but O'Dogherty's force was
constantly increasing, a piece of cannon was brought up from Culmore,
and Baker, who had no provisions or ammunition, thought it best to
make terms. A written undertaking was given that every man should
depart with his sword and clothes, and the women with their clothes.
Lady Paulet and Mrs. Susan Montgomery, the bishop's wife, remained
prisoners with O'Dogherty. According to O'Sullivan all Protestants were
slaughtered, and all Catholics safely dismissed, but the total number
killed did not exceed ten on either side. Lieutenant Baker, to use the
language of Sir Josiah Bodley, was in 'great grace and reputation,'
for he alone survived of those who had distinguished themselves on the
fatal morning. He settled in Ulster, and his namesake, perhaps his
descendant, was governor in that later siege which has made the name of
Derry for ever famous.[48]
[Sidenote: The Bishop's library burned.]
[Sidenote: Collapse of the insurrection.]
[Sidenote: Derry re-occupied.]
[Sidenote: The rebels abandon Culmore.]
[Sidenote: Pursuit of O'Dogherty.]
[Sidenote: Surrender of Burt Castle.]
Before leaving Derry Phelim Reagh, who thought the place untenable
by a small force, deliberately burned Bishop Montgomery's library in
sight of his men. O'Sullivan says there were '2,000 heretical books,'
and that the bishop vainly offered a hundred pounds ransom for his
collection. Having set fire to the buildings and to two corn ships
which lay near, Phelim removed to Culmore, taking some guns with him
in two boats and throwing the rest into the sea. Doe Castle on Sheep
Haven was also surprised, and Captain Henry Vaughan taken prisoner.
Captain John Vaughan abandoned Dunalong and fled with his men to
Lifford, and a few Scotch settlers at Strabane did the same. There
O'Dogherty's successes ended. Sir Richard Hansard, who never ceased to
take the precautions which Paulet neglected, easily maintained himself
at Lifford, and help was not long in coming. At the beginning of May
Chichester sent all his available forces to Ulster. The officers in
charge were Sir Richard Wingfield, Marshal of the army since 1600,
and Sir Oliver Lambert, then more hated and feared than any English
soldier. Sir Thomas Ridgeway, an energetic man who had succeeded Carey
as vice-treasurer, accompanied them without Chichester's knowledge.
After inspecting the garrisons about Lough Neagh and the Blackwater,
and warning them to be on their guard, Wingfield and his colleagues
reached Derry on May 20. They found earthworks, walls and chimneys
not much damaged, but everything that would burn had been reduced
to ashes, except the wooden roof of the cathedral. Ridgeway was in
doubt whether they had found this roof too high to set fire to, or
whether they spared it out of respect to St. Columba, 'the patron
of that place, and whose name they use as their word of privity and
distinction in all their wicked and treacherous attempts.' According
to the terms of the recognisance in which he was bound, Chichester's
letter summoning O'Dogherty to appear before him was publicly read by
Ridgeway at 'the half-burned house of Master Babington' in Derry, and
at Sir Cahir's own castle of Ellagh not far off. Cabins were run up for
the inhabitants of Derry, who had already returned to their homes, and
enough cows and sheep to secure them against starvation were driven
in from O'Dogherty's country. Phelim Reagh declared that he would die
in defence of Culmore, but thought it more prudent to set the place
on fire and to escape by water. The fort was quickly refitted and
garrisoned. Parties were sent to scour the country as far as Dunaff and
Malin Head, and Inishowen was completely cleared, 2,000 cows, 2,000
or 3,000 sheep and 300 or 400 horses were driven in, and Buncrana was
burned 'as well from anger as for example's sake.' Armed resistance
there was practically none. O'Dogherty had withdrawn into the territory
of the MacSwineys west of Lough Swilly, and thither did Ridgeway and
his colleagues pursue him. Even among the woods of Glenveagh he was
unable to make any sort of defence, and it was said that he fled
thirty-five miles in one march at the approach of the troops. Various
plots having been laid for his betrayal, the army returned by Raphoe
to Sir Cahir's principal castle of Burt on Lough Swilly. The garrison
were divided in opinion, some thinking that they held the place for
the King of Spain and others for O'Dogherty. They had but one life
each, they said, which they owed to God; if they surrendered they would
either be treated like dogs by the English or hanged by Sir Cahir,
and so they might as well do their duty. One Dowding, or Dowling, a
native of Drogheda, and presumably more civilised than the Inishowen
men, at last proposed a capitulation, involving a jointure for Lady
O'Dogherty and some provision of land for the rest. The answer of the
English officers, who thought it 'intolerable strange for a King's
army to make jointures for ladies with the cannon,' was to place two
pieces of artillery in position. The Irish, whose chief leader was a
monk, said they would put Mrs. Montgomery in the breach, but no breach
was made, and they all surrendered at discretion after the second
shot. Mrs. Montgomery and Captain Brookes' son were, in Ridgeway's
quaint language, 'returned to their owners.' Sir Neill Garv O'Donnell
and his two brothers, Lady O'Dogherty, her only daughter and her
husband's sister, with their female attendants, were taken on board his
Majesty's ship _Tramontana_, and Ridgeway went with them to Dublin,
partly to avoid weakening Wingfield's force, and partly because he
thought the enforced idleness of a voyage would make the ladies talk
freely. Lady O'Dogherty fulfilled his expectation by indulging in
ferocious invectives 'against Neill Garv for drawing her husband into
rebellion.'[49]
[Sidenote: O'Dogherty in Tyrone,]
[Sidenote: and Armagh,]
[Sidenote: but is killed by Irish soldiers.]
