his duty best; and I have very great pleasure in telling you that
not a man (Mr. Gardiner excepted, and one Soldier, who received a
contusion in his arm) was in the least injured.--In short, the
loyalty and zeal of the whole party was beyond any thing that has
been seen on a similar occasion.
* * * * *
The Publisher having been favoured with the two following letters by
an intimate Friend (to whom they were written without any intention
of appearing in print,) and also being personally acquainted with
the writer, assures the Public that every particular set forth may
be received as Facts.
Such is the established character of the writer, who is known to
numbers, that he would not advance a falsehood--he was in most
engagements from the breaking out of the late Rebellion to the
defeat of the French at Balinamuck; an account of which is now in
the possession of the publisher, and shall be given in due time.
LETTER VIII.
Some account of the Battle of Arklow, by H. G. of the Armagh
Militia, in a letter to a Friend in Dublin, dated Arklow,
June 13th, 1798.
Written on the Field of Action.
_My Dr. Friend_,
I wrote to Mr. H. by one of the Conductors who promised to leave
the letter at your house, in which I gave him a circumstantial
account[B] of what took place from the time I left Naas, till the
battle of Gorey, and our retreat to Wicklow afterwards.
[Footnote B: _The Press was stopped for ten days, and every possible
enquiry made to recover the Letter alluded to, but for the present
it cannot be procured._]
On Saturday last we were informed that the Rebels in great force
were pursuing us, the drums beat to arms, and our forces assembled
immediately. Our General formed a square of Infantry at one end of
the town, and left the Cavalry to defend the other. In a little
time the Out-posts were driven in, and shortly after appeared their
Colours flying. They extended for more than _five miles_ around us:
a most awful sight! In order to intimidate us they fixed their hats
on their Pikes and rushed on.
Their Artillery was planted on an eminence which commanded us--Their
armed men in Front, and pike to charge in the Rear. In this order
of Battle they came forward. We waited the first onset; in a few
minutes the firing commenced in all quarters, which lasted from four
o'clock in the afternoon, till near nine at night. They endeavoured
to break our square in every quarter, but like true Soldiers we
cleaved together and repelled them; they stormed our little line
twice, but were beat back with slaughter; they drove their
dismounted horses to the mouths of the Cannon in order to shelter
themselves, but the grape shot made them fall on every side; they
even set the town on fire in order to annoy us with the smoak, but
the wind at the order of _our God_ turned, drove it from us, and
confounded them in their own device; they did every thing like
inveterate enemies, and desperate madmen to accomplish their ends;
and their Priests informed them that they could catch the Heretics
balls in their hands, and threw some (as tho' they had caught them)
to their rebellious mob to fire again at us, and declared they could
beat us with the dust of the earth. Oh what superstition! This was
confirmed by deserters from their Camp, who informed us likewise,
that flushed with victory at Gorey, they thought that after they had
taken Arklow, nothing could stop them till they arrived at Dublin;
and indeed I believe, that this Battle for the present, has decided
the fate of this Kingdom.
One of the Antrim Militia, who fled from them after the Battle reports
their Army to have been 20,000 strong. Among the slain was Father
Murphy from the County of Wexford. They lost about 1000 killed and
wounded, and numbers were hanged in the streets. Every Regiment vied
with each other for victory; we took several stand of Colours from
them, made of green, white and yellow stuff. We have prepared every
thing in case of another attempt--If they do not come forward, we will
go immediately and retake Gorey, and storm their Camp. They are
greatly discouraged. Blessed be God, notwithstanding I was exposed to
a heavy fire I never received one wound. On our side we had about 18
killed and 28 wounded. We are all in high spirits. Capt. Knox of the
Yeomenry and two of his men were killed pursuing Rebels. Our men (in
a former engagement) kept the town of Gorey when the rest of the army
left them. They are worth gold. Pardon this scroll, as I am in haste.
We have been under arms these four days and nights.
Farewell,
I am yours in friendship,
W. H. G.
LETTER IX.
GOREY CAMP, 28th OF JUNE, 1798.
