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. It was fought between the Irish Catholic Ulster Army, commanded by Heber MacMahon, Bishop of Clogher and an English Parliamentarian army commanded by Charles Coote and composed of troops from the New Model Army and local British Protestant settlers. The battle resulted in the annihilation of the Irish army and the loss of most of its weapons and supplies. This secured the north of Ireland for the English Parliament and contributed greatly to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. This article is about County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. ... Events June 23 - Claimant King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland arrives in Scotland, the only of the three Kingdoms that has accepted him as ruler. ... Irish Confederate Wars began with the rebellion of the Irish of Ulster in October 1641, during which they regained their confiscated lands and murdered hundreds, possibly thousands, of Scots and English Protestant settlers. ... The Wars of the Three Kingdoms include an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in Scotland, Ireland, and England between 1639 and 1651 which included the Bishops Wars of 1639 and 1640, the Scottish Civil War of 1644-5; the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Confederate Ireland, 1642-9 and... A parliamentarian is a specialist in parliamentary procedure. ... This article deals with the English Civil War army. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Oliver Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of the English Parliament in 1649. ...

Background

The Irish Ulster Army was raised by the Irish Confederate Catholics in 1642 to organise the insurgent forces who were operating there since the rebellion of the previous year. Up to 1649, it was commanded by Owen Roe O'Neill, a professional soldier who had served in the Spanish army. However, O’Neill died in late 1649 and was replaced by a Catholic Bishop, Heber MacMahon of Clogher. MacMahon had no real military experience, but was elected by the Ulster officers to avoid political infighting among their officers. The army was split between those who supported the Confederate's treaty with the English Royalists, mainly pre-war land-owners such as Phelim O'Neill and the army's professional officers and Catholic clergy which did not. Before his death, Owen Roe O'Neill had left the Confederation and only re-joined it after the invasion of Ireland by Oliver Cromwell in 1649. Confederate Ireland refers to a brief period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. ... Events January 4 - Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape. ... The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup détat by Irish Catholic gentry, but rapidly degenerated into bloody inter communal violence between native Irish Catholics and English and Scottish Protestant settlers. ... Events January 30 - King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is beheaded. ... The noun or adjective, Royalist, can have several shades of meaning. ... Unfinished portrait miniature of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper, 1657. ... Events January 30 - King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is beheaded. ...

On the other side, the leadership of the British Protestant forces in Ulster had been taken over from the Scottish Covenanters and the Royalist aligned British settlers by English Parliamentarians. These comprised of settlers like Charles Coote and a Parliamentary army sent to the northern Irish province by Oliver Cromwell in 1649 commanded by Robert Venables and Theophilus Jones. The Scots and Royalists in the province had besieged Coote at Derry, but were routed by Venables at the battle of Lisnagarvey in Antrim. After this point, the Parliamentarians assumed command of the war against the Ulster army. For other places and things named Ulster, see Ulster (disambiguation). ... Scotland (Alba in Scottish Gaelic) is a country or nation and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. ... The Covenanters, named after the Solemn League and Covenant, were a party that, originating in the Reformation movement, played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England, during the 17th century. ... Events January 30 - King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is beheaded. ... Derry or Londonderry (in Irish , Doire Cholm Chille or Doire), often called the Maiden City, is a city in Northern Ireland. ... Antrim in Northern Ireland may refer to Antrim town. ...

The campaign

MacMahon assembled the Ulster army in Loughall in south Armagh, with 4000 infantry and 600 cavalry. They were, however short of ammunition and over half of their men carried pikes rather than muskets (whereas the norm at the time was one pike for two muskets). His aim was to march through the centre of Ulster and drive a wedge between Coote’s garrison at Derry in the west of province and Venables’ command at Carrickfergus in the east. With the Parliamentarian troops tied down by the activities of Irish guerrillas or "tories", the Ulster army marched up to Ballycastle on the northern coast of Ulster and left a string of garrisons along the centre of the province. They then marched west, towards Coote’s army , which was in Lifford, near Derry. Fending off an attack by the English cavalry as they crossed the river Finn, the Irish encamped on a mountain side at Scarrifholis, south of Letterkenny along the road to Donegal town and near the river Swilly. The local Protestant population fled to the fortified towns in the area, as the war in Ulster had, from its outset, been characterised by atrocities committed against civilians by both sides. Meanwhile, Parliamentarian reinforcements had joined Coote from eastern Ulster, bringing his forces up to 3000 men, compared to 4000 Irish. However, the British force had more ammunition and more cavalry than their enemies. MacMahon’s officers warned him not to leave their strong defensive position and risk battle, as the Parliamentary army was tactically superior to them. Rather, they should stay put and wait for the enemy to disperse when their supplies ran out, leaving the Irish free to march back to their stronghold along the border with Leinster. MacMahon however refused to listen to military advice and ordered his troops down from their mountain camp to give battle to the Parliamentary army. Armagh is a city in Northern Ireland, the capital of County Armagh. ... Pike can mean: A pole weapon, see pike (weapon) A carnivorous fish, see pike (fish) A programming language, see Pike programming language Stream cipher Pike (cryptography) A male elf character (skilled with his namesake weapon) in the comic book Elfquest Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, see Pi Kappa Alpha Pike is... A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth-bore long gun. ... Derry or Londonderry (in Irish , Doire Cholm Chille or Doire), often called the Maiden City, is a city in Northern Ireland. ... Carrickfergus (Carraig Fhearghais in Irish) is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. ... This article is about Ballycastle, County Antrim. ... Letterkenny (Leitir Ceanainn in Irish) is the largest town in County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland, located 35 miles north of Donegal Town and 20 miles west of Derry in Northern Ireland. ... This article is about County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. ... Swilly was the first council estate built in Plymouth during the 1920s. ... An army unit consisting of mounted soldiers are commonly known as cavalry. ... Leinster (Irish: Laighin) is the eastern province of Ireland, comprising the counties of Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow. ...

