Battle of Benburb
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Benburb took place in 1646 during the Irish Confederate Wars
, the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
. It was fought between the forces of Confederate Ireland
under Owen Roe O'Neill
and a Scottish
Covenanter
and Anglo-Irish
army under Robert Monro. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Irish Confederates and ended the Scottish hopes of conquering Ireland
and imposing their own religious settlement there.
in 1642, in order to protect the Scottish settlers there from the massacres that followed the Irish Rebellion of 1641
. They also hoped to conquer the country, to destroy Catholicism
there and impose Presbyterianism
as the state religion. They landed at Carrickfergus
and linked up with an army of British
settlers based around Derry
who were led by Robert Stewart. They cleared Ulster of Irish rebels by 1643, but were unable to advance south of mid-Ulster, which was held by Owen Roe O'Neill
, the general of the Irish Confederate
Ulster army. Both sides robbed and killed civilians in territory controlled by their enemy, so that by 1646, a sort of no man's land
of scorched earth
separated the opposing sides. O’Neill remarked of the devastation that Ulster looked, "not only like a desert, but like hell". While the three armies continued to raid into each other’s territory, none of them could organise enough supplies to hold any captured territory.
In 1646, Monro and Stewart joined forces, making a major foray into Confederate held territory. According to some accounts, this was an attempt to take the Confederates' capital at Kilkenny
; other sources say it was only a major raid. Either way, the combined British force was about 6,000 strong. Monro had ten regiments of infantry, of whom six were Scottish and four were English or Anglo-Irish, and 600 Ulster Protestant cavalry. O’Neill, who was a very cautious general, had previously avoided fighting pitched battles. However, he had just been supplied by the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, (Giovanni Battista Rinuccini
), with muskets, ammunition and money with which to pay his soldiers' wages. This allowed him to put over 5,000 men into the field – an army slightly smaller than his enemy’s. The Covenanters had six cannon
, whereas the Confederates had none.
, in modern south Tyrone
. Gerard Hayes-McCoy
wrote, "many of them must have been close to exhaustion before the battle began". Monro’s men drew up with their backs to the River Blackwater
, facing O’Neill’s troops who were positioned on a rise in the ground.
The battle commenced with Monro’s artillery firing on the Irish position, but without causing many casualties. Monro's cavalry
then charged the Irish infantry
, but were unable to break the Confederates' pike
and musket
formation. When this attack had failed, O’Neill ordered his infantry to advance, pushing the British back into a loop of the river by the push of the pike. It was noted that the Irish pikes had longer shafts and narrower heads than those of their opponents, meaning that they outreached them and were "better to pierce". At this point, the fatigue of the British soldiers told against them and they were gradually pushed backwards until their formation collapsed in on itself. The Confederate infantry then broke Monro's disordered formation with a musket volley at point-blank range and fell in amongst them with swords and scians (Irish long knives). Monro and his cavalry fled the scene, as, shortly after, did his infantry. A great many of them were cut down or drowned in the ensuing pursuit. The British force lost between 2,000 and 3,000 killed or captured, mostly in the pursuit; the Irish roughly 300.
Benburb was the only time in which an Irish Confederate army won a major field battle between 1641 and 1653. O’Neill’s Ulster army showed a discipline and training that was lacking in the Confederate disasters at Dungans Hill and Knocknanauss the following year. O’Neill’s victory meant that the Covenanters were no longer a threat to the Confederates, but they remained encamped around Carrickfergus
for the rest of the war. However, O’Neill did not follow up his victory but took his army south to interfere in the politics of Confederate Ireland
. In particular, he wanted to make sure that the treaty the Supreme Council of the Confederates had signed with the English Royalists
would not be ratified.
Irish Confederate Wars
This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....
, the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch...
. It was fought between the forces of Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...
under Owen Roe O'Neill
Owen Roe O'Neill
Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill , anglicised as Owen Roe O'Neill , was a seventeenth century soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster.- In Spanish service :...
and a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
Covenanter
Covenanter
The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...
and Anglo-Irish
Old English (Ireland)
The Old English were the descendants of the settlers who came to Ireland from Wales, Normandy, and England after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71. Many of the Old English became assimilated into Irish society over the centuries...
army under Robert Monro. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Irish Confederates and ended the Scottish hopes of conquering Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and imposing their own religious settlement there.
Background
The Scots had landed an army in UlsterUlster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
in 1642, in order to protect the Scottish settlers there from the massacres that followed the Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...