_My Dr. Friend_,
A deliverance from hostilities and severe fatigue these two days
past affords me an opportunity to address you. In my two last
letters to Dublin, I gave a particular account of those facts to
which I was an eye-witness--You shall now have those which have
since occured.
The 13th Inst. we received orders to move forward from Arklow, and
in the evening arrived at Gorey--but oh! what a strange reverse! The
town in the absence of the Army was plundered, and almost totally
destroyed by the Rebels; even the Church did not escape their
sacrilegious fury!--they demolished the windows, dragged down the
pulpit, and tore to pieces many of the pews; but what is still more
shocking to relate, at which your soul must recoil, stained it with
the blood of two _Protestants_, whom they immolated inside--they
burned the two elegant seats belonging to the Ram family here.
The Rebels upon being apprised of our approach, broke up their Camp,
and precipitately retreated to Vinegar-Hill--We next morning pursued
and killed several of them on the way. In the evening we pitched
our Tents in a small village called Houlett, within seven miles of
Wexford, with an intention of remaining there for the night; but
perceiving their pickets on an adjacent hill that commanded our
Camp, at ten o'clock we struck our Tents, marched by a circuitous
route, and in the morning at dawn of day we found ourselves on the
off-side of their daring position.
From their great numbers and strong bulwarks they concluded they
were impregnable. It is agreed they had that day on Vinegar-hill
30,000! We reconnoitred for some time, and distinctly observed them
to draw up in _solid lines_. The order of Battle was to commence, by
the command of Gen. Lake, at 9 o'clock. His Army took one side of
the Hill to bombard it, the Light Brigade, under Col. Campbell took
another--other Commanders were fixed in like manner. Our Brigade,
consisting of the Armagh, Cavan, Durham, Antrim, and part of the
Londonderry, Dunbarton, Tyrone and Suffolk--in all about 3000 brave
Troops had to march four miles; it being appointed that we should
flank them in another quarter.
I shall give you a view of their situation--Vinegar-hill is very
steep, rising in the form of a cone: at the but of it are two other
hills, with quicksets and other ditches across them--these were
lined with their musketry men:--a river ran at the bottom of both,
and adjacent was a small wood. At the bottom of Vinegar-hill was the
once beautiful, but now ruined town of Enniscorthy--on the top of
the great hill was the but of an old windmill, on which they had
placed their _green flag_ of defiance--in a word, the position of
the Rebels was one of the strongest I ever saw. The Rebels did not
wait the time appointed, but commenced cannonading at seven o'clock.
They could not tell what to make of the bombs, and said "they spit
fire at us"--indeed they answered they desired end, by the numbers
they destroyed upon their bursting.
The Light Brigade, assisted by the Cavalry gained one of the lesser
hills, planted their Cannon and played briskly on them: in a short
time we possessed ourselves of both--the Rebels made to the top of
Vinegar-hill with all possible speed--the Soldiers pursued hard
after them, and beat them off it. In a little time the _green flag_
became a prey to the Royal Band, who triumphed in its fall--it was
an arduous attempt, but we succeeded in the end. The Rebel
commanders deserted their men when they found the day proved
unfavourable to their interests and fled towards Wexford, leaving
the deluded wretches to be cut in pieces. The engagement lasted two
hours and an half--the Soldiers merited the cloth they wore, and
gloried in the name of WILLIAM. Our Brigade remained all night in
the demesne of Harvey Hay, one of the Rebel Chiefs: next day we
returned to Houlet again, where we encamped for two days. The
scouting parties killed more after the different engagements than
what fell in Battle--many of their Commanders, were taken and
hanged. We have suffered much from lying on the roads and ditches
rolled in our blankets, I have almost lost my hearing, but am
content when the good old cause triumphs.
P. S. At Vinegar-hill we killed men of 70 Years old--we rescued
three Officers of the Antrim Militia, and twelve Privates of the
same regiment: yesterday we hanged two of them for endeavouring to
vote away the lives of two of the above Officers and Soldiers when
prisoners.
Yours truly,
W. H. G.
The following letter was written by a sufferer in the Wexford Rebellion,
while in possession of the Rebels--it fully corroborates the truth of
the atrocities stated in the Narrative by Charles Jackson, printed, and
now selling by the Publisher hereof.--price 6dh.