The Battle

MacMahon’s inexperience was further exposed in how he drew up his troops for battle. He placed a small advance guard in front his army and positioned the rest of his troops in a huge solid mass, which meant that it would be very difficult to manoeuvre and very few units could actually engage the enemy, being stuck within the ranks of their own men. Coote, meanwhile, who had been fighting since 1641 and whose father had been a professional soldier, drew up his men in small flexible units – able to reinforce one another and to move around the battlefield. Events The Long Parliament passes a series of legislation designed to contain Charles Is absolutist tendencies. ...

The battle started when Coote sent an infantry detachment to meet the Irish advance party. The two sides exchanged musket volleys at close range and then fought hand to hand with pikes and musket butts. However, Coote steadily reinforced his infantry and eventually drove the Irishmen back into the front of their formation. Because of the formation MacMahon had adopted, this virtually imprisoned the front ranks of the Irish army, who were trapped behind their own panicked skirmishers and the pursuing British infantry. Seeing his chance, Coote sent more infantry to attack the flanks of the Irish formation, trapping the whole force between his men and the mountain side that they had marched down from before the battle.

The predicament the Irish now found themselves in was a little like the Roman army that Hannibal destroyed at battle of Cannae in 212 BC. Although they still outnumbered their enemies, they were pinned in dense uncoordinated mass, unable to defend themselves against the troops who had surrounded them. Increasingly, they were a mob of terrified individuals rather than a disciplined military unit. The fact they were also very short of ammunition meant that the Parliamentarians were able to pour volleys into this dense mass without effective reply, cutting down the Irish from a distance. At this point, the Irish were routed, and their leaders and horsemen fled the battlefield, pursued by the Parliamentarian cavalry and by the local Protestant population –taking the opportunity to avenge the massacres they had suffered in 1641-42. Nevertheless, the doomed Irish infantry fought doggedly until they were slaughtered. Testament to this is that two thirds of the Irish dead were found on the battlefield itself rather than along the line of pursuit. Roman or Romans has several meanings, primarily related to the Roman citizens, but also applicable to typography, math, and a commune. ... Hannibal Barca Hannibal Barca (247 BC – 182 BC) was a military commander of ancient Carthage, best known for his achievements in the Second Punic War in marching an army from Spain over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy and defeating the Romans at the Battles of the river... Battle of Cannae Conflict Second Punic War Date August 2, 216 BC Place Cannae Result decisive Carthaginian victory Major battles of the second Punic war The Battle of Cannae, August 2, 216 BC, was a decisive battle of the Second Punic War. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC - 210s BC - 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC Years: 217 BC 216 BC 215 BC 214 BC 213 BC - 212 BC - 211 BC 210 BC...

The battle was a decisive victory for Coote and British Parliamentarians. Over 3000 of the Ulster army were killed – 2000 on the field and another 1000 in the pursuit – about 75% of their total numbers. The Parliamentarians lost only around 100 soldiers killed. Coote ordered that Irish wounded and prisoners taken were to be killed, including Henry O’Neill, Owen Roe’s son, who had surrendered on terms. MacMahon was captured a week later at Enniskillen and hanged. Enniskillen (Inis Ceithleann in Irish) is the county town of Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. ...

The battle marked the destruction of the Ulster army, not only because of the loss of manpower, which could be replaced, but because of the loss of many officers and virtually all their weapons and equipment, which could not. In addition to O’Neill and MacMahon, the Irish lost 9 colonels, 4 lieutenant colonels, 3 majors, 20 captains and hundreds of other junior officers. This represented a huge cull of the Ulster Irish Catholic land-owning class, far bigger than in the famous Flight of the Earls in 1603. For this reason, the battle has been described as Ulster’s Aughrim – a battle marking the extermination of the province’s native aristocracy and assuring the continued existence and supremacy of its Protestant settler population. In September 1607, Hugh ONeill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone and Rory ODonnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell set sail from Rathmullan on Lough Swilly in County Donegal with ninety of their followers. ... Events March 24 - Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England April 28 – Funeral of Elizabeth I of England in Westminster Abbey July 17 or July 19 - Sir Walter Raleigh arrested for treason. ... The Battle of Aughrim was the decisive battle of the Williamite war in Ireland. ...

Coote went on to march south, taking Sligo and then Galway after a long siege in 1652. The surrender of this city marked the effective end of the Irish resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Sligo is: In the Republic of Ireland: A County of Ireland: see County Sligo A Town of Ireland: see Sligo Town In the USA: A borough in Clarion County, Pennsylvania: see Sligo, Pennsylvania. ... This article is about the city in Ireland. ... Events April 6 - Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp for the Dutch East India Company at the Cape of Good Hope, and founded Cape Town. ... Oliver Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of the English Parliament in 1649. ...

Sources

• James Scott Wheeler, Cromwell in Ireland, Dublin 1999
• Eamonn O Ciardha, Ireland and the Jacobite Cause, Dublin 2002
• Padraig Lenihan, Confederate Catholics at War , Cork 2000.