The battle of Knocknaclashy, took place in county Cork in southern Ireland in 1651. In it, an Irish Confederate force led by Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry was defeated by an English Parliamentarian force under Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery. It was the final pitched battle of the Irish Confederate Wars and one of the last of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The Irish Confederate Wars were fought in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. ... Banteer is a small town in north county Cork in southern Ireland. ... Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Cork Code: C (CK proposed) Area: 7,457 km² Population (2002) 447,829 Website: www. ... Statistics Area: 24,607. ... The New Model Army became the best known of the various Parliamentarian armies in the English Civil War. ... Donagh [Donough] MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry and Earl of Clancarty (d. ... Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery (April 25, 1621 - October 26, 1679), British soldier, statesman and dramatist, 3rd surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, was created baron of Broghill on February 28, 1627. ... Oliver Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of the English Parliament in 1649. ... The battle of Rathmines was fought in around the modern Dublin suburb of Rathmines in August 1649, during the Irish Confederate Wars, the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. ... Drogheda, a town in eastern Ireland, was besieged twice in the 1640s, during the Irish Confederate Wars, the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. ... The Sack of Wexford took place in October 1649, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, when the New Model Army under Oliver Cromwell took Wexford town in south-eastern Ireland. ... The city of Waterford in south eastern Ireland was besieged from 1649-50 during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. ... Combatants Irish Catholic Confederate troops from Ulster English Parliamentarian New Model Army Commanders Hugh Dubh ONeill Oliver Cromwell Strength c1500 8000 Casualties low c1500-2500 The Siege of Clonmel took place in April - May 1650 during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland when the town of Clonmel in County Tipperary... The battle of Macroom was fought in 1650, near Macroom, county Cork, in southern Ireland, during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. ... The battle of Scarrifholis was fought in Donegal in north-western Ireland, on the 21st of June 1650, during the Irish Confederate Wars – part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. ... The city of Limerick in south-western Ireland was besieged several times in the 17th century, first during the Irish Confederate Wars of the 1640s and’50s again in the Williamite war in Ireland. ... Combatants Irish Confederate Catholics English Parliamentarians New Model Army and Protestant settlers from Ulster Commanders Thomas Preston Charles Coote Strength 2000 soldiers and civilian population, 3000 more soldiers nearby 6-7000 men, Galway a port city in western Ireland, was besieged from August 1651 to May 1652 during the Cromwellian... Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Cork Code: C (CK proposed) Area: 7,457 km² Population (2002) 447,829 Website: www. ... // Events January 1 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland in Scone. ... Kilkenny Castle, where the Confederate General Assembly met. ... Donagh [Donough] MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry and Earl of Clancarty (d. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages English Capital London Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population –mid-2004... English parliament in front of the king c. ... Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery (April 25, 1621 - October 26, 1679), British soldier, statesman and dramatist, 3rd surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, was created baron of Broghill on February 28, 1627. ... The Irish Confederate Wars were fought in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. ... The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in Scotland, Ireland, and England between 1639 and 1651 at a time when these countries had come under the Personal Rule of the same monarch. ...

The Campaign

Most of the province of Munster had fallen to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649-50. Oliver Cromwell had led an assault by the New Model Army from the south-east of Ireland, while Roger Boyle had inspired a mutiny among the English Royalist garrison in Cork, causing them to defect to the Parliamentarians. This had outflanked the defences of Irish Confederates and English Royalists, causing them to retreat behind the river Shannon into Connacht, where the held the fortified cities of Limerick and Galway. Henry Ireton, went on to besiege Limerick. The only organised Irish forces remaining in south Munster were those of Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry, who held out in the mountainous area of west Cork and county Kerry – which was his clan’s native territory. In July 1651, Muskerry set out from Ross Castle in Killarney to try to relieve the besieged defenders of Limerick. He rallied his men by spreading a prophecy that the Irish would win a great battle over the English – such predictions were commonly believed in Irish culture at that time . Muskerry marched in the direction of Mallow with 3000 infantry and some cavalry, hoping to link up with bands of Irish guerrillas or "tories" on the road north. However, Ireton had positioned Boyle in Cork to prevent such a move and Orrerry’s Parliamentarian force intercepted the Irish at Knocknaclashy, near the village of Banteer. Statistics Area: 24,607. ... Oliver Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of the English Parliament in 1649. ... Unfinished portrait miniature of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper, 1657. ... The New Model Army became the best known of the various Parliamentarian armies in the English Civil War. ... Prince Rupert of the Rhine Cavaliers was the name used by Parliamentarians for the Royalist supporters of King Charles I during the English Civil War (1642–1651). ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 51. ... Connaught redirects here. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 52. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ... Henry Ireton Henry Ireton (1611 - November 26, 1651), English was a general in the army of Parliament during the English Civil War. ... The city of Limerick in south-western Ireland was besieged several times in the 17th century, first during the Irish Confederate Wars of the 1640s and’50s again in the Williamite war in Ireland. ... Statistics Province: Munster County Town: Tralee Code: KY Area: 4,746 km² Population (2002) 132,527 Website: www. ... Ross Castle Ross Castle Ross Castle is the ancestral home of the ODonoghue clan. ... St. ... Mallow (Mala, Magh Eala, and other variations in Irish) is the Crossroads of Munster and the administrative capital of north County Cork, in Ireland. ... Guerrilla War redirects here. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 51. ... Banteer is a small town in north county Cork in southern Ireland. ...

The battle

The Parliamentarians were outnumbered but were better trained and supplied than the Irish and had more cavalry, which was a big advantage in open country. The two sides exchanged a volley of musketry at close range and then closed hand to hand. The Irish cavalry were scattered in the first charge, leaving their infantry alone. However, the infantrymen, mostly armed with pikes, bravely charged their adversaries. Orrerry’s men were almost outflanked by the Irish pikemen, but recovered the advantage by charging the flank of the Irish line. Orrerry reported that his horsemen broke into the Irish pike squares at the "angles" (corners) by riding up, firing their pistols, reloading and repeating the process until there was a large enough gap in the formation for the English cavalry to break in with their swords. In this way, Orrerry’s men turned the flank of the Irish line and put them to flight. Hundreds of Irish soldiers were ridden down by the Parliamentary cavalry in the subsequent pursuit. Orrerry ordered the killing of all prisoners except "men of good quality" (i.e. of high social rank) who could be ransomed. He also related that his men found Catholic "charms" sown into the clothing of the Irish dead, which promised that the wearer would be invulnerable to weapons. The Parliamentarians lost only 26 dead and 130 wounded. The surviving Irish, including Muskerry, retreated in disorder to Ross Castle, where they surrendered in 1652. Ross Castle Ross Castle Ross Castle is the ancestral home of the ODonoghue clan. ...

Sources

• Padraig Lenihan, Confederate Catholics at War, Cork 2001
• James Scott Wheeler, Cromwell in Ireland, New York 1999.

See also

• Irish Confederate Wars
• Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
• Irish battles