LETTER X.
WEXFORD, MAY 1st, 1799.
_Sir_,
Altho' I have not the happiness of being personally acquainted with
you, at the request of your Friend, Mr. W--s, it affords me pleasure
to have it in my power to send you a copy of an _acurate detail_ of
the effects of the late dreadful Rebellion, as it respected this
part of the Kingdom, written by an intimate and fellow sufferer with
me and transmitted to Dublin, for publication in July 1798.
On Friday evening the 25th of May, about 9 o'clock, the North Cork
Militia then quartered here, with the Wexford Yeomen Cavalry and
Infantry were ordered under arms, in consequence of an alarm that
the Insurgents were rising in the neighbourhood of Camolin, in this
County; and we continued under arms the whole of that night. On
Saturday orders arrived here from Dublin-Castle to the High Sheriff,
to apprehend B. B. Harvey, J. Colclough of Ballyteigue, and Edward
Fitzgerald of New-park; and they were committed to goal on Saturday
evening and Sunday morning. Early on Sunday morning the 27th of May,
an express arrived here that the day before an engagement took place
between a party of the Camolin Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant
Buckey, and a large body of the Rebels, that the Lieutenant was
killed, but that they had repulsed the Rebels; that they were then
(Sunday morning) in great force in the neighbourhood of Oulard,
burning the houses of different Protestant Inhabitants in that part
of the County. In consequence of this information; Lieutenant-Colonel
Foot with Major Lombard, and six other officers, and 106 men of the
North Cork Militia, immediately proceeded from this town, and came up
with the Rebels at an advantageous position they had taken on a hill
near Oulard. Through the rashness of the Major, in charging the Rebels
in an incautious manner, the whole party were surrounded, and not a
man escaped instant destruction but the Lieutenant-Colonel and two
privates. By this defeat the Rebels had acquired a powerful accession
of strength and confidence, having got the whole of the arms and about
57 rounds of ball-cartridge from each man, they not having fired above
three or four rounds when they attempted to charge them with Bayonets.
On the following morning, the 28th, the Rebels attacked Enniscorthy,
and after a severe conflict of three hours, and above 500 of them
being slain, they took the town owing to the treachery of some of the
inhabitants in setting fire to the town during the engagement, which
obliged the Militia and Yeomenry to evacuate it, and they, with all
the Loyal inhabitants that could escape, retired on Monday evening to
Wexford. On Tuesday the 29th, the Rebels formed two powerful Camps,
one at Vinegar-Hill, near Enniscorthy, and the other about three miles
from Wexford, at the Three Rocks, on the road between Wexford and
Ross, and sent threats in here that 10000 men would be detached from
those Camps to attack the town next morning.--On Wednesday the 30th,
information was received that a body of the military, (supposed to be
the 13th regiment) was attacked by the Rebels near their Camp at the
Three Rocks; this induced Lieut. Col. Maxwell, who arrived the day
before with two hundred of the Donegal Militia, to march out with his
men and four troops of Yeomen Cavalry to their assistance; but before
he had come up with them, they entirely cut off the party, which
proved to be a slight detachment of the Meath Militia, of about 100
men who were coming to Wexford with three howitzers; and with these
howitzers the Rebels attacked Col. Maxwell's party, and obliged him
to retreat into Wexford. The 13th regiment, who were coming to our
relief, finding they could not proceed to us without attacking the
Rebel Camp, returned back to Waterford. From these rapid successes,
and their encreasing numbers, (as it was supposed there were then
20000 men ready to attack Wexford) the people here were panic-struck;
and finding that many who were entrusted with arms had deserted the
barriers, and it being considered that others could not be depended
on, the Officers concluded that the town was not tenable, and without
firing a shot it was evacuated on the 30th of May, and shortly after
entered by the Rebels; who kept possession of it until the 21st of
June. As to the different engagements the army has had with the Rebels
at Ross, Newtownbarry, Arklow, &c. you must already be informed of
them; in many instances the reports were vague and contradictory, I
shall therefore confine myself to such particulars as fell within my
own knowledge, of that I have reason to believe are facts.