Unable to cope with Wingfield in Donegal, O'Dogherty made a descent
upon Tyrone in the middle of June. Chichester had ordered all
garrisons to keep close, and this policy was strictly adhered to.
O'Dogherty was afraid to do much damage lest he should alienate the
affections of Tyrone's late subjects, and he only took enough cattle
to feed his following of about 800 men. He penetrated into Armagh,
but soon wandered back into Donegal, making no attempt to relieve
Burt, and pretending that its loss did not signify. After Ridgeway's
departure Wingfield prepared to attack Doe Castle, and while he
waited at Kilmacrenan for his artillery, the enemy, about 700 strong,
unexpectedly came in sight. Neill Garv had warned O'Dogherty not to
fight, but he neglected this advice and was killed by Irish soldiers
who wanted his land. His head was sent to Dublin and stuck upon a
spike over the new gate. Within a few days Doe Castle succumbed to a
heavy cannonade, and Lough Eske was surrendered by O'Gallagher, who
was foster-father to Tyrconnel's son. Chichester received the news
of O'Dogherty's death at Dundalk, and at once issued a proclamation
warning the people of Ulster that those who received or protected any
of the late rebel's followers would be regarded as traitors themselves.
All who delivered up any of the delinquents dead or alive were promised
free pardons and the goods of the person so given up. Phelim Reagh
MacDavitt alone was excluded from all hope of pardon.[50]
[Sidenote: Ruthless suppression of the rebellion,]
[Sidenote: which is condemned by an Irish jury.]
[Sidenote: Phelim Reagh MacDavitt.]
Chichester had announced that the war should be made 'thick and
short,' and his proclamation was well suited for the purpose. About
fifty of the O'Hanlons were in arms near Mount Norris, but they were
quickly dispersed with great loss on his arrival at that fort, and
the prisoners hanged by martial law. O'Cahan's brother Shane Carragh
was soon afterwards brought in by the MacShane O'Neills to the post
at Mountjoy. At Armagh the grand jury, almost entirely Irish, found
a bill against all who were in rebellion. Being a man of importance
Shane Carragh was tried by jury at Dungannon and hanged, and it was
noted that the solemnity of the trial made a great impression upon
the natives, who were accustomed to see summary sentences carried
out at the nearest tree. The jurors were Irishmen, who attended as
readily as when Tyrone was present, and the monk who had commanded at
Burt voluntarily purchased life and liberty by renouncing the Pope
and conforming publicly. Chichester then marched through Glenconkein,
'where the wild inhabitants,' according to Davies, 'wondered as much to
see the King's Deputy as the ghosts in Virgil wondered to see Aeneas
alive in hell.' At Coleraine he heard of the capture of Sir Cahir's
illegitimate brother, whom the people wished to make O'Dogherty, of
Owen O'Dogherty who killed Paulet, and of Phelim Reagh MacDavitt, who
was regarded as the contriver of the whole rising. Phelim, who was
hunted into a wood and found there after long search, made a stout
resistance and was wounded, but great care was taken to keep him alive
for his trial. He was taken to Lifford, where he made statements
very damaging to Neill Garv, and was then hanged with twenty others.
Chichester returned to Dublin at the beginning of September, leaving
only the very dregs of a rebellion behind him.[51]
[Sidenote: Severities in Tory Island.]
