The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1893-02-28

him AZ distance; while CORVALLIS,
with the main army, marched parallel
with him towards Carrick-on-Shann
As If this were not enough, on reach
ing Colooney on the 9Th. about forty
miles northeast from Castle bar, Hum
bert found himself confronted by a
fifth force, under Col Verreker, of the
Limerick militia, with force Of three
hundred and thirty men and two cur
ricle guns. A fierce and obstinate bat
tie ensued-this was indeed the only
real battle Of the campaign-but after
lasting about an hour, Verreker, fnd-
ing himself overpowered by numbers,
was compelled to retreat. with the loss
of his guns, to Sligo.
Although Humbert was victorious in
this encounter, it caused him to change
his plans. He now marched towards
abandoning eight of his guns by the
way: but in approaching the former
place suddenly turned to the right, in
q southeasterly direction by Drunken
In, and attempted to reach Granard, In
Longford, where a rising had taken
place. His rear was now constantly
harassed by the enemy, and on the
7th smart skirmish took place with
Crawford's advance guard, in which the
French were victorious. Humbert now
crossed the Shannon at Ballintra. but
had no time to break the bridge. He
halted some hours at Cloone, to give
his WORKOUT troops brief rest, and
arrived next day, on the sth, at Bali
inamuck.
The viceroy, crossing the Shannon
at Carrick, was meanwhile marching
on st. Johnstown. in order to get IN
front Of Humbert on his way to
Granard The drama was now draw
ing to its close Completely surrounded
by an overwhelming force, Humbert
saw that surrender was inevitable.
For the honor of France, however, he
determined to make at least a formal
resistance; he therefore disposed his
forces in order of battle and awaited
the attack. His rear guard was at
tackled by Crawford, and, being over
powered, surrendered; and the remain
der. after resisting Gen. Lake for half
whole force amounting to about eight
hundred and City, the rest having been
killed or wounded since the beginning
OF the campaign. The entire British
force which surrounded Humbert num-
bered about thirty thousand. or five
thousa nd more than were employed
at Waterloo, or, in later days, at the
hattie of the Alma
While the French received honorable
terms of surrender. the Irish auxil-
iaries, In number about fifteen hum
dred, were shot and hanged without
mercy, Ave hundred of them being
killed In this way.
The closing scene Of the drama was
the recapture OF Killala, which had re-
manned in possession of the French, or
rather of Irish insurgents under two or
three French officers. 1t was not until
the 22nd Of September that the royal
forces, twelve hundred strong. arrived
In Ballina, the Irish garrison fleeing at
Its approach. The English advanced
on Killala In two columns, from the
north and the south. The garrison
posted themselves on the Ballina road.
but were speedily overcome, and fed
through Killala, pursued by the cav
airy. At the other end of the town
they were intercepted by the second
column, and about four hundred Of the
unfortunates were killed.
In this extraordinary campaign,
which lasted from the 22nd of August
to the 9Th Of September, the French
had marched one hundred and thirty
miles, penetrating to the very heart of
Ireland, and distant only sixty miles
in straight line from Dublin, and had
fought five engagements, in all of
which they had been victorious. Why
a handful Of French troops should have
achieved such success was not 50 much
due, after all, to their own prowess, as
to the nature of the forces opposed to
them. These were mostly local militia,
quite unused to real war, and some of
them disafected, and not inclined to
fight very hard against those they Sc
cretly regarded as their friends. 1t is
related that number of militia who
were put down as missing after the af-
fair OF Castlebar. had gone over to the
French; one Of them, on being after
ward asked why he had done so, re-
piled, that lit was not he who had de-
serted, but the British army, who had
run away and left him behind to be
murdered. chambers Journal