The atrocities committed by those ferocious tygers while they held
this town, were I believe unprecedented. After taking possession
of the town, without opposition, they immediately shot several
Protestant Inhabitants, tore open most of our houses, destroyed and
carried off our effects, (their rage was most particularly directed
again at poor Mr. Daniels and mine) put every Protestant inhabitant
whom they spared from immediate death (some few excepted that they
received amongst them) to prison; but they would not stop here, we
were obliged to slaughter each other. The Sunday after they had
taken the town, June the third, Pigott, Robson, a Mr. Edwards and
I, were dragged from our cells, and forced by the Rebels to put to
death a man for being an approver against a Priest of the name of
Dixon, who had attempted to swear him to be an United Irishman;
after being made the instrument of his destruction, we were forced
for to drag his body from the place of execution and throw it into
the river. After deliberating for some time whether they should
dispatch us at that moment or not, they carried us back to goal.
Others of the prisoners were obliged to perform the like Office to
another approver. After every species of insult and tyranny to us
in prison, the fatal day at length arrived (Wednesday the 20th of
June,) when the total extermination of the prisoners (namely 500)
and all the Protestant inhabitants of the town, man, woman and
child, was openly avowed to be their fixed purpose! About 95 of the
prisoners were taken out and tortured to death by pikes on the
bridge of Wexford; they returned for more victims, and I was dragged
out of the cell, when above fifty wretches (whose ill-will I had
incurred by exerting myself in the line of my duty,) cried out to
have me destroyed. Providentially an express arrived at that moment,
that the army had defeated a considerable party of the Rebels at
Long Graige, between this and Ross, and requiring an immediate
reinforcement; this made them beat to arms, and induced them at
that time to stop the work of blood. The following day they were
totally defeated at their great camp (as they termed it) at
Vinegar-Hill, and routed in all directions, and on the same day the
remaining prisoners were liberated by the army. The horrid cruelties
they committed in this town fell short (if possible) of what they
did in other parts of the County; at Scullabogue, between Taghmon
and Ross, they put 150 Protestants into a barn and burnt them to
death, amongst whom were two beautiful and accomplished young ladies
of the neighbourhood; poor G--d, the Surveyor of Taghmon, attempted
to escape from the flames at this place and was shot by them--at
Enniscorthy they scarcely left a Loyal man alive that they could
find, and the town was almost consumed by fire--There were about ten
of their leaders hanged here, upon the arrival of the army, amongst
whom were B. B. Harvey, Cor. Grogan of Johnstown, Captain Keugh,
J. H. Colclough of Ballyteigue, and Kelly of Killarn, who were
afterwards beheaded, and their heads placed over the Court-house.
In consequence of a proclamation from General Lake, inviting the
Rebels to desert their leaders, and promising pardon, numbers came
in with pikes, &c.----
Such my dear Sir, is the recital of what I can recollect of the
barbarities practised here during the reign of these monsters. What
my feelings and sufferings were during that period, I cannot attempt
to describe. That the Almighty providence may preserve us all from
such another visitation, is the ardent prayer of, Yours, &c.----
_The following Clergymen and Gentlemen, were taken Prisoners and put
to death by the Rebels._
The Rev. Samuel Haydon, Enniscorthy; Rev. Robert Burrowes and Son,
Oulart; Rev. Francis Turner, Ballingale; Rev. Mr. Pentland, Killarn;
Rev. Mr. Troke, Templeshannon; Captain Allen Cox, Coolelife; Major
William Hore, Harpurstown; Edward Turner, Esq. Slane Lodge; Edward
Howlin D' Arcey, Esq. Ba----n.
APPENDIX.
No account having appeared of the attack at Prosperus, 'tis presumed
the following AFFIDAVIT made before the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor of
the City of Dublin, will furnish the Reader with every particular
relative thereto. The Examinant is well known to the Publisher, and
favoured him with a Copy of the same for the present _Narrative_.
The Examinant suffered much in the Rebellion, being obliged to
desert his house, and property to a considerable amount, which
became a prey to the Rebels.
[Sidenote: _County of the City of }
Dublin, to Wit._ }]