[Sidenote: The rebels destroy each other.]
Shane MacManus, Oge O'Donnell, who aspired to be the O'Donnell, was the
last to hold out with about 240 men in Tory and the adjacent smaller
islands. Sir Henry Ffolliott, the governor of Ballyshannon, finished
the business in a very ruthless manner. On his way he took the island
stronghold at Glenveagh, which was held by an O'Gallagher, 'one of
Tyrconnell's fosterers, who killed three or four of his best associates
after he yielded up the island, for which we took him into protection.'
Of armed resistance there was not much, but Ffolliott's task was made
difficult by foul winds upon that rough coast, and he failed to capture
Shane MacManus, who escaped with the bulk of his followers by boat into
Connaught, preferring to trust to Clanricarde's clemency, but leaving
eleven men in the castle on Tory island, where Ffolliott found them.
The constable called to Sir Mulmore MacSwiney, begging to be allowed to
see the English commander and promising service. MacSwiney let him come
out, and he was induced by Ffolliott to purchase his life by betraying
the castle and taking the lives of seven out of the ten men in it. A
MacSwiney who was one of the garrison was also admitted to a parley
and made the like promise, but the constable got back first, 'each of
them,' says Ffolliott, 'being well assured and resolved to cut the
other's throat.' He killed two of his followers and the rest scattered
into the rocks, where he shot one. Ffolliott kept him to his promise
of seven heads, which were to be taken without help from the soldiers.
One of the others turned and stabbed his late leader to the heart
and was then killed by one of his own companions. Three others were
killed in the scuffle. Shane MacManus's boat was found in the island of
Arran, while his mother with a boy of ten and a girl of eleven remained
prisoners. 'And so,' reported Ffolliott, 'there were but five that
escaped, three of them churls and the other two young boys.... Shane
MacManus is deprived of his mother and two children and his boat, which
I think he regards more than them all.'[52]
[Sidenote: Fate of Neill Garv O'Donnell.]
[Sidenote: Irish juries will not find verdicts for treason.]
[Sidenote: Neill Garv is sent to the Tower,]
[Sidenote: where he dies.]
Sir Neill Garv O'Donnell gave no effectual help against O'Dogherty,
and he was really a fellow-conspirator. Lifford, Ballyshannon and
Donegal were to be seized by him and his friends, while Sir Cahir took
Derry and Culmore, and all plunder was to be divided equally between
them. Sir Neill was to have Burt Castle and whatever rights O'Donnell
had over Inishowen, as long as he could hold his own. He continued,
however, to profess loyalty and to urge his claims over the whole of
Tyrconnel. O'Dogherty's country he regained by special grant, but he
was an abettor, if not the principal contriver, of the Derry surprise,
gave advice about the mode of attack, sent sixteen men of his own
to help, and charged O'Dogherty to spare no one. All this was not
certainly known until later, and Sir Neill obtained protection from
Wingfield, whom he accompanied on his expedition into Donegal. He was
soon again in communication with the rebels, was arrested at Glenveagh
and sent a prisoner to Dublin, but it was not until June, 1609, that
a Donegal jury could be sworn in the King's Bench there. The jurors
were Irishmen and not of very high position, for the English settlers
and the principal natives had served on the grand jury which found
the bill. Davies offered no evidence as to Sir Neill's complicity
in the Derry affair, though there could be no doubt of the fact,
because it might be held that the treason was covered by Wingfield's
protection. There was good proof of the breach of that protection by
aiding and abetting the King's enemies, but the jury were shut up
from Friday till Monday and almost starved to death. They refused to
find a verdict of treason on the ground that Sir Neill had not been
actually in arms against the King, and it was believed that they had
bound themselves by mutual oath not to find the lord of their country
guilty. They were discharged 'in commiseration of their faintings and
for reasons concerning his Majesty's service.' 'The priests,' said
Davies, 'excommunicate the jurors who condemn a traitor. The Irish will
never condemn a principal traitor: therefore we have need of an English
colony, that we may have honest trials. They dare not condemn an Irish
lord of a country for fear of revenge, because we have not power enough
in the country to defend honest jurors. We must stay there till the
English and Scottish colonies be planted, and then make a jury of
them.' There being no hope of a verdict, the lawyers could only suggest
that Sir Neill should be tried by a Middlesex jury as O'Rourke had been
in 1591. In any case he should be sent to England, for Dublin Castle
was no safe place for a prisoner who was always trying to escape, and
who had already been found with a rope long enough to 'carry him over
the wall from the highest tower.' Sir Neill went to London in due
course, and died in the Tower in 1626.[53]
[Sidenote: The effects of O'Dogherty's rising.]
