page_title: Charles Edward Jennings
section_title: Paddy Kilmaine
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Edward Jennings / Irish assault / Paddy Kilmaine
context_page_description: General Charles Edward Saul Jennings, sometimes romanticised as Brave Kilmaine, was an Irish soldier and revolutionary who served France in the eighteenth century. He was committed to the cause of Irish independence and an active supporter of the French Revolution. Jennings is known to have been an associate of Theobald Wolfe Tone and served as a brigade and division commander under Napoleon I.
  Jennings served in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars. He played a minor role in the Irish independence movement. Jennings was known for his personal reserve and as one of the most charismatic Irish generals of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period. Though he was not ennobled, he is sometimes referred to as de Kilmaine and Baron de Kilmaine in reference to the Jennings' ancestral home in Kilmaine, County Mayo.
context_section_description: In 1798 the Directory began breaking up the Armee d'Angleterre, and withdrew Kilmaine's troops.  Kilmaine went to Paris to plead with the government and the Minister of Marine concerning the embarkation of the troops and departure of the fleet. His questions were waived, or left unanswered. They had more important plans for him.
  The fate of Chef-commander Kilmaine's forces that 'independently' sailed to Ireland was sealed from the onset.
  The first attempt, from Brest on 22 August, initially got off to a good start.  Approximately 1,000 French soldiers under General Humbert landed in the north-west of the country, at Kilcummin in County Mayo. They joined up to 5,000 local rebels and drove the British from Castlebar, setting up a short-lived "Republic of Connaught". They were defeated at the battle of Ballinamuck, in County Longford, on 8 September 1798. The French troops who surrendered were repatriated to France in exchange for British prisoners of war, but hundreds of captured Irish rebels were executed.
  A second attempt in September, accompanied by Napper Tandy, came to disaster on the coast of Donegal and was unable to land, before eventually returning to France.
  The third and final attempt, on 12 October 1798, under Admiral Bompard, with General Hardy in command of a larger force of about 3000 men, including Wolfe Tone himself, never had a chance. They attempted to land in County Donegal near Lough Swilly, but were intercepted by a bigger Royal Navy squadron, and eventually surrendered after a three-hour battle without ever landing in Ireland. Tone was captured, taken prisoner and was tried in court-martial.
  For some time all of Britain supposed the troops were led by the commander-in-chief in person and all the press of England and Scotland teemed with blustering or scurrilous remarks on "Paddy Kilmaine and his gang". In truth General Kilamine never embarked, although he certainly wanted to, as commander in Chef, a master tactician and without the blessing of his commander Napoleon, he superintended the departure of 6,000 of his troops from Rochfort and Brest.
caption: Theobald Wolfe Tone
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