. They also hoped to conquer the country, to destroy Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
there and impose Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
as the state religion. They landed at Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...
and linked up with an army of British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
settlers based around Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
who were led by Robert Stewart. They cleared Ulster of Irish rebels by 1643, but were unable to advance south of mid-Ulster, which was held by Owen Roe O'Neill
Owen Roe O'Neill
Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill , anglicised as Owen Roe O'Neill , was a seventeenth century soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster.- In Spanish service :...
, the general of the Irish Confederate
Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...
Ulster army. Both sides robbed and killed civilians in territory controlled by their enemy, so that by 1646, a sort of no man's land
No man's land
No man's land is a term for land that is unoccupied or is under dispute between parties that leave it unoccupied due to fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dumping ground for refuse between fiefdoms...
of scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
separated the opposing sides. O’Neill remarked of the devastation that Ulster looked, "not only like a desert, but like hell". While the three armies continued to raid into each other’s territory, none of them could organise enough supplies to hold any captured territory.
In 1646, Monro and Stewart joined forces, making a major foray into Confederate held territory. According to some accounts, this was an attempt to take the Confederates' capital at Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...
; other sources say it was only a major raid. Either way, the combined British force was about 6,000 strong. Monro had ten regiments of infantry, of whom six were Scottish and four were English or Anglo-Irish, and 600 Ulster Protestant cavalry. O’Neill, who was a very cautious general, had previously avoided fighting pitched battles. However, he had just been supplied by the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, (Giovanni Battista Rinuccini
Giovanni Battista Rinuccini
Giovanni Battista Rinuccini was a Roman Catholic archbishop in the mid seventeenth century. He was a noted legal scholar who became chamberlain to Pope Gregory XV, who made him the Archbishop of Fermo in Italy...
), with muskets, ammunition and money with which to pay his soldiers' wages. This allowed him to put over 5,000 men into the field – an army slightly smaller than his enemy’s. The Covenanters had six cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
, whereas the Confederates had none.
The battle
Monro had assumed that O’Neill would try to avoid his army and so had his soldiers march over 15 miles (about 24 km) to intercept the Irish force at BenburbBenburb
Benburb is a small village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies seven miles from Armagh and nine miles from Dungannon.Recently Benburb has seen a revival in businesses basing themselves there, Arts and Crafts being the main businesses, there is also a café and a restaurant at...
, in modern south Tyrone
Tyrone
The name Tyrone can refer to:*County Tyrone, a county in Northern Ireland, roughly corresponding to the ancient kingdom of Tír Eogain*An Earl of Tyrone*A small steam train which runs between Bushmills and the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland-Places:...
. Gerard Hayes-McCoy
Gerard Anthony Hayes-McCoy
Gerard A. Hayes-McCoy was an Irish historian born in Galway. He attended University College Galway and served as auditor of the College's Literary and Debating Society in the 1931/1932 academic year...
wrote, "many of them must have been close to exhaustion before the battle began". Monro’s men drew up with their backs to the River Blackwater
River Blackwater, Northern Ireland
The River Blackwater is a river in County Armagh and County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, as well as County Monaghan and County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, which has its source to the north of Fivemiletown, County Tyrone...
, facing O’Neill’s troops who were positioned on a rise in the ground.
The battle commenced with Monro’s artillery firing on the Irish position, but without causing many casualties. Monro's cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
then charged the Irish infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
, but were unable to break the Confederates' pike
Pike (weapon)
A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the...
and musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
formation. When this attack had failed, O’Neill ordered his infantry to advance, pushing the British back into a loop of the river by the push of the pike. It was noted that the Irish pikes had longer shafts and narrower heads than those of their opponents, meaning that they outreached them and were "better to pierce". At this point, the fatigue of the British soldiers told against them and they were gradually pushed backwards until their formation collapsed in on itself. The Confederate infantry then broke Monro's disordered formation with a musket volley at point-blank range and fell in amongst them with swords and scians (Irish long knives). Monro and his cavalry fled the scene, as, shortly after, did his infantry. A great many of them were cut down or drowned in the ensuing pursuit. The British force lost between 2,000 and 3,000 killed or captured, mostly in the pursuit; the Irish roughly 300.
Benburb was the only time in which an Irish Confederate army won a major field battle between 1641 and 1653. O’Neill’s Ulster army showed a discipline and training that was lacking in the Confederate disasters at Dungans Hill and Knocknanauss the following year. O’Neill’s victory meant that the Covenanters were no longer a threat to the Confederates, but they remained encamped around Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...
for the rest of the war. However, O’Neill did not follow up his victory but took his army south to interfere in the politics of Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...
. In particular, he wanted to make sure that the treaty the Supreme Council of the Confederates had signed with the English Royalists
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
would not be ratified.