[Sidenote: Fate of O'Cahan.]
The abortive rebellion of O'Dogherty made the fate of the six Ulster
counties harder than it might otherwise have been. It was, say the Four
Masters, 'from this rising and from the departure of the Earls that
their principalities, their territories, their estates, their lands,
their forts, their fruitful harbours, and their fishful bays were taken
from the Irish of the province of Ulster, and were given in their
presence to foreign tribes; and they were expelled and banished into
other countries, where most of them died.' Inishowen, which O'Dogherty
held by patent independently of Tyrone, was separately forfeited, and
the whole of it granted to Chichester himself. The failure of trial
by Jury in Neill Garv's case prevented Davies from running a fresh
risk with O'Cahan, who lay long in Dublin Castle, and was sent to the
Tower late in 1609 in charge of Francis Annesley, afterwards Lord
Mountnorris. Neill Garv and his son Naughton went in the same vessel.
'The boy,' said Chichester, 'has more wit than either of them,' and
he had been at Oxford and at Trinity College, Dublin. No charge was
made against him, but he was as proud as his father. O'Cahan remained
a prisoner, and no doubt there was plenty of evidence against him,
but Chichester, while carrying out the policy of the Home Government,
scarcely hides his opinion that he had been badly treated, and that he
had the reputation of a truth-telling man. As to the facts, the Lord
Deputy's story tallies closely with that of Docwra. Writing as late
as 1614, the latter says deliberately that 'O'Cahan, from the breach
of my promise with him, derives, as well he may, the cause of all
his miseries,' and he thought he would have done nothing rebellious
if faith had been kept with him. He was never tried, and spent years
in the Tower, where he probably died in 1628. A thousand acres of
his old territory was granted, or perhaps only promised, to his wife
Honora, with reversion to her son Donell, but the young man went to the
Netherlands, returned in 1642 with Owen Roe O'Neill, and was killed
at Clones. His elder brother Rory was hanged for his share in the
conspiracy of 1615.[54]
FOOTNOTES:
[46] Docwra's _Narration_; Cal. of State Papers, _Ireland_, for 1607;
Recognisance in Chancery and Indictment of Tyrone, &c., calendared
under June 1608; O'Dogherty to the Prince of Wales, February 14, 1608.
[47] Hart's narrative enclosed in Chichester's despatch of May
4, disproving Cox's statement that the garrison were murdered.
_O'Sullivan_, Tom. iv. Lib. 1, cap. 5: 'Georgius Paletus Luci (Derry)
præfectus Anglus eques auratus O'Dochartum conviciis onerat, minans se
facturum, ut ille laqueo suspendatur.' Cox, writing in 1690, mentions a
report that Paulet had given O'Dogherty a box on the ear.
[48] Bodley's letter of May 3; Chichester's of May 4, enclosing Hart's
and Baker's own narratives; _Newes from Ireland, concerning the late
treacherous action_, &c., London, 1608; O'Sullivan Bere _ut sup._;
_Four Masters_, 1608.
[49] Ridgeway's Journal, June 30, and his letter to Salisbury of July
3. O'Sullivan, _Compendium_, Lib. i. cap. 5.
[50] Chichester to the Privy Council, July 6, and the proclamation
dated next day; _Four Masters_, 1608, with O'Donovan's notes; Sir
Donnell O'Cahan to his brother Manus (from the Tower), June 1, 1610.
Manus gave the letter to Chichester.
[51] Davies to Salisbury, August 5, 1608; Chichester to the Privy
Council, September 12.
[52] Chichester to the Privy Council, September 12 and 17, the latter
enclosing Ffolliott's narrative.
[53] Davies on the juries, State Papers, _Ireland_, 1608, No. 801;
his and Chichester's accounts of the trial, June 27 and July 4,
1609; abstract of evidence calendared at October 1609, No. 514;
Letter to Bishop Montgomery from Ineen Duive, Hugh O'Donnell's mother
and Tyrconnel's aunt, printed from Carte MSS. in O'Donovan's _Four
Masters_, 2364.
[54] Docwra's _Narration_, 283. Francis O'Cahan's petition calendared
with the papers of 1649, p. 278, but evidently of a much earlier date.
Hill's _Ulster Plantation_, 